News Briefs
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 7, 2002 9:00 p.m.
USAC officer leaves mid-term
The Undergraduate Students Association Council is without a
financial supports commissioner.
Former commissioner Kim Coss formerly resigned Tuesday due to
“personal reasons” she would not disclose.
“I’m at a really difficult time in my life,”
Coss said. “I think it’s best for the council and the
campus for me to resign.”
The financial supports commissioner helps determine council
spending and oversees where money is allocated.
The last officer to leave mid-term was former External Vice
President Portia Pedro, who was dismissed in fall 2001 for failure
to provide proof of eligibility to hold office before a given
deadline.
Internet affects medical practice
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the School of Medicine, the
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine will present the
lecture “Medicine and the Internet” today about the
effects of the Internet on medical practices for providers and
patients.
The speaker, George Lundberg, served as editor in chief of the
Journal of the American Medical Association from 1982-99 and, from
1999-2002, was editor in chief of Medscape, a medical Internet
site.
Patients can use Medscape.com to look up information on specific
diseases, interact with doctors, get referrals and chat with other
people about medical issues.
The goal of Medscape is to compete with and eventually replace
doctors’ offices, medical groups and medical centers, said
Jonathan Braun, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine.
“The Web is emerging as the most important source for
medical information for people in this country,” Braun said.
“However, the ability to make the Web a successful place for
quality information to guide patients and their families is a large
technological and market challenge.”
Sept. 11 attacks affect e-mail use
A new way of establishing emotional connections through the
Internet emerged out of the events of Sept. 11 that allowed more
than 100 million Americans to reach out to others as never possible
before, according to a UCLA study on the impact of the terrorist
attacks on media use and online technology.
The study, a special report produced by the UCLA Internet
Project, found that 57.1 percent of e-mail users ““ more than
100 million Americans ““ received or sent messages of
emotional support, messages of concern for others, or questions
about victims of the attacks.
Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.
