Campus & Community

Researchers think they now understand the way that fish oils benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions linked to inflammation. The body converts an ingredient in fish oils called DHA into a chemical called Resolvin D2, which reduces the inflammation that can lead to various diseases, the scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and Harvard Medical School explained in their study published in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Nature…

Harvard has hosted its Allston and Brighton neighbors to an early reception and a football game for the past 20 years. It is a bookend to Cambridge Football Day, which was held earlier this month.

The Arnold Arboretum is holding a T-shirt design contest for Lilac Sunday 2010.

In October, Freshman Parents Weekend fills campus with mothers and fathers eager to and experience all aspects of Harvard life.

Since 1910, Harvard Extension School has opened the gates of learning to half a million students.

An interview with Harvard Extension School Dean Michael Shinagel in honor of the School’s 100th anniversary.

Young women who have migraines with auras are twice as likely to have a stroke, researchers have confirmed. The investigators from the US, France and Germany did not find any link between migraines and heart attacks or death due to cardiovascular disease but there was a 30% increase in the risk of angina (heart pain).

Freshman Parents Weekend involves first-year students and family in sessions designed to smooth the transition to college.

The Harvard women’s volleyball team, which split its recent games with a 3-0 sweep of Brown (Oct. 23) and a 3-0 loss to Yale (Oct. 24), is embarking on a four-game home stand.

Homecoming was all about highs and lows in Harvard’s 37-3 blowout of the Princeton Tigers on Saturday (Oct. 24).

Andre Akpan ’10 moved two steps closer to becoming the all-time leading scorer for men’s soccer at Harvard after scoring his ninth and 10th goals of the season on Oct. 20 and Oct. 24.

As the threat of the swine flu (otherwise known as H1N1) pandemic become more serious and President Obama declares a national emergency over the rapidly spreading virus, Harvard Medical School is hoping to help educate people with its new iPhone app. The Swine Flu app, which is currently available on the app store, costs $1.99.

After a dwindling supply of vaccines forced the suspension of seasonal flu clinics, University Health Services (UHS) officials said today (Oct. 26) that it had acquired additional doses and would be able to reschedule several clinics.

At its fourth meeting of the year on Oct. 21, the Faculty Council spoke with President Drew Faust, reviewed the Dean’s Annual Report, and discussed a report from the Standing Committee on pedagogical improvement.

At least 1 in 5 US children ages 1 to 11 don’t get enough vitamin D and could be at risk for a variety of health problems including weak bones, the most recent national analysis suggests. By a looser measure, almost 90 percent of black children that age and 80 percent of Hispanic children could be vitamin D deficient – “astounding numbers’’ that should serve as a call to action, said Dr. Jonathan Mansbach, lead author of the new analysis and a researcher at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital in Boston…

The report was conducted by a team of researchers led by Christopher E. Stone, a professor of criminal justice at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Stone said the review board and the police department’s internal affairs system are suffering for a variety of reasons, some of them quite simple: They are not keeping in touch with people who file complaints, are not informing them of the steps involved, and are giving them only 14 days to file an appeal.

Elizabeth Nabel; director of the $3 billion National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; told staff in a memo today that with “bittersweet emotions” she is leaving at the end of this year to become president and CEO of the Harvard University-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Faulkner Hospital in Boston…..

Harvard president Drew Faust indicated yesterday that there is a strong possibility the design of its much-anticipated $1 billion science complex, at the heart of the university’s expansion into Allston, may be scaled back as Harvard grapples with new financial realities….

Onetime Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Dean Theodore Sizer, who spent half a century as a teacher, education reformer, leader, author, and mentor, died Oct. 21 at his Harvard, Mass., home. He was 77.

The College Alumni Programs office of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) invites alumni and their families to join classmates and friends this weekend (Oct. 23-24) for the kickoff of the Harvard College Homecoming celebration.

Harvard University Strategic Procurement will host seminars Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on how to cut costs, work more efficiently, and be green.

President Drew Faust addresses the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, discusses tough economic times, recommitment to expansion, and ties with Allston neighborhood.

The Harvard Kennedy School is now accepting applications for the fall 2009 funding cycle for the Kuwait Program Research Fund.

Daniel Lieberman, PhD, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, studies and periodically practices barefoot running. His academic work focuses in part on how early man survived by evolving the ability to lope for long distances after prey, well before the advent of Nike shoes. There “is good evidence that humans have been running long distances for millions of years,” he says, “and most of that was probably done barefoot.” For his own part, “I run a lot,” he says, “and at least once a week, I run about three to five miles on the streets of Cambridge, completely barefoot. I can attest to the fact that it’s a lot of fun.

Boston, which is working in partnership with Harvard University, began its program two years ago and has expanded it to five elementary schools. It followed Springfield’s effort, which launched about five years ago as a partnership among that city’s teachers union, a middle school, and the Pioneer Valley Project, a faith-based community-organizing group that works closely with parents. The program is now active at seven schools, including a high school.

In an editorial accompanying the journal paper, Dr. Raphael Dolin of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said the overall findings were nonetheless “of potentially great importance to the field of HIV research” because they might yield information about the kinds of immune responses necessary to provide protection against the virus….

Doctors at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, asked 2,574 couples about their drinking habits shortly before they embarked on a course of IVF treatment.

Harvard will conduct the semiannual test of its emergency notification system, MessageMe, Thursday (Oct. 22).

Harvard welcomed many football-loving residents of Cambridge on Saturday (Oct. 17) to its annual Cambridge Football Day.

The Harvard football team fell to Lafayette this past Saturday (Oct. 17) by a score of 35-18. It was the Crimson’s first loss to the Leopards since 1996.