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Tag: University of Cincinnati

  • Vigils for Charlie Kirk planned by Turning Point USA chapters at UC and Miami University

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    Memorials for activist Charlie Kirk are planned at Miami University and the University of Cincinnati Sept 16.

    Vigils have been happening around the country in the wake of the Sept. 10 fatal shooting of Kirk in Utah. Kirk’s non-profit, Turning Point USA, has a presence at over 3,500 universities, according to its website.

    Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and Attorney General Dave Yost all spoke at a vigil in Columbus Sunday.

    Most vigils have been peaceful, but some videos have gone viral of racist groups demonstrating in Kirk’s memory. Videos from a march in Los Angeles show masked individuals chanting, “White man. Fight back.”

    Several vigils have already been held in the Greater Cincinnati region including a Clermont County event in Union Township that drew hundreds of people, according to social media posts.

    The Miami University chapter announced its memorial on its Instagram page, which has over 900 followers, saying that Kirk’s assassination was devasting, but would not stop the movement Kirk started.

    “This is country is not so much divided by Republicans and Democrats anymore, it’s divided by those who love the United States of America and those who seek to destroy it,” chapter president Cooper LeMaster said in video on the post. “We need you to join us in this battle for our country.”

    The Miami University event is scheduled for Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Farmer School of Business.

    The University of Cincinnati event is scheduled at 8 p.m. on Sept. 16 on campus at the Bearcat Commons.

    On campuses across the country, Turning Point USA has promoted conservative causes. The nonprofit states its mission is to “restore traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility.”

    More events for Kirk are planned. On Sept. 17, Kentucky Rep. TJ Roberts is hosting a candlelight vigil at Burlington Commons in Boone County at 8 p.m.

    This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Charlie Kirk vigils in Ohio planned at UC and Miami University

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  • Temple Looks to Have Speed Up the Sidelines – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    Temple Looks to Have Speed Up the Sidelines – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    Watch Out, Eagles and Phillies. Owl Speed Is Taking Over South Philly on Saturdays.

    Eagles fans attending home games in South Philly will have to wait until mid-September for a Jalen Hurts to Devonta Smith or AJ Brown connection. If you find yourself nervous about the wait, do not be troubled. The Phillies may not be the only team hitting home runs in the Stadium Complex on Saturdays this fall.

    Temple’s football team has a fast addition. Chester native Ashton Allen is now part of the Temple Owls football team for the 2024 season. Allen has been in consideration for football before, previously getting offers from Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh.

    Allen spent four seasons as a sprinter for the USC Trojans on the Track and Field Team, competing with his two brothers. Although never ruling out the possibility of playing football at USC, Allen entered the transfer portal this year and will be a dynamic addition to the Owls Football Program.

    He may, in fact, have his sights set on larger goals. Sprinters have made an impact on the NFL over the years. Jim Thorpe was a multi-event Olympic competitor, and Devon Allen is the most decorated track and field athlete currently in the NFL. Miami Dolphins Jaylen Waddle and Jaylen Ramsey, as well as running backs Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane, also have past experience in Track and Field.

    Temple basketball has also added great talent when it comes to speed. This week, it announced its first commit of 2025, a local West Chester native and three-star standout, Cam Wallace.

    At six foot five, the 8th ranked high school player in the state of PA turned down other offers from Texas A&M and Cincinnati to keep his size and speed in Philadelphia.

    The following two years will be an exciting time for Owl Athletics. And a speedy one. And besides, Philly kids always come home.

    PHOTO: Temple Basketball/X

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    Michael Thomas Leibrandt

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  • Metformin eases weight gain in youth on bipolar meds. Study finds.

    Metformin eases weight gain in youth on bipolar meds. Study finds.

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    Newswise — A new large-scale study led by researchers at the University of Cincinnati and Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care provider, found the drug metformin can help prevent or reduce weight gain in youth taking medication to treat bipolar disorder.

    The collaborative team presented its findings during a symposium at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry conference in New York City Oct. 27.

