The Gazette

OUR 39TH YEA R

N I H P I O N E E R AWA R D

EARLY-LABOR DETECTOR

Covering Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody,

Pharmacologist Jun O. Liu

Device designed by BME

SAIS, APL and other campuses throughout the

recives $2.5 mill to create a

student team could prevent

Baltimore-Washington area and abroad, since 1971.

series of novel drugs, page 7

premature births, page 7

August 2, 2010

The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University

Volume 39 No. 40

O U T R E A C H

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

Nonprofits in city get greening tips

Q&A with Peabody’s Jeffrey Sharkey Pianist/composer/music educator discusses roles of Conservatory and Prep

By Greg Rienzi

By Greg Rienzi

The Gazette

The Gazette

W

Continued on page 12

2

WILL KIRK / HOMEWOODPHOTO.JHU.EDU

L

ocal organizations that assist those in need are getting some collegial Earth-friendly support this summer.

The Johns Hopkins University and Baltimore City recently embarked on an effort to green area nonprofits while at the same JHU student time educating students on sustainabilteams help ity measures and the vital role that these socially focused orgagroups nizations play in the community. evaluate The collaboration, called the Climate options Showcase Project, was launched in June and involves teams of Johns Hopkins students conducting sustainability assessments at 20 Baltimore nonprofits, including the Druid Heights Community Development Corp., Tuerk House, Stadium School Youth Dreamers, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Health Care for the Homeless and the Village Learning Place.

The goal is to assess opportunities to reduce these organizations’ energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and other associated environmental impacts.

The inaugural cohort of six students, who were trained and supervised by the university’s Sustainability Office staff, looked at details such as weatherproofing, lighting fixtures, toilet and sink water flow, recycling efforts and even in-house food options. The students, who broke into three teams of two, would arrive on a Monday to conduct the visual audit, return for a follow-up visit midweek and then on Friday to present a report of their findings. The students will wrap up all 19 audits this week.

In the detailed reports, the groups make specific recommendations for facility improvement and retrofits such as the use of energy-efficient light bulbs, insulation, plastic window covering, low-flow toilets and “smart” power

As director of the Peabody Institute, Jeffrey Sharkey leads both the college-level Conservatory and the Preparatory, a community music school.

hen Jeffrey Sharkey became director of Johns Hopkins’ Peabody Institute, he remarked that it should aim to be one of the top two or three music schools in the country and an institution of international importance. Sharkey said that many of the “ingredients” were there to make that happen. He noted the school’s breadth, which includes the standard repertoire of classical programs, blended with jazz, computer music, recording arts, composition and a thriving youth music education program.

Under his guidance, Peabody looks to continue to grow, push the boundaries of artistic creativity and expand its global reach.

A pianist, composer and veteran music educator, Sharkey joined Johns Hopkins in fall 2006. As director of Peabody, he leads both the collegelevel Conservatory, one of the nation’s leading professional music schools, with 657 students and more than 150 faculty members; and the Preparatory, a community music school with nearly 1,700 Continued on page 8

C O N S T R U C T I O N

APL breaks ground for spacecraft integration facility

By Michael Buckley

Applied Physics Laboratory

O

fficials from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, along with government and construction industry representatives, broke ground July 16 for a new spacecraft assembly and testing facility on the APL campus in Laurel, Md. Designated as Building 30, the $30 mil-

IN BRIEF

Immunizing Baltimore kids; discoverer of ‘magnetricity’ at Homewood; Text4Baby

12

lion facility is scheduled to open by fall 2012. The 47,500-square-foot structure will include optics laboratories, mechanical assembly areas and a high-bay clean room area capable of supporting either classified or unclassified integration and test operations. APL, mainly through its Space Department, creates innovative systems that achieve objectives for NASA and spacerelated Defense Department missions.

“This building will provide additional significant capabilities for our Space Department, and enhance APL’s ability to make

CALENDAR

CER workshop series on Blackboard 9.1 interface for administrators and TAs

strategically important contributions to both civilian and national security space missions and projects,” APL Director Ralph Semmel told invited groundbreaking ceremony guests, who included Ken Ulman, Howard County executive.

The facility will complement APL’s existing spacecraft integration and test building, Building 23, with current-generation clean room technology and networking infrastructure; higher hook heights, for liftContinued on page 10

10 Job Opportunities 10 Notices 11 Classifieds

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n a campaign that began July 22 in Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing is partnering with the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization to raise awareness for the immunization of children around the world.

Through a new program called “Breakthrough for Child Survival in the Poorest Countries and America’s Cities,” the partnership aims to educate the public about the life-saving importance of child immunizations.

Each year, almost 9 million children around the world under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria.

Baltimore was selected by GAVI as the first city to participate in this campaign because of previous success in notably boosting its immunization coverage. Since 2000, GAVI has vaccinated more than 250 million children and averted an estimated 5.4 million deaths in 72 of the world’s poorest countries.

The kickoff event began with a keynote address by U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and featured presentations by representatives of Johns Hopkins, the state and the city.

Elizabeth “Beth” Sloand, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing’s Department of Acute and Chronic Care, will serve as a campaign spokesperson. Her work as a nurse educator, researcher and community care provider focuses on uninsured and underinsured children and youth in East Baltimore, Haiti and other Caribbean nations.

‘Magnetricity’ discoverer to give lecture at Homewood

S

teven Bramwell, the University College London physicist who discovered the concept of “magnetricity,” will give a lecture on Thursday, Aug. 5, on the Homewood campus. It will take place at 5 p.m. in Schafler Auditorium in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy.

The lecture is part of an international conference, Highly Frustrated Magnetism 2010, which is being hosted by Johns Hopkins’ Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy and taking place from today, Aug. 1, through Friday, Aug. 6.

Most people are familiar with electricity as a flow of electrically charged particles.

Until now, it has been thought that there is no equivalent “flow” for magnetic currents, primarily because even at the atomic scale, magnets consist of dipoles with north and

south poles and no net “magnetic charge.”

In his lecture, Bramwell will report on the discovery of magnetic monopoles—atomsized pockets of magnetic charge that can form currents and move—within a curious material called “spin ice.”

Though aimed at a scientifically literate audience, the lecture should be accessible to the general public.

SoN-trained ‘youth mentors’ provide support for new moms

N

ew and expecting mothers in Baltimore City have a new resource to help them make the transition to motherhood. On June 28, 13 “youth mentors” were trained in the Text4Baby program

by Elizabeth “Betty” Jordan and Ellen Ray of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing as part of the B’more for Healthy Babies initiative.

Text4Baby, a free messaging service of 51-character text messages that was developed in collaboration with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, offers tips and advice on everything from breastfeeding to immunizations, three times a week.

“Because of the number of young women of childbearing age that we want to reach, text messages make sense to really target this audience,” says Jordan, an assistant professor and also a board member for the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition.

Since Text4Baby began in January, more than 50,000 women in 41 states have registered for the educational program.

The Safe Sleep for Babies campaign, also a program of the B’more for Healthy Babies initiative, focuses on educating parents and caregivers on the dangers of infant deaths while sleeping, and how these deaths can be prevented.

“Immediately reducing the number of infants dying from preventable deaths in Baltimore is a critical goal,” said Rafael Lopez, president and chief executive of the Baltimore Family League, “but we’re trying to build community awareness of the issue and, ultimately, strengthen policies and public systems that will help educate families and protect infants for years to come.”

Youth mentors, all from the Baltimore City Public Schools, will canvass neighborhoods, hang posters, answer questions and distribute fliers about the Text4Baby and Safe Sleep programs.

The initiative, a partnership involving the Baltimore City Health Department, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and the Family League of Baltimore City, seeks to build widespread involvement in preventing infant deaths through education, community outreach and a media campaign.

CareFirst has committed $3 million to support the three-year initiative.

Join us for the High Holydays and find out what everyone is talking about.

Rosh Hashanah starts Sept. 8 Yom Kippur starts Sept. 17 For ticket information and our special offer for newcomers, email gazette@bethambaltimore.org or call 410.523.2446.

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Contributing Writers Applied Physics Laboratory Michael Buckley, Paulette Campbell Bloomberg School of Public Health Tim Parsons, Natalie Wood-Wright Carey Business School Andrew Blumberg, Patrick Ercolano Homewood Lisa De Nike, Amy Lunday, Dennis O’Shea, Tracey A. Reeves, Phil Sneiderman Johns Hopkins Medicine Christen Brownlee, Stephanie Desmon, Neil A. Grauer, Audrey Huang, John Lazarou, David March, Katerina Pesheva, Vanessa Wasta, Maryalice Yakutchik Peabody Institute Richard Selden SAIS Felisa Neuringer Klubes School of Education James Campbell, Theresa Norton School of Nursing Kelly Brooks-Staub University Libraries and Museums Brian Shields, Heather Egan Stalfort

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August 2, 2010 • THE GAZETTE

3

University mourns killing of research All Children’s Hospital in Florida to integrate with JH Medicine technologist Stephen Pitcairn, 23

By Tracey A. Reeves

By Gary Stephenson

Homewood

Johns Hopkins Medicine

tephen B. Pitcairn, a respected Johns Hopkins research technologist and an aspiring physician, was laid to rest last week in his native Florida, days after he was killed in what police said was an apparent robbery.

Pitcairn, who was 23, was walking home from Penn Station around 11 p.m. on Sunday, July 25, when a man and a woman approached him in the 2600 block of St. Paul Street, demanded money and then stabbed him, according to Baltimore police.

Pitcairn had just returned from a weekend visit with his sister in New York and was talking on his cell phone with his mother when he was attacked, police said. Pitcairn died on the scene as a neighbor who heard the attack ran to help him and held his hand, according to police. Two people have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with his death.

In an e-mail to the Johns Hopkins community, Ronald J. Daniels, president of the university, and Edward D. Miller, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said that Pitcairn’s death is a tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues, as well as for Johns Hopkins and for science.

By all accounts, Daniels and Miller said, Pitcairn had “a remarkably promising career in medicine,” and he was in the process of applying to medical school for admission next year with the full support of members of the Johns Hopkins faculty.

“The loss of any member of our Johns Hopkins community impacts us all,” Daniels said in a public statement. “Everyone at the university joins me in expressing our sympathies to Stephen’s family, colleagues and friends.” Miller concurred. “This is a terrible, terrible loss,” he said.

