Community Briefs

Sue Johnson named new regents chair

S. Sue Johnson, a regent who has served on the UC Board of
Regents for almost 10 years was named the next chair of the
board.

She succeeds John Davies who has served for the past two
years.

“Sue Johnson is a hardworking, dedicated representative of
the University of California,” Davies said in a statement.
“The board and the university will benefit greatly from her
energy and leadership in the coming year.”

Serving as vice chair of the board will be Regent Sherry
Lansing, chairwoman of Paramount Motion Pictures group.

In addition, Regent Ward Connerly will chair the committee on
audit. Regent Velma Montoya will chair the committee on educational
policy. Regent Peter Preuss will chair the committee on finance.
Regent Judith Hopkinson will chair the committee on investments.
Regent Joanne Kozberg will chair the committee on grounds and
buildings. Regent Howard Leach will chair the committee on
oversight of the Department of Energy Labs. Mark Kohn will chair
the committee on health services and Regent Odessa Johnson was
appointed as the board’s representative to the California
Postsecondary Education Commission.

All terms take effect July 1.

International center to present writing
award

The UCLA Office of International Students and Scholars and the
Dashew International Student Center will present the Harry Kurnitz
Foreign Student Creative Writing Award Friday.

The award, established in 1965, seeks to encourage students
whose native language was not English to do their writing in
English. It is named after playwright and screenwriter Harry
Kurnitz.

This year’s winners, three students from Yugoslavia,
Bulgaria and Russia, will receive $1,166 each. The winners are
Ksenija Lakovic, Velina Minkoff and Tamara Yurenok.

The ceremony will be held Friday at 3 p.m. in the Tom Bradley
International Hall.

Study shows negative effects of dialysis

Nearly 90 percent of young adults undergoing dialysis had signs
of coronary artery calcification in a UCLA study published in the
New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday.

The study also found calcification doubling in within two
years.

“This is the first study to show the extent of this
particular form of cardiovascular abnormality in younger patients
on long-term dialysis,” UCLA pediatric nephrologist Isidro
Salusky, the study’s senior author, said in a statement.

“Based on radiographic evidence, we are concerned that
many young adults with end-stage renal disease have clinically
silent, but potentially serious, coronary artery lesions,”
Salusky continued.

Coronary artery calcification represents the deposition of
calcium in the wall of vessels that supply blood to the heart. The
condition ““ very rare in healthy men and women between the
ages of 20 and 30 ““ occurs in 10 percent of women and 25
percent of men between the ages of 40 and 49 years.

For adults, calcification in the coronary arteries is associated
with arteriosclerosis and an increased risk of cardiovascular
disease.

“Based on this study’s findings, physicians caring
for dialysis patients may want to reconsider the use of large doses
of calcium-containing medications in patients who are treated with
dialysis,” William Goodman of UCLA’s School of Medicine
and the study’s lead author, said in a statement.