The first-in-humans achievement may also be helpful for more common diseases such as Parkinson’s that involve nerve cell damage caused by lack of a crucial molecule in brain tissue. The results are reported today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The children in the study, who ranged in age from 4 to 6, inherited a rare disease known as aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency, or AADC. Patients with AADC are born without an enzyme that enables the brain to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. They generally die in early childhood.

In a phase 1 clinical trial led by Dr. Wuh-Liang Hwu, of the National Taiwan University Hospital, surgeons used a delivery vehicle called an adeno-associated virus type 2 vector to transport the AADC gene into localized areas of the brains of three girls and a boy.

Before therapy, the children showed practically no spontaneous movement and their upper eyelids continually drooped. After receiving the corrective gene, the children gradually gained some head movement. Sixteen months afterward, the children’s weight had increased, one patient was able to stand and the other three were able to sit up without support.

The study shows gene therapy that targets AADC deficiency is well-tolerated and leads to improved motor development and function, according to co-authors Dr. Barry Byrne, director of UF’s Powell Gene Therapy Center, and Richard O. Snyder, director of UF’s Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology. Both are members of the UF Genetics Institute.

“The children in this study have the most severe form of inherited movement disorder known, and the only treatments so far have been supportive ones,” said Byrne, a pediatric cardiologist and associate chairman of the department of pediatrics in the College of Medicine. “It is gratifying to see it is possible to do something to help them, other than providing feeding tubes and keeping them safe. This absolutely opens the door to the possibility of even earlier treatment of neurological diseases by direct gene transfer, and has implications for Parkinson’s disease, ALS and even cognitive diseases such as dementia when caused by gene defects.”

The Powell Gene Therapy Center provided expertise to the Taiwanese physicians on treating the patients and engineering the corrective gene that spurs production of the absent AADC enzyme. UF’s Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology manufactured the vector, packaging genetic material it received from Taiwan into virus particles that were purified, characterized and tested for sterility and stability before being shipped to the clinic for use in patients.

“We are ecstatic that we manufactured a product that provided therapeutic benefit to these patients,” said Snyder, an associate professor in UF’s department of molecular genetics and microbiology. “What really makes it special is there are just a handful of examples of gene therapy in children in the world, and these patients all improved.”

Doctors injected the AADC vector into a brain area called the putamen, a site known for AADC activity and part of a “loop” of brain connections related to movement.

Postoperative CT and MRI scans of the patients showed no evidence of bleeding and all four patients were discharged within a week. Three to six months after gene transfer, all the children had gained weight, including one patient who doubled her weight within a year.

Before gene therapy, all patients showed low raw scores in cognition and motor development on a scale called the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers. Afterward, scores in both areas increased.

Parents reported the children also slept better and had improved eye coordination, emotional stability and body temperature stability.

Eight additional children — four in Taiwan and four in the United States — are expected to receive the experimental treatment, Byrne said.

J.O. Spengler, associate professor and researcher in the College of Health and Human Performance, will serve as one of five moderators for the event, hosted by PreventObesity.net.

Many schools and recreational facilities have playgrounds, gyms, fields and basketball courts that are closed after hours because of concerns over factors such as liability, operating costs and security. The concept of shared use seeks to alleviate these barriers by creating policies and agreements that ease access for community members. This 50-minute webinar session will explain shared-use agreements, how they can help address childhood obesity and how schools and communities can share their facilities to create more opportunities for residents to be active.

Spengler’s research focuses on policy issues relevant to community health and development through sport and physical activity. He has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to research existing policy on the shared use of school and park recreational facilities and has conducted funded research to measure physical activity in municipal parks in underserved communities.

Spengler serves as an American Heart Association volunteer informing state advocacy efforts and policy on shared use legislation. His research also informs national AHA Policy Guidance on shared use liability legislation and provides advice and support for AHA Obesity Fund grantees.

Other webinar moderators include Manal Aboelata, managing director at the Prevention Institute; Rebecca Frank, network analyst and coordinator for PreventObesity.net; Jamie Chriqui, director of policy surveillance and evaluation and a senior research scientist in the Health Policy Center in the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Genoveva Islas-Hooker, regional director of the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program.

