LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 10, 2000 - 3A RESEARCH Res. Halls work at bringing healthy menus Lack of sleep stimulates some brain functions Sleep deprivation can actually stim- *0late inactive parts of the brain to awaken and function when an individ- ual spends enough time not sleeping. Researchers from the University of California at San Diego found that the brain tries to compensate excess strain employing other inactive. The researchers found that when 13 students took a word memory test after 35 hours without sleep, a normally inactive part of the brain sprang to life. Researchers monitored the blood 1ow in the students' brains to deter- mine which areas were active. The parietal lobe, a region of the cortex that was inactive when the brain was rested, came to life during sleepless- ness. The sleepier the subject, the more active the parietal lobe became and the better the students' recall. But the brain appears to respond dif- ferently to sleep deprivation depending n what it is trying to do. When sleep- depived students were asked to solve math problems, researchers found no signs of compensation. Psychiatrist J. Christian Gillin, who led the study, said the researchersware now learning how and why different parts of the brain react to sleep depri- vation and possible methods of treatment. Researchers test 4. coil inhibitor Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada have moved closer to developing what could be the first drug to save the lives of victims of an especially dangerous strain of E. coli. Infections from a strain called 0157:H7 kills 250 people in the United States each year,;many of them children and under. The lethal bacteria estroys the body by producing a toxic poison that diffuses into the blood- stream and damages the kidneys. Researchers have created a new inhibitor, called Starfish, to grab the toxins and escort them out of the body. In test-tube experiments, Starfish appears to be far more effective than the other inhibitors undergoing testing. There are no vaccines or inhibitors for E. coli infections on the market Qd doctors say there is not much they can do to treat the related kidney dis- order besides giving patients dialysis aind blood transfusions. Scientists say Starfish shows promise, but they are still testing its effects in humans. "You'd have to make sure this mol- ecule would end up in the right place in the body, and also that it does not use any toxicity problems itself. We I n't think it will," Alberta chemistry Prof. David Bundle said. New defibrillator implant a success Implanted defibrillators that jolt the heart back into a normal rhythm can be lifesavers for people with a certain inherited heart condition, a study found. The condition, hypertrophic car- omyopathy, involves heart muscle nlargement and an overly vigorous heartbeat. It affects an estimated 00,000 Americans and about 10 per- gent of them are considered at high risk of sudden death. The drug amiodarone can reduce tie number of potentially fatal episodes of heart irregularities, but it is not recommended in younger tients because it can have serious g-term side effects that include vision deterioration. The study in last Thursday's New -ngland Journal of Medicine looked at 128 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients and followed them for an average of three years after they received defibrillators, small devices that are typically implanted ider the skin of the chest or the abdomen. The study group included 43 tients who had suffered cardiac arrest or at least one serious episode of a wildly speeded-up heartbeat before getting the implants. The defib- rillators corrected potentially deadly heart irregularities in 11 percent of these patients per year. - Compiled bi Daily StaffReporter Shabnam Daneshvarf-om wire reports. By Karolyn Kokko Daily Staff Reporter With the University Dining Halls feeding more than 10,000 people daily, it's not easy to accommodate everyone's dietary needs and desires. Four weeks ago, Dietician Barbara Howe was hired as the University's Nutrition Spe- cialist, filling a position created three years ago. "If students have questions about anything related to the menu, they can come to me," said Howe, whose job involves answering questions about nutrition, eating disorders and ingredients in the food. Her tasks include working with the Nutrition Advisory Committee to educate students on how to eat healthy in the dining halls and work- ing with the Menu Review Committee to enhance the nutritional content of the dining hall meals while satisfying the students' desires. She also provides nutritional analysis to stu- dents through the MSmart program so they know the health content of the foods they choose. Students can easily learn about the nutrition content of their food by reading the MSmart cards located next to the entrees, vegetables and desert counters. They not only give information such as fat and protein content but also for which vitamins the food product is a good source. LSA freshman Alison Kosinski said, "I do look at the cards and they do influence my choices." Students also can turn to the new Residential Hall Dining Monthly publication, which fea- tures articles on nutrition, advice on how to eat healthy and even recipes. Howe said a contest is planned for next month in which students can name the newslet- ter. The student whose title is chosen will be awarded S 150. Howe is working on a project to make the dining halls more appealing. "The administration is currently looking in to a S12 million dollar renovation for East Quad," Howe said. Although all the residence halls are similar in food content, she said, students will often prefer one dining hall more than another. "It's Barbour or nothing," said LSA freshman Meredith Keller. Keller said she stopped eating in South Quad because it was too institution- like. "Seeing mashed potatoes in the masses is a little less appealing than the homey