Page 2 - The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, November 5,1986 q AIDS forum urges new research By LISA GREEN A Univeristy dean and AIDS expert opened a three-day course on the disease yesterday, urging an audience of less than 100 to become involved in the various facets of, AIDS research. "There is an urgent need for many persons with diverse expertise to become involved in the issues surrounding this disease," said June Osborn, dean of the Univerity's School of Public Health. Speaking in Rackham Lecture Hall, she called on the audience to "bring (their) excellence to bear on this difficult problem." THE CONFERENCE on sponsored by the Rackham School of Graduate Studies and the School of Public Health. "The real purpose behind the program is to provide background to scholars, professors, and graduate students around campus on what is needed in AIDS research," said Homer Rose, assistant dean of Rackham. "It stems from a feeling that AIDS is being viewed too narrowly as a biomedical problem when it is also a social, psychological, and epidemiological issue." Osborn, who has been a member several groups dealing with the disease, including Gov. James Blanchard's AIDS taskforce, said that although AIDS was first recognized only five years ago, "it has had an impact on every corner of society." "THE SWEEP of this impact marks the beginning of a saga in human history that cries out for the intervention of scholarship," she added. Osborn traced the history of the virus, saying that it has evolved from "wispy" beginnings to become a decidedly serious disease that has infected1 million to 2 million people. She added "It is now clear that AIDS will always be with us and that we are terribly ill- prepared for it." Osborn stressed the need to educate people about the dangers of specific behavior associated with the virus to help to "limit the scope of the problem" through prevention. David Schottenfeld, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, echoed this point. "We can do things to control the spread of disease, and hopefully to ultimately prevent it," he said. But Osborn warned against too much optimism concerning the AIDS epidemic. "The habit of the public mindset is prayer and hope for a cure. But wishing for vaccines and cures only complicates our task," she said, adding that significant developments in treatment cannot be expected for at least five years. Acquired Syndrome Immune Deficiency is being jointly Brain probe may cure deaf and blind By IRENE SOLOMON A new brain probe built and fesigned by University researchers :nay open the door to technology that :vill improve the treatment of Ilisablilties such as deafness, (blindness, and paralysis. i A research team led by Electrical Engineering and Computer Science iProfessors David Anderson, Spencer eMent, and Ken Wise has c:onstructed a new brain probe to neasure and record the electrical ;messages that brain cells send each :other. OTHER PROBES can measure the electrical activity of only one oneuron at a time- which is equivalent to eavesdropping on only gone side of a group conversation. But tthe new probe has 12 recording sites owhich enable it to record the ointeracting signals of several "neighboring brain cells at once. "If we understand how the brain does its signal processing, we can learn how certain diseases attack the central nervous system, monitor the : effects of drugs, and develop a neural .prosthesis," Wise said. The :prosthesis would be an electronic .replacement for damaged nerves. "When a nerve cell discharges, ionic (electrically charged) currents flow around the cell, which create voltage drops," Wise said. The probe senses these voltage changes at each of its 12 recording sites and sends out a signal. Amplifiers boost the signal power by a factor of 100. Meanwhile, a device called a multiplexor checks each recording site and sends signals via a wire to a recorder located outside the brain. The recorder then separates the signals. LAST YEAR research team members Dr. Khalil Njafi and graduate student Ken Drake implanted and tested a version of the probe, without all the electronics, inside the brain of a gerbil. Designing a brain probe to float in tissue inside the cerebral cortex - the part of the brain that controls motor actions, hearing, and sight- was no easy task. "There is no more hostile place to put an electronic device than inside the body," said Anderson. Current research focuses on developing a stronger coating to protect the silicon probe from brain fluids. USING a modified version of the microelectronic brain probe to stimulate nerve cells, the University researchers hope to reverse deafness caused by nerve damage. Currently, people who lose their hearing because of nerve damage cannot be helped by conventional hearing aids; hearing aids amplify sound, but if the receptors in the ear which respond to a particular frequency are destroyed, a person will not hear the sound, regardless of its volume. Advanced hearing aids could reverse such deafness by bypassing damaged nerve cells in the ear and converting sound energy into electrical stimulation signals. Eventually, the probes could be used to restore sight, steer brain signals around damaged pathways to revive paralyzed limbs, and replace other portions of the neural system that are no longer functional. "But that is a long, long way down stream," Wise said. Lucas concedes early in Detroit The University of Michigan School of Music presents EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE Edward Parmentier, director Program includes works of Lassus, Hassler, and Gabrieli WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 8:00 P.M. Blanche Anderson Moore Hall SCHOOL OF MUSIC FREE (Continued from Page 1) to make sure Michigan's future is as great as its present as well as its past," he said. "A challenge to make sure Michigan is economically competitive." At this point a supporter hollered, "hot damn," and Blanchard voiced his agreement. Blanchard, however, took the victory with some modesty, saying, "I expected the election to be much closer." Blanchard would not knock his opponent Lucas, despite derogatory comments from the crowd. Meanwhile Lucas told an estimated crowd of 500 across the street atop the Detroit's Ponchartrain hotel that although his bid for governor was unsuccessful, the campaign had been, for him, "a tremendous success." Blanchard seemed to agree with the assessment. "Someday Michigan will indeed have a black governor, and when this happens, we will remember Bill Lucas blazed that trail," he said. Lucas feels that although he lost the race, the chief part of his dream of becoming the nation's first elected black governor had been achieved. "I have achieved that dream-the dream of opportunity and having a fair chance to participate fully in the