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They
got the beat |
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Rebecca
Arrington
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| When
high school classes commence this fall, there will be no shortage
of chants and cheers to foster school spirit, if this week’s
Universal Cheerleading Association camp, held at U.Va., is any
indication. This week, last week and next, some 820 high school
cheerleaders and dance team members will have participated. |
Researchers find evidence of “second
genetic code”
Staff
Report
Sequencing
and mapping the human genome was the first essential step for scientists
to study where genes for diseases such as cancer are located. But
in studies to identify the complex factors that make those genes
active or inactive, molecular genetic researchers at the University
have discovered a new area outside the DNA itself that may show
existence of another type of genetic code.
In
four articles published in the Aug. 10 issue of the journal Science,
U.Va. researchers and collaborators at the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, as well
as the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology at the Vienna Biocenter
in Austria, describe how proteins called histones, around which
the DNA is coiled, form a structure called chromatin and provide
sites where additional gene regulation appears to occur, acting,
in effect, as a master “on/off” switch.
C.
David Allis, U.Va. Byrd Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular
Genetics, explains that the scientific community has known for some
time that the location of specific genes within chromatin appears
to determine whether that gene is “on” or “off.”
The DNA in our cells is not “naked,” and as a consequence
of its form in chromatin, it makes a difference in what kind of
chromatin “neighborhood” a particular gene finds itself.
Full story.
U.Va.
sells health insurance company
By
Dan Heuchert
University
officials said July 30 that employees will see no change in their
health benefits following the sale of Blue Ridge Health Alliance
Inc., parent company of QualChoice of Virginia Health Plan, to a
Maryland-based company. QualChoice administers U.Va.’s self-insured
health plan.
“I
want to assure you that this sale will not change your health benefits,”
said Yoke San Reynolds, U.Va.’s vice president for finance,
in an e-mail sent July 30 to University employees. “The only
change for you and your dependents is that a different company will
administer our plan.”
Premiums
will not likely be affected in the short term, she said. “We
do not anticipate that the sale will have any effect on your costs
in 2002. If there are increases to the plan’s premiums or co-payments
for next year, they will reflect the level of participants’
claims in 2001, as well as any changes or enhancements to the benefit
package.” Full story.
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