| |
|
'Healthy' Doesn't Always Mean Healthy
Carolyn Dunn, family and consumer sciencesHog growers raise cash to skirt contracts
Kelly Zering, agricultural and resource economicsUnder the dome: Federal budget provides for N.C.
turfgrass managementResidents, Progress Energy To Bring Case To Utilities Commission
Schenck ForestBrawl ends bowl hopes
Lee Fowler, athletics
Health
officials investigate cause of Jefferson Middle students' illness
student health
Activists
continue "Honk for Peace" campaign despite FBI investigation
student activities
COLUMN:Fans
behaving badly
tailgate shooting
Upholstered
furniture buying tips
John Summey and Tom
Culbreth, Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center
Under the dome: Federal budget provides for N.C.
Nov. 23, 2004
News & Observer
By VALERIE BAUERLEIN AND J. ANDREW CURLISS
© Copyright 2004
Congress passed much of the federal budget in a rare Saturday session, approving $388 billion in spending.
The budget, released only a few hours before the vote, weighed in at 14 pounds, or 1,690 pages.
That left North Carolina lawmakers wondering: What's in it? And, as important, what's not?
Staff members worked through the weekend and into Monday to find out whether pet projects made the cut. Aides looked through printed copies and an online version, slow going because the government had yet to put up a version that was searchable by project name.
Rep. David Price was happy that area transportation projects survived, including $20 million for the Triangle Transit Authority's continued planning of a regional rail system.
Rep. Bob Etheridge had his own favorite projects, including $800,000 for widening U.S. 401, a project he said would relieve traffic jams in a growing area.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole was pleased about several dozen projects, including $500,000 for N.C. State University to study techniques for growing turfgrass, a burgeoning state industry.
At least one senator was not poring over the document Monday. Outgoing Sen. John Edwards voted against it. Spokesman Mike Briggs said it would be hypocritical for Edwards to tout projects he favored in a bill that, overall, he opposed.
Easley team stays the course
In Washington, six Cabinet officers have already announced they are leaving President Bush's administration, including the secretaries of state and education.
But in Raleigh, where Gov. Mike Easley is preparing for a second term, there has been no shifting so far -- and few changes are predicted.
Easley said in a brief interview last week that he doesn't expect a lot of upheaval in his Cabinet, which includes leaders of the departments of Corrections, Transportation, Cultural Resources and Administration.
But he quickly added that he hasn't had long conversations with his Cabinet members.
Easley said he expects some responsibilities and job duties to shift for some Cabinet members. He downplayed any potential changes, saying they would be attempts to better match people with their abilities.
"We've got some good, talented people in there," Easley said. "Part of any change will be in lining them up with where they are best."
Track coach races home
Six of seven distinguished North Carolinians were gathered last week in a back room at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham before they were to be awarded the state's highest civilian honor.
The seventh was running late. That had organizers of The North Carolina Award ceremony nervously checking the door.
Photographers milled around. Family members sipped wine. The black-tie dinner and program were about to begin.
Then the missing one, longtime track coach and former N.C. Central University chancellor LeRoy T. Walker, arrived, to the relief of many -- including Easley.
The governor and the track coach hugged.
Walker, it turns out, had been in Cancun, Mexico, working on plans for an international track meet, and had just arrived back in the Triangle.
"It's kind of funny," Easley said, "that the one running behind is the track coach."
More talk of Easley in 2008
It might be too soon to make those Easley for President buttons or bumper stickers, but the murmurs about a 2008 candidacy continue.
The Boston Globe is the latest to mention Easley, naming him one of six contenders Democrats should look at the next time around.
Easley has dismissed such talk.
After he appeared at a Wake County library recently, the first question a television reporter asked (in jest, perhaps) was whether the governor was headed yet to Iowa.
Easley looked off in the distance and replied that, well, he'd been there before.
Nov. 23, 2004
Winston-Salem Journal
By Theo Helm
© Copyright 2004
Public-health officials are investigating the cause of a stomach illness that struck about 40 students at Jefferson Middle School while on a trip to learn about Civil War history.
"We don't know what it is," said Tim Monroe, the director of the For-syth County Department of Public Health. "We think it's a virus. We won't know until we get the cultures back."
About 340 eighth-graders and 35 chaperones left last Tuesday morning for a field trip examining Civil War history. They visited such sites as An-tietam, Petersburg and Harpers Ferry.
