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One hundred six years of editoriailfreedom
Friday
November 22, 1996
6-YM
r e y x r y n j "tY .
--I
IC GA VS.
chigan at No. 2 Ohio State
ium (cap. 89,841)
-1
Scientists find cancer gene
'U' researcher heads prostate study that may increase survival
Who:
No. 21 Mi
Where:
* Stad
When:
Tomorrow
,12:10 p.m.
.
YMMINI.
Television:
ABC, Channel 7
Series history:
Ohio State coach John Cooper is 1-6-1 against
Michigan. But the Wolverines haven't won in their last
two trips to Columbus. Tomorrow, Michigan has a
chance to obliterate Ohio State's national championship
dreams, as they did with a 31-23 win last season.
,
By Brian Campbell
Daily Staff Reporter
Scientists continued to chip away at the roots of
cancer with the discovery yesterday of a gene linked
to prostate cancer, which may increase survival rates
through earlier detection.
Researchers from the University of Michigan
Medical Center, the Johns Hopkins University and the
National Center for Human Genome Research
(NCHGR) collaborated with Swedish scientists to dis-
cover the location of a gene that causes men to be sus-
ceptible to prostate cancer.
"We collected a large number of families, each of
whom had a history of cases of prostate cancer," said
Dr. Jeffrey Smith, the chief author of the study and a
research fellow in the University's department of
internal medicine. "The goal was to identify a com-
mon genetic cause."
Researchers from the NCHGR and the Johns
Hopkins University announced the findings yesterday
afternoon in Washington, D.C.
While the precise location of the discovered gene
has yet to be found, the researchers have pinpointed it
to chromosome 1 - a chromosome not previously
linked with other diseases, said Dr. Kathleen Cooney,
director of the University Prostate Cancer Genetics
Project.
"The hope would be to find the exact location of
the gene," Smith said. "Beyond that, we'll be able to
design tests that may benefit the men in these types
of families. The tests would be able to tell if the
man is or is not at risk and determine the best treat-
ment."
Cooney said that if prostate cancer is detected
through proper screening tests, it is not difficult to
treat.
"Prostate cancer is treatable and curable if detected
early, but when it's late in progress, it is not curable."
she said.
Researchers spent two years tracing the genomes of
90 families from Sweden and the United States. They
looked for first-degree relations - brothers and
fathers - who developed prostrate cancer at a young
age. Among the families studied, one third were linked
with a defective gene in chromosome 1.
Smith said about 9 percent of prostrate cancer cases
are estimated to be genetic.
"With a disease like prostate cancer there is
bound to be heterogeneous causes," Smith said. "We
tracked entire genomes within each of the families
to find an inheritance of predisposition to develop-
the disease."
Cooney said there were doubts among scientists
See GENE, Page 2
; I
xperts
,redict
a
economic
stability
Dy Marc Lightdale
Daily Staff Reporter
en economists talk, people listen.
nd this year, people heard a mes-
sage of economic stability.
At the 44th Annual Economic
Conference, a host of speakers provid-
ed their vision of the economic future
to a largely academic and professional
crowd in the Rackham Amphitheatre.
Economics Prof. Saul Hymans,
director of the Research Seminar in
Quantitative Economics, delivered the
o ening economic forecast in which he
.icted along with other researchers
that the gross domestic product will
grow by 2.4 percent and 2.3 percent for
1997 and 1998 respectively.
Both figures are relatively unchanged
from this year's rate of increase.
Hymans covered topics ranging from
economic growth to interest rates to
inflation. He said researchers believe the
U.S. economy will continue to expand
* a moderate rate during the next two
. Unemployment is also expected
to increase slightly through 1998.
TMy job is to dope out what will
happen as a result of economic policies
jursued by the federal reserves,"
Hymans said.
Yet, some of the people in the audi-
ence did not agree with Hymans' con-
servative outlook. Les Koska, an adjunct
lecturer at the University's Dearborn
campus, said he thought Hymans' view
e economy was too pessimistic.
There might be more growth than he
is predicting," Koska said. "His model
is heavily dependent on government
spending. When government spending
is weak, it pulls down his forecast."
Public Policy graduate student Jon
Roman said he does not want to put too
much stock in the predictions.
"lt equates to a weather forecast,"
Roman said. "it is very accurate in the
iW future, but partly cloudy and sea-
0o06ble from then on."~
'Blue Cross/Blue Shield employee
John Katharopoulos comes each year to
heal- Hymans' economic forecast and
pays attention to the indicators for
changes in medical care and inflation.
"We come every year to find out
what the U-M says," Katharopoulos
said. "The forecasts are a bit conserva-
tive. The economic events are hard to
tdct, so I can understand why one
W tothe conference."~
One part of Hymans' speech that
sparked debate concerned the trend of
weakening productivity. Despite
incesn capital investment and busi-
ness downsizing, productivity is still
decreasing nationwide.