The webinar is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, visit http://ht.ly/aP1MZ.

The exhibition, “Deep Roots, Bold Visions: Self-Taught Artists of Alachua County,” will include paintings, drawings, sculpture and mixed media works by Jesse Aaron, Alyne Harris, Eddy Mumma, Jerry Coker, Robert Roberg, Francis Moore and Baba Onabamiero Ogunleye. The exhibition will open on May 29 and run through Sept. 9.

These artists draw inspiration from the region, and the subjects of their works range from local scenery and imaginary landscapes inspired by Florida nature to inner visions, religious belief and spirituality. Throughout the exhibition, the Harn will draw attention to the aesthetic power and expressive intensity of the work as well as the methods and skills of these artists, who did not pursue formal academic degrees in the fine arts. The exhibition will also draw attention to local histories as portrayed by the artists and narrated by collectors.

“We are delighted to feature accomplished artists who live and work here in our own community as well as some wonderful local artists who have passed on,” said Rebecca Nagy, director of the Harn Museum of Art and co-curator of the exhibition. “The exhibition shows a wonderful, eclectic cross section of their work. It will be interesting to put their works in dialogue together and see what insights they reveal about our community. We’re also thrilled that our local collectors have stepped forward to lend to this exhibition and told us their stories about how they discovered these artists and have come to appreciate their work.”

This exhibition is organized by the Harn Museum of Art and made possible by the Harn Program Endowment, with additional support from the Harn Annual Fund.

Admission to the museum is free. For more information, call 352-392-9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.

The museum is offering a number of related programs for audiences of all ages.

Tot Time, “I Spy Color,” Tuesday, May 29, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Tot Time, “I Spy Color,” Friday, June 1, 11 a.m. to noon
This free, fun and educational program is for children, ages 2 – 5, and their caretakers. Tots learn about art by touring Harn galleries and exploring art materials. Enrollment is limited to the first 40 children pre-registered. Register by calling 352-392-9826, ext. 2112 or email lstevens@harn.ufl.edu. Tot Time is funded by Prudential Trend Realty.

Family Day, Saturday, June 16, 1 to 4 p.m.
Families will tour the exhibition and build sculptures with found objects and recycled materials in our creative studio. A donation of $2 per child or $5 per family is requested if participating in the art-making activity.

Gallery Talk and Book Signing, Sunday, June 24, 3 p.m.
Robert Moore, author of “Francis Read Moore, Florida Folk Artist: Primitive Paintings and Photos of a Time and Place in North Central Florida;” Kate Barnes, Francis Moore’s first art instructor; and Debbie Moore Brown, daughter of Francis Moore, will offer perspectives on the life and work of Francis Moore, whose work is represented in “Deep Roots, Bold Visions.” The book “Francis Read Moore” is available for purchase in the museum store. A book signing will take place following the lecture.

Museum Nights, Thursday, July 12, 6 to 9 p.m.
Visitors will enjoy activities, performances and presentations engaging in personal expression. This evening is a part of the UF Creative B Program, which highlights creative events across the UF campus.

Collectors’ Discussion, Saturday, July 21, 3 p.m.
Learn from local Gainesville collectors about how and why they collect the art that is on view in the exhibition. Moderated by exhibition curators Rebecca Nagy, Harn Museum of Art director and Susan Cooksey, Harn curator of African Art.

Scientists have been trying to explain the bee-killing malady known as Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes honeybees to abandon their hives, become ill and die. Ellis’ lab has been studying how combinations of environmental factors — chemicals, pathogens, natural enemies — affect bees.

Since widespread honeybee die-offs began to be reported around the U.S. in 2006, researchers have been working to pin down a cause. Bee pollination is critical for much of the food we eat and some estimates suggest the U.S. bee industry is responsible for pollinating as much as $15 billion worth of crops every year.

In the Ellis lab’s most recent study, outlined recently in the Journal of Insect Physiology, researchers reared honey bees from young larvae to the pupal stage.

The UF researchers then exposed the immature bees to a variety of chemicals used in agriculture and beekeeping, including two fungicides, two herbicides and five insecticides. They also exposed them to Varroa mites, which weaken bee colonies.