Principal Joyce Jones said that some students suffered from nausea and others from vomiting.
The first student got sick Tuesday night, Jones said, and students continued to get sick in waves.
"Thursday morning was when they started dropping out," she said.
Monroe said that students seemed to get better quickly and did not have blood in their stools, factors that seem to indicate that a virus caused the illness.
He said that the symptoms were similar to those caused by the norovirus, but he wouldn't know until the cultures are tested. Results should be back next week, he said.
Norovirus, or Norwalk virus, became infamous as the predator of cruise-ship passengers. The virus causes vomiting and diarrhea for about two days but rarely leads to any serious problems. It is, however, highly contagious and can be spread through food or by close contact between people.
An outbreak of norovirus hit about 160 students at Wake Forest University in March and April this year, and a total of about 1,000 students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University earlier in the winter.
The Jefferson students were supposed to return at 10 p.m. Friday but instead were home by about 6:30 p.m.
About 35 eighth-graders missed school yesterday, about twice the normal number. Jones said that some of the absences may be related to the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Activists continue "Honk for Peace" campaign despite FBI investigation
Nov. 22, 2004
News 14 Carolina
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
(RALEIGH)-- It's an investigation that has stirred commotion on both sides. For two years, Student Peace Action Network has held their "Honk for Peace" every Friday in honor of troops in Iraq.
But after the state GOP headquarters was vandalized on the Friday after elections, law enforcement agencies began speculating about SPAN's activities.
Agents from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force are now involved in the investigation.
SPAN members say just because they are anti-war activists and disagree with some of the Bush administration's policies doesn’t mean they’re terrorists.
“Events like that happen after college football games," said Elena Everett, a member of Fight Imperialism, Stand Together and co-chair of Campus Greens at N.C. State. "You know, a couple windows were broken, some graffiti was scrawled on a window. It’s certainly no reason to bring in the Joint Terrorism Task Force. That's not domestic terrorism."
Members of SPAN say they will continue their "Honk for Peace" campaign until U.S. troops come home from Iraq.
Residents, Progress Energy To Bring Case To Utilities Commission
Nov. 22, 2004
WRAL
By Gloria Lopez
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- There is a power struggle over where to put power lines. Residents in west Raleigh are at odds with Progress Energy. Both groups plan to plead their case to the state Utilities Commission.
Power poles as tall as 125 feet would border Johnny Wardlaw's property under a plan proposed by Progress Energy.
"Twenty or 30 years from now, somebody is going to look back -- why did they allow that to happen?"
Mike Hughes, spokesman for Progress Energy, said it is the best of dozens of options.
"It is virtually impossible to do it without having some impact on some individuals," he said.
The lines would essentially border Blue Ridge Road, cut west on Trinity Road then north along Interstate 40 to a new substation.
Wardlaw said the lines are not appropriate to that area -- an area that welcomes millions to the RBC Center, Carter Finley Stadium and the Fairgrounds. However, Hughes disagrees.
"All of that growth is symbolic of the need to have more transmission line facilities to serve that area," he said.
The proposed route for the power lines would extend four miles. Some opponents suggest eliminating half the distance.
"I think they built around their elbow to get to their thumb for no apparent engineering or economic reason," said Robert Page, Wardlaw's attorney.
Schenck Forest will also be affected by the proposed power lines. State and environmental agencies, including North Carolina State University, recommended the lines not cross it.
"This is a balancing act and we try to the best of our ability to take into consideration what property owners have told us, what state and environmental agencies have told us," Hughes said.
Ultimately, the decision rests in the hands of the state Utilities Commission. Both sides will present testimony during a hearing set for Jan. 4.
'Healthy' Doesn't Always Mean Healthy
Nov. 23, 2004
NBC-17
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Fast food and chain restaurants are now full of labels like "fresh," "healthy" and "low-carb" -- but that doesn't necessarily mean those items are good for you.
Boston Market's marinated grilled chicken Caesar salad with corn bread, for example, has a whopping 800 calories and 62 grams of fat in the salad alone, according to the company's Web site. That's almost as much fat as two Big Macs -- and nearly half the calories an average adult should eat in an entire day.
"If you add bacon and cheese and a lot of dressing, you're sort of defeating your purpose," said Carolyn Dunn, a nutritionist at North Carolina State University.
Dunn said the lowdown on low-carb items basically amounts to a calorie count.
