August 2009

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'Go Green Louisville' a finalist for national award
Beshear, Daniels tout progress of Ohio River Bridges Project 2
U of L doctors perform first cardiac stem cell infusion, other medical discoveries unveiled
It's official: PGA returning to Louisville


'Go Green Louisville' a finalist for national award

"Go Green Louisville," an energy-conservation partnership that involves Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government agencies and private businesses, has been named a finalist for an Award for Municipal Excellence.
The awards are presented annually by the National League Cities and environmental and engineering consulting company CH2M Hill. Read more.


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Beshear, Daniels tout progress of Ohio River Bridges Project 2

With Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, local and state legislators and business leaders looking on, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear ceremoniously signed a bill that would help create a funding mechanism for the Ohio River Bridges Project.
The Kentucky General Assembly recently approved House Bill 3, which aims to establish a bi-state authority that would make key funding decisions, including whether to levy tolls, for the plan to build two bridges between Louisville and Southern Indiana and to redesign the Spaghetti Junction interchange.

Indiana's legislature has also agreed to create an Ohio River Bridges Commission to work with Kentucky on a plan to pay for and build the bridges. Read more.


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U of L doctors perform first cardiac stem cell infusion, other medical discoveries unveiled

Jewish Hospital officials announced that physicians from the University of Louisville recently performed one of the world's first cardiac stem cell infusion procedures at the hospital.

The patient, suffering from congestive heart failure, was injected with his own cardiac stem cells in an attempt to regrow the damaged muscle tissue in his heart.

The procedure is part of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trial, testing the use of adult cardiac stem cells to treat heart disease. Read more.

In other medical news, University of Louisville researcher Manuel Casanova thinks he has uncovered a common link between conditions such as dyslexia, autism and ADHD.
The research identified differences in brain tissue known as cortical cell minicolumns, which connect brain signals to process information. In autistic people, there was an abundance of short connectors, but a deficiency of long ones which process complex information.
After publishing his findings in a recent edition of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Casanova hopes they lead to a treatment for the disorders that doesn't use medications. Read more.

And in yet another discovery, a team including University of Louisville researchers has found the key to a debilitating disease in which the immune system attacks the kidneys -- a finding that could lead to earlier diagnosis and new medicines for a chronic condition afflicting 100,000 Americans.

The research, being published in the New England Journal of Medicine, identifies the protein at the center of membranous nephropathy. But it has implications beyond kidney disease, offering possible avenues to attack other autoimmune disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Read more.

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It's official: PGA returning to Louisville

The PGA of America made an official announcement that the organization will bring its annual PGA Championship golf tournament back to Louisville in 2014.
The organization also will hold the 2011 Senior PGA Championship at Louisville's Valhalla Golf Club.
Valhalla, which is owned by the PGA, has hosted the PGA's 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships, the 2004 Senior PGA Championship and the 2008 Ryder Cup, an international event that the PGA of America helps organize.
Dates have not been announced for the tournaments, but the Senior PGA typically is held in May, and the PGA Championship is held in August. Read more.