.Students
present
medical
research
By APRIL WOOD
Daily Staff Reporter
Spanning topics from gene varia-
tion in Alzheimer's disease patients
to pediatric facial trauma, a host of
University undergraduates and medi-
cal students met yesterday to present
the results of a summer-long project
at the 40th annual Student Biomedi-
cal Research Forum.
LSA junior Cara McDonagh spent
part of her summer doing lab work,
extracting DNA from blood. In her
project, she analyzed the variation of
the ApoE gene in Alzheimer's pa-
tients.
McDonagh coordinated her
project with a doctor who studied the
results of the lab work for clinical use.
"Some of our findings are signifi-
*cant and some are still pending," she
said, "I've learned a lot and I'm happy
with what I've learned."
The presentation was held in the
Towsley Center of University Hospi-
tals and was hosted by the Committee
on Student Biomedical Research. The
program was directed by Dr. Alphonse
Burdi, a professor of anatomy and
director of the Inteflex program.
The Student Biomedical Research
Program allows students to conduct
research over the summer on a given
topic in the field of biomedicine and
present their results at the forum.
"It gives students the opportunity
to do meaningful research," Burdi
said. "It's one way to get our students
to work with and get to know fac-
ulty."

The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 16, 1994 -- 3
Housing survey
to determme
student needs

® 'U' Housing Divislon
may offer lofts,
Ethernet links and
carpets In dorms
By LISA DINES
Daily Staff Reporter
Years ago, students moved into
their dorm rooms with typewriters,
books and clothes. But today's high-
tech students tote powerbook com-
puters, refridgerators and microwaves.
The Housing Division currently is
surveying students to discover how
many lofts, computers and appliances
they bring to Ann Arbor so that it can
better meet the needs of the modem
student.
"There are two or three issues that
we are looking at," said David Foulke,
associate director for housing. "This
is basically data gathering."
Foulke said the office will use the
information to make decisions about
future housing rates and renovations.
The surveys may lead the University
to offer convenciences like pre-in-
stalled lofts, carpets and computer
Ethernet links.
He added that if the surveys show
that students store University-pro-
vided furniture in favor of their own
lofts and computer desks, the Hous-
ing Division may offer different rates
for partially-furnished rooms.
"We are buying and selling furni-
ture and using up its life moving it in
and out of storage," Foulke said. "We
don't have enough storage space."
The University spends $600,000
each year to repair furniture and buy

new pieces. Foulke said the savings in
furniture costs could trans late ino
lower housing rates for all students.
The Housing Division also is con-
sidering carpeting the residence hals
to reduce noise problems and tile-
repair costs.
"If almost all the students are buy-
ing carpet, we obviously can get it
cheaper," he said.
Foulke said the survey also will
help the University to plan for the
installation of Ethernet links in the
residence halls by showing them
where computer use is heaviest.
"It's clearly where we will want to
be someday," he said. "But it's quite
expensive."
Bryant Wu, Residence Hall Asso-
ciation treasurer, said such changes
could make living in the residence
halls more appealing.
While Wu agreed with the changes in
theory. he worries that plans to partially
furnish rooms might create problems.
"It sounds like a really good idea,
but it takes a lot of manpower arind
paperwork," he said.
Amanda Smith, a resident adviser
in East Quad, said she thought the
changes would help alleviate storage
problems. "Our storage closets are
full right now and some people had to
send things downstairs."
However, Smith said the Univer-
sity should stay out of the carpeting
and loft business. "I think people want
the choice of what kind of carpet they
will have," she said.
Students who still have surveys
can turn them into their residence
hall's front desk.

MARK HIE:DMAN/Daily
Dr. Alphonse Burdi admires a student's work during a presentation yesterday at the University Medical Center.