Subway's Atkins grilled chicken and spinach salad has about 800 calories and more than 60 grams of fat. You could eat almost five McDonald's apple pies for that amount of fat.
Arby's fresh low-carb BLT wrap isn't much better. The word "fresh" may sound healthy, but this BLT wraps 650 calories and nearly 50 grams of fat. By comparison, a chicken club sandwich and Biggie fries from Wendy's contains less fat.
"If you take out the carbs, you can add things like bacon and cheese and the high-protein things like beef and chicken," Dunn said. "They have low carbs or no carbs, so you add a lot of those things and you boost the fat and boost the calories."
Dunn said low-carb items might not be healthy for those who are not on a strict low-carb diet, and she said it's best to trust your own cooking to deliver a healthy meal.
"When you eat at home, you eat healthier. You eat more fruits and vegetables, less fat, more fiber," she said. "Eat more meals at home."
When you do eat out, she suggests doing some research first.
Nearly every major restaurant chain provides nutrition information through pamphlets and on the Internet, but make sure you read all details -- restaurants often provide salad information separate from dressings, croutons and other high-calorie, high-fat add-ons.
Also, don't judge how much you should eat based on restaurant portions because many servings are five times what they should be.
"Be a sort of a picky diner," Dunn said.
Nov. 23, 2004
News & Observer
By CHIP ALEXANDER
© Copyright 2004
It began as a brawl among college football players. But the melee late in the game Saturday between Clemson and South Carolina will affect both universities, their football programs, bowl game bids and bowl revenue.
On Monday, officials at both schools announced that neither would accept a bid to a bowl game because of the incident. South Carolina athletics director Mike McGee said their agreement was unprecedented.
"The unfortunate events that took place in last Saturday's Clemson vs. South Carolina football game have no place in college athletics," Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford said Monday in a statement released by the league. Clemson is an ACC member.
Swofford said Clemson President James Barker and athletics director Terry Don Phillips took "an extraordinary and decisive stance." He said conference officials would determine whether further action is warranted.
Clemson had been mentioned as a possibility for the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte or the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Such a bowl bid might have been worth about $750,000.
The Continental Tire Bowl, which will be played Dec. 30, is expected to invite North Carolina.
Clemson, playing at home, beat South Carolina 29-7 in the contest of fierce rivals Saturday. That left both the Tigers and the Gamecocks with 6-5 records, eligible for bowl invitations.
The fight began with 5:48 to play. Clemson's Bobby Williamson tackled South Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton. Gamecocks offensive lineman Chris White came to Newton's aid, and teammates Na'Shan Goddard and Jabari Levey confronted Williamson. Soon, the Tigers' Gaines Adams, Donnell Clark and Cory Groover were involved; players ran from both sidelines to join in.
South Carolina coach Lou Holtz and Clemson coach Tommy Bowden tried to separate the players. Security officers and police finally restored order.
"This is more than just a football issue," Phillips said Monday in a statement. "The circumstances surrounding Saturday's game have impacted the perception of the character and integrity of the university.
"We expect all of our teams and student-athletes to act with class and dignity, and for the most part, we are very proud of our student-athletes and teams. ... We understand that fighting in athletics is not acceptable."
Barker, meanwhile, said that although going to a bowl game was important to the program and its fans, the integrity of the university was at stake.
"What happened Saturday does not reflect the values and character of Clemson, and we need to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure it never happens again," he said.
In the ACC, bowl-bound teams are allotted a certain portion of the bowl payout to cover travel costs and other expenses. The rest is divided equally among all conference schools. The Southeastern Conference, which includes South Carolina, has a similar revenue-sharing formula.
South Carolina athletics director Mike McGee told The Associated Press that not playing in a bowl could cost the school $1 million.
The brawl also tarnished the final game of Holtz's career as a college coach. Holtz, who was head coach at N.C. State University from 1972 to 1975, had announced his retirement.
"The players acted without thinking," said McGee, a former head coach at East Carolina and Duke. "I am certain they feel embarrassed, upset and sorry. ... But regret and remorse do not excuse these actions from being punished."
Clemson's Barker said the school needed to learn from the incident and "others like it that are tarnishing the image of athletics."
Violence in sports has moved to the forefront of the country's consciousness in the past few days.
On Friday night, a brawl involving the NBA's Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers spilled into the stands at the Pistons' arena, with players throwing punches at fans. The Pacers' Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season.
