City seeks name for future park The...

City seeks name

for future park

The city of Newport Beach wants people to don their thinking caps

and come up with a name for a new 12-acre park behind the central

library on Avocado Avenue. When it’s built, the park will include an

amphitheater, seating area and native plants. The city will pay for

the park design, and volunteers are working to raise the estimated

$1.2 million needed for construction.

The city will accept park name suggestions through April 15, and

the names will be considered at a May 3 meeting of the parks, beaches

and recreation commission. Suggestions can be sent to recreation

services director Marie Knight by fax at (949)644-3155; by mail at

3300 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach, CA 92663; or by e-mail at

mknight@city.newport-beach.ca.us.

Clinical trial tests surgical procedure

The first patient in a clinical trial of a surgical procedure to

prevent strokes was treated at Hoag Hospital Wednesday.

Surgeons are studying the effectiveness of a procedure called

carotid artery stenting that involves the implantation of a

mesh-metal tube -- or stent -- in the carotid artery as a method to

improve blood flow around plaque.

The procedure is less invasive than carotid endarterectomy, a

procedure in which surgeons remove plaque from the artery, according

to Hoag Hospital.

The clinical trial was designed to test the procedure on patients

who are at risk for strokes but have not suffered one. Stroke is the

third-leading cause of death in the United States and the nation’s

leading cause of disability. More than 700,000 Americans suffer

strokes annually, and about 90% of strokes are caused by poor blood

flow to the brain.

Three UCI students receive scholarships

Three UC Irvine students this week received the Barry M. Goldwater

Scholarship, which honors students interested in pursuing careers as

scientists, mathematicians and engineers. The number of winners was

the highest for UC Irvine since 1999.

The scholarship, established in 1986, went to junior Arthur Uy

Asuncion Jr., an information and computer science major; sophomore

Danielle L. Issa, a mechanical engineering major; and sophomore Vicky

W. Zhou, a biological sciences and dance major. Only 16 students in

California received the scholarship this year.

The Goldwater Scholarship, named after the former United States

senator, offers up to $7,500 a year for up to two years. Former UC

Irvine winners include Elizabeth Yanni in 2002, Benjamin Dilday in

2001 and Siavosh Bahrami in 2001.

University scientist

co-authors study

A UC Irvine cognitive scientist has co-authored a study on vision

training that appeared in last week’s Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences.

Barbara Anne Dosher, dean and professor of cognitive sciences at

UC Irvine, collaborated over the last six years with USC psychology

professor Zhong-Lin Lu. The professors tested six volunteers with

normal vision to determine whether the human eye filters out clutter

and focuses on a target as a single action or as two distinct ones.

The study determined that the two actions are separate, contrary to

popular belief.

“This research demonstrates, for the first time, the independence

of these two learning mechanisms and suggests new methods of training

for people who must pinpoint targets in busy images,” Dosher said.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, the

National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific

Research, may alter the visual training methods of radiologists,

military pilots and other professionals who rely on pinpoint sight as

a part of their jobs.