Pitcairn, who died two days before his 24th birthday, was a native of Jupiter, Fla. He worked as a researcher under Gregg Semenza in the School of Medicine’s Institute for Cell Engineering and was assisting Semenza in the study of breast cancer. The young researcher had applied to Semenza’s lab while still a student at Kalamazoo College in Michigan from which he gradu-

ohns Hopkins Medicine and All Children’s Hospital & Health System of St. Petersburg, Fla., have signed a letter of intent to integrate. After due diligence is completed sometime later this year, ACH will join the Johns Hopkins Health System as a fully integrated member of JHM. JHHS and its affiliates, including The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Suburban Hospital and Howard County General Hospital, along with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, make up Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Under terms of the integration, ACH will retain its name and its long-standing commitment to the children of Florida and its community. Donations made to the hospital’s foundation will remain for the benefit of ACH, and leadership and day-to-day operation of the 259-bed free-standing pediatric hospital and outreach facilities in eight west Florida counties are not expected to change as a result of the integration. Board governance structure guarantees that local community leaders will continue to provide guidance and oversight of ACH as majority members of the hospital’s board of trustees.

This is a noncash transaction—no purchase or sale—but rather an opportunity for All Children’s to join a system with a 120-year history of educating physicians and pioneering breakthroughs to benefit future generations globally.

As nonprofit institutions with long histories of patient care, teaching and research benefiting their communities and beyond, ACH and JHM share similar missions.

“The integration of All Children’s into Johns Hopkins Medicine creates a synergy that allows both partners to continue our mission-centric work in children’s health care,” said Gary Carnes, president and CEO of All Children’s Health System. “We believe it increases All Children’s value as a key community asset, extending benefits near and beyond to the families of children in need of topnotch clinical care by adding the benefits that the world-class teaching and research opportunities of Johns Hopkins

S

J Stephen Pitcairn

ated last year with a degree in economics.

Semenza said that former Johns Hopkins University President William C. Richardson, now a member of the Kalamazoo College board of trustees, was so impressed with Pitcairn’s undergraduate work that he called Semenza to support Pitcairn’s application to his lab. As an undergraduate, Pitcairn spent a year in Japan working with stem cells in a research lab at Nihon University, and he was fluent in Japanese.

He also interned at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Biomotion Foundation in Palm Beach, Fla. In June 2009, Pitcairn joined Johns Hopkins as a lab technician and was promoted just a year later to the position of research technologist.

Semenza said he was impressed with Pitcairn and the work he did in the lab.

“Stephen was a remarkable young man and a dedicated member of the team,” Semenza said. “You knew he was going to do great things.”

Following his death, friends and family of Pitcairn’s fashioned a makeshift memorial on the block where he was killed, decorating it with flowers, pictures of him and even a birthday cake.

Pitcairn is survived by his mother and father and two sisters. To express condolences and/or make donations, go to www.

PalmBeachPost.com/obituaries.

Medicine will bring.”

“Integration with Johns Hopkins will position us to jointly shape the future of children’s health care in partnership with an unparalleled leader in medical research and teaching,” said Claudia Sokolowski, All Children’s Health System board chair. “The potential economic impact for St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay area and the state of Florida is significant and lasting. But the positive impact for children and their families will extend well beyond our geographic reach for generations to come.”

While details of the transaction are yet to be finalized, the basic outline of the plan calls for ACH to retain its voluntary medical staff and physician organizations, including those University of South Florida physicians practicing at ACH. Additionally, the plan calls for ACH to operate under the direction of the JHHS governance structure in the same manner as The Johns Hopkins Hospital and other hospital members of JHHS. Edward D. Miller, the Frances Watt Baker, M.D., and Lenox D. Baker Jr. Dean of the Medical Faculty at Johns Hopkins and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said, “All Children’s is a very appealing organization because of its robust, high-quality clinical programs, its strong regional presence and very high-quality leadership team. The full integration of All Children’s into Johns Hopkins Medicine offers a unique opportunity to both institutions,” he said. “With this integration—and as part of its historic mission—Johns Hopkins Medicine can leverage the intellectual and human capital within its pediatrics programs to expand the reach and impact of its current clinical, teaching and research programs.”

Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of JHM, noted that Johns Hopkins is the birthplace of modern pediatrics and embraces this chance to grow. “Integrating with such an outstanding pediatrics medical center as All Children’s Hospital, which is also such a strong community and regional asset, is very attractive,” he said. “Johns Hopkins’ commitment to its own community has never wavered in more than a century, and we know that All Children’s shares a similar commitment to its own community. This is the shared commitment and vision we will build upon with this new integration.”

Novel radiotracer shines light on brains of Alzheimer’s patients Could aid in diagnosing, tracking progression, developing therapeutics B y C h r i s t e n B r o wn

lee

Johns Hopkins Medicine

A

trial of a novel radioactive compound readily and safely distinguished the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients from those of healthy volunteers on brain scans and opens the doors to making such imaging available beyond facilities that can manufacture their own radioactive compounds.

The results, reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the June Journal of Nuclear Medicine, could lead to better ways to distinguish Alzheimer’s from other types of dementia, track disease progression and develop new therapeutics to fight the memory-ravaging disease.

Previously, the only way to peer into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients was through autopsy or with a radioactive compound used in scans, or radiotracer, known as Pittsburgh compound or PIB. PIB is drawn to the beta-amyloid protein, which accumulates

abnormally in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. However, PIB has a half-life of only 20 minutes, meaning that half the substance degenerates every 20 minutes after it is made; consequently, PIB’s use is possible at only the few hospitals or academic medical centers with facilities to manufacture it.

To solve this conundrum, Dean F. Wong, a professor of radiology and psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his colleagues looked to a new radiotracer known as 18F-AV-45, or florbetapir F18. This compound, based on the radioactive isotope fluorine-18, is drawn to beta-amyloid, as is PIB. However, unlike PIB, florbetapir has a half-life of about 110 minutes, greatly increasing its ability to be transported significant distances from manufacturing facilities.

Testing the new compound for the first time in humans, Wong and his colleagues recruited 26 volunteers: 11 previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 15 healthy subjects of similar age who performed normally on cognitive tests. Each of these volunteers received an injection of florbetapir, then received a PET scan of their brains.

The brain scans, acquired over a 90-minute period, allowed the researchers to see the uptake of florbetapir in the brain over time.

Florbetapir had significantly heavier accu-

mulation in the brains of the Alzheimer’s patients compared to those of the healthy volunteers, collecting in regions expected to be high in beta-amyloid deposits based on previous research. The results in AD patients were readily distinguishable from those of healthy subjects by 30 minutes after injection, and the differences continued for up to at least 90 minutes after injection of florbetapir. None of the AD patients or healthy volunteers suffered any ill effects from florbetapir; after the scan, they showed normal vital signs, electrocardiograms and blood work.

“We could easily tell apart the two groups of patients. Those without Alzheimer’s disease retained much less of the compound,” Wong said. “This is the first time we’ve been able to get results like this with a compound that can travel beyond the confines of a major academic medical center to the majority of the U.S. population.”

Wong said that florbetapir’s portability could lead to numerous applications for this compound. For example, though Alzheimer’s disease can usually be diagnosed from neurocognitive tests, imaging with florbetapir could help settle tricky cases in which patients might have other forms of dementia.

The compound may also be useful in future studies designed to help solve current medi-

cal mysteries, such as which patients are most likely to progress from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.

Florbetapir may also be useful in trials of new experimental Alzheimer’s therapeutics to measure their success, a purpose for which this compound is already being used on a limited basis, Wong said.

This study was funded in part by Avid Pharmaceuticals, the maker of florbetapir, and by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers who participated in this study are Paul B. Rosenberg, Yun Zhou, Anil Kumar, Vanessa Raymont, Hayden T. Ravert, Robert F. Dannals, Ayon Nandi, James R. Brasic, Weiguo Ye, John Hilton and Constantine Lyketsos.

Related websites Dean F. Wong:

www.hopkinsradiology.org/ Nuclear%20Medicine/Faculty/ Wong

Nuclear Medicine at JHU:

www.hopkinsradiology.org/ Nuclear%20Medicine/Index.html

4 THE GAZETTE • August 2, 2010

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August 2, 2010 • THE GAZETTE

5

Bioethicists urge docs to build trust with sickle-cell patients

By Michael Pena

Berman Institute of Bioethics

F

aculty at the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics have published a study showing that among adults with sickle cell disease, unsatisfactory interactions with health care providers in the past affect their trust in the medical profession more broadly.

“Our research serves as a reminder to clinicians caring for sickle cell patients that simple things like listening to their patients can go a long way toward nurturing trust in what has been a historically strained relationship,” says lead author Carlton Haywood Jr., an associate faculty member at the Berman Institute.

The study is in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

The most commonly known symptoms of sickle cell disease are chronic and acute pain attacks that occur when low oxygen in the body causes red blood cells to become rigid and misshapen; they then get stuck in blood vessels and deprive tissues throughout the body of the oxygen they need.

Powerful pain medicines such as morphine and Dilaudid are used to treat the intense and sudden episodes, called pain crises. But physicians are reluctant to liberally prescribe those narcotic medications, as they can be highly addictive. Adding to a doctor’s wariness is that some patients with sickle cell disease are in and out of the hospital frequently, demanding drugs for pain that by its nature has no objective

signs. Then, Haywood points out, there’s the reality that most people with the disease are African-American, and that many are of lower socioeconomic status. All of those factors can combine to inhibit trust building between the physician and the patient.

“I think both of those issues—race and class—interact with certain aspects of the culture of medicine,” Haywood says. “The culture of medicine is such that clinicians are already a little hesitant about prescribing some of these powerful opioid analgesics because they don’t want patients to become addicted. I think that issues of race and class can make the situation even more complicated.”

Haywood is one of the few African-American bioethicists in the country, and he has sickle cell disease himself. He examines issues of communication and trust between physicians and patients with the disease.

Mary Catherine Beach, a core faculty member at the institute, who also focuses on patient-physician communication, oversaw the study.

For their study, the researchers asked 95 adults with sickle cell disease how often they thought doctors and nurses listened to them carefully. Did providers give thorough explanations when needed and spend enough time with them? Did they show respect for what the patients had to say?

In their analysis, the researchers statistically controlled for other factors that might affect a person’s perception of trust—including demographic information, education and even general levels of optimism—and they still found that lower trust in the medi-

cal profession was linked to poorer patient ratings of provider communication.

The researchers acknowledge that attitudinal factors could not be ruled out altogether. But they are nonetheless confident that their findings highlight the need for clinicians to do more to engender trust among sickle cell patients. “Trust is something that, in many cases, has to be earned,” says Haywood, an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “You have to show that you are worthy of being trusted.”