During the experiment, a control group of bees wasn’t exposed to anything, others were exposed only to the chemicals, or only to mites, and some of the bees were exposed to a combination of chemicals and mites.

The researchers gauged the effects on larvae by analyzing the activity of about 50 genes associated with stress, immune response and bee development.

Ellis, an assistant professor of entomology in UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, stressed that the scientists were only able to screen for expression in some — but not all — genes. They had expected that exposing the bees to the combination of mites and chemicals might produce a more pronounced negative impact, but they didn’t find any.

But their results did suggest, among other things, that two common fungicides — chemicals used to protect crops from fungal infections — apparently have more influence on bees than previously believed. By examining the selected genes, researchers found the fungicides had pronounced effects on the larvae, although they are generally considered non-toxic to bees.

“The data suggest that fungicides are not innocuous to bees,” he said.

Ellis’ next study will go much further, with scientists preparing to raise the bees from larvae to adulthood, labeling and following each individual bee.

“In most studies, investigators treat a field with a product, put bee colonies adjacent to the field and then sample whole colony strength after pesticide exposure. At the end of the day, all you are able to say is ‘this colony is responding in this way to the field treatment.’ You don’t know why it’s responding in that way. When we begin to label bees, it will permit us to investigate an area that has yet to be studied. We’ll be able to follow individual bees throughout their entire lives, thus allowing us to determine long-term impacts of pesticides on bees.” Besides Ellis, the research team members included former UF postdoctoral research fellow Aleš Gregorc; Michael Scharf, a former UF entomologist and now the O. Wayne Rollins/Orkin Endowed Chair in Urban Entomology at Purdue University, and Jay D. Evans, research entomologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md.

The study was funded by the National Honey Board, the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The center’s weekly Dance for Life program is designed to help people with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease improve their quality of life through enhanced physical well-being, social interaction, creative expression, and targeted improvements in Parkinson’s symptoms including impaired balance, strength, and mobility, cognitive impairment and language dysfunction.

The award will allow the center, in partnership with the UF Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, to document the physical and psychosocial impact of dance on the disease, and ultimately help provide this cost-effective, enjoyable intervention more widely to people living with Parkinson’s.

The general hypothesis for this study is that dance, like aerobic activity, activates neuroplasticity, particularly in the frontal lobes and, thus, enhances measures of walking ability, balance, cognition and language in people who participate in the Dance for Life program. The UF Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration has recently designed a study assessing aerobic exercise under this same hypothesis. With funding from the Parkinson Research Foundation, the Center for Arts in Medicine will add a dance intervention group to this broader study, which is funded by the National Institutes on Aging.

This study, the largest scale study of dance and Parkinson’s disease conducted anywhere, will determine whether dance can be effective in improving disease severity, walking ability, balance function, cognition and/or language deficits, and compare the effects of aerobic exercise, dance and a commonly recommended stretch exercise program on cognition and language. The findings from this study may substantially advance the development of treatments for Parkinson’s. Drug-free programs could reduce the potential for adverse effects on patient well-being while addressing cognitive and language impairment.

For more information on the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine and the Dance For Life program, visit http://www.arts.ufl.edu/cam.

This past spring, The Office of Sustainability, in partnership with the UF Clean Water Campaign, known as the CWC, piloted the new program aimed at raising awareness about litter issues on campus.

Organizations apply to adopt a zone on campus for an academic year, set cleanup dates and recruit volunteers. The Office of Sustainability and CWC sponsor all the materials and provide guidance and support. The groups provide information such as the weight of trash and recyclables collected. The program helps decentralize cleanup coordination on the ground while establishing a greater level of record-keeping. Together, this provides a better glimpse of the kind of waste that ends up in the woods and water bodies of campus, and how frequently it’s accumulating.

“The program concept was the result of identifying a problem and thinking creatively about how to best capture student interest and involvement,” said Ashley Pennington, outreach coordinator for the Office of Sustainability. “Numerous student organizations already host cleanups or adopt roads, so it seemed a logical way to leverage that energy to make a direct impact in a comprehensive yet fun way.”

Five student organizations participated in the pilot semester, allowing the office to refine the process while still ensuring care for conservation areas. Greeks Going Green, the Inter-Residence Hall Association, UF College Democrats, GreenLaw and the American Water Works Association participated, hosting cleanups from February through April.

