VOL. CXVIII, No. 48
DailyBarometer.com
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015 Oregon State University
Response to Paris attacks PHOTO ILLUSTRATION By Heather march | THE DAILY BAROMETER
OSU administrators reach out abroad, at home By Chloe Stewart News Contributor
The flags outside of Kerr Administration building are flying at half-mast in the November wind after an order was issued by Oregon governor Kate Brown in response to a series of terrorist attacks on several venues in Paris last Friday. Many are still recovering from the shock and horror of these acts of violence. In response to these attacks, OSU hopes to provide its students with support and whatever resources they need to recover. According to Steve Clark, Vice President of University Relations and Marketing, maintaining the safety and wellbeing of all students is a top priority at OSU. “As we become aware of other incidents, whether they be natural disasters, random acts of violence or tragedy, we will help our students through that,” Clark said.
All OSU students and faculty in France at the time of the attacks were confirmed safe within a day of the incident. French students studying at OSU were contacted and offered a number of services to help them find information and manage their grief. Lauriane Guyot, a junior studying liberal arts, is one of those students. Guyot’s family and friends were all confirmed safe. But according to Guyot, attacks like this can still take a toll on those who aren’t directly affected. “Here, what is scary is that it was people, like, random individuals just in a restaurant, at a soccer game, at a concert,” Guyot said. “It could have been anybody.” In the face of tragedy, Dr. Mark Hoffman, Vice Provost for International Programs, hopes that students can learn from these attacks and won’t be discouraged to go abroad in the future. “I would hope that people understand that we live
in a complex world with lots of different agendas and an international experience, an appreciation can help us deal with those complexities and understand other cultures and other beliefs and what’s going on in the world,” Hoffman said. According to Clark and Hoffman, the expanse of the OSU community is far and wide; approximately 11 percent of the student population on campus is international students and many students choose to go abroad during their time at OSU. “I hope that we will not see people fearing to travel abroad or study abroad, but to see it’s even more important to know more about the world as a community, and while traveling abroad, to be safe,” Clark said. “This is not the time for students to ignore the rest of the world. I
See Paris, Page 6
Vitamin D and Xanthohumol may cause weight loss, research finds Compounds indicated to help combat obesity by changing gut bacteria By Makennah Hines News Contributor
In an effort to combat obesity, Oregon State University was granted $2.64 million from the National Institutes of Health to find a solution. According to Adrian Gombart, associate professor in the department of biochemistry and biophysics at Oregon State University, vitamin D and xanthohumol may be able to reduce weight gain. “I think that this will make a significant contribution to help people with obesity. It will also bring a new perspective to science. We are laying the base work for what could be a solution for obesity,” said Claudia Maier, a chemistry professor at OSU. Gombart and researchers have been testing the vitamin D and xanthohumol on mice, by placing it in the mices’ food. Different doses
are given to different mice in order to find the healthiest dose. “I believe that vitamin D and xanthohumol are working successfully because they are changing the gut composition. There are so many bacterial species in your gut, and we want to figure out which bacterias are important, and which ones are not,” Gombart said. “We have germ-free mice, and we are planning to inject them with certain bacterias to figure out what ones are important.” After the ideal gut composition and the correct doses are found, and the relevant questions have been answered, this could be an incredible aid for the obesity epidemic in the United States, according to Gombart. “After we have done the research that we need on animals, we would love to try it on a human. We hope that it can be developed into a treatment one day,” said Gombart. According to Maier and Gombart, they estimate it will be five years before the research is advanced enough to try this on a human.
Brian Nguyen | THE DAILY BAROMETER
John Rolshoven, graduate student in molecular and cellular biology, researching a
See Gut, Page 3 way to reduce weight gain through vitamin intake in Linus Pauling Science Center.
IN THIS ISSUE >>>
Javacoustics begins, NEWS, PAGE 2 Pac-12 power-rankings, SPORTS, PAGE 4 ‘Speak Out’ responses, FORUM, PAGE 8