22A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY AUGUST 16.2004
Ohio University makes alcohol program a must
Alcohol awareness programs are gaining popularity nationwide
BY MATT LAWELL
The Post, Ohio University
VIA U-WIRE
ATHENS, Ohio — The incoming freshman class of 2008 will be the first required to complete an online alcohol prevention program before taking classes in Ohio University in Athens.
Failure to do so, though, might result in various penalties.
Students who do not complete the program, AlcoholEdu for College, by the middle of university's fall quarter will not be eligible to register for or take winter classes.
"Frankly,that's what most of the
schools are doing.Most of the schools that sign on to do this make it pretty clear that this is expected or required. Some are more forceful about it."
Brandon Busted
Founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom
University officials, however, do not foresee having to enforce the new penalty.
"I don't anticipate that being a problem," Ohio Dean of Students Terry Hogan said. "The rate at which students are completing the course is already strong."
More than 600 of the 3,800 incoming freshmen already have completed the course, more than 15 percent of all freshmen, Hogan said.
Not all of those students have had the opportunity to take AlcoholEdu, though, which is introduced to them at precollege.
Precollege continues through Friday.
A much higher completion percentage is expected by the beginning of school's fall quarter.
AlcoholEdu was introduced at Ohio by the Office of Judiciaries, which required it of some students who had been cited for various alcohol-related offenses.
The program was first used during the fall quarter of 2002, said Ohio Director of Judiciaries Judith Piercy.
Ohio is one of almost 400 colleges and universities to use the program this year.
It is also one of more than 100 colleges to require it of all their incoming freshmen, said Brandon Busteed, founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom, which produces AlcoholEdu.
Busteed, 27, developed the original idea for AlcoholEdu while still an undergraduate at Duke University.
Since that time, more than 25 national experts have contributed to the curriculum, Busteed said.
The use of the program has
grown since the company's founding in 2000.
It has grown largely because of positive reactions received from schools during the 2003-04 school year.
"Last year what really changed our business was schools said. 'This works, and when all freshmen take it, it really works,'" Busteed said.
"Our business is up almost 300 percent this year. We've been in business for four years, and it's been growing pretty fast, especially this year.
Next year, my expectations are that this could be a freshman program at 500 to 1,000 universities."
Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, also is requiring AlcoholEdu to be taken by all incoming freshmen.
The school has not stated any penalties for failure to complete the program.
A number of schools have started to penalize students, though, Busteed said.
"Frankly, that's what most of the schools are doing," he said. "Most of the schools that sign on to do this make it pretty clear that this is expected or required. Some are more forceful about it.
"I'd say the common examples (of penalties) are (blocking) class registration and housing lotteries. That's a sign that colleges have placed this problem very high on the list."
Most schools reported completion rates of 75 percent to 95 percent for the 2003-04 academic year, Busteed said.
Kansas hospitals face bed shortage
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAWRENCE — Court officials in the eastern half of the state learned last week that two of the state's three hospitals for the mentally ill were full and not accepting new patients.
Osawatomie State Hospital has a capacity of 176 but is treating about 190 people, said Kyle Kessler, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. He said Rainbow Health Facility in Kansas City has a 50-bed capacity but is serving 53 people.
The agency told the Kansas Supreme Court and judicial districts in eastern Kansas that neither hospital would be accepting court-ordered referrals. Such referrals are typically made when a person's mental illness threatens his or her safety or the safety of others.
The notice was released to the public Friday.
"What we told the court was
that if we take on any more, we'd be putting the patients' safety in jeopardy. "Kessler said. "We don't want to do that. Patient safety is first and foremost."
When a referral is made, residents of the eastern half of Kansas are sent to Rainbow or Osawatomie, while residents of the western half of the state go to Larned State Hospital.
Learned may be able to accept a few referrals, Kessler said, but most will have to be handled by community mental health programs. Officials said, however, few of the programs have inpatient units.
David Johnson, executive director at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, said low rates of Medicaid reimbursement from the state has made it difficult for hospitals to keep their psychiatric units open.
Demand for beds has spiked as the units have closed, creating a shortage, he said.
The Lantern, Ohio State University
U-WIRE
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Move over, V-8 Vegetable Juice. A new tomato drink might be hitting the shelves.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center is currently testing a new tomato-soy drink to determine the effects of extra soy and lucopene in a typical diet.
Lycopene is a tomato pigment that researchers have linked to prostate health.
Medicinal tomato juice to be tested
Experts hope to prove the beverage helps prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.
"The study will take place over nine weeks, then there will be a long period of analysis, and by the beginning of next year we'll have some results," said Torsten Bohn, the study coordinator. "We want to know how well it's absorbed and utilized in the body."
Volunteers signed up to take part in the study and will be
"T he study will take place over
nine weeks, then there will be a long period of analysis,and by the beginning of next year we'll have some results. We want to know how well it's absorbed and utilized in the body."
Torsten Bohn
Study Coordinator
tested over a course of nine weeks.
"We test the changes in the volunteer's antioxidants and cholesterol, as well as the plasma in their urine," said Michelle Blackwood, a researcher at the center. "On the first day of the study we have
them bring in their urine, take their blood and check their cholesterol.
"During the next week we have them on a diet low in fruits and vegetables. We want them to record everything they eat and drink.
"Then, by the eighth day, we have them drink the juice," she said.
Within the next eight weeks the volunteers can have no soy in their diet and must drink six ounces of the drink in the morning and six ounces at night.
Along with testing the health benefits of the drink, researchers are also testing its taste.
"It's not as developed as V-8 and it's not ready for the market, but we're working on its color to make it darker and we're working on the spices to make it taste better." Bohn said.
The drink is made with allnatural Ohio-grown tomatoes and some testers of the drink compare the look and taste to tomato soup.
juice and several spices," Blackwood said. "I've tasted it, and it's kind of like tomato soup, but not quite."
"We use soy, sugar, lemon
If the drink is beneficial to the participants' health, the drink would become one of many medicinal foods on the market.
It would also be another product good for carbohydrate-cutting dieters.
"Our tomato-soy drink is a low-calorie drink," Bohn said. "It only has 10 grams of carbs per six ounces — good for those who are carb-conscious."
Blackwood also said this is the first drink of any kind to mix tomato and soy.
If the product tests well, it could be on shelves, bearing an Ohio State University logo, within a couple years, Blackwood said.
"The factors of price, taste and how good it is for you would determine if I'd buy it," said Craig Lemle, Ohio State senior in marketing. "If it gets approved by the FDA, I'd take it."
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