And because Haywood has sickle cell disease, when he describes this challenge to physicians, it’s also a personal request, he says. “We should be working together, combining my knowledge of how the disease really impacts me with your medical and biological knowledge to come up with the best treatment plan for me,” he says. “And unfortunately, a lot of sickle cell patients don’t feel like their own expertise is being heeded.”

The study builds upon other research that Haywood and Beach have conducted— along with Sophie Lanzkron, director of the Sickle Cell Center for Adults at Johns Hopkins—that looks at how a lack of trust might be the root of other problems facing patients with the condition.

Also this month, the Journal of Hospital Medicine will publish another study by the team that suggests that adult sickle cell patients who walked out of hospitals against a physician’s advice might have done so because they had experienced poor interaction with providers in the past.

And in February, the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved featured a study, led by Lanzkron and co-authored by Haywood, indicating that barriers on the clinician and patient sides are limiting access to hydroxyurea, the first effective drug treatment for modifying the course of sickle cell anemia in the disease’s 100-year history.

Sickle cell disease was the first genetic disease discovered in humans and is the most common condition detected by newborn screening (about one in every 2,500 babies born in the United States). Found in nearly all racial and ethnic groups, the disease is most common among African-Americans (approximately one in every 500).

Haywood’s most recent study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and from the Johns Hopkins Blaustein Pain Research Fund.

Co-authors are Lakshmi Lattimer, of Johns Hopkins; Shawn Bediako, of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Neda Ratanawongsa, of the University of California, San Francisco; and Neil Powe, of UCSF’s San Francisco General Hospital.

Related websites

Carlton Haywood Jr.:

Mary Catherine Beach:

www.bioethicsinstitute.org/ mshome/?id=111 www.bioethicsinstitute.org/ mshome/?id=67

Delay unlikely to worsen tumors for low-risk prostate cancer B y V a n e s s a W a s ta

Johns Hopkins Medicine

J

ohns Hopkins experts have found that men enrolled in an active surveillance program for prostate cancer who eventually needed surgery to remove their prostates fared just as well as men who opted to remove the gland immediately, except if a follow-up biopsy during surveillance showed high-grade cancer.

The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting held in June in Chicago.

Active surveillance, or “watchful waiting,” is an option open to men whose tumors are considered small, low-grade and at low risk of being lethal. Given the potential complications of prostate surgery and the likelihood that certain low-risk tumors do not require treatment, some men opt to enroll in active surveillance programs to monitor PSA levels and receive annual

biopsies to detect cellular changes that signal a higher grade, more aggressive cancer for which treatment is recommended; yet, according to the Johns Hopkins experts, there is concern that delaying surgery in this group until biopsy results worsen may result in cancers that are more lethal and difficult to cure.

Bruce Trock, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute, and his colleagues compared the pathology results of men in an active surveillance group at Johns Hopkins who later had surgery with those who also had low-risk tumors and opted for immediate surgery.

Results initially showed that 116 active surveillance participants who had surgery were more likely to have high-grade, larger tumors than 348 men who had immediate surgery. But Trock says that these results were found in only 43 (37 percent) men in the surveillance group who were recommended for surgery because a follow-up biopsy during surveillance worsened to indi-

cate a high-grade tumor.

“We think that these men had high-grade tumors to begin with that their initial biopsy missed, and this group may be overrepresented in men who are recommended for treatment after an initial period of active surveillance,” Trock says. He adds that, in general, 15 percent to 25 percent of men whose initial biopsy shows a low-risk prostate tumor will actually have a high-grade cancer upon further review of the entire prostate once it is removed.

Apart from the 43 men whose pathology results worsened during surveillance, the remaining men in the surveillance group had pathology results at surgery similar to those in the immediate surgery group. “This means that most tumors are not likely to worsen during the period of active surveillance,” Trock says.

The researchers calculate that the risk of finding high-grade tumors in the entire group of 801 active surveillance patients is low, at about 4.5 percent per year.

Trock is leading a National Cancer Institute–funded study with four other cancer centers to find biomarkers that may identify men who have worse tumors than their initial biopsy indicates.

The Johns Hopkins Active Surveillance program, led by H. Ballentine Carter, a professor of urology, has enrolled 801 men since 1995 and is believed to be the largest such program in the United States. Fourteen men in the program who later had radiation and four who had radical prostatectomy developed recurrences, but no participants have developed distant metastases and none have died from prostate cancer. Fourteen men in the program died from causes unrelated to prostate cancer.

The current study was funded by the Johns Hopkins Prostate Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant awarded by the National Cancer Institute and by Dr. and Mrs. Peter S. Bing. The research also was presented at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting.

HIV treatment observed by patient’s supporter improves survival B y N ata l i e W o o d - W r i g h t

Bloomberg School of Public Health

W

hen applied to HIV care, the community-based model of directly observed therapy, or DOT, has no effect on virologic outcomes but significantly improves patient survival. This is according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in collaboration with colleagues at University of Cape Town, South Africa, who conducted the first randomized controlled trial of patient-nominated treatment supporters providing partial DOT in resource-limited settings. The researchers found that mortality rates were lower among DOT patients than among those using self-monitored antiretroviral therapy, or ART. The results are featured in the June 1 issue of AIDS. Directly observed therapy is a treatment strategy, commonly used in tuberculosis con-

trol programs, in which a health care worker ensures that medication is taken by patients at health care facilities. Previous observational studies suggested the effectiveness of community health supporters (friends or family members) performing DOT antiretroviral therapy as a strategy to improve adherence, but data from randomized trials were lacking.

“Community DOT-ART showed no effect on virologic outcomes but was associated with greater CD4 cell count increases at six-month follow-up,” said lead author Jean B. Nachega, an associate scientist in the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health, who is also a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Infectious Disease at Cape Town’s Stellenbosch University. “More importantly, there were 20 deaths in the control group compared to nine deaths among those who received the intervention, and mortality was independently associated with the study arm

in multivariate Cox regression analyses,” he said. “This survival benefit was not fully explained by improved adherence, virologic or immunologic outcomes.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 274 adult patients initiating antiretroviral therapy at a public HIV clinic in Cape Town. Patients were randomized to treatment-supporter DOT-ART or self-administered ART. In the DOT group, patients selected someone from their own personal network, such as a family member or friend, to observe at least one medication dose every day and provide support. DOT-ART patients and supporters received baseline and followup training and monitoring. Researchers defined the primary endpoints as the number of patients with undetectable HIV viral loads (fewer than 400 copies/ml) and a mean change in CD4 cell counts at six, 12, 18 and 24 months. Secondary endpoints were pill count adherence, new or recurrent AIDS defining illness and all-cause mortality.

“The ‘social capital’ provided by a trusted patient-nominated treatment supporter— e.g., material and emotional support, health care utilization, etc.—may have contributed to save lives, regardless of the DOT component of our intervention,” Nachega said.

“Moving forward, there is a critical need to identify and assess additional communitybased interventions to improve outcomes of HIV patients worldwide. We recommend these community-based DOT-ART interventions be large enough to detect meaningful clinical and public health differences that improve patients’ conditions and save lives. In addition, they should target patients with documented poor adherence and collect both qualitative and quantitative outcomes.”

The research was supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and by a European Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership Senior Fellowship Award.

6 THE GAZETTE • August 2, 2010

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August 2, 2010 • THE GAZETTE

7

Students design early-labor detector to prevent premature births

By Phil Sneiderman

Homewood

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

T

he birth of a baby is usually a joyous event, but when a child is born too early, worrisome complications can occur, including serious health problems for the baby and steep medical bills for the family.

To address this, Johns Hopkins graduate students and their faculty adviser have invented a system to pick up very early signs that a woman is going into labor too soon.

The normal length of a pregnancy is 40 weeks, while babies born before 37 weeks’ gestation are considered to be preterm. By detecting preterm contractions with greater accuracy and sensitivity than existing tools do, the new system could allow doctors to take steps at an earlier stage to prevent premature births, its inventors say.

The health concerns and costs associated with premature births have received increasing attention in recent years, due in part to a rise in the number of multiple births; the use of fertility treatments, which can cause multiple births; and an increase in the number of women having babies later in life. These trends are all associated with a higher risk of preterm labor.

The scope of the problem is significant: The National Center for Health Statistics has reported that about 500,000 premature live births occur annually in the United States alone. In a 2006 report, the Institute of Medicine described the high rate of premature births in the United States as “a public health concern that costs society at least $26 billion a year.” Preterm births are widely linked to neonatal deaths or serious health problems, such as breathing difficulties and brain-development issues.

To help reduce these statistics, the Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students wanted to improve the way doctors detect preterm labor. They designed and built a prototype that is now undergoing testing in animals. With further refinement, the students say, their system could eventually help physicians discover early signs of labor and allow the doctors to delay preterm deliveries, giving these babies more time to mature.

“The problem is, the technology now used by most doctors usually detects preterm labor when it’s so far along that medications can only delay some of these births for a few days,” said Karin Hwang of Ontario, Calif., one of the student inventors. “But if labor can be detected earlier, medications

The JHU biomedical engineering students who helped develop the CervoCheck system are Karin Hwang, Chris Courville, Deepika Sagaram and Rose Huang.

can sometimes prolong the pregnancy by as much as six weeks.”

Hwang was one of four Johns Hopkins students who devised and built the system in a yearlong bioengineering innovations and design master’s degree program. The others were Deepika Sagaram, of Philadelphia; Rose Huang, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Chris Courville, of Lafayette, La. Along with their faculty sponsor, Abimbola AinaMumuney, an assistant professor of maternal fetal medicine in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the students have formed CervoCheck, a limited liability corporation, to advance the project.

The students met Aina-Mumuney last year, early in their degree program, when they were asked to follow physicians on their hospital rounds to discover what they needed most to improve patient care. “I told them it’s really important to know at the earliest possible point when a pregnant patient is contracting,” said Aina-Mumuney. “It’s something I’ve had a strong interest in.”

The students initially proposed a new blood test to find proteins associated with early labor, but Aina-Mumuney steered them toward building a better device to detect physical signals in the expectant mother’s body. Physicians have long relied on a tocodynamometer, a belt that is attached to a woman’s abdomen for external monitor-

ing of uterine contractions, to find signs of preterm labor. But Aina-Mumuney said that this device is not effective at picking up preterm labor very early in a pregnancy, or in cases where the patient is obese. “I suggested that the students come up with an internal device,” she said. “I told them that if we could bypass the abdomen, that would be ideal.”