“We got involved in the Adopt-A-“Swamp” program because it was a great way for our members to participate in community service on campus,” said Julia Slayden, a member of UF College Democrats. “After our first cleanup we held a picnic in our newly clean zone by Lake Alice, which was a great bonding experience.”

The program has four key goals: mitigate litter on campus, engage the campus community on waste, restore and protect campus biodiversity and ecosystems, and gather useable data and information to better understand, assess and develop solutions for waste patterns and accumulations in these spaces.

In 2011 as part of the spring waste campaign, REthink, the office initially vetted the concept by hosting a campuswide cleanup of nine zones on campus. After nearly 3,000 pounds of trash and recyclables were collected, and the concept was presented to volunteers, it became clear that Adopt-A-“Swamp” would create an important harmony between the needs of campus with the desires of the student community.

For more information on the program and details on when to apply for the fall, visit www.sustainability.ufl.edu/adoptaswamp.

“These stories demonstrate the critical role investigative reporting and freedom of information laws play in exposing the misconduct and at times, criminal conduct of public employees,” said Sandra F. Chance, executive director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida.

The series was recognized with a $3,000 prize, which was presented to The News & Observer reporter Dan Kane at a ceremony on April 20 at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

“The News & Observer’s strong investigative reporting revealed shocking incidents of corruption and dishonesty by public employees and elected officials,” Chance said. “This is the kind of reporting that reminds us of how important a free press is in guarding against government wrongdoing.”

Kane reported how easily abusive cops, teachers who slept with their students and clerks who stole from the public coffers could change jobs with little risk of exposure. His investigation detailed how these employees received undeserved pensions, undisclosed perks and years of inflated salaries. Following the groundbreaking series, North Carolina’s Legislature passed major reforms, opening up what had been one of the nation’s most secretive personnel laws to allow for significantly more transparency.

The annual award was established by the late Joseph L. Brechner, an Orlando broadcaster. Previous award winners include: the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The St. Petersburg Times, The Dallas Morning News, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Houston Chronicle.

Florida counties surveyed on use of social media
The Brechner Center also revealed the results of a research project that focused on the use of social media and smartphones by government officials. The researchers performed an audit of Florida’s 67 counties to learn more about their policies related to capturing public records created on social media or mobile devices. A public records request for each county’s policies, as well as an optional questionnaire, was distributed to county administrators last summer.

Of the 67 counties contacted, 12 were completely unresponsive to the public records request or a subsequent follow-up. Sixteen counties provided relevant policies, which indicated that branding and consistency are major concerns related to social media. While public records are mentioned in most policies, they serve more as reminders of the law than sources of specific guidance for how to achieve compliance. Two county policies explicitly prohibited the use of social media, citing open government laws as a barrier to use.

The answers to the optional questionnaire show that social media isn’t as widely adopted as one might expect, with just a little more than half of the 53 respondents reporting county use of social media. For open government advocates, this adoption rate might mean more time to work to ensure that safeguards are in place to capture records, which is especially important in light of the only 20 of 28 counties using social media reporting retention of posts, and only 10 of the 53 respondents reporting retention of text messages.

“I was disappointed that so many counties would ignore multiple public records requests, and I think that finding is important on its own,” Christina Locke, a University of Florida doctoral student who helped conduct the audit, said. “The audit is also valuable because it shows that what counties need is practical advice on how to capture the records, and I think that a roundtable among IT professionals and county administrators would be a great step in that direction.”

The Brechner Center exists to educate and promote freedom of information laws and policies. It serves the students of UF, Florida citizens, media lawyers and journalists around the country by providing training sessions, answering queries and conducting scholarly research on First Amendment issues.

The Survey of Emerging Market Conditions, conducted quarterly by the Kelley A. Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies at UF’s Warrington College of Business Administration, revealed that those in the real estate business felt optimistic because of the falling unemployment rate and because they see more activity in rental housing, such as lease signings. The unemployment rate dropped from 9.9 percent in December 2011 to 9 percent in March.

“Positive outlooks for occupancy and rent growth along with an improving employment trend are increasing our respondents’ optimism about the real estate markets in Florida,” said Timothy S. Becker, director of the Bergstrom Center.

