Briefs
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 6, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Botanical Garden seeks volunteers
The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA is seeking
volunteers to serve as docents in its public education program for
school children and community groups.
Experience is not required, and volunteers will receive workshop
training from Arthur Gibson, professor of biology and director of
the UCLA Botanical Garden.
Docent trainees receive a training manual and are eligible to
participate in Biology 10, “Plants and Civilization,”
an introductory botany course.
Docent are also eligible to participate in field trips to other
botanical gardens and natural sites of interest around Los
Angeles.
For more information on the UCLA Botanical Gardens call Carol
Felixson at (310) 206-3887 or e-mail [email protected].
Study of digital mammography to begin
October marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month,
and researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center are
recruiting thousands of women for a national study comparing
digital mammography to standard mammography for the detection of
breast cancer.
The cancer center is seeking to recruit 2,475 women to
participate in the study, called the Digital Mammographic Imaging
Screening Trial.
Nationwide, about 49,500 women will participate in the study,
which is overseen by the National Cancer Institute and the American
College of Radiology.
“This study is the next step in the digital
revolution,” said Dr. Lawrence Bassett, a national breast
imaging expert, director of the Iris Cantor Breast Imaging Center
at the Jonsson Cancer Center and principal investigator for the
UCLA arm of the study.
“Digital mammography holds promise to improve earlier
detection of breast cancer, but a large study is necessary to see
whether digital mammography really is better than or as effective
as standard mammography,” she added.
Standard mammography’s effectiveness can be limited in
women who have very dense breasts, according to Bassett. Digital
mammography uses computers and specially designed detectors to
produce a digital image of the breast, which can be enlarged,
magnified, lightened or darkened. The image can also be printed out
on X-ray film for easy comparison with standard mammography.
Women interested in volunteering or obtaining more information
about the study can call (310) 794-1702.
