Performing Arts Department announces 2008-09 season

Ting-Ting ChangTheater, like film and architecture, is a collaborative art, drawing on the work of actors, writers, directors, designers, dancers, choreographers, musicians and others. That sense of interdisciplinary cooperation is at the heart of the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences’ 2008-09 season, which will explore connections between theater and contemporary cultural and political issues as well as between the PAD and other campus areas.

Use common sense when deciding what to bring to college

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoOn the “what to bring” list at most colleges: extra-long sheets.As you load up the family vehicle or rental truck to take your child to college later this summer, leave the satellite dish off your packing list. A little common sense goes a long way when determining what to pack for a student’s first, or any, year at school, says a residential housing director at Washington University in St. Louis.

New disease-fighting nanoparticles look like miniature pastries

Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles β€” called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City β€” could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients’ bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques. The nanobialys are an important addition to the stock of diagnostic and disease-fighting nanoparticles developed by researchers at the School of Medicine.

First U.S. incision-free procedure for obesity performed at Washington University

Photo by Tim ParkerSreenivasa Jonnalagadda, M.D., and J. Christopher Eagon, M.D., performing the first TOGA procedure in the United States.Doctors at the School of Medicine have performed the first non-surgical procedure in the United States that restricts the size of the stomach to treat obesity. The investigational procedure was performed under direct endoscopic visualization with specialized instruments passed into the stomach through the mouth. The first U.S. patient received the treatment on July 23 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Exercise could be the heart’s fountain of youth

Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but endurance exercise seems to make it younger. According to a study conducted at the School of Medicine, older people who did endurance exercise training for about a year ended up with metabolically much younger hearts. The researchers also showed that by one metabolic measure, women benefited more than men from the training.

African-American literary journal Callaloo to present four readings Aug. 6

Tracy K. SmithFour faculty members from the 2008 Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops will read from their poetry and fiction at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6. Launched in 1976, Callaloo is the premier African-American and African literary journal, publishing a rich mixture of fiction, poetry, plays, critical essays, interviews, and visual art from the African diaspora. The annual Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops β€” hosted this year by Washington University from Aug. 3 to 16 β€”are designed to assist new and developing writers by providing intensive and individual instruction in the writing of fiction and poetry.