News Briefs

Group pushes for student health

Fitness trainers, dieticians and chiropractors were just a few
of the health professionals who participated in Tuesday’s
Health Fair in Westwood Plaza.

The Student Welfare Commission organized the event to provide
students with information on health resources on campus and to
encourage students to lead healthier lives.

“It’s a celebration of health. In the long run, it
will help students to pursue these resources and make those healthy
lifestyle changes,” said Sayeh Hamzehzadeh, co-director of
health nutrition and fitness from the SWC.

Students were free to roam through the various booths set up
while listening to live music and various speakers from the
community.

Alaines Bakery, a whole-grain, vegan dessert store, came to the
event to encourage students to sign a petition to bring whole-grain
foods onto campus. It offered samples of tofu cheesecake and tofu
pumpkin pie.

Starting with this year, the health fair will be an annual event
held in November.

UCLA launches revised Webmail

Students can now access an improved version of the campus’
Webmail service, which was launched Tuesday.

The new version will enable students to access HTML files and
download e-mail attachments, which until now was only available on
the UCLA-sponsored Bruinwalk.com.

In addition, an updated version of the electronic gradebook
offered on the My.UCLA Web site will allow faculty to record grades
throughout the academic quarter, inform students of test scores,
distribute comments, assign projects and transmit final grades to
the campus registrar.

Brain structure shaped by genes

UCLA brain mapping researchers have created the first images to
show how an individual’s genes influence their brain
structure and intelligence.

The team found that the amount of gray matter in the frontal
parts of the brain is determined by the genetic make-up of an
individual’s parents, and strongly correlates with that
individual’s cognitive ability, as measured by intelligence
test scores.

Brain regions controlling language and reading skills were
virtually identical in identical twins, who share exactly the same
genes, while siblings showed only 60 percent of the normal brain
differences. This tight structural similarity in the brains of
family members helps explain why brain diseases, including
schizophrenia and some types of dementia, run in families.

Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.