In all, nine players on the two basketball teams were suspended.
As he announced the penalties on Sunday, NBA Commissioner David Stern was asked about the brawl at Clemson.
"The spectacle of state troopers having to separate college kids is part of the same problem that we're all dealing with."
Doug Abrams, an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., has written several articles and editorials on violence in sports.
"The magic word is 'respect,' and things have changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years," Abrams said Monday. "Players do not have respect for other players; fans don't respect the players, and the players don't respect the fans. It's not just in the pros but has filtered all the way down to youth sports.
"What can be done about it? Some of it has to do with greater societal problems. Some people think we're fighting a losing battle when it comes to sportsmanship in sports."
Abrams applauded Clemson and South Carolina for taking a "principled stand."
"There's a lot of money on the line when you turn down bowl bids," he said. "It surprised me because I know how seriously they take football at those two schools."
NCSU athletics director Lee Fowler said Monday that he supported the two schools' decision. He said he was not concerned about the financial loss under the ACC's bowl revenue-sharing plan, which might have been negligible anyway after the game expenses.
"This is not an issue about money," Fowler said. "The only issue is doing the right thing. I'm sure it was not an easy decision."
Wolfpack football coach Chuck Amato, while an assistant at Florida State, saw a couple of brawls break out at games.
"It's scary," he said Monday. "When you get that kind of mess ... and tempers are flying, really, what do you do? Play the 'Star-Spangled Banner?' They can't even hear it. What do you do?
"It's not right, and you hope it never, ever happens. ... There's no place in athletics for that."
(Staff writers Lorenzo Perez and Dane Huffman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Hog growers raise cash to skirt contracts
Nov. 19, 2004
Triangle Business Journal
By Lee Weisbecker
© Copyright 2004
For a copy of this article, contact News Services at 5-3470.
Computer Simulation Shows How Fibrils " Proteins That Cluster in Diseases " Form
Nov. 23, 2004
Innovations-Report, Germany; Medical News Today, UK; Newswise; News-Medical.net, World
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
To get a better look at how proteins gather into clusters called amyloid fibrils – which are associated with important human diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and the so-called prion diseases like Mad Cow – researchers at North Carolina State University decided to make movies.
Dr. Carol Hall, Alcoa Professor of chemical engineering at NC State and Hung D. Nguyen, a graduate student in Hall’s lab, used a computer simulation technique, discontinuous molecular dynamics, to visualize the meanderings of small proteins called peptides. Movies of the simulation show that 96 randomly placed peptides spontaneously aggregate into what Hall calls a “sandwich” of layered protein sheets, similar to the amyloid fibrils discovered in diseased people and animals. Hall says that understanding how fibrils form in human or animal organs may lead to discoveries of how to slow or halt fibril formation.
The research was published in the Nov. 16 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is not known whether fibrils cause Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and the other so-called amyloid diseases, or whether they are just associated symptoms. In any event, the fibrils form plaques in human and animal organs, often the brain. Although it’s not clear if these plaques cause memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients, for instance, scientists are interested in finding out the mechanisms behind the formation of fibrils.
“All of these diseases – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Huntington’s – have the same unusual phenomena. Proteins – completely different proteins in each disease – assemble into ordered aggregates, amyloid fibrils, so that a vital organ, usually the brain, is crisscrossed by these structures,” Hall said. “This tells us that the problem has something to do with the general nature of proteins rather than with the specifics of the particular disease-associated proteins.”
Besides studying fibrils in the test tube, researchers would like to make computer models to view fibril formation. This is not possible using the traditional atomic-level protein folding simulation techniques – which follow the motions of every atom on every protein – because fibril formation takes a long time.
So Hall and Nguyen developed a less-detailed model of protein geometry and energetics and applied it to a relatively simple protein, polyalanine, which had been found to form fibrils in test tubes. With this approach, the NC State researchers were able to watch spontaneous fibril formation in about 60 hours on a fast computer. That’s much quicker than atomic-level simulations.
In the simulation movie, 12 to 96 peptides were initially scattered randomly across the computer screen. When set into motion, the researchers first saw groups of two to five proteins coming together and falling apart and eventually forming amorphous clumps that twist around each other, like a rope. These twisted structures began coming together, like the ingredients in a sandwich, layered above and below each other. In the end, the simulation showed a fibril-like structure with only a few outlying peptides refusing to aggregate.