    Weight gain side effect

    Medications to treat bipolar disorder, known as second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), are often effective at helping young patients’ mental health improve but can have significant side effects including elevated blood pressure and glucose, increased appetite and weight gain.

    “We, the clinicians naively justified that we’re improving your psychosis, so just deal with the weight gain,” said Victor Fornari, MD, a child/adolescent psychiatrist at Northwell Health. “But patients stopped taking their medicine because they said they didn’t want to gain weight.”

    UC’s Christina Klein, PhD, said in addition to patients not taking their medication, the weight gain side effects can lead to lifelong harmful health outcomes.

    “So you’re not just looking at the mental health, but you’re looking at the physical health of the whole person,” said Klein, a research scientist in UC’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in the College of Medicine.

    Klein said a survey found patients want interventions to address the side effects as soon as possible, while doctors and caregivers prefer a wait and see approach. 

    Metformin, a medication typically used for Type 2 diabetes, is known to also prevent weight gain, but nearly all psychiatrists surveyed initially said they did not feel comfortable prescribing it, leading to the study testing metformin’s effect.

    Study design

    Klein said the study had a pragmatic design, meaning it had broad enrollment criteria and was conducted at a wide variety of clinics, even those without prior participation in research studies.

    “We wanted the regular person who was just going to their doctor,” Klein said. “It’s not this perfect patient where you have this disorder and nothing else, you’re only taking this medicine, you’re adherent to the medicine or you show up every time.”

    A total of 1,565 patients aged 8-19 with bipolar disorder taking SGAs were enrolled in the study, a “Herculean” accomplishment according to Fornari.

    “It was 60 sites across the country, and it was a large sample of patients to really demonstrate what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know that anybody has done a study of this magnitude with almost 1,600 kids and their families.”

    Everyone enrolled in the trial received a lifestyle intervention with recommendations for healthy eating and exercise. Half of the youth were randomized to receive the healthy lifestyle intervention and were prescribed metformin. 

    “If patients weren’t doing well on the metformin, they could come off and stay in this study,” Klein said. “Really we’re just trying to meet the patients when and where they received services, seeing what happens to them over the course of two years.” 

    Prior to beginning the interventions, researchers collected information on youth living with bipolar disorders’ quality of life and adherence to taking their medication as prescribed. 

    While 87% of youth reported they took their medication regularly, a majority reported they were unhappy with their weight and/or had been sad, mad or frustrated about their weight. 

    Researchers also collected baseline metabolic data to determine if youth had metabolic syndrome, which Northwell’s Claudine Higdon, MD, said is a common consequence of taking SGAs that places youth at risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The study found 33% of youth enrolled in the study had metabolic syndrome at the start. 

    “The key elements of metabolic syndrome are obesity, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides and elevated glucose,” said Higdon, a child/adolescent psychiatrist. “It is important that clinicians monitor for metabolic syndrome when treating youth with second-generation antipsychotics.” 

    Study results

    UC’s Jeffrey Welge, PhD, said in the short-term six-month follow-up data, metformin had a modest but significant effect at preventing and in some cases reversing weight gain in the study’s patient population. The drug was also found to be safe, with some gastrointestinal distress symptoms being the only side effects reported.

    “It’s not a drug you take and weight falls off of you, but it tends to reduce that out of control appetite which we think then makes it easier for patients to adhere to a healthy diet and as they lose some weight maybe also make it easier for them to engage in more exercise,” said Welge, professor in UC’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences. “So, the lifestyle is really what’s driving good outcomes, but metformin is in some cases putting the wind at their back to help with that.”

    “It’s safe, effective and very inexpensive. It’s an intervention that has the potential to have widespread applicability,” Fornari added. “It’s not a medicine that you need to have an endocrinologist or a pediatrician prescribe, and I think it really speaks to the fact that the psychiatrist needs to be caring for the entire person, the physical and the mental health of the patient.”

    While having an effect on weight gain, metformin was not found to have a significant effect on youth’s metabolic syndrome in the short term, Welge said. 

    “Further research is needed on effective interventions for metabolic syndrome,” Higdon said.