After much research and brainstorming, the students built a prototype ring made of medical grade biocompatible silicone elastomer. The ring is designed to be compressed and inserted into the vaginal canal at a physician’s office or hospital. Embedded within the ring are sensors designed to pick up electrical signals associated with uterine contractions.

“With these sensors, we’re detecting signals directly from the places in the body where they originate, as opposed to trying to pick them up through the abdominal wall,” said Courville, one of the inventors.

The prototype has not yet been used on human patients, but the students say that early animal test results are promising, and that improvement of the system is continuing.

Their faculty adviser, Aina-Mumuney, said she is pleased by the great enthusiasm that the biomedical engineering students brought to the project. “They can truly see

the impact this could make,” she said. “If we can detect preterm labor at an earlier point and can delay the delivery by six weeks or more, the risk of the baby being born with serious health problems will go down dramatically.”

The costs of caring for premature babies are significant. A recent article in Managed Care said, “The average cost for infants hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units is around $3,000 per day. While the average cost to an employer of a healthy baby born at full term, or 40 weeks of gestation, is $2,830, the average cost for a premature baby is $41,610. If the baby is born at 26 weeks, the cost can quickly rise to $250,000 or more.”

The inventors of the CervoCheck device say that their system may someday help to reduce such expenses. “We estimate that the cost savings could be more than $44,000 per patient for every preterm birth we could prevent,” co-inventor Hwang said.

Working with the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office, the students and Aina-Mumuney established CervoCheck and have obtained a provisional patent covering their invention. The students also have received high marks and prize money in several competitions in which the viability of their device and its sales potential were judged. The team placed first in the University of California, San Francisco, Business Plan Competition; second in business plan contests sponsored by the University of Texas at Arlington and Noetic Technologies; and third in the University of Louisville Cardinal Challenge and the Johns Hopkins University Business Plan Competition. The team’s winnings from these contests totaled $22,000.

All four students recently received their master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins. Sagaram will be entering medical school at Brown University, and Courville has accepted a job at a health care software business. Hwang and Huang have opted to work full time on moving the CervoCheck device toward commercial use. “We’re passionate about seeing this become a reality,” Hwang said.

Related websites Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering:

www.bme.jhu.edu Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design at Johns Hopkins:

http://cbid.bme.jhu.edu

$2.5 million NIH Pioneer Award goes to JHU pharmacologist Liu

io

Maryalice Yakutchik

Johns Hopkins Medicine

A

Johns Hopkins scientist who proposes to design and create an all-new series of novel drugs is one of 17 winners of a special grant known as a Director’s Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

The award, to Jun O. Liu, a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences and oncology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, carries $2.5 million in research support over five years.

As director of the Johns Hopkins Drug Library, which houses 3,000 of the estimated 10,000 drugs used in medical practice, Liu has specialized in finding new uses for often-forgotten drugs. Among the notable discoveries was that a known antifungal antibiotic, itraconazole, is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis, or new blood vessel formation, implicated in cancer, macular degeneration and other diseases.

Based on that finding, itraconazole has entered multiple Phase 2 clinical studies for treating cancer at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer

Center and elsewhere.

Liu also found that an old antibiotic, clofazimine, which was used more than a century ago to treat leprosy, may be effective against autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and psoriasis. Most recently, he screened 175,000 small chemical compounds and identified a class of them that potently and selectively slows down the activity of a protein vital to the growth of tuberculosis. The work showed that the protein is a vulnerable drug target for TB. The Pioneer Award will fund a different sort of research in Liu’s laboratory: studies that let him design and synthesize “cyclic combinatorial libraries,” a collection of small molecules that will serve as probes of protein function in cells as well as provide leads for the development of new medicines.

The name of the collection refers to the cyclic shapes of these molecules, which make more robust compounds than linear chains of atoms. “Combinatorial” refers to a method of creating very large numbers of chemicals by condensing a small number of chemically reactive molecules in all possible combinations. The collections of the compounds as groups are the “libraries.”

“Each compound in the combinatorial libraries will be embedded with a com-

Jun O. Liu

mon structure that serves as a beacon to help track the compound during large-scale screening assays,” Liu said. “These libraries will be screened to identify compounds that bind and affect the activity of newly identified proteins in the human proteome.”

Once such compounds are found, they can be used to alter and study the functions of those proteins, Liu said. If a target is involved in a disease process, the compound can become a new lead for drug development.

“Jun is one of the world leaders in using small molecules to dissect cellular mechanisms,” said Philip A. Cole, Marshall-Maren Professor and director of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins.

“His outstanding track record and exceptional creativity make him extremely deserving of the NIH Pioneer Award.”

Liu’s interdisciplinary approach to research spans the fields of chemistry, biology and translational medicine and involves a combination of tools and techniques from protein biochemistry and molecular and cell biology to synthetic organic chemistry. He was named a fellow in 2008 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

NIH Director Francis S. Collins said, “NIH is pleased to be supporting scientists from across the country who are taking considered risks in a wide range of areas in order to accelerate research. We look forward to the results of their work.”

Liu is the Pharmacology Department’s second consecutive Pioneer awardee, following Jin Zhang, an associate professor.

8 THE GAZETTE • August 2, 2010

Sharkey Continued from page 1 youth and adult students.

Before joining Peabody, Sharkey served as dean of the Cleveland Institute of Music, director of music at the Purcell School in London and head of composition and academic music at Wells Cathedral School, also in England.

A Delaware native, he is a 1986 graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and earned a master of music degree in composition from Yale University in 1988 and a master of philosophy from Cambridge University a year later.

He was a founding member of the Pirasti Piano Trio, which recorded with ASV Records in the United Kingdom and toured throughout Europe and the United States.

His compositions have been performed by the St. Louis Symphony and in chamber concerts in the United States and Britain.

Sharkey recently sat down with The Gazette to discuss the state of music education at Peabody, the school’s deep connection with the rest of Johns Hopkins, its outreach efforts and a host of other topics.

The big question: Does Sharkey watch Fox TV’s popular musical show Glee? No spoilers here; read on.

Q: Peabody’s Mount Vernon campus underwent a rebirth before you arrived, in the form of a $26.8 million renovation. Where do we stand in terms of current capital projects?

A: I think we have a beautiful facility. We’re

not done paying for it. I’m still trying to fundraise for the final couple of million.

One of the challenges of a building 150 years old is facility upkeep. We have four roofs that need replacing, HVAC systems that need maintaining. Then there are issues of deferred maintenance that need addressing. At this point in time it’s not a key priority of mine to build another building, although we could use one. We need more practice space—maybe somewhere underground or by the back steps is where we could put it. We could also use acoustical improvements to Friedberg Hall.

But instead I’m trying to get our orchestra to get out more. I would say my current focus is on the educational program here: waking up Peabody to the world, and the world to Peabody.

Q: How much has what we’ve already done in terms of facility upgrades helped recruit students and faculty?

A: I think it definitely helps. One of the

things I did when I came was to move the audition table to the bottom of the staircase in the Grand Arcade. Up until then we had new students come up here, opposite my office, to the Bank of America Lounge.

They had to find their way, toting their materials. It was not ideal. We wanted them to come out of the garage and look at the grand flowing staircase in this beautiful space and say, “Wow, cancel my Juilliard audition; let me just stay here.”

Q: Where do we stand in terms of prominence?

A: We are definitely one of the top interna-

tional schools of music. Our challenge going forward has to do with scholarships. Just like Johns Hopkins’ Homewood undergraduate schools find it a challenge for scholarships to be need-blind, so do we. We have to take into consideration merit. A top violinist, a top pianist, a top singer—even if they are from a family with the means to pay—will expect a handsome scholarship. They are going into music, and their parents know that doesn’t necessarily translate into a huge salary. We are in the merit market, and it’s amazing we do as well as we do because too often we can be outbid $10,000 to $12,000 per student.

Q: You just came back from overseas.

What is your general agenda on these

trips? Is it recruiting students and faculty, extending the reach of Peabody?

A: A little bit of all of the above. Four times

a year, I and/or my deans will head to Singapore to nurture our wonderful partnership with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. I sit on their board. We guide them on curricular matters and do a number of shared projects.

We are planning, for example, a shared three-part musical festival in the summer of 2011 with the Lausanne Conservatoire and Yong Siew Toh, and we might add the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from London and others. It will be an international Mozart festival that will nurture our partnerships and future student and faculty exchanges and dramatic projects.

Other travel I do might involve looking at what our alums are doing. For instance, in Korea we have a wonderful, highly qualified group of alums who are key music-makers and music teachers there. We want to keep celebrating what they are doing and keep in connection with them.

Other parts of my travel promote Peabody where we have not historically promoted ourselves. I just came back from Shanghai, for example, and while Johns Hopkins has a major presence in China, namely the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, Peabody as an entity does not. Our rival music schools such as Juilliard and London’s Royal Academy have been in China for some time.

I also travel to Europe a good deal. Conservatories are modeled on the European model, and some of the great musical teaching continues to go on there. We have a regular presence in Europe and have set up exchanges with the Conservatoire de Paris, London’s Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School.

Q: You have also traveled domestically, most recently for the university’s Rising to the Challenge events, [an informational “road tour” led by President Ronald J. Daniels] held in major cities across the United States.

A: One of the things we feel very excited

about is Peabody contributing to the university mission. We feel it is mutually beneficial.

In Rising to the Challenge we are able to do a multitude of things. We have had our dean on the Los Angeles panel. I was invited to give a presentation at the end of the session on creativity in New York. What we’re able to show is that what we are doing in music is deeply connected to other parts of the university, and collaborative in nature.

Q: What specifically did you do at this event?

A: I brought a piano quartet to New York,

and we divided a Dvorak piano quartet into short chunks and had them play it.

Sometimes I instructed them to play badly on purpose. I asked the other instruments to not respond to the first violin, to not respond musically to the questions or the drama that the first violin was creating.

And then I showed the audience how if they listened with more attention that they could work out a dialogue and harness their energy and tie it to the first violin, to show how the piece can come alive.

I also wanted to show how Dvorak would try to paint a scene, how he would conjure up the image of a rowboat on a calm lake and then get more intense and build toward a climax. I wanted to help a nonmusical audience find more to listen to in a classical piece, but mainly I spoke about creativity: how the performer thinks, how the coach thinks and how we make it better than it was.

Q: Speaking of bringing music to people who may not be music lovers, tell me a little about your philosophy on bringing Peabody into the community.