Hall says her method of reducing the level of detail in her protein model just to the point where the key features that drive fibril formation remain and other features are neglected allows her to get a broad molecular-level picture of the fibril formation process.
Hall’s work is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. She has recently been funded to attempt computer simulations of fibril formation by beta amyloids, the peptides that aggregate in Alzheimer’s disease.
Nov. 23, 2004
Orangeburg Times Democrat, SC; The Times and Democrat, SC
By Laura Kammerer
© Copyright 2004
With all the fighting in sports this past week, it's almost as if the National Hockey League season hasn't been on hold.
What started with a pre-game fight between some of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Nov. 14, deteriorated by week's end into a brawl between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons and that team's fans. And let's not forget the antics of the Clemson University Tigers and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks during Saturday's rivalry football game, which should have been focused on reflections of Lou Holtz's career and was instead tarnished by out-of-control players.
Both universities appropriately bowed out of potential bowl bids Monday, sending a firm message to players that their shenanigans would not be condoned.
Friday night's melee in Detroit has garnered the most national attention, though, with NBA Commissioner David Stern handing out unprecedented sentences to the players involved, including a season-long suspension to Pacers' player Ron Artest. I appreciate Stern's effort to take a tough approach to stem the tide of unruliness, but he has only addressed half the problem — the players — and failed to take action against the other half — the fans.
I'm not surprised Friday's game got so malicious. It was only a matter of time.
Consider that in February 1995, a Portland Trailblazers fan yelled out to Houston Rockets' player Vernon Maxwell that he was glad Maxwell's baby girl had been stillborn. Maxwell charged into the stands to punch the fan; he was fined $20,000 and suspended for 10 games.
In January 2001, University of Maryland Terrapins' basketball fans hurled glass and plastic bottles at the mother of Duke University player Carlos Boozer, giving her a concussion.
In December of that year, Cleveland Browns fans chucked plastic bottles onto the field (many filled with beer), hitting players from the Browns and their opponents, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This year, across the pond in Europe, AS Roma is playing the rest of its home Champions League games in an empty stadium. Why? Fans hurled some type of debris at a referee, injuring his head with a concussion and a gash that required stitches, and FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, acted swiftly and severely.
Perhaps if the Pistons were forced to play to an empty house for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs, the message would catch on with American fans, too. Or maybe we need to enclose basketball courts with Plexiglas like hockey rinks to prevent these ugly scenes from happening.
Sport has taken action against players and owners for inappropriate comments. In baseball, Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was suspended for nine months in 1992 for saying that Hitler was good at the beginning and calling two players "million dollar n******."
Following his comments to Sports Illustrated in December 1999, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was given a two-week suspension to start the 2000 season. Rocker told the magazine he didn't want to ride on the New York City subway "next to some queer with AIDS," bashed foreigners and called an unnamed teammate a "fat monkey."
Yet go to any sports game — college, professional, even high school — and you'll probably hear fans yelling epithets that are much worse. It's time for the leagues to correct this.
Fans seem to think they have a right to do whatever they want once they roll through the turnstile and enter the sporting arena. Common sense and decency are checked at the door, replaced with uncontrollable urges to heckle. Ticket prices are indisputably outrageous to attend many events, but no ticket I've seen entitles the holder to act like a jerk.
Some people might say, but wait, what about freedom of speech? Aren't fans entitled to say whatever they want?
No. The First Amendment only protects citizens from being punished by the government for speech (i.e. Joe Blow who works at the Post Office can criticize the president without retribution by the government).
Sporting leagues, however, can take action. They are private entities. Unless the federal government buys the NBA, the league can punish inappropriate spectators. It's why baseball could suspend Rocker and Schott. In addition to checking on fans' language, the NBA needs to institute an alcohol cutoff point during the games. Unlike football and baseball, which stop selling booze at given points in a contest, you can liquor yourself up silly until the last buzzer sounds at an NBA game.
This failure to have a policy is not just foolish, it's dangerous. I know that alcohol pumps millions of dollars to sports through advertising and sponsorships. I'm not naive enough to think the NBA could instantly ban sales at games, but the league needs to end sales at a certain point for everyone's safety. I can appreciate fans wanting to slosh down a cold brew or two and have a good time with friends, but I just don't understand getting blitzed to watch a game.