    Patient-centered partnership

    The study received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and included patient and caregiver advocate input throughout.

    “We really could not have done it without the support of youth living with bipolar disorders and their caregivers, and their continued recommendations on how to keep the trial patient-centered throughout the study,” Klein said. 

    Most research studies take about 15-17 years from being published to being widely applied in clinics across the country, so PCORI has additionally supported the research team with a dissemination grant so the knowledge can be spread more quickly.

    Klein said the team will conduct focus groups with youth living with bipolar disorders, as well as their caregivers and clinicians, to see how they want information to be presented to them. 

    UC’s Melissa DelBello, MD, served as the trial’s principal investigator

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    University of Cincinnati

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  • Park funding boosts home values

    Park funding boosts home values

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    Newswise — Ohio residents who vote against tax renewals for parks and recreation spending could be costing themselves a significant amount of wealth in the form of their homes’ value, a University of Cincinnati economist found.

    David Brasington, PhD, the James C. and Caroline Kautz Chair in Political Economy and professor of economics in UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business, studied the effect of cutting funding for the maintenance of local parks and recreational areas on housing values for a research article that was published in Journal of Regional Science.

    Brasington found Ohio communities that vote to renew parks and recreation spending see 13% higher home values three years after the vote than similar communities that voted against the tax renewals. For the typical household, a vote against tax renewals saves $70 a year in taxes but costs $30,000 in house values.

    “I was surprised by how strong the magnitude was,” Brasington said. “A 13% difference in house prices is really big. I was surprised a relatively small change in park funding could cause such a big change in house prices over time.”

    In his research, Brasington focused on communities that according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau share similar demographic and economic characteristics. The only discernible difference was that some of them narrowly voted to renew tax levies while others narrowly voted against renewing their levies.

    Using a housing data set, Brasington compared home values in the communities from 1991 through 2016.

    While house prices didn’t reflect a change immediately, three years after the votes the communities that approved the park and recreation maintenance saw 13% higher house values compared to the communities that voted against their levies. In subsequent years, the gap continued to grow.

    “I didn’t find any effects the first year after the vote or the second year after the vote, but they were noticeable three years later,” Brasington said. “The findings I have are consistent with the idea that right after you vote to cut parks and recreation taxes and funding, you don’t notice any effects on house prices, but as time goes on, maybe this decrease in maintenance funding starts to be noticeable and maybe it’s reflected in house prices.”

    The data doesn’t mean that communities that vote against renewing tax levies see a 13% decrease in housing values or that communities that vote in favor of their levies see a 13% increase. Rather, an example could be one community seeing a 7% increase in housing values while another sees a 20% increase, Brasington said.

    “When a local government offers services, they’re competing with other local governments for residents and businesses to build their tax base, so they want to offer good services that people care about,” he said.

    The data shows parks are a service that people care about, Brasington said. It also shows that Ohio’s local parks might be underfunded.

    “Parks and recreation spending seems worth it in Ohio,” he said. “There may be places where it isn’t, there may be places where it’s really, really worthwhile. But overall the parks and recreation spending is worth it in Ohio because the estimate is just an average across all the communities.”

    Brasington’s findings on home prices aligns with his previous research on the value of local park funding. In a research article published in 2021, Brasington found communities that renewed tax funding for local parks had more residential development than those that cut park taxes and funding.

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    University of Cincinnati

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  • Getting under your skin for better health

    Getting under your skin for better health

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    Newswise — The next frontier of continuous health monitoring could be skin deep.

    Biomedical engineers at the University of Cincinnati say interstitial fluid, the watery fluid found between and around cells, tissues or organs in the body, could provide an excellent medium for early disease diagnosis or long-term health monitoring.

    In a paper published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, they outlined the potential advantages and technological challenges of using interstitial fluid.

    “Why we see it as a valuable diagnostic fluid is continuous access. With blood, you can’t easily take continuous readings,” said UC doctoral graduate Mark Friedel, co-lead author of the study.

    “Can you imagine going about your day with a needle stuck in your vein all day? So we need other tools.”