A: Our vision is that music enhances every-

one’s life. It should be a right, and one of the main avenues of self-expression and creativity. One of our key divisions is our Preparatory, which reaches [nearly] 1,700 kids from around the region. They come to our branch here, they come to Towson, they come to Howard County and Annapo-

lis. But we weren’t getting many from the inner city. They couldn’t afford us. It was largely a middle-class program. So I’ve been delighted with the growth of our work with inner city students from Baltimore.

We have started a free program called Tuned-In for wind and brass players of middle school age. It started with seven students and now has 30. They are a proper wind ensemble and are performing very well.

They collaborated with the Montgomery County Youth Ensemble, and they are going to play the national anthem at an Orioles game. They are doing great things.

In a similar vein, we started a boys dance program in connection with the Preparatory’s long-standing dance program. We started with 20 inner city boys doing ballet.

Eighteen have continued, and eight of them were so advanced within eight months of training that they danced in our spring production of Sleeping Beauty.

The Tuned-In program grew out of our mentoring program, where we work with 60 Baltimore City music teachers every year, giving curricular advice, sometimes a shoulder to cry on, classroom management advice. This program helped spot talented middle school students that we drew together to make the Tuned-In ensemble.

Another program, which has the potential to be a model of delivering music training in an urban setting, is our work with the Saint Ignatius Loyola Academy School around the corner from us. We’ve been teaching a group in the school each year how to compose. We bring them over to Peabody to perform their compositions. Peabody students play their pieces, our Recording Arts and Sciences students record them on CD, and the Saint Ignatius students sometimes perform alongside our students. They write the whole gamut of music. It could be hiphop, a string quartet or could combine the two.

Q: You’re igniting their creativity.

A: I find composition so essential to devel-

oping a young person’s self-expression. It’s similar to art. If you learn how to paint, no matter how good you are, you have the ability to say, “I made this.” Too often music misses that moment. We get too involved with learning the history of the music, or the theory behind it, or how to play the music of others. These are all critical things, but composing is ownership.

Q: My 8-year-old recently wrote a song and couldn’t wait for me to come home so she could sing it to me.

A: You hit the nail on the head. That is

what we call a peak experience. Children are lucky when they have a number of those peak experiences, where they say, “I made this.” The benefit for us down the line is not that more folks will continue into musical study but that they will enjoy it and let music into their lives.

Q: We seem to be forcing the issue here somewhat, being proactive. Is classical music and its appreciation somewhat of a dying art?

A: I wouldn’t say it’s a dying art, but I

would say that it has to compete in people’s superficially busy multitasking lives. I say superficial because it’s too easy to say, “I’ve done a million things, that I’ve done these errands while at the same time I was on my BlackBerry and drinking a cup of coffee.” If you really drill down deeply, what have you accomplished?

Music and dance demand time. They unfold over a period of time, and in most classical music instances, it’s longer than a rock or pop song’s two minutes and 30 seconds. It requires paragraphs, the way a novel does.

We think there is a tremendous benefit in developing attention spans but even more deeply in exploring genuine human emotion, these peak experiences like when our child is born, when we fall in love, when we see Venice for the first time. These are moments that are burned into your brain, and music captures these.

Getting back to the root of your question, I think the way people want their music delivered is changing. Our musicians have

to be more adaptable. They still have to play considerably well in a symphony setting, but they have to be very comfortable with early music and with rock. They have to be comfortable with jazz and the underground movement in music. Adaptability is critical.

That is one of the strengths of Peabody and Johns Hopkins; we can engage in that critical aspect of depth.

Q: Both you and your predecessor appear to be championing the importance of entrepreneurship in music. What are we currently doing in this area?

A: We have long taught a Business of Music

class, and we are now growing it into a minor. We are very excited about that. We are also adding a track in entrepreneurship for community music-making. We started a class in creative leadership, training Conservatory students in project management to draw creativity out of schoolchildren and adults. We want them to cope with whatever presents itself, a little like a chef who looks in a cupboard and says, “What do I have to make this dish?” They ask the students to see what they’ve got—one plays the drums, one wrote a poem as part of an English project. The person says, “I will help you knit these things together.” More and more schools and even businesses are hiring people to teach this kind of leadership.

We also recently underwent a curricular review to make sure that our students have time to make more connections between the breadth that we offer. So you can be a violinist at Peabody, studying all the things that a violinist has and always will have to study—how to play concertos, how to play these sonatas, these orchestral excerpts— but at the same time we want you to have room to maybe study jazz improvisation.

Maybe spend some time doing baroque violin. Maybe spend some time partnering with a contemporary composer or playing in an opera pit. We want to lead them down these pathways so that they are able to do adaptable things in their profession.

Q: What is the state and depth of Peabody’s relationship with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra?

A: We have a lovely, deep partnership with

them, starting at the top with Marin Alsop, their music director, who is on our faculty as a distinguished visiting faculty member in conducting. Whenever she is in town, she works with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar, two of our conducting faculty, and with our students. Peabody students are invited to help cover her concerts, which means that they learn chunks of the repertoire so if she happened to be indisposed they could step in.

Plus we share a program called the BSOPeabody Conducting Fellowship. We had the first graduate a year ago, Joseph Young, who has just become the assistant conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. We have a young man named Ilyich Rivas—who is about to turn 17—who basically does the work of an assistant conductor at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra while being a student here.

The BSO has this well-established ORCHkids youth development program, and we provide a great deal of our Preparatory teachers as their staffing.

Q: What are some trends in terms of music education here?

A: Music is now the second most popular

minor on the Homewood campus, and it’s so popular that I foresee—if we can get all the details worked out—a bachelor of arts in music. I feel the Homewood campus would only benefit from having such a possibility, a major in music alongside its great work in the humanities. It would help Johns Hopkins compete with its peer schools, who have such degree programs.

Q: How much does modern music influence what a conservatory does? Does a Lady Gaga or a Coldplay reach within these walls?

Continued on page 9

August 2, 2010 • THE GAZETTE

Sharkey Continued from page 8 A: Well, Lady Gaga is not on my iPod

[laughs]. But actually there is a lot of cross traffic between the popular world and the classical world. In fact, there always has been. Strauss and Brahms would have influenced one another; some of the dances that would have been played in the baroque era absolutely influenced Bach. And today there is a tremendous influence between the pop world and the classical world, harmonically but also in terms of the venues and kinds of styles of performances.

I think the classical world has learned from the rock world about engagement with the audience. I’m a fan of Sting, and I like that the audience feels free to sing along with him, not sit in reverential silence. There’s a balance in there somewhere because classical music is softer and not amplified. I think classical musicians are more comfortable now, not always playing in tails or 19thcentury dress. They are more comfortable mixing up the performances. You’ll see conductors like Marin Alsop talking with the audience during or after a concert.

Q: Tell me about the upcoming 1971 concert.

A: Next year, as part of our distinguished

Adalman series, one of the concerts is titled 1971, which will focus on a range of music in that year from artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Joni Mitchell, and contemporary composers such as George Crumb and Steve Reich.

Q: Staying on the subject of popular music, do you watch the show Glee, and do you think its popularity will have any impact on music education?

A: Well, first, yes I have. My daughters

watch it, too. I like the lady who is in charge of the cheerleaders [laughs]. Very funny.

I think it will. I think on the whole it has a positive effect. It’s very different from what we do, of course. It’s like a musical on Broadway. It’s not true life. A band doesn’t suddenly start playing a love song when you are by your locker. But it does show a connection between emotion and music, what human beings are feeling and how it can be expressed in music. That is something I’m always keen to remind people of. What we are about in music is one of the deepest forms of communication there is. That can range from a Glee-like Broadway song to a Mahler symphony. We need this form of communication. You only need to listen to a day of the House of Representatives to learn that we have lost the ability to communicate.

Q: Tuition. You mentioned earlier that this is a challenge for us. How so?

A: It’s a real challenge, and one of the chal-

lenges for all conservatories. There were more than 100 at the turn of the [19th] century, depending on how you count them; there are 10 or 12 left in the United States.

Peabody was nearly one of these casualties until we became part of Johns Hopkins.

Why? Because a conservatory is a strange and difficult economic model to fund. We are about one incredibly qualified faculty member teaching one student at a time. In other parts of the university, that faculty member would more than likely teach a lecture and be involved in research that would bring in income. We don’t have a research stream of income; we rely on tuition and philanthropy. It’s a constant challenge. It’s the master/apprentice method of passing on the greatest musical tradition there is.

series. And then underpinning all of these are the student recitals required for graduation. They are the equivalent of a senior thesis. There’s also chamber music recitals, and outreach recitals. Our Creative Access group does about 70 student concerts in venues around the city in hospices, hospitals, schools and other venues.

This is just the Conservatory. In the Prep there are recitals at the end of every year, and many others. It’s a huge tapestry of concerts of a whole range of music going on. It’s a community service, and how our students learn their craft. You need the magic “X” ingredient of an audience to energize and enhance the creative spontaneity.

Q: The Jazz program here is already 10 years old?

A: Yes. It’s really getting enmeshed in the

curriculum, and we’re doing some incredibly exciting concerts, ranging from a big band to a multimedia ensemble, to a Latin band and

year, and almost 1,000 concerts of all types.

We have our opera and jazz concerts, our early music, our Adalman faculty recital

Short-term leases available!

Furnished or unfurnished studios & 1 and 2 bedroom apartments!

• Walk-in closets

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copy of this ad and we’ll waive the application fee!*

• 24 hour front desk service

•

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Elevator building with fantastic views of downtown Baltimore!

Located in historic Charles Village!

Walk to JHU Homewood Campus, shops, and restaurants!

Directly across from Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins & Shuttle to JHMI. Just minutes to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor & tourist attractions.

Laundry Facility on Site.

Fitness Center on Site.

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410-243-1216

A: I’m trying to go back to [Charles] Dick-

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Q: What are you reading?

B’nai Israel

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ings of Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Beethoven’s nine symphonies; I have the complete Sting collection. One of the things I’m listening to right now is some acts from the 1970s, just out of nostalgia.

Electric Light Orchestra and stuff like that.

These pop songs can take me back to that dance when I was nervously waiting to ask someone to dance with me.

A: We give nearly 100 major concerts a

• University Parkway at West 39th Street

Call or stop by for more information 410-243-1216

A: A whole range. I have great record-

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Q: Can you talk about Peabody performances?

Providing HOME for Hopkins Students

• Private Garage Parking

Q: What are you listening to right now?

AND includes gas, water, heat and optional furniture!

Penthouse

• Solarium

a small ensemble group. A group has gone on tour to Japan and is about to go on tour in Singapore. We are really reaching out with our Jazz program.

