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April 17, 2006

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Students Throw Colors, Celebrate Holi Festival

By | April 17, 2006

Anabel Taylor Courtyard was host to a patchwork of colors this Saturday when the Hindu Student Council (HSC) hosted its annual celebration of Holi, the festival of color. Faces, bodies, grass and pavement were smeared with red, green, blue and yellow when 600 people took advantage of the opportunity to attack friends and strangers with colored powder called “rung.” Indian music contributed to the festivities and sparked dancing among some participants.

Reflecting on the event’s success, former HSC president Kavitha Mukund ’06 said, “We were hoping and expecting a lot of people, but selling out was definitely a wonderful surprise!”

In addition to being known as the ‘festival of colors’ Holi is celebrated at the onset of spring each year. Weather changes during the spring make people prone to viral infections this time of year, such as the common cold. It is believed that the significance of throwing colored powder at one another has medicinal value because the rung is actually composed of several different medicinal herbs. These herbs were used by Ayurvedic or ancient Hindu doctors.

“People of every color came to Holi and had a great time together, and all of them left, quite literally, in every color. It reminds us that the differences we perceive among people are only superficial,” said HSC President Rishi Ramchand ’07.

Those in attendance at Holi enjoyed dousing friends with colored rung.

Dave Kurczewski ’08 praised the event as “…awesome … totally crazy!”

Similarly, Melissa Simonetti grad said attending Holi was a “great [event] for [her] last year here.”

Organizing and planning Holi this year was similar to last year, Mukund said. However other external factors may have contributed to the greater number of tickets sold.

“One thing that made it different this year than past years was the gorgeous weather,” Mukund said. The reported high for this past Saturday afternoon was near 70 degrees. HSC members were also especially careful to schedule Holi during a weekend that did not conflict with other events like MCATs or Law School programs.

Archived article by Sanika Kulkarni
Sun Staff Writer

Related

C.U. Veterinarians Identify Disease From Pig Contact

By April 18, 2006

Veterinarians at Cornell, along with physicians at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, N.Y., have identified what they believe is the first U.S. case of meningitis resulting from contact with pigs.
The discovery was made after a farmer was admitted to the Bassett Hospital last summer. After several tests were done, the hospital’s lab confirmed the presence of Streptococcus suis, a bacteria found in pigs.
Dr. Ruth Zadoks, a research associate and veterinarian at Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS), a part of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, used a DNA-level analysis to help provide the link between the farmer’s sickness and the bacteria found in the pigs.
The discovery, however, was the result of a combined effort.
“There are two ways the connection was made,” Zadoks said. “Samples from the patient were sent to the lab, and a preliminary identification of the bacteria was made there. Secondly, the physician that took care of the patient grew up on a hog farm and was aware of the presence of Streptococcus suis in pigs.”
Dr. Zadoks further identified three other strains of pig strep within the 13 pig samples. Despite none of the strains in the pigs matching those found in the farmer, Zadoks explained that not all of the pigs could be tested.
“Even though we did not match the human strain with those of the pigs, the strain from the farmer matches superficially a strain found in both pigs and humans in Denmark and the Netherlands,” said Zadoks. “Some strains are more likely to cause disease in humans.”
Although this marks the first case in the U.S., cases of the disease are regular throughout Southeast Asia. In China last year, over 200 people contracted the disease, which resulted in 38 deaths. Over 600 pigs had to be slaughtered. Though rare, the disease has been reported in Europe in recent decades.
“It could be that the disease is spreading,” said Zadoks. “But also we may be just better at recognizing it.”
While pig meningitis is similar to the bird flu in that all human cases have originated with an animal infecting a human, scientists don’t think the bacteria will spread from human to human.
Still, scientists are encouraging farmers handling pigs to take extra precautions.
Frank Welcome, a senior extension associate and veterinarian at QMPS, said the infection is “certainly an occupational hazard for those in the pork industry.”
Kara Willenburg, M.D., the lead author of the letter about the disease published in the New England Journal of Medicine, added that the disease “should not impact the general public.”
Zadoks urged anyone coming in contact with pigs to use “common sense.”
“Those working in slaughterhouses need to wear protective gear, e.g. gloves or body protectors, if they work with knives, to prevent cuts,” she said. In the food processing industry and at home, adequate cooking of pork is important, as it will kill these bacteria.”
Cornell’s veterinary school and Department of Food Science, in conjunction with the New York State Department of Health, are also researching bacteria in animals and how they spread to humans.
Zadoks underscored the importance of studying bacteria in animals.
“Bacteria grow and spread more slowly than viruses,” she said. “That is why bacterial diseases don’t get as much attention as viral diseases such as avian influenza, SARS or Ebola. But bacteria are widespread in animals, in pets as well as farm animals, and some bacteria can have a big impact on human health.”
The farmer infected with meningitis was treated and made a full recovery.
Archived article by Nate LowrySun Staff Writer
Ithaca Planning Board Debates Future of Downtown

By April 18, 2006

The Planning, Economic Development and Environmental Quality Committee of Ithaca’s Common Council held an open forum yesterday to discuss the city’s downtown density incentives, which have sparked public debate regarding their aesthetic, economic and environmental ramifications in recent years.
Prof. John Forester, city and regional planning, led the discussion, which was the first of three forums on the issue.
Business owners, longtime Ithaca residents and members of Common Council, the Planning and Development Board and the Ithaca Downtown Partnership debated on how to economically revitalize Ithaca, whether the city should continue increasing the density of its downtown area and the benefits and pitfalls of tax abatements as economic incentives.
Attendees devoted much of the meeting to Ithaca’s policy favoring tax abatements, which offer economic incentives to outside developers and are currently the crux of Ithaca’s density incentive program.
Distributed through the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), which seeks to promote development in Ithaca’s core, tax abatements allay taxes on the resulting increased property value of the project. The incentives begin as full abatements for the company and are ratcheted down gradually to normal tax rates after about 10 years.
This initiative has drawn both praise from those who hope it will encourage developers to build in dense areas, thereby reducing suburban sprawl and making Ithaca a more “walkable” city, as well as concern from residents who are wary of over-development and what they perceive as increasing financial burdens for the city.
Through the IDA, Ithaca has endorsed the policy for about five years.
“From 1985 to 2000 there was little new investment taking place [in downtown Ithaca]