K-State professor named Distinguished Dietitian of the Year
According to K-State Today, the Kansas Dietetic Association selected Kevin Sauer, associate professor in hospitality management and dietetics, as the Distinguished Dietician of the Year.
The award is given to a dietitian who demonstrates significant involvement and leadership at levels of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Sauer was recognized April 24 in Wichita.
Sauer earned a bachelor of science degree in dietetics from K-State in 1993, a master of science degree in food service, hospitality management and administrative dietetics from K-State in 1998 and his doctorate in human ecology from K-State in 2009.
K-State researcher finds moderate exercise may improve cancer treatments’ effectiveness
According to K-State News and Communications Services, kinesiology research from K-State indicated that going on a brisk walk or slow jog regularly may help improve cancer treatments.
The research conducted by Brad Behnke, associate professor of exercise physiology, and other collaborators indicated that moderate exercise performed on a daily basis aids cancer treatment because it enhances tumor oxygenation. Behnke is now using funding from a $750,000 American Cancer Society grant to study the efficacy of radiation treatments.
“If we manipulate all the systems in the body — the lungs, the heart and the blood vessels — with exercise, we can take advantage of the dysfunctional vasculature in the tumor and enhance blood flow to the tumor,” Behnke said in the news release. “The tumor becomes the path of least resistance for the elevated cardiac output of exercise, which results in a substantial increase in tumor oxygenation during and after exercise.”
Behnke also emphasized that moderate levels of exercise are key, as too little exercise will have no effect but too much may shut down blood flow to the tumor altogether. Moderate exercise uses 30 to 60 percent of someone’s total aerobic capacity, according to Behnke.
Brownback allocates extra funds to five school districts
According to KSNT, Gov. Sam Brownback and the State Finance Council agreed to provide five school districts around half a million dollars total in extra funds. The funds were allocated to districts who were the most negatively affected by the recent change to the block grant funding system and other unforeseen expenditures.
Eight districts originally requested approximately $1.1 million total in extra funding, with only five districts being approved to receive partial aid from the extraordinary needs fund, which held $4 million in total.
Superintendents testified they had been struggling financially due to enrollment changes, rising costs and the block grant funding system, which resulted in $51 million being cut from public education in Kansas for the current fiscal year.