The UF Commercial Real Estate Sentiment Index, a measure of the respondents’ own business outlook, reached its highest level since 2007. Bergstrom Center officials attributed the rise to lenders and owners sensing a better lending environment with banks as well as an improving economy.

“With billions of dollars of loans coming due over the next year, the increased lending activity is a welcome sign for real estate owners and investors looking for debt capital to refinance quality properties,” Becker said.

Property fundamentals including occupancy and rental rates improved this quarter with progress in single-family and condominium development, apartments, industrial, land investment and capital availability. Occupancy expectations were rated most favorably in the premium office market. Respondents cited a better employment outlook as the reason for optimism.

Although respondents were optimistic about the industry and the overall economy, they cited concerns about the upcoming presidential election and the state government’s financial situation.

Respondents said that significant policy changes would most likely not be in place before the November elections and not resolving those issues could lead to harsh economic results. Among those issues are the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax break, which are both scheduled to expire after 2012, and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts that are set to take effect in 2013. Respondents also were concerned with artificially low interest rates, inflation and increased gas prices.

Overall, the survey revealed that the future for real estate in Florida looks positive, but political and economic uncertainties remain. A majority of respondents expect a slow and measured recovery until the conclusion of the presidential elections.

A total of 189 Florida professional real estate analysts and investors, representing 13 urban regions of the state and up to 15 property types, participated in the survey. The survey is done for participants in the commercial real estate market in Florida.

All year Master Gardener volunteers start from seed or propagate their favorite plants for this sale. A variety of herbs, annuals, perennials, natives, trees and more will be available. Master Gardeners will provide advice on selection and care of the plants.

The sale raises funds for the Alachua County Master Gardener Volunteer Program. In 2011 these volunteers gave more than 11,000 hours of service to Alachua County residents and helped about 17,000 people seeking gardening advice. There are 11 gardens in Alachua County elementary schools run by these volunteers. Students are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables and about their nutritional benefits.

Purchases may be made with cash or checks only. Admission and parking is free. The office is located at the corner of NE 39th Avenue and Waldo Road.

For more information on this event or to ask a Master Gardener volunteer for advice, call 352-955-2402.

The 2012 International K-12 Teacher of the Year Award winner is Steven Doherty from Howard Bishop Middle School. In second and third place were Dianne Amendola from Stephen Foster Elementary School and Chu-Chuan Chiu from Lincoln Middle School. Each applicant’s teaching activities promote internationalization and provide opportunities for students to become interested in international issues and to get involved in international classroom activities in the school, community, nation or world.

Doherty, the seventh-grade advanced life science teacher at Bishop, conducts a unit on international peace and human rights every year called “Profiles for Peace,” where students learn about people around the world who have invested their lives to making the world a better place. He also helps to coordinate a “7 billion” project with other teachers exploring the impacts and opportunities of a growing human population confined to finite resources.

Amendola is a fifth-grade teacher at Stephen Foster. She volunteered to teach English to Speakers of Other Languages, known as ESOL, at Sandipani Muni School in Vrndavan, India, during the summer of 2010. As a result she started “Read to Feed, with a Penny per Page,” designed to both donate money to Sandipani Muni School and to encourage students in her classroom to read more.

Chiu is the sixth-to-eighth-grade teacher of Chinese at Lincoln Elementary. Chiu invites all of her students to celebrate Chinese New Year, which helps students gain a better sense of Chinese traditions. Some of her students even perform Chinese songs they learn from class. She also coordinates “Tuesday News” in her classroom to help students connect to the Chinese world and establish a better understanding of current Chinese culture, values, history, society, or issues.

The awards were presented at the UF International Center during a luncheon reception on May 9, honoring the awardees along with their school representatives, family and friends. Each winner and school will receive a monetary award.

The course, titled simply, “The Dog,” is aimed at undergraduate students planning careers in veterinary fields. It also touches on such topics as evolution, domestication, anatomy and physiology, behavior and dog health.

Organizers expect participants from all over the country and beyond. Several students from Canada have even already signed up.

