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Lab develops bacterial test to help fight infant deaths
Man beaten on Langdon Street early Thursday
By Meghan Chua The Daily Cardinal
A University of WisconsinMadison biochemistry professor has developed a simple bacterial test that could be used to save infants’ lives in developing countries, after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation granted him $100,000 for the project, according to a UW-Madison news release. UW-Madison biochemistry professor Douglas Weibel’s laboratory created a cartridge test to determine if the type of bacteria in a newborn’s stomach must be treated to prevent a common, often deadly, bacterial infection that kills intestinal tissue.
“[The test] doesn’t require someone that has a lot of clinical microbiology expertise.” Douglas Weibel biochemistry professor UW-Madison
Weibel said infants’ immune systems are particularly susceptible to severe bacterial infections. This risk is even greater in rural African countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where the cartridges will be sent for trial use. The test requires a sample from either the mother or child and produces results in 10 to 15 minutes, costing less than one dollar per cartridge. “It doesn’t require someone that has a lot of clinical microbiology expertise,” Weibel said. In one current method of fighting the disease, preemptive antibiotics given to a mother nearing labor can “indiscriminately destroy almost all of the bacteria in a baby’s intestines, including the helpful types,” according to Weibel. Weibel said he also hopes to utilize wireless and smartphone technology to share sample data that could contribute to epidemiological research. Approximate Weibel and James cost of one Ntambi, another bacterial test. UW-Madison biochemistry professor, along with a group of Approximate number of U W- M a d i s o n minutes it students, will takes to visit Uganda in receive test December to help results. test the cartridges.
Grey Satterfield/cardinal File photo
President Barack Obama spoke to over 30,000 Madisonians when he visited Bascom Hill Oct. 4. He will return to Madison Nov. 5, one day before the election.
Obama to rally with Springsteen Visit to take place Monday in Madison, location still unknown By Adam Wollner The Daily Cardinal
President Barack Obama will be joined by Bruce Springsteen at his second rally in Madison in just over a month as part of a three-state tour the day before the election, his campaign announced Thursday. The Nov. 5 event will mark Obama’s third visit to Wisconsin in five days as
the battle for the state’s 10 electoral votes continues. The president campaigned in Green Bay Thursday and plans to stop in Milwaukee this Saturday. Obama’s last visit to Madison came in early October the day after the first presidential debate when he spoke on Bascom Hill, which attracted a crowd of over 30,000 people. Monday’s rally will take place in the morning, but the campaign has not yet announced a specific time and place. Katie Crawley, an assistant to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, said the event will not occur on the University of Wisconsin-
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Madison police are looking for two men who allegedly knocked a University of Wisconsin-Madison student unconscious early Thursday morning on the 200 block of Langdon Street. A group of people out celebrating Halloween yelled at a driver after he almost hit a pedestrian crossing Langdon Street while speeding, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain. The two suspects, who police describe as 20- to 29-year-old black men, exited their car and began fighting with the group of bystanders, according to DeSpain. DeSpain said the suspects “sound like people who were very confrontational to people who were otherwise just enjoying the holiday.” Police said in a statement the 20-year-old student, who suffered a broken cheekbone and nose, remembers being hit in the head before losing consciousness. Another UW-Madison student wrestled with the second suspect but remained uninjured, according to DeSpain. DeSpain said the police department is investigating the “very serious incident.”
Petitioners request details of HR changes By Megan Stoebig The Daily Cardinal
Many University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, staff and community members have signed an online petition asking the Office of Human Resources to release a list of changes to be included in the personnel system redesign following recent campus feedback.
“In the interest of transparency we need to know in full what we’re voting on.” Sara Goldrick-Rab sociology professor UW-Madison
$1 15
Weekend, November 2-4, 2012
On campus
Gazin’ at the Chazen
Students gather at the Chazen Museum of Art for Student Night Thursday evening. The event featured live music, student-led tours, poetry readings and a lecture on Giorgio Vasari. + Photo by Wil Gibb
UW-Madison sociology professor Sara Goldrick-Rab created the petition Tuesday morning hoping to urge the office to release the list of the changes they will make before the Faculty Senate will vote to support or deny the HR plan as a whole in a meeting Monday. “In the interest of transparency we need to know in full what we’re voting on,” Goldrick-Rab said. “Some of the things we’ve asked for are huge and are the kinds of things that would determine if someone would vote yes or no.” Bob Lavigna, director of Human Resources and redesign project team leader, said the office is crafting a response to the petition, but declined to comment further. Goldrick-Rab said she thinks the peti-
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”