University Of Pennsylvania

A day after the College Board notified colleges that it had misreported the scores of 4,000 students who took the SAT exam in October, an official of the testing organization disclosed that some of the errors were far larger than initially suggested. With college counselors and admissions officials scrambling to take a second look at student scores in the final weeks before they mail out acceptances and rejections, Chiara Coletti, the College Board's vice president for public affairs, said that 16 students out of the 495,000 who took the October exam had scores that should have been more than 200 points higher.

Kayla DesPortes, Atholton Sport Basketball GIRLS STATS -- The senior forward is a team captain and two-year starter for the Raiders. DesPortes brings quickness and smart play to the Raiders, averaging just under 10 points a game. Coach Maureen Shacreaw called her the team's best defensive player, as she's always asked to guard the opponent's top offensive threat. SIDELINES -- DesPortes also has played soccer and lacrosse and she ran track at Atholton. DesPortes has a 3.9 grade point average and is considering the University of Pennsylvania with plans of studying pre-law.

Donald E. Marsh, a food and nutrition administrator at Morrison Healthcare Food Services, died of cancer Monday at his Ellicott City home. He was 62. Born and raised in Warren, Pa., Mr. Marsh graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1961. He went to Pennsylvania State University, where he met Joanna King, whom he married in 1965. He graduated in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in food service administration. Mr. Marsh worked at various hospitals, including Warren General Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Occupation: Developer and founder of Himmelrich Associates Inc., a 19-year-old Baltimore real estate firm that specializes in renovating decaying industrial properties for offices and retail. In the news: Himmelrich recently bought the former Phoenix Services Inc. incinerator, now called Curtis Bay Energy, one of the nation's largest medical waste-burning plants. Lawmakers and environmentalists wanted it shut down because it broke state air pollution limits more than 400 times over the past two years.

Melissa Kay Berzins, of Ellicott City, MD, and David Andrew Jacobs, of Palmyra, PA, were married on November 27, 2004 at First Evangelica Lutheran Church in Ellicott City, MD. The reception was held at Turf Valley Resort. The bride is the daughter of Alex and Belinda Berzins. The groom is the son of William Jacobs and Trudy Yeager. The bride's attendants were Jennifer Hill, Kimberly Spurgeon, Michelle Core, Carissa Stanziola. The groomsmen were Scott Jacobs, Mark Jacobs, Robert Hollenbach and Christopher Foutz.

The marriage of Miss Mary Elizabeth Reid, of Philadelphia, PA, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Reid, of Richmond, VA, to Dr. Robert Ian Pargament, of Philadelphia, PA, son of Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Pargament, of Owings Mills, MD, took place on July 24, 2004, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. The Rev. Monsignor Robert M. Perkins and Rabbi Reeve Brenner officiated. The bride is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Frederick F. Robinson, of Danbury, CT, and the late Mr. John R. Reid and the late Mrs. Edward J. Dwyer, of Philadelphia, PA. The groom is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Sol Pargament, of Silver Spring, MD, and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Wolman, of Tel Mond, Israel.

New Positions Telkonet Inc. announced the appointment of Sandeep Thakrar as vice president of the Germantown commercial powerline communications company's hospitality sales business unit. An MBA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he was formerly a senior vice president of NT Management Co. and also authored a weekly column for Fortune Small Business. Banking and Finance Beaver, Smith, Fish named M&T vice presidents M&T Bank appointed Robert M. Beaver, Andrew W. Fish and Anna L. Smith administrative vice presidents.

At the University of Pennsylvania, scientists are feeding people muffins made with flaxseed oil to see if the natural remedy fights cholesterol. The University of Maryland is running tests to see if acupuncture can soothe osteoarthritis pain. At the University of Pittsburgh, neurologists are testing ginkgo biloba's ability to ward off Alzheimer's disease. And at the University of San Francisco, researchers are trying to find out if yoga can relieve backache. A few years ago, these experiments would have drawn sneers from mainstream medical researchers.

When her cat Lily's kidneys began to fail, Maura Hall never imagined she'd be spending $10,000 to save her. But that was before Hall's veterinarian tipped her off to a sophisticated surgery once available only to humans: an organ transplant. Hall, who lives in Laurel, raced up Interstate 95 to the University of Pennsylvania last month and had her cat admitted to one of the few feline transplant centers in the country. "People say, `How could you spend so much on an animal?' " says Hall, who makes about $36,000 a year at an Elkridge motorcycle parts supplier.

PHILADELPHIA - As night cloaked the chilly school grounds recently, Mike Faust strolled "The Quad" - the University of Pennsylvania's dorm area for freshmen - with the casual ease of a big man on campus. The 5-foot-10, 235-pound wrestler and football player was recognized by nearly every person he passed. Four young women playfully greeted him. Javier Starkand, the teacher's assistant from Faust's first-semester business management class, declared himself a "Mike Faust fan," calling his former student "the man who carried the study group" and "its key leader, without a doubt."