Hymans speculated that this produc-
tion mystery is a measurement problem
resulting from the government's failure to
)duce an accurate estimate of growth.
Chikashi Moriguchi, a professor from
Osaka University in Japan, and
University economics Prof Robert
Barsky wound up the morning of the
first day of the annual economic confer-
ence. Moriguchi predicted that 1997
r' 1 . A -
Teaching 'o
tradition,
Board to discuss
legal strategies in
closed meeting
Sachiko
Nakamura demon-
strates the art of
flower arranging
as a part of
"Japanese Day,"
which also includ-
ed demonstrations
of a tea ceremony,
origami folding
and kimono dress-
ing. The event
was sponsored by
International
Neighbors, which
holds monthly
"International
Days" at the Zion
Lutheran Church.
The organization
consists of 906
women currently
living in Ann Arbor
who hail from 81
countries.
By Jodi S. Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Members of the Board of Regents will
meet in a closed session today, but they
won't be sitting in their usual chairs.
Instead, the regents will dial-in to the
Fleming Building on a conference call
to discuss "trial or settlement strategy
in connection with specific pending lit-
igation." _
the University would have violated the
Open Meetings Act and Freedom of
Information Act if there were closed
meetings between the presidential
candidates and individual regents.
Circuit Court Judge Melinda Morris
ruled against the University and issued
an injunction barring all private inter-
actions between the
IEa
A news
release about
the 4:30 p.m.
meeting also
explains that it
will be closed
to discuss
m a t e r i a I
exempt from
the Open
Meetings Act,
which can
We are not
required to
disclose content"
- Lisa Baker
Associate vice president for
regents and candi-
dates. The ruling
also ordered that
all meetings
between the
regents and the
P r e s i d e n t i a l
Search Advisory
Committee be
made public.
In addition to
Univer
include meetings with the University's
attorneys.
"lt's to consider advice of counsel,"
said Lisa Baker, associate vice presi-
dent for University relations. "We are
not required to disclose content."
The University is constantly involved
in various litigation, including a case
connected to the presidential search
process.
A judge's decision, along with state
laws, recently forced the board to use an
open search process to select Lee
Bollinger as the next University presi-
dent.
The lawsuit - brought by The Ann
Arbor News, The Detroit News and
the Detroit Free Press - claimed that
sity relations this ongoing
case. the
University also is
currently involved in other litigation,
but it is unclear what the board will
discuss today.
Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor)
said it's not uncommon for the regents
to meet by telephone.
"We do that from time to time if peo-
ple are spread around the country,"
Baker said.
Baker, who has served as regent for
24 years and recently lost a re-election
bid, would not comment on the meet-
ing's content.
"It is a closed meeting because there
are matters important to the University-
and we can discuss them under the
Open Meetings Act without disclosing
them," Baker said.
JENNIFER BRADLEY-
SWIFT/Daily
COURTING THE AM US
AZ
PFLAG
Voters sparse
at pols
By Will Weissert
Daily Staff Reporter
The votes are in, the results are being tallied and soon
everyone will know who won - but the question remains
whether anyone cares.
While the official results in the Michigan Student
Assembly's representative elections will not be released
until late today, one thing is for sure - turnout was low,
even by MSA standards.
"Turnout is going to be pretty low overall," MSA Election
Director Angie Blake said last night. "Today didn't help
much and the numbers will be low - that's surprising
because there were so many candidates."
Even Angell Hall, which has teemed with voters in years past,
was far from crowded with students willing to cast a ballot.
"When we worked last year, the line was out the door here
at this time," said LSA sophomore Amy Gill, who worked at
the Angell Hall MSA poll site yesterday. "Now it's really slow.":
As fewer voters populated the polling sites, fewer candi-
dates came out to further their cause.
"Monday, Wednesday and Friday there are more classes so
there are more people out those days," said independent LSA
nl -;..1anvnpr It ..mc UP.thrP if . r a-
connects
gays, families
By Ann Stewart
Daily Staff Reporter
Not all emotions are comfortable. But sometimes it takes
a moment of discomfort to get people talking.
Art senior Ryan LaLonde said the first time he brought his
family to a meeting of Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays "was extremely strange."
"Sexual orientation has never been anything I've talked
about with my family," LaLonde said.
But after the meeting he said he was able to talk with his
family about his sexuality as he never had before. His broth-
er Scott said the experience brought them closer.
"It was hard watching (people) cry and go through so
many strong emotions," Scott LaLonde said. "But afterwards
I felt a lot better."
PFLAG is a non-profit organization that brings lesbians
and gays together with their families and friends to create a
system of support and advocate civil rights. It has chapters in
12 countries and 400 chapters nationwide.
The Ann Arbor PFLAG chapter was founded in 1982.
Chapter President Bob Edwards said the group has about 90
members and is "probably the largest per capita" chapter in
the country.
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