San Jose Mercury News. Two Stanford faculty members weighed in on the politically charged stem cell issue in an op-ed piece in the Merc. Paul Berg, PhD, emeritus professor of biochemistry, and Irv Weissman, MD, the Karel and Avice Beekhuis Professor of Cancer Biology, decried the fact that a dramatic advance in the stem cell field was accomplished by scientists in South Korea -- not the United States. They urged the passage of a pending California ballot initiative to provide $350 million a year to support stem cell research. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/8263146.htm

Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and others. Also on the stem cell front, stories appeared nationwide about a Stanford study that showed blood-forming stem cells couldn't repair heart muscle after a heart attack (see p. 7). The study, published in Nature, contradicted previous findings that had raised hope that stem cells might work in this area. Leora Balsam, MD, a research fellow, and Robert Robbins, MD, associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery, were quoted in media reports.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2004/03/22/report_challenges_blood_stem_cell_role_in_rebuilding_heart/

New York Times. Patients taking antidepressants are at risk of becoming suicidal shortly after initiating therapy, and the government wants drug makers to post warnings to those patients. New federal warnings should be a wake-up call to family physicians who prescribe these drugs, said Regina Casper, MD, professor of psychiatry, who provided comment in the Times.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/23/MNG5M5PNCN1.DTL

Dateline NBC. A network crew spent half a day at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic interviewing Jed Black, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, for a major story on insomnia. "Dateline" is expected to make several return trips over the next few months for more shooting.

KGO-TV. Patients who take the stroke-prevention drug Coumadin now have an alternative that's equally effective and causes fewer side effects. Greg Albers, MD, professor of neurology and director of the Stanford Stroke Center, discussed results of a recent study of the new drug, called ximelegatran, on KGO-TV. http://www.med.stanford.edu/irt/mmt/video/stroke-03-30-2004.ram

Good Morning America. Healthy women who want to preserve their childbearing options can have their eggs frozen for future fertilization. Lynn Westphal, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, told a "GMA" audience that a woman's eggs, like embryos, may possibly be frozen indefinitely.

CNN. William Dement, MD, PhD, the Lowell W. and Josephine Q. Berry Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, appeared in a CNN interview on sleep deprivation and how it impacts workers.