26 U_ THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
Student Body APRIL 1988
26 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER Student Body *APRIL igat
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New research may make
m t en te
Crystal gazers await dawn
of a new Age of Aquariusl
By Valica Boudry
The Minnesota Daily
U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
The New Age Movement.
The words bring to mind mystic im-
ages of crystals, channeling, harmonic
convergence and Shirley MacLaine. But
just what is it exactly? Is it a cult or the
occult? A religion or a philosophy?
Where did it all start and who belongs to
it?
It's people like David Valentiner, a
University astronomy student. Or Dee
Millard, an employee at a large com-
munications firm, who, after discover-
ing she had multiple sclerosis a few
years ago, decided to look for natural
ways to heal her body.
New Agers aren't spiritual gurus who
sit in meditative trances for hours, rous-
ing only to cleanse their crystals and eat
yogurt. They're parents, small-business
owners and college students. They're as
typical and varied as the people who live
next door or who work alongside you.
They are explorers of the spiritual fron-
tier.
The term "New Age" comes from
ancient astrology. "We enter into a new
age every 2,000 years," Valentiner said.
"We'll be entering into the Age o
Aquarius next," he said, "which is ider
tified with spirituality and spiritual er
lightenment. Technically, the begir
ning date of the New Age is anywher
between the years 2100 and 2800, s
we're now in the dawn of the New Ago
It was this dawning of the New Ag
that was sung about in the popula
Fifth Dimension song "The Age '
Aquarius" during the'60s. Phrases suc]
as "mystic crystal revelations and th
mind's true liberation" reflected th
philosophy that many people in the hi:
pie movement had during the '60s a
they experimented with drugs. Th
drugs are gone, but the ideas ha
stayed.
Millard feels that the individuality o
New Age methods is what separate
New Age from other religions or cults
Each New Ager seems to find a per
sonal niche that helps increase hiso
her spirituality. Shamanism, tare
cards and holistic nutrition are amon
the literally hundreds of ways peopl
mesh their physical and spiritua
worlds together. Religions ranging fro4
Buddhism to ancient Indian practice
are recognized in the New Age move
ment.
By Francine Strickwerda
Daily Evergreen
Washington State U.
The discovery of a male contracep-
tive pill may be close at hand, and it
may happen in a Washington State
U. (WSU) laboratory, researcher
Mike Griswold said.
Griswold heads a WSU research
team that is working on projects con-
cerning the male reproductive
system.
Present contraceptive methods
(including the female pill) rely on the
regulation of the hormone system.
"In the long term, this is not satisfac-
tory. When you alter one aspect of
the system, you alter other aspects of
the system," Griswold said.
Another method being studied, the
contraceptive vaccine, uses anti-
bodies to destroy sperm. The vaccine
could be used by either the male or
female.
The research team is taking a
different approach, studying the
basics of the male reproductive sys-
tem using recent techniques of gene-
tic engineering.
"Our approach is to back up a little
bit. We need to get some basic in-
formation before we interfere with
the system. This is something that
hasn't been emphasized before,"
Griswold said.
One way to interfere with the sys-
tem is to find out what nutrients are
necessary for sperm production and
then withhold them, Griswold said.
In 1980, the WSU research team
made an important breakthrough
when they identified the protein
transferrin, which is responsible for
delivering iron to the sperm.
The protein is produced in the ser-
toli (nurse cells). Until this time it
was known that the sertoli were im-
portant to the production of sperm,
but their actual function was un-
clear.
Since this time, the team has iden-
tified several other proteins that are
produced in the sertoli cells and are
necessary for sperm production. A
full identification of four proteins
has been published and the team is
currently working on several others.
It is possible that if a method of
inhibiting these proteins is found, a
male contraceptive could be made,
Griswold said. "We are fairly confi-
dent that this would happen with
transferrin and reasonably confident
with the others (proteins)," he said.
Liposuction: a new weapon
in the battle of the bulge
4
By Jim Mock
The Daily Tar Heel
U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The next time you meet a plastic
surgeon, call him a "fatsucker", and
then watch his face. At first he'll look
cross, then he'll have to laugh because
sucking out patients' unsightly bumps
and bulges has been part of a plastic
surgeon's job description since around
1980 when liposuction was introduced
to the United States.
The technique involves the removal of
fat from the hips, abdomen, thighs,
knees, arms or face by insertion of
blunt-ended metal suction tubes
through small skin incisions into the
subcutaneous fat layer of the skin. With
repeated back and forth motions, "hon-
ey-combed" defects are made in this fat
layer, which are subsequently closed in
the weeks following surgery with the
use of bandages and girdles.
"Liposuction is a form of body con
touring or localized fat removal, no
weight control," said Dr. Thomas Lawr
ence, assistant professor of plasti
surgery at the U. of North Carolin
School of Medicine. "We rarely remov
more than one liter (about two pounds
of tissue at a time."
Typical liposuction patients are a
tive, professional women in their 30
who want to shape their hips, thighs
buttocks or chin, Lawrence said. Met
often elect to have liposuction to hell
them control the infamous abdomina
bulge.
Liposuction is not without complica
tions, although serious problems occu
in less than two percent of the cases
These can range from skin asymmetA
to numbness, infection, and even skii
death.
Diabetic's life transformed after pancreas-kidney transplant
By Erica Gellin
Daily Bruin
U. of California, Los Angeles
"I hate to be melodramatic, but it's a
miracle," said Robert Katzman. "I am
a completely different person."
A diabetic since childhood, Katz-
man, 33, is the first Californian to
have received a combined pancreas/
kidney transplant. He received the
transplant at UCLA Medical Center
and was discharged in good condition
several weeks later.
"They took a diabetic and made him
a non-diabetic, which is a phe-
nomenon in itself," said Katzman in
an interview at the Medical Center.
Of the 12 million Americans who
suffer from diabetes, Katzman is one
of the 10 percent with Type 1, or juve-
nile onset, diabetes. Ever since he de-
veloped diabetes 19 years ago, Katz-
man has required two or three insulin
injections a day.
The body requires insulin to proper-
ly regulate glucose levels. In Type 1
diabetics, the pancreas has lost its
ability to make its own insulin.
The diabetic patient faces a 30 per-
cent reduced lifespan compared to
non-diabetics, said Dr. Patrick Soon-
Shiong, director of the Medical Cen-
ter's Pancreas Transplant Program,
and Katzman's physician. The
periodic insulin injections which di-
abetics take are unable to regulate
blood sugar levels on a minute-to-
minute basis.
"Insulin is not a cure for diabetes. It
just keeps people alive until we find
one," said the American Diabetes
Association.
In addition to the disease itself, di-
abetics suffer from many other com-
plications. Soon-Shiong said Katzman
"had all the complications" of a Type 1
diabetic, including kidney failure.
Since April 1987, Katzman has re-
quired dialysis four times a week. Ei-
leen DeMayo, pancreas transplant
nurse coordinator, said that "about 25
percent of patients on dialysis are di-4
abetic."
Katzman also suffered from poor
eyesight. He had trouble walking and
he was unable to drive.
"They told me I was getting worse,"
Katzman said, and that without the
surgery he probably would have been
hospitalized.
Since the operation, Katzman has
required neither insulin injections nor
kidney dialysis. He has no trouble
walking, and he is able to drive.