Studio Apartments from $815

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• Three bedroom, with two and a half baths

9

B’nai Israel is Maryland’s oldest operating Modern Orthodox synagogue.

Located in downtown Baltimore, we offer a friendly atmosphere in a unique architectural setting.

Affordably priced memberships and high holiday tickets are available to individuals and families of all Jewish backgrounds. Please ask us about our free high holiday childrens service.

Kiddush following Rosh Hashanah services.

B’nai Israel Congregation Est. 1873

27 Lloyd Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-732-5454 www.bnaiisraelcongregation.org

10 THE GAZETTE • August 2, 2010 B U L L E T I N

P O S T I N G S

Job Opportunities The Johns Hopkins University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristic in any student program or activity administered by the university or with regard to admission or employment.

Homewood

Office of Human Resources: Suite W600, Wyman Bldg., 410-516-8048 JOB# POSITION

43097 43101 43218 43251 43294 43298 43336 43397 43405 43406 43411 43442 42958

Sr. Programmer Analyst Accounting Aide Alumni Relations Coordinator Network Analyst Research Service Analyst Employee Assistance Clinician Programmer Analyst Data Assistant Accountant Sr. OD Specialist Accounting Manager Instructional Facilitator Sr. Employer Outreach Coordinator

Schools of Public Health and Nursing Office of Human Resources: 2021 East Monument St., 410-955-3006 JOB#

43084 43833 43083 44245 44290 44672 41388 44067 44737 42479 44555 42720 44648 44488 43425 43361 44554 44684

POSITION

Academic Program Coordinator Grant Writer Administrative Coordinator Laboratory Technician LAN Administrator III Adminstrative Secretary Program Officer Research Program Assistant II Sr. Administrative Coordinator Sr. Research Nurse Instructional Technologist Financial Aid Coordinator Assay Technician Research Technologist Research Nurse Research Scientist Administrative Specialist Biostatistician

School of Medicine

Office of Human Resources: 98 N. Broadway, 3rd floor, 410-955-2990 JOB#

38035 35677 30501 22150

43015 43041 43060

43087

43115 43152 43244 43245 43250

43403 42291 42755 42771 42861 42942 43341 43395

LAN Administrator II Software Engineer DE Instructor, Center for Talented Youth Assistant Program Manager, Center for Talented Youth Residential Life Administrator Tutor Building Operations Supervisor Building Maintenance Technician Program Manager, Center for Talented Youth Admissions Officer Project Manager LDP Stationary Engineer Programmer Analyst Financial Manager Multimedia Technician Sr. Technical Support Analyst Research Service Analyst

42973 43847 43985 43790

42939 43754 42669 43753 44242 44661 43597 44008

44005 41877 44583 43933 44065 44112 44382 43984 39063 44603

Clinical Outcomes Coordinator Sr. Programmer Analyst Residency Program Coordinator Associate/Sr. Associate Director, Development Research Data Coordinator Malaria Adviser Data Assistant Budget Specialist Academic Program Administrator Sr. Research Program Coordinator Technical Editor Manuscript Editor, American Journal of Epidemiology Research Service Analyst Health Educator Multimedia Production Supervisor Sr. Research Service Analyst Research Data Manager Sr. Laboratory Coordinator Academic Services Assistant Lab Supervisor Research Assistant Budget Analyst

38064 37442 37260 38008 36886

Administrative Specialist Sr. Administrative Coordinator Sr. Administrative Coordinator Sponsored Project Specialist Program Administrator

POSITION

Assistant Administrator Sr. Financial Analyst Nurse Midwife Physician Assistant

This is a partial listing of jobs currently available. A complete list with descriptions can be found on the Web at jobs.jhu.edu.

Notices Funding for BPH/LUTS Research —

Funding is available to support pilot and feasibility projects focused on the common male diseases of benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms. Awards of up to $50,000 for up to two years are available to fund the projects, which are part of a new NIDDK-supported George M. O’Brien Urology Research Center grant received by Robert Getzenberg of the Brady Urological Institute. New ideas are encouraged. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 7. For more

APL Continued from page 1 ing equipment; and larger entrances and open areas, allowing staff to assemble larger spacecraft and conduct tests on components that require more space, such as large solararray deployments.

“What a great occasion for the Applied Physics Laboratory,” said John Sommerer, head of APL’s Space Department. “Just last December, APL celebrated its 50th anni-

S PA C I O U S

G A R D E N A PA RT M E N T L I V I N G I N

R O L A N D PA R K

• Large airy rooms • Hardwood Floors • Private balcony or terrace • Beautiful garden setting • Private parking available • University Parkway at West 39th St. 2 & 3 bedroom apartments located in a private park setting. Adjacent to Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus and minutes from downtown Baltimore.

410-243-1216

105 West 39th St. • Baltimore, MD 21210 Managed by The Broadview at Roland Park BroadviewApartments.com

information, visit the project website at http://pilotprojects.onc.jhmi.edu/index.cfm? fuseAction=viewDetails&probject=35.

Mexican-American Focus Group —

U.S.-born Mexican-American participants are needed for a research study on responses to political television advertisements from the 2008 presidential campaign. The group interview, lasting about two hours, will take place in the early evening in East Baltimore. Participants must be registered voters between 18 and 35 years old, U.S.-born with at least one parent from Mexico and be bilingual in English and Spanish. $100 compensation. Contact Cristina Salazar at salazarcristina@yahoo.com.

versary as a space-faring organization. This facility will allow us to work on other spectacular voyages of discovery over the coming decades.”

APL has applied for LEED certification for the new building. The project is already off to a green start: APL was able to recycle 98 percent of the material from the 50-yearold Building 11 that was demolished to make way for Building 30.

APL has approximately 4,500 staff members who occupy 32 buildings on its 399acre main campus and six leased buildings in the adjoining Montpelier Research Park.

G

Breaking ground for APL’s new spacecraft integration and test facility, designated as Building 30, are Dave Delgado, the building’s project manager; Mo Dehghani, APL Technical Services Department head; John Sommerer, APL Space Department head; Ken Ulman, Howard County executive; APL Director Ralph Semmel; Mary Kay Sigaty, Howard County Council; Tom Garino, project architect, HDR CUH2A; and Ted Baker, executive vice president, Manhattan Construction.

Classifieds Continued from page 11

SERVICES/ITEMS OFFERED OR WANTED

Woodcliffe Manor Apartments

B O A R D

Junk cars, unwanted cars towed away free of charge and recycled 100 percent. Some paid for. John, 410-419-3902.

Friday Night Swing Dance Club, great bands, open to public, no partners necessary. 410663-0010 or www.fridaynightswing.com.

Need help with your JHU retirement plan investments portfolio? Free consultations.

410-435-5939 or treilly1@aol.com.

Tutor available: all subjects, levels; remedial, gifted and talented; also, college counseling, speech and essay writing, editing, proofreading, database design and programming. 410337-9877 or i1__@hotmail.com.

Affordable prof’l landscaper/certified horticulturist avail to maintain existing gardens; also designing, planting or masonry.

Free consultations. David, grogan.family@ hotmail.com or 410-683-7373.

Loving, trustworthy dog walker avail day and evening; overnight sitting w/ complimentary housesitting services, impeccable refs. alwayshomepc@gmail.com or 443-801-7487.

Licensed landscaper avail for scheduled lawn maintenance, other landscaping services, trash hauling, fall/winter leaf and snow removal. Taylor Landscaping LLC, 410-8126090 or romilacapers@comcast.net.

Let a seasoned pro take fantastic photos for interviews/auditions, special events or to create lasting memories of your family. Edward S Davis photography, videography. 443-6959988 or eddaviswrite@comcast.net.

Bolton Hill family with 2-yr-old needs help with day care, pickup, child care and cooking 2–3 evenings/wk, 4:30–7:30 pm. Nicole, 443-799-9384.

Affordable, reliable, pet-friendly house cleaners. 443-528-3637 for free estimate.

Horse boarding, stall avail at the Graham Equestrian Center, 2 mi from the beltway on Harford Rd, full-care boarding, premium feed, 24 hr turnout (except for bad weather), lg run-in sheds, free trailer prkng, worming and blanketing services, access to Gunpowder trails. $400/mo. info@graham. org or 410-663-4445.

To purchase boxed display ad space in The Gazette, contact

The Gazelle Group 410-343-3362

August 2, 2010 • THE GAZETTE

Classifieds APARTMENTS/HOUSES FOR RENT

Baltimore City, updated 1BR condo in secure gated community, assigned prkng, swimming and tennis, nr hospital and university. $1,200/mo incl utils. 410-951-4750 or 412-646-1751.

Bayview area, 1BR apt across from medical center, close to I-95 , 895, Canton, Fells Point, Greektown restaurants, walking distance to JHH shuttle. $650/mo incl utils. Carol, 443-386-8477 or cg66701@ gmail.com.

Belvedere Square, 2BR, 1.5BA upstairs apt, lg living and dining area, fp, hdwd flrs, kitchen, balcony, W/D in basement, 10 mins to Homewood, 15 mins to JHMI. $875/mo + utils. 410-435-6417 or ankumar1120@ yahoo.com.

Butchers Hill, renovated 2BR, 2BA, roof deck plus patio, 1 blk to Patterson Park, walking distance to JHMI. $1,700/mo. 443955-0260 or s.stark.casagrande@gmail.com.

Butchers Hill, studio apt, great location, close to SoN, SPH, JHH, e-mail for details and photos. lildeeh@hotmail.com.

Canton, 2BR RH on Patterson Park w/roof deck, basement, driveway, wireless/cable; beautifully furnished, nonsmokers only, 5 mins to JHMI/Bayview. $2,200/mo incl cleaning service. 443-386-5967.

Catonsville, near Ellicott City, 2-room efficiency in modernized yet quaint stone house, new A/C and furnace, nr park, free on-street prkng. $765/mo+ utils. 410-409-0692 or lizo99@hotmail.com.

Cedonia, 2BRs avail, new kitchen/flrs, W/D, landscaped fenced yd, deck, free prkng, pets welcome, nr Homewood, JHMI, Morgan State. $710/mo and $550/mo + utils. 410493-2435 or aprede1@yahoo.com.

Charles Village (2907 St Paul St), studio apt, 2nd floor, safe, quiet neighborhood. Offstreet prkng avail w/additional fee. $750/mo incl heat, water. murilo_silvia@hotmail.com or 410-929-9303.

Charles Village, spacious, bright 1BR ($695/ mo) and 2BR ($1,275/mo). 443-253-2113.