“Besides introducing them to different aspects of dogs in society, we will include topics that will enable these students to be well-rounded when they finish their veterinary studies,” said Patrick Larkin, the course’s instructor.

“Many students who are entering veterinary school have never seen a dog show, but some of their future clients will professionally show dogs,” Larkin said. “For example, professional groomers don’t like it when veterinarians shave their dogs because that means their clients can’t show them for a long time. That particular segment of the course will familiarize students with the nuances of the dog show world.”

For added value, Larkin plans to include interviews with faculty members who will share information about why they chose their particular career path and offering advice to students. “The concept is similar to a class textbook with information appended to each chapter, allowing for a deeper exploration of information in the field,” he said.

Also an adjunct professor of biology at Santa Fe college in Gainesville, Larkin received his doctorate at UF, and joined the college’s faculty in June. He has since spent most of his time organizing the new course, lining up lectures, designing the infrastructure, uploading content and obtaining all of the necessary permissions within the college and UF to move forward.

“It’s been a lot of fun for me, just interacting with different faculty members and getting them excited,” Larkin said. “Dr. (Charlie) Courtney has been supportive all along to keep things moving and it’s been fun working with a lot of different faculty.”

Courtney, the college’s associate dean of research and graduate studies, first conceived of the course and has been instrumental in its creation. Courtney’s administrative assistant, Sally O’Connell, is active in the dog show circuit and helped arrange to film a dog show in Ocala for the class.

The first course will consist of both UF students and non-UF students. Larkin quickly filled the UF slots, even without widely advertising. The advertising he has done has been through contacts with pre-veterinary clubs at different schools. Larkin and a few other UF representatives also attended a national pre-veterinary club meeting in North Carolina to help get the word out.

The registration deadline is Aug. 20. For more information about the course, visit http://sacs.vetmed.ufl.edu/programs/undergraduate/ or email Larkin at pmlarkin@ufl.edu.

Junior Fellows serve as research assistants for Carnegie Endowment projects and will have the opportunity to co-author journal articles and policy papers, participate in meetings with high-level officials, contribute to congressional testimony and organize briefings attended by scholars, journalists and government officials. Fellows are paid a salary of $3,000 per month for approximately one year, and receive a full benefits package.

Sautin was born in Ukraine, and emigrated from there to Japan to the United States where he attended middle school and high school in Gainesville. He speaks Russian and Ukrainian, and earned degrees in history, economics and political science when he graduates in May. While at UF, Sautin has been active in Student Government and Model UN, and completed a research internship with the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

Following his fellowship, Sautin plans to earn a doctorate in international relations in preparation for a career in foreign policy.

The university’s Lastinger Center for Learning, which is housed in the College of Education, co-produces the showcases with the Miami-Dade, Collier and Duval school districts as part of its award-winning Master Teacher Initiative. It is also sponsoring presentations by STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — teachers in Pinellas County.

The events showcase classroom-oriented research projects that aim to boost learning.

“Year after year, the teachers and administrators who participate in our Master Teacher Initiative dig deep into their practice and conduct hands-on research to figure out the best ways to help their students learn and develop,” said Don Pemberton, director of the UF Lastinger Center.

Miami-Dade holds its showcase Saturday at Southwest Miami Senior High School; Duval May 24 at the University of North Florida Center in Jacksonville; and Collier June 4 at Immokalee High School.

During the past school year, educators have tackled an eclectic variety of subjects. Many of them studied the effects of the technology they’ve incorporated into their classrooms.

Projects include “Get Them Hooked,” in which Carter G. Woodson Elementary (Jacksonville) second-grade math teacher Deanda Ewers incorporated “research based engagement strategies” into her lesson plans; “Two Teachers? Pros and Cons of Team Teaching,” in which Coral Park Elementary (Miami) kindergarten teachers Carlos Mena and Jennifer Figueredo analyzed this scenario in their classroom; and “Impact of Study Island on AP Stats,” in which Immokalee High School 12th-grade math/computer science teacher Steven Becker examined the impact of new software on his students’ achievement.

The UF Lastinger Center is a global leader in the teacher quality movement. Harnessing the university’s intellectual resources, it partners with philanthropic, educational, governmental and business organizations to design, build, field-test, scale and disseminate new models and strategies to transform teaching and learning.