    Researchers are looking for alternatives to monitor a person’s health and wellness. Sweat is a good medium for measuring certain things like stress or anxiety because it contains hormones such as cortisol. But the body is stingy with other chemicals that are not so easily released in sweat, Friedel said.

    “Sweat glands are big filters that don’t allow everything to pass through,” he said. “So more than half of the things we want to monitor have no access to sweat at all.”

    Blood is the gold standard for health monitoring. But people also have liters of interstitial fluid that make up as much as 15% of their body weight.

    “The key feature of blood that makes it so advantageous is we understand blood really well,” Friedel said. “If you have something in your blood, we know what will happen to your heart or your liver,” he said.

    Researchers said interstitial fluid contains many of the same chemicals in the same proportions as blood, offering a potential alternative to costly and time-consuming lab work.

    The study outlined the various ways doctors can sample interstitial fluid, from applying suction to the skin to deploying microdialysis.

    “As biomedical engineers, one of our greatest goals is to help people better manage their health by making diagnostics more accessible,” said co-lead author Ian Thompson at Stanford University.

    “A big barrier to this accessibility is that most current diagnostics rely on blood sampling, which can be painful and requires trained personnel to perform. Thus, in recent years there has been growing interest in using interstitial fluid just under the skin as a diagnostic sample that is more accessible and less painful to extract.”

    In UC College of Engineering and Applied Science professor Jason Heikenfeld’s Novel Devices Lab, students are developing sensors to measure hormones and other chemicals in interstitial fluid. They use microneedles less than 1 millimeter in length that pierce the skin through a tiny patch.

    “If you had a splinter, it probably went deeper into your skin than our microneedles,” Friedel said. “They’re generally painless. I don’t feel it most of the time. The most uncomfortable part is removing the tape that holds the device down.”

    But even if you don’t know it’s there, your body does, Friedel said. And this minute reaction can affect the test results.

    “There’s a Schrödinger’s observer effect with interstitial fluid. Any time you try to collect and measure it, you inherently change the fluid itself,” Friedel said. “If you stick a needle in your skin, your body becomes inflamed and then your [sample] levels change. For continuous biomonitoring, we want to know those concentrations as they are when you’re not being poked with a tiny needle.

    “That’s why it’s such a challenging fluid that hasn’t been used outside of diabetes monitoring.”

    Still, researchers say, interstitial fluid holds enormous promise for monitoring health through wearable technology. This could help doctors track the efficacy of drugs to ensure proper dosage or provide early diagnosis of illness by monitoring the immune system.

    But Friedel said there is still a lot to learn.

    “We’re trying to unlock the box and read the instructions inside to understand what’s in interstitial fluid and what the potentials are for exploiting it,” he said.

    Friedel and Thompson worked with co-author Heikenfeld, UC’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and Southeast Missouri State University.

    The study was funded through grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

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    University of Cincinnati

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  • Hate crime charges filed for assault on Asian American

    Hate crime charges filed for assault on Asian American

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    CINCINNATI — An Ohio man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with an alleged assault on an Asian American student at the University of Cincinnati last year.

    Darrin Johnson, 26, of Cincinnati was arrested Thursday following his indictment by a federal grand jury, the U.S. attorney’s office in the southern district of Ohio said in a news release.

    The victim was preparing to go for a run on a campus street in August 2021 when Johnson began yelling racial comments and threats at him, federal prosecutors said. Referring to COVID-19, he yelled, “Go back to your country. … You brought the kung flu here. … You’re going to die for bringing it,” prosecutors said.

    The indictment alleges that Johnson then punched the victim on the side of the head, causing him to fall and hit his head on the bumper of a parked car. The victim had a minor concussion and cuts to his face, prosecutors said.

    Arrested in a parking lot near a recreation center, Johnson pleaded guilty in municipal court in October 2021 to misdemeanor assault and criminal intimidation, and was sentenced to nearly a year in a county jail, federal prosecutors said.

    An email seeking comment was sent Sunday to the federal public defender representing Johnson on the hate crime charge.

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