M A R K E T P L A C E

renovated, 3rd flr, $800/mo + utils; 1BR, 2nd flr, $600/mo + utils. 410-426-8045.

Guilford, wonderful lg 1BR/1BA condo, pool, sauna, gym, CAC, hdwd flrs, elevator bldg, 24-hr security, underground prkng.

410-889-0446.

Gunpowder Falls bike trail area, registered historic carriage house w/3BRs, 1.5BAs, faculty/grad students only. $1,200/mo. 410-4724241.

Hampden, 3BR, 2BA TH, dw, W/D, fenced yd, nr light rail. $1,100/mo + utils. 410-3782393.

Hampden/Medfield, basement efficiency, walk to Cold Spring light rail. $650/mo incl utils. 443-600-7330.

Hampden/Medfield 2BR, 1BA condo, close to I-83, nr light rail, free prkng, pool. $850/ mo + utils. fallsbridge4411f@gmail.com.

Ocean City, Md (137th St), ocean block, 3BRs, 2BAs, sleeps 8, lg swimming pool, 2 assigned prkng spaces, avail from August 28.

410-544-2814.

Owings Mills, 2BR, 2BA condo, W/D, walkin closets, storage, prkng, pool/tennis court privileges, backs to woods, conv to metro, sm pets negotiable ($250 nonrefundable deposit), pics avail, 1-yr lease. $1,250/mo.

410-336-7952 or ljohnsto@mail.roanoke .edu.

Park City, Utah, 1BR deluxe condo, sleeps 4, great summer, fall and ski season. For pics, go to www.vrbo.com and enter 304774. 410817-6778 or jacksonphotography.com.

Pikesville, 3- or 4BR house w/full kitchen, basement, alarm system, great location, nr shopping center/schools. 410-236-1503.

Roland Park, spacious 2BR, 2BA condo in secure area, W/D, walk-in closet, pool, cardio equipment, furn’d, nr Homewood campus. $1,800/mo. khassani@gmail.com or 410-218-3547.

Roland Park/Village of Cross Keys, totally renov’d 2BR, 1.5BA apt in secure gated community, stainless steel appls, in-unit W/D, 15 mins to JHH/JHU, 2 garage prkng spots, swimming pool, tennis. $1,650/mo incl utils. Serge, 410-580-1960.

Charles Village, 3BR, 2BA RH, partially furnished, W/D, avail Oct 1. $1,500/mo.

Morgan at mmarksster@gmail.com.

Roland Park, nice lg 4BR, 2.5BA house, convenient to Homewood, great schools, quiet neighborhood. 301-801-6064.

Charles Village/Oakenshawe, beautiful, very lg, 4BR, 2.5BA house, newly painted, refin’d hdwd flrs, dw, W/D, AC, cable, DSL, microwave, gas fp, alarm, 2-car garage, 2-min walk to Homewood/JHMI shuttle. $2,400/ mo. k2anderson@rocketmail.com or 410493-7026.

Large 2BR apt facing a brook, quiet and beautiful, 3 mins to Old Court metro station, lg master BR w/walk-in closet plus smaller room, W/D in unit, dw, microwave, A/C in apt, pool, gym, tennis court. $1,047/mo.

410-350-1349.

Columbia, furnished basement BR w/private entrance, private BA in single family home, no pets. $850/mo incl utils. beachlovr63@ yahoo.com.

Eastpoint/Northpoint, new walkout basement apt, 2BRs, 1BA, huge living/kitchen space w/Pergo flrs, plenty of closet space and natural light, 2 mi to Bayview. $1,200/mo.

George, 443-797-7300.

Federal Hill, furnished BR, private BA in RH, short-/long-term lease, quiet, safe area. $950/mo incl utils. ajmaggitti@comcast.net or 443-677-0415.

Gardenville/Hamilton apts, nr JHU, JHH, JHBMC, W/D avail, nonsmokers, no pets, owner-occupied house. Efficiency, 250 sq ft, full BA, $550/mo + utils; 1BR + den, newly Buying, Selling or Renting?

“Leave all your worries to me.”

Maria E. Avellaneda Realtor & MD Certified Interpreter

www.mariaismyagent.com

410-672-3699 908-240-7792

11

Temporary housing, furn’d room and use of lg, newly renov’d house, avail month to month. adecker001@yahoo.com.

Room in brand new TH, walking distance to JHMI, nonsmoker, no pets. 410-456-1708 or amswaf@gmail.com.

1 BR, 2BA apt, living room, dining room, kitchen in 4-story Tudor-style building next to the Carlyle, high ceilings, lg windows, hdwd flrs, lots of storage space, free off-street prkng, pet friendly. starfish2u@gmail.com or 505-452-7116.

Furnished room w/priv TV and Internet, 1-min walk to JHMI, F only. $600/mo + utils. 571-345-5059 or irajk100@yahoo.com.

Secure, totally rehabbed building has 10 studio apts avail, blocks to UM and UB. Johns Hopkins / Hampden WYMAN COURT APTS. (BEECH AVE.) Effic from $570, 1 BD Apt. from $675, 2 BD from $775 HICKORY HEIGHTS APTS. (HICKORY AVE.) 2 BD units from $750 Shown by Appointment 410-764-7776

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

$695 to $895. 410-967-4387 or dmalloy05@ yahoo.com.

HOUSES FOR SALE

Arcadia/Beverly Hills (3019 Iona Terrace), spacious, renovated 4BR, 2.5BA detached house, lg open kitchen/dining area, landscaped, lg deck, beautiful neighborhood. $259,500. 410-294-9220.

Butchers Hill, 2BR, 2BA house, recently renovated, walking distance to JHMI. $249,999. s.stark.casagrande@gmail.com or 443-955-0260.

Gardenville, 3BR, 1.5BA RH in quiet neighborhood, new kitchen and BA, CAC, hdwd flrs, club bsmt w/ceder closet, fenced, maintenance-free yd w/carport, 15 mins to JHH. $142,000. 443-610-0236 or tziporachai@ juno.com.

Harborview (Baltimore County), 2BR, 1BA single-family house, all on 1 flr, plenty of offstreet prkng, 5 mins to Bayview, 15 mins to JHU. $159,900. lexisweetheart@yahoo.com or 443-604-2497 .

Mount Washington/Pikesville, 3BR, 3BA home, newly remodeled, near Quarry Lakes and Robert E. Lee Park, off Old Pimlico Rd, great schools. $279,000. Serious inquiries only. 443-386-5047.

Waverly TH, updated kitchen, electric, new W/D, walking distance to Homewood, Giant, farmers market, YMCA. $139,900. ziparojw@yahoo.com.

White Marsh area, renovated 2,900 sq ft house, 4BRs, 2.5BAs. $229,000. 410-2418936.

Charming 3BR, 2BA condo, separate garage, walking distance to Homewood. Low $200s.

443-848-6392 or sue.rzep2@verizon.net.

Completely rehabbed 2BR, 1BA RH, gorgeous craftsmanship, 5 mins to JHU. 302981-6947 or www.3402mountpleasant avenue.canbyours.com.

ROOMMATES WANTED

M wanted to share 2BR, 2BA RH w/grad student, near Patterson Park, JHMI, Bayview. $750/mo incl utils. prattsthouse@ gmail.com.

Furnished room across from JHMI, W/D in unit, assigned prkng, roommates are grad students. happyhut4u@yahoo.com.

F wanted to share lg, beautiful, mostly furnished home with 1 F JHU PhD and 2 F grad students, 5-min walk to JHMI shuttle and JHU. $700/mo. k2anderson@rocketmail .com or 410-493-7026.

Two furnished rooms available in 3BR, 1.5BA home in Remington, F only, 3 min walk to Homewood. $600/mo incl utils + $300 deposit. lvf3116@yahoo.com.

F wanted to share 3BR, 2.5BA house in Butchers Hill, private BA, move in after August 20. $700/mo + ¼ utils. jmreed114@ gmail.com.

Nonsmoking F wanted for quiet, safe, secure 2BR apt in Roland Park, 2nd flr, no pets, no drugs, refs required. $600/mo + ½ utils + cable. 410-960-5752 (Mon-Fri, 6 to 9pm).

(505 W University Pkwy), no pets, starting September. $515/mo + ½ elec (gas, water incl). gwxts5@gmail.com.

Rm avail in 3BR, 1BA Charles Village TH, share with 2 grad students, deck, skylights, W/D, parking pad, monitored security, pets OK, 1 yr lease. $700/mo (negotiable). metcalf.brandon@gmail.com.

Share 3BR house with 2 grad students (1M, 1F), priv BR on 2nd flr, access to common areas, W/D, dw, hdwd flrs, CAC, backyd, quiet, safe street. $620/mo + utils. Brian, 443-478-8745.

1BR avail in 2BR, 1BA apt in University One, kitchen, living rm, balcony, 2-min walk to Homewood, JHMI shuttle outside building entrance, clean, quiet, plenty of windows, 24-hour security, prkng space avail for extra fee, grad/prof’l/med student preferred.

443-904-0070 or lairdmail@comcast.net.

Share spacious 2BR, 1.5BA TH, walking distance to Bayview, CAC, W/D, hdwd flrs, fin’d walkout basement, no pets, safe, friendly community. $625 incl utils except cable/Internet. michaelvincentross@gmail .com or 443-629-3253.

CARS FOR SALE

’99 Honda Accord LX, 4 door, silver, clean, good cond, 226K mi, still runs great. $2,800.

443-676-1046 or lafram1@verizon.net.

ITEMS FOR SALE

Girls clothing, sizes 5T to 10, coats, sweaters, jeans, shorts, dress, blouses, shoes, etc. 410485-4949 or 410-302-9517.

Moving sale, all from Ikea, excel cond, pics avail: twin bed w/slatted bed base and sultan mattress, $80; swivel chair, $50; 76” bookcase, $15; 55” desk, $15; 63” mirror, $10; drying rack, $5; side table, $3. 410-929-1541 or gyungon@gmail.com.

Baby Einstein Exersaucer, great cond, $50; Bumbo baby seat w/blue tray, $15; Bright Stars baby bouncer, $15. Best offers accepted.

Chris, 443-326-7717.

Full-size firm pillow-top mattress, very comfortable, less than 2 years old. $250. Marcy, 443-926-9263.

Stationary bike. Offer a price and carry it away. deborahrose7@aol.com.