Rebbapragada studied the effects of
lindane, a kind of insecticide on sig-
nal transduction in neutrophils, a type
of white blood cell. Lindane is a pes-
ticide that is widely used in third
world countries, including India,
Rebbapragada's country of origin. She
hoped to discover whether lindane
was harmful to the human immune
system.
Rebbapragada plans to further her
research by studying more common
household pesticides. She was happy
to finalize her work and find consis-
tency in the results of her project.
"It was very fulfilling," she said.

"I feel very good about it, it's leading
on to new things."
Several students who participated
in the forum have previous research
experience and used this opportunity
to explore other fields in which they
were interested. Second-year Medi-
cal student Janet Lee had two years of
undergraduate research experience
and worked in the cardiovascular
physiology section.
She studied a peptide called an-
giotensin in the hopes of finding a
correlation to sudden hearing loss.
This type of hearing loss is caused by
the constriction of blood vessels. Evi-

dence proved that angiotensin could
dilate these blood vessels and allevi-
ate the problem.
"It was a worthwhile experience,"
Lee said."For me, it was what I wanted
to do and so I was very satisfied."
Participants were paired with a
faculty advisor that they worked with
through the summer. Lee said the
research process was a full-time job
in itself.
"(The forum) looked at research
as part of the educational process,"
Burdi said, adding that a student's
first attempt at research often leads to
further projects.

LSA

senior

Anuradha

a

I



Medical Center sponsors forum on violence, public health

m

By ZACHARY M. RAIMI
Daily Staff Reporter
With the federal crime bill, as-
sault rifle ban and the increases in
sexual assaults in Ann Arbor grab-
bing headlines recently, the topic of
violence has been on many people's
minds.
To address these issues and to
explore the non-political side of vio-
lence, the University Medical Center
sponsored a forum last night titled
"Violence - A Public Health Con-
cern."
"The subject of violence is multi-

faceted," said Dr. Cynthia Gregg, an
ear, nose and throat doctor.and one of
three speakers. "Our society is in-
deed a violent one."
The event, held at the Oliphant-
Marshall Auditorium in the W.K.
Kellogg Eye Center, was meant to
"increase our community's awareness
of violence," Gregg said.
The program is the last in a fall
series called "Health Night Out," co-
ordinated by Wendy Jerome, the com-
munity outreach coordinator for the
University Medical Center in the
Department of Public Relations.

Jerome said the program was
prompted by the killing of University
Dr. John Kemink, who was shot by a
distraught patient.
"When Dr. Kemink was killed,
the University made an effort to re-
search violence," Jerome said. "As
part of that, we felt (the program)
would be an interesting topic."
Gregg presented many statistics
to show that violence is a public health
issue. For example, she said that the
Journal of the American Medical As-
sociation reported in 1990 that 25 to
35 percent of visits by women to the

emergency room were because of
domestic violence.
She added that access to weapons
leads to violent behavior. "A weapon
at home can also have ... dangerous
consequences." Also, she said drug
and alcohol use can lead to increase
in violence among all people.
The second speaker, Jessica
Moise, a University graduate student
studying mass communication, spoke
on studies that link violence in the
mass media to an increase in aggres-
sive behavior among viewers.
She said the average child wit-

nesses 100,000 violent acts on televi-
sion by the time he or she reaches 18.
How much of television conveys vio-
lence? "The general answer is a lot,"
Moise said.
"After 40 years of research there is
little doubt" that there is a correlation
between violence on television and
aggressive behavior by young view-
ers, she continued. Why is the media
so powerful?" Moise asked rhetori-
cally. She said there are many an-
swers, including that violence pre-
sents models for imitation and sug-
gests violence as a societal norm.

The final speaker, Marlene
McGrath Giroux, a clinical social
worker at the University's Depart-
ment of Psychiatry, discussed the vic-
tims' role in violence.
"Witnessing or surviving violence
can cause stress reactions and psy-
chological trauma," Giroux said.
Short-term effects include poor
concentration and distressing dreams,
she said. Long-term effects include
depression and multiple personalities
disorder. "Long-term or intense ex-
posure to violence can cause serious
mental health problems," she said.