I've met people here who drive to Columbia to tailgate (i.e. get hammered) outside Williams-Brice Stadium even if they don't go inside for the game. With this kind of culture, is it any wonder that two N.C. State University fans were killed during pre-game tailgating earlier this season in Raleigh?
I can't claim that I've never been guilty of getting rowdy as a fan; I have. I pray that at heaven's gates, Saint Peter won't bring up the phrases I yelled about Coach K during my final North Carolina vs. "Dook" men's basketball home game.
But I don't want American sports arenas to become like their European counterparts. After attending a Chelsea football (i.e. soccer) match in London this spring with my husband, we decided to return to the stadium, Stamford Bridge, later in the week for a tour.
Someone in our group asked our guide about security. The guide was proud that at Stamford Bridge, opposing teams' fans could enter and leave at the same time as Chelsea's fans. Keep in mind, though, that in many European football stadiums, including Stamford Bridge, opposing fans are actually fenced in a separate area and marked with additional security guards in bright jackets because of safety concerns.
Our guide also occasionally follows the team to other sites around the continent. In some stadiums, he told us, opposing fans have to wait in the tunnel for 30 minutes before the game and wait in the stadium for an hour after the game so they can enter and leave without being harmed.
Is this what we want?
Fans and players alike need to take a step back and reflect on what's happening in sports. We need to take a deep breath, get off the "it's all about me" attitude and show some restraint.
These three fights over the past week started because the athletes were more concerned with their silly individual "respect" rituals than about the team. Athletes aren't programmed to be selfless any more — it's about "my" contract, "my" rap album, feeding "my" family on "my" millions, "my" ego, what "I" can get from free agency. We need to get back to a team-centered approach to sports.
Athletes must lead the way. But, fans, we need to follow.
Upholstered furniture buying tips
Nov. 23, 2004
The Morning Call, PA
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
© Copyright 2004
Judging the quality of upholstered furniture is hard, because most of the important elements are hidden from view. Here are some tips for choosing the best that fits your budget:
Make sure the chair or sofa feels sturdy, sits squarely on the floor and doesn't creak or wobble.
Don't assume that just because a piece of furniture is heavy, it's good quality. Inferior frame materials can weigh more than better ones, and frames using good materials can be constructed poorly.
Look at the underside of the chair or sofa for interior corners that are braced with corner blocks. Those reinforcements should be glued and screwed in place. The addition of two dowels in the corners makes a frame even stronger. If the support blocks are missing, or if the blocks are only stapled in place, the frame will be less durable.
Find out what the frame is made of. Make sure the material is strong, holds fasteners securely and resists shrinking, expanding and warping. Kiln-dried hardwood or engineered hardwood, also called hardwood plywood, are often used in better-quality furniture.
Ask how the foundation — that is, the springs or other system of support — is constructed. In general, steel springs are considered more durable than webbing, but some furniture styles use webbing because springs are too deep for the frame..
You need to question the salesperson and trust your gut about the answer you get. If he or she doesn't seem knowledgeable or gives you an explanation that isn't thorough, consider that a red flag. It probably means the foundation isn't good enough to be a selling point.
Sit on the piece of furniture to make sure it's comfortable. That's an issue that's strictly subjective.
Bounce on the center of the chair or sofa. The bottom rail — the structural piece on the very bottom of the piece of furniture, between the legs — should remain rigid. It's OK if there's some give above it, but the rail itself shouldn't sag.
Check whether stripes or plaids match and seams are sewn tightly. Those are indications of a good-quality upholstering job.
Ask how the cushions are made. They might contain springs, cotton or polyester fiber, foam or down. Look for cushion foam with a density rating of at least 1.8, which refers to its weight in pounds per cubic foot. Ratings typically range up to about 2.5, although a higher density might be desired if you want a very firm feel. Foam should be wrapped or covered to protect it from direct contact with the upholstery fabric.
Buy from a reputable dealer that offers a good warranty.
Make sure the furniture bears a gold ''UFAC'' tag. That ensures it meets the Upholstered Furniture Action Council's fire safety standards.
When you get home, check the Web sites of the manufacturers whose furniture you're considering. If furniture construction is addressed on the site, it's an indication the company is proud of its methods.
Sources: American Furniture Manufacturers Association; John Summey and Tom Culbreth, Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center, North Carolina State University; Mitchell Gold, president, Mitchell Gold Co.