Moving sale: full-size bed w/frame, $75; desk, $25; office chair, $10; floor lamp, $10. andrea.hobby@gmail.com. ’91 Kawasaki jet ski, 2 cylinder, 650cc, 2 seater, blue/white, clear title, no trailer, runs well, looks good. $999 cash. 443-392-8621.

Puppies for sale, no papers, shitzu/Yorkie terrier mix, will turn out to be small. $350 ea.

443-942-0857.

2 sand-beach chairs, printer, digital piano, dresser w/shelves, two 3-step ladders, reciprocating saw. 410-455-5858 or iricse.its@ verizon.net.

Conn alto saxophone, excellent condition.

Best offer. 410-488-1886.

Drum kit, cymbals, hardware, cases. $400 or trade for synths, guitars, digital multitrack.

John, 410-504-4947.

Nonsmoking F wanted for 1BR in 2BR apt

Continued on page 10

PLACING ADS Classified listings are a free service for current, full-time Hopkins faculty, staff and students only. Ads should adhere to these general guidelines: • One ad per person per week. A new request must be submitted for each issue.

• Ads are limited to 20 words, including phone, fax and e-mail.

• We cannot use Johns Hopkins business phone numbers or

e-mail addresses.

• Submissions will be condensed at the editor’s discretion.

• Deadline is at noon Monday, one week prior to the edition in which the ad is to be run.

• Real estate listings may be offered only by a Hopkins-affiliated seller not by Realtors or Agents.

(Boxed ads in this section are paid advertisements.)

Classified ads may be faxed to 443-287-9920; e-mailed in the body of a message (no attachments) to gazads@jhu.edu; or mailed to Gazette Classifieds, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231. To purchase a boxed display ad, contact the Gazelle Group at 410-343-3362.

12 THE GAZETTE • August 2, 2010

Greening strips. They also advise on energy management and environmental-friendly behavioral changes, such as composting, recycling programs, biking to work and turning off the lights when not in a room.

The reports provide specific energy- and water-saving estimates and how they can be obtained. For example, one organization was advised that just by turning air conditioning units up one degree during the summer could save 3 percent on an electric bill.

To realize even greater savings, some were told to replace their aging CRT televisions with newer flat-panel ones, which use less energy.

The reports point the organizations to grant, rebate and financing opportunities that can pay for the upgrades, and to free services such as BGE’s Smart Energy Savers Program. The students also provide connections to the city’s energy team, which can assist further in suggested upgrades or changes.

The project, funded by a $190,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, is part of Johns Hopkins’ broad multifaceted Implementation Plan for Advancing Sustainability and Climate Stewardship, announced earlier this year. The plan encompasses research, education and com-

MICHAEL ROSENZWEIG

Continued from page 1

The first cohort of students working in the Climate Showcase Project are Dezeray Cephas, Karan Shah, Gbegna Adeyinka, Sean Murphy, Michael Rosenzweig and Dom Burneikis (not shown).

munity outreach, in addition to a lofty goal of cutting by 2025 the university’s emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide gas by more than half from projected levels.

A key element of the plan is to put Johns Hopkins’ knowledge to work contributing to Baltimore’s and Maryland’s sustainability and climate change efforts.

Davis Bookhart, chair of the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Committee and director

CPR without mouth-to-mouth may be better for cardiac victims B y D av i d M a r c h

Johns Hopkins Medicine

A

leading expert in cardiopulmonary resuscitation says that two new studies from U.S. and European researchers support the case for dropping mouth-to-mouth, or rescue, breathing by bystanders and using “hands-only” chest compressions during the life-saving practice better known as CPR. The findings, the expert says, concur with the latest science advisory statement from the American Heart Association, published in 2008, recommending hands-only (or compression-only) CPR by bystanders who are not adequately trained, or who feel uncomfortable with performing rescue breathing on other adults who collapse from sudden cardiac arrest.

In an editorial accompanying the studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine online July 29, cardiologist Myron “Mike” Weisfeldt, physician in chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and director of the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine, says that “less may be better” in CPR, calling the findings straightforward, practical and potentially life-saving.

The two studies were conducted between 2004 and 2009 on more than 3,000 men and women who needed CPR. Among the key findings are that survival rates were similar for adults who received their CPR from bystanders randomly assigned to provide only chest compressions and those who were instructed to do standard CPR with rescue breathing. All bystanders involved in the studies were instructed by 911 telephone dispatchers on which CPR method to use.

One study showed survival rates after one month of 8.7 percent and 7 percent, respectively, while the other showed survival rates at time of hospital discharge of 12.5 percent and 11 percent. The researchers say that the numbers were statistically the same.

“It is very important to understand that the patients in this study were adults and that for most children who suffer cardiac arrest, such as drowning victims, we must do rescue breathing,” said Weisfeldt, a past president of the American Heart Association.

He also noted that there are adults with

breathing-related causes of sudden death where rescue breathing should be performed, including patients with sudden, acute heart failure; severe chronic lung disease, or acute asthma; and cardiac arrest.

However, Weisfeldt said, “for people who are not well-trained or who are looking for a simple way to help save a life, chest compressions only, at least until the emergency care unit arrives, can be life-saving, even without rescue breathing.”

Weisfeldt says that the studies’ results could lead to stronger national guidelines on how bystanders should perform CPR. An update is expected to be announced at an AHA annual meeting in November.

Guidelines, he says, will likely recommend a steady 100 chest compressions per minute with less emphasis on rescue breathing.

Weisfeldt points out that both recent studies, and previous animal studies, have shown that hands-only CPR worked best for certain types of cardiac arrest, mostly instances resulting from an abnormal heart rhythm (and requiring defibrillation).

CPR has been in practice in the United States since 1960, when Johns Hopkins researchers William Kouwenhoven, Guy Knickerbocker and James Jude published the first data on the benefits of what was then called “cardiac massage.”

Weisfeldt says that further research is needed to see if a combination of CPR and rescue breathing is better at saving lives in certain kinds of cardiac arrest, and to see how and if the public can be trained to recognize and distinguish between types of heart attack.

A third of the estimated 300,000 Americans each year whose hearts suddenly stop beating outside of a hospital receive CPR to keep blood and oxygen flowing to the body’s vital organs in the torso until emergency services personnel arrive. CPR performed by good Samaritans is known to nearly double the survival chances of people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest.

Related websites JHU Department of Medicine:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ Medicine/admin/welcome.html

‘NEJM’:

www.nejm.org

of the Office of Sustainability, said that the Climate Showcase Project was viewed as something that could benefit all participating parties and have an immediate and lasting impact.

“One of our top goals with this program is to help area nonprofits use their resources more efficiently. That way they can have more time and money to contribute to making Baltimore a better place and help people in the city,” Bookhart said. “This is also a great service to the students. They not only learn about sustainability measures through our intense training program; they work closely with the Baltimore community and can be agents of change themselves.”

Bookhart said that a pleasant and somewhat unanticipated outcome was that students have come away with a new perspective on what it means to work at a nonprofit. As part of the assessment, the students researched each organization and A U G .

conducted interviews with staff to get a sense of the culture of the agency and its work.

“They have heard some really inspirational stories of people using their time and money all in the name of helping others,” Bookhart said. “They come back with some amazing stories of the human condition.”

The Climate Showcase Project is overseen by Joanna Calabrese, the university’s newly hired sustainability outreach associate. Calabrese, who worked closely with all the students and tagged along on many of the assessments, said that the teams take pains to understand an organization’s unique needs and to treat each individually.

“We try to listen, not preach,” she said.

“You have to gauge the culture and be sensitive. Some organizations are financially strapped; others might not be interested in composting, for example. We try to work together through engagement. It’s about educating them on their options and allowing them to choose the ones that work best and that will lay a foundation for moresustainable behavior.”

Dom Burneikis, a participant in the project, said that he has enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the missions of the six nonprofits he has visited.

“It’s been great to learn who they serve and why, and then turn around and offer them support,” said Burneikis, a senior majoring in public health. “We’re trying to make recommendations that will stick and that are achievable. I would say we are about making investing in sustainability attractive and useful.”

The student groups will work with each of the 19 organizations throughout the next year, collecting data and gauging the effectiveness of measures taken.

Bookhart said that a new cohort of students will be trained next spring and then sent out to 20 to 30 nonprofits identified with input from Baltimore City and the Abell Foundation. The goal is to audit 90 nonprofits in the next three years. G 2 – 1 6

.

Calendar LECTURES

“Highly Frustrated Magnetism 2010,” a Physics and Astronomy lecture by Steven Bramwell, University College London. (See In Brief, p. 2.) Schafler Auditorium, Bloomberg Center. HW Thurs., Aug. 5, 5 p.m.

SEMINARS

“Azithromycin Mass Treatment for Trachoma: Risk Factors for Persistent Child Non-Participation and Change in Child Participation Among Tanzanian Households,” an Epidemiology thesis defense seminar with Elizabeth Ssemanda. W2030 SPH. EB Wed., Aug. 4, 9:30 a.m.

“Coordinated Assembly of the Streptococcus Pneumonia SsbA and SsbB Proteins on a Single-Stranded DNA,” a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology thesis defense seminar with Brenda Salerno. W1020 SPH. EB Thurs., Aug. 5, 1 p.m.

“Continuity of Care for Schizophrenia Treatment in Maryland Medicaid,” a Mental Health thesis defense seminar with Srinivas Sridhara. 845 Hampton House. EB Thurs., Aug. 5, 2:30 p.m.

WORKSHOPS

The Center for Educational Resources presents a series of information sessions on the Blackboard 9.1 interface. The

training is open to anyone who will be accessing a Blackboard site as an administrator or TA. To register, go to www .cer.jhu.edu. Garrett Room, MSE Library.

HW

•

Mon., Aug. 2; Tues., Aug. 3; Fri., Aug. 6; Mon., Aug. 9; Thurs., Aug. 12; and Fri., Aug. 13, 10 a.m. to noon, and 2 to 4 p.m. Mon., Aug. 16, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. “Getting Started With

Blackboard.”

•

Wed., Aug. 4, and Tues., Aug. 10, 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m.;

“Blackboard Communication and Collaboration.”

•

Thurs., Aug. 5, and Wed., Aug. 11, 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. “Accessing Student Knowledge and

Managing Grades in Blackboard.”

Calendar

Key

(Events are free and open to the public except where indicated.)

APL Applied Physics Laboratory CSEB Computational Science and

Engineering Building East Baltimore Homewood Preclinical Teaching Building School of Advanced

International Studies SoM School of Medicine SoN School of Nursing SPH School of Public Health WBSB Wood Basic Science Building

EB HW PCTB SAIS