Selective logging may be one of the few feasible options left for conserving tropical forests given the huge financial incentives pushing tropical landholders to convert primary forests into cash-generating agricultural plantations.

The report analyzed data from more than 100 studies of tropical forests on three continents that had been harvested for timber. Results suggest that while biodiversity and carbon retention take a hit from selective logging, the losses are survivable and reversible to a degree if the forest is given adequate time to recover. The study appears in the online version of the journal Conservation Letters.

That’s not the case when forests are converted to rubber or palm oil plantations, said the study’s lead author, Jack Putz, a UF professor of biology. Once a forest is gone, it is hard to get it back in any semblance of its former glory.

“We aren’t advocates for logging,” he said. “We’re just acknowledging that it is a reality — and that within that reality, there is a way forward.”

The study found that on average, 85 to 100 percent of the animal and plant species diversity present before an initial harvest remained after the forests were selectively logged. Forests also retained 76 percent of their carbon after an initial harvest.

The authors concede that the reports they analyzed could be overly optimistic portrayals of forest health. They nevertheless maintain that even moderately well-managed forests provide valuable benefits, and that badly managed forests can recover many of their most valuable attributes over time.

The continued existence of indigenous people culturally bound to these forests depends on forest survival, Putz said. Other people benefit from the eco-services that forests provide like soil erosion control, carbon sequestration and habitat for wildlife.

The problem, he said, is that there are powerful economic forces driving developing nations to convert their forests to cash crops and cattle ranches. A forest sustainably managed for timber and biodiversity might earn $2,000 per acre every 20 to 30 years. In contrast, a palm oil plantation can bring in the same amount in less than a year.

But there are ways to tip the balance sheet in favor of conservation, according to the study.

Programs that root out illegal logging operations protect forests by raising the price of legitimately harvested timber, he said. And that makes sustainable logging a more economically viable option for cash-strapped nations. The study also suggests that climate change mitigation programs designed to prevent logging could be modified to include support for environmentally sustainable timber management plans.

Many conservation biologists and ecologists in developed countries north of the equator seem reluctant to get behind these policies in a public way, he said. A chronic lack of oversight has made programs that allow for selective logging a risky ecological proposition in the past. That makes people involved in conservation hesitant to be seen as aligning themselves with timber harvest in any capacity.

But logging is going to happen anyway, Putz said. “Conservationists should be working to make sure it is carried out in the most environmentally and socially responsible ways possible,” he said.

The Game Room, in partnership with Kids Bowl Free, will offer two free games of bowling every day as a way to give back to the Gainesville community for its support throughout the school year.

“We are participating in the program for the first time this year. We are hoping that it will give support back to the community, the married students who have children and staff of the University,” said Charlotte Dare, game room manager. “We are also hoping that it will reach some of those people who do not realize that they can utilize the game room. Our facility is a safe, alcohol- and smoke- free environment that is not only here for the UF students.”

Kids Bowl Free is a national organization that aims to provide opportunities for K-8 students during the summer months. The program has more than 1,000 participating bowling centers in 48 states and Canada. During the summer of 2011, more than 800,000 families and 1,785,000 children participated in the program.

“Over the past five years more than 5 million children have taken advantage of this great opportunity to have fun, get exercise and partake in America’s No. 1 participation recreation, and this summer we anticipate that an additional 2 million will enroll and bowl,” said Bruce Davis, president of BBBI/Kids Bowl Free.

The program provides fun, economical activities for families looking for something to do in the summer months. Parent Jessica Goodwin, a participant in the program, said, “We love Kids Bowl Free. It provides us with a fun family activity at a great price! My daughters love bowling so this is perfect!”

To register your child, please go online to www.KidsBowlFree.com/Reitz. Families that register will receive coupons valid for two free bowling games via email every Sunday morning from the starting date until the conclusion of the program.

For more information on the Kids Bowl Free program, please visit www.kidsbowlfree.com. Further details are also available at www.union.ufl.edu/gameroom.

Contacts:
Reitz Union Game Room, Charlotte Dare, char@union.ufl.edu, 352-392-7186

Kids Bowl Free, Darin Spindler, darin@bowlingbusinessbuilders.com, 920-632-7018