American political system." Lucas said the people of Michigan have given him "far more than he could have dreamed growing up in Harlem, New York. We need to remember that a dream of a lifetime is not realized in an instant, for even an election is not a measure of what is to come." Lucas then congratulated Blanchard. "I wish him success in the coming term," he said and then headed over to the Westin hotel to Blanchard's victory celebration. Lucas gained only 20 percent of the black vote, and only 20 percent of the overall vote in Wayne county, where he has served as county executive and sheriff. Blanchard said at a press conference at 11 p.m. that he was proud to carry 80 percent of the black vote. He was also pleased that he reached his campaign goal of carrying every regent in the state. Blanchard followed his acceptance speech by autographing a copy of the Detroit Free Press's 8:30 p.m. edition declaring Blanchard's landslide. IN BRIEF COMPILED FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS Hasenf us pleads guilty before Nicaraguan political tribunal MANAGUA, Nicaragua-Eugene Hasenfus went before a Nicaraguan political tribunal yesterday to seek mercy as it decides whether, as cargo handler for a weapons supply flight to Contra rebels, he was guilty of terrorism and other crimes against the state. "It won't be anything earthshaking," Former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, who is assisting in Hasenfus' in Hasenfus' defense, said of a statement prepared for the prisoner to read to the court. "We hope it will. help him by mitigation...We hope this evidence will cause the Sandinisit government to be more merciful." Hasenfus, 45, of Marinette, Wis., was to read the statement to th three-member Peoples' Tribunal, made up of a lawyer, truck driver and laborer. Hasenfus was captured Oct. 6, a day after Sandinista forces shot down the C-123 cargo plane carrying weapons and supplies to the U.S. backed Contras. The others aboard, two American pilots and a Contra, were killed in the crash. Speakes quiet on chance of lifting Iranian arms sales ban ABOARD AIR FORCE ONEPresident Reagan's chief spokesman refused to say yesterday whether the United States had ended its longstanding policy of not selling arms or spare weapons parts to Iran,' and cautioned reporters to "be a little careful on reporting. I don't think it serves the interest of the hostages" held by pro-Iranian elements in Lebanon, he said. And the president refused to comment on published reports that his' former aide, Robert McFarlane, had traveled to Iran as an administration emissary and had been arrested and jailed there for five days before being deported Spokesman Larry Speakes, asked repeatedly about any change in arms sale policy toward Iran, refused to comment, telling reporters: "We're not commenting, but I think you ought to be a little careful" in reporting the story. Shultz decries budget cuts WASHINGTON-Secretary of State George Shultz says. congressional budget trimmers are playing "Russian roulette" with national security by slashing funds for foreign aid and anti-terrorist programs. And a campaign against Syria, which he said has been caught "red- handed" in terrorism, is an example of the kind of program that cost- cutters could be hurting, the secretary said. "Our hearts are in the right place; but where are our resources?" Shult said last night in a speech at the Locust Club in Philadelphia. "After years of educating our own citizens and our allies, after years of building a consensus, America's hands seem financially tied," he said. "The probable effect of congressional action on our foreign affairs budget will be to slow substantially our proposed diplomatic security program. "In effect, we are being asked to play Russian roulette with our international interests-and our national security," he said. Man kills 2 in doctor's office RICHMOND, Va.-A gunman walked into a doctor's office yesterday and began shooting at waiting patients and staff, killing at least two people before turning the gun on himself, the doctor and police said. "The place has been shot up and we're in an acute emergency state right now," said Dr. Edward Haddock wh.e eached by telephone at his office in a three-storey renovated brick house in the city's Fan district. "We're trying to get the dead people out and get the injured to a hospital,' he said. Police Major Stuart Cook said a man in his early 20s, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, walked in the back door of the office around 11:30 a.m. and began shooting. Cook said the man, whom police would not identify, shot one nurse, a patient, Haddock and his wife before shooting himself. He said Haddock was slightly injured. Cook would not discuss motives for the shooting. Single parent families increase WASHINGTON-More than one-fourth of American families with children-and more than 60 percent of those that are black-were headed by a single parent last year, the Census Bureau reported yesterday. "One of the most significant changes in family composition over the past 15 years has been the substantial growth in the number of one- parent families," the bureau said. A major factor is that women are having children and getting married later-or not marrying at all-and that marriages are more likely to end in divorce, said Dr. Harriet McAdoo, a professor of social work at Howard University. As a result of these changes, she said, "children are being raised by their mothers for a significant number of years of their lives." In addition, she said in an interview, there are a substantial number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies among both black and white women. A separate Census Bureau report on fertility last June said 20.2 percent of white births and 74.5 percent among blacks were out of wedlock last year, as the stigma surrounding unwed mothers lessens. Vol. XCVII - Via, 4 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967 X) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms. Subscription rates: September through April-$18 in Ann Arbor; $35 outside the city. One term-$10 in town; $20 outside the city. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and subscribes to Pacific News Service and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate Editor in Chief......................ERIC MATTSON Sports Editor..........................BARB McQUADE Managing Editor...................RACHEL GOTTLIEB Associate Sports Editors........DAVE ARETHA City Editor..............CHRISTY RIEDEL MARK BOROWSKY News Editor...........................JERRY MARKON RICK KAPLAN Features Editor............................AMY MINDELL ADAM MARTIN NEWS STAFF: Francie Allen, Elizabeth Atkins, Eve PHIL NUSSEL Becker, Melissa Birks, Laura A. 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