'Board demands tougher standards for small planes

The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The National
Transportation Safety Board, respond-
ing to growing safety concerns about
small aircraft, yesterday recom-
mended imposing on commuter air-
planes the same tougher standards the
*government requires of major airlines.
In the long-awaited report, the
board said commuter pilots tend to
work more hours, report greater fa-
tigue and do not receive the same
level of training as those working for

major airlines.
It recommended that commuter
carriers - which handle more than
10 percent of the nation's air-passen-
ger traffic - be brought up to the
same training and safety levels as the
majors, including the use of flight
simulators common on the majors but
often missing in commuter training.
The Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration (FAA), which oversees air
safety and which critics have accused
of moving too slowly to crack down

on commuter planes, said immedi-
ately it agrees with the board's rec-
ommendations. "One level 'of safety
is a top priority of this agency and this
administration," said FAA Adminis-
trator David Hinson in a statement.
Hinson, who noted that the FAA
has already adopted a number of equal-
izing regulations, said the FAA will
soon release a proposal to require com-
muter pilots -those flying planes with
30 or fewer seats - to receive the same
level of training as major airline pilots.

The Air Line Pilots Association,
which has staged a "one level of
safety" campaign for months, praised
the safety board's report.
The safety board, which investi-
gates major accidents, has no regula-
tory powers, but its recommendations
carry weight with regulatory agen-
cies such as the FAA.
M .1

Corrections
Cadet Bradley Haywood was misidentified in Monday's Daily.
N Honest Candy's name was misspelled in yesterday's Daily.
Rhodocletus is a whale, not a dinosaur. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.

GRA

D OPE

I'

U

Group Meetings
Q Hindu Students Council,
weekly meeting, 764-0604,
Michigan Union, Kuenzel
Room, 8 p.m.
Q Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
People Organization, discus-
sion group, 763-4186, Michi-
gan Union, LGBPO Lounge,
5:15-7 p.m.
Q Persian Student's Association,
mass meeting, 764-0994,
Michigan Union, Room 1209,
6:30 p.m.
Q Rainforest Action Movement,
meeting, Dana Building, Room
1040. 7:30 p.m.
Q U-M Cycling Club, meeting,
764-7814, Angell Hall, Audi-
torium C, 6 p.m.
" U-M Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do
(Cluh .en and womnn hein-

Room 2275, 7-8:30 p.m.
Events
Q "Ancient Jerusalem Revealed:
Recent Excavations in and
Around the Old City of
Jerusalem," speaker Gideon
Avni, sponsored by Department
of Near Eastern Studies and
Frankel Center for Judaic Stud-
ies, Frieze, Room 3050, 12
noon.
Q "Black-Jewish Relations Discus-
sion Highlighting Ethiopian
Jewry," sponsored by United
Jewish Appeal, Hillel, 7 p.m.
j "Information Meeting about
U-MStudy Abroad Programs
in France and Switzerland,"
sponsored by Office of Interna-
tional Programs, Modern Lan-
Puages Rildino Room R116.

Planning, Art, Engineering and
Music; all other students: An-
gell Hall, Room 17, 8 a.m.-5
p.m.
Q "Reform Chavurah Open
Meeting," Hillel, 7 p.m.
Q "You Can Quit!" motivational
program to help quit smok-
ing, sponsored by University
Health Service, UHS, 12
noon-1 p.m.
Student Services
Q 76-GUIDE, peer counseling
phone line, 7 p.m.-8 a.m.
Q ECB Peer Tutorial, Angell Hall
Computing Site, 747-4526, 7-
I1 p.m.
Q Campus Information Center,
Michigan Union, 763-INFO;
events info 76-EVENT or
ITM*Events on GOnherBU IF

2H4 S. Stats Strsst * 4 imors South of Liberty. 998-3480