atmosphere of Betsey Barbour," she said. Another complaint students have is the food quality in the dining halls - especially of East Quad Residence Hall. Howe said during the past year a new manag- er and a new chef have been working at East KIMITSU YOGACHI/Dail Dietician Barbara Howe explains nutrition to LSA junior Laurie Burkitt at Betsy Barber Residence Hall yesterday. Quad, and so far many students have seemed to like the new change. "Anybody at anytime can submit recipes to me," she said. In addition to providing literature on how to eat healthy in the residence halls, Howe will meet with individual students and groups to dis- cuss nutrition. Students with questions or concerns about nutrition can stop by her office in the basement of Betsy Barbour or e-mail her at /akrblhowi'e(Q umich.ecdii. Torrents of spring? Union protesters remove flag, meet administration '<6 By Josie Gingrich Daily StaffReporter The Michigan Union seemed to be missing something the familiar maize-and-blue 'M' flag that flies above the tower The group of student protesters occupying the seventh floor meet- ing area of Michigamua removed the University's flag and replaced it with an upside-down U.S. flag Tuesday night. "We flew it as a signal of distress," said Native American Student Associa- tion co-Chair Joe Reilly, an SNRF senior. "Our people are being disre- spected.' Beneath the upside down U.S. flag. flew a white sign announcing the meeting that took place last night between protesters and University administration. But the flag and the sign were gone yesterda morning, leaving the flag staff atop the Union naked. "They took it down," Reilly said. "We fly a Michigan flag," Michi- gan Union Director Audrey Schwimmer said. "Not an upside down American flag." The lock on the door to the roof was broken, Schwimmer said, before the U.S. flag and sign were put up. The flags were taken down yes- terday and the door to the roof was secured, she added. "The roof is not particularly safe," Schwimmer said. "We don't want any- one to get hurt." The protesters continued to announce last night's meeting to groups of interested students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents taking tours of the Michigamua room. Maintenance still has access to all floors and University officials are not being barred from the occu- pied rooms. How the protesters gained entry to the Michigamua room remains a mys- tery, and maintenance changed the, locks on all of the rooms on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors yesterday as a precaution. "We don't know how they got in," Schwimmer said. As of last night, there was no flag flying above the Union. "I'm sure lots of groups would love to fly their flags, but we can't do that," Schwimmer said. "Nothing like this has ever hap- pened while I've been here," she said. S pirit Airlines pilot suspended KIMISTS UYOGACHI/Daiy Rackham Graduate School student Keiske Nakao looks at his reflection in a puddle of melting snow as he walks down South University Avenue. GHB death tria begins ina Detroit DETROIT (AP) -- Spirit Airlines has suspended a pilot after several pas- sengers complained about an in-flight incident that didn't match the pilot's description of the flight, airline offi- cials said. The name of the pilot has not been released by the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.- based airline. Greg Van Brunt, Spirit's vice president of maintenance, described the pilot as very experienced and said he had been suspended with pay. Van Brunt said the airline is cooper- ating with the Federal Aviation Administration's investigation into the Jan. 30 flight from Fort Myers, Fla., to Detroit. Several passengers on the flight called the airline to complain about a rapid loss in altitude and a howling sound from one of the MD-80's- engines. At least one of the passengers' also believed one of the plane's engines shut down during the flight, the Detroit Free Press reported yester- day. DETROIT (AP) -- Manipulation and deception led to Samantha Reid's date-rape drug death and her best friend's near death, a prosecutor said in an opening statement yesterday at the manslaughter trial of three of four men charged. Erick Limmer, 26, of Grosse lie, Daniel Brayman, 18, of Trenton and Nicholas Holtschlag, 18, of Wayne County's Brownstown Township are charged in the GHB poisoning death of Samantha, 15. Prosecutors say the men gave the Rockwood girl a soft drink secretly spiked with gamma-hydroxybutyrate during a party in Limmer's apartment Jan. 16, 1999. Samantha died the next day. A separate jury for Joshua Cole, 19, of Southgate, will hear opening argu- ments Thursday, given that prosecutors say he has confessed to a role in the case. Since 1990, GHB has been linked to at least 58 deaths and more than 5,700 recorded overdoses, the Drug Enforce- ment Administration has said. "The weapon in this case - that which brought about the death and near death of the complainants - was not a knife, not a gun, but a drug, just as fatal as any other, weapon," Doug Baker, a Wayne County assistant pros- ecutor, told jurors yesterday. Cole also faces three counts of felony poisoning, each carrying a pos- sible life sentence. Manslaughter is punishable by up to 15 years behind bars. The others are charged with two poisoning counts each for GIB-taint- ed drinks allegedly given to Samantha and her friend, whose ingestion of the drug left her temporarily comatose. A third girl alleged to have unknowingly ingested the powerful central nervous system depressant was not sickened. Baker, using a poster board-sized timeline, laid out for the jury the events leading up to Samantha's death. He said the three girls went out with Brayman and Holtschlag because they liked them. But "it's the deeds of the defendants over the next few hours that really showed their feelings towards these girls," Baker said. "It wasn't very pretty, it wasn't very nice;"he said. Brayman's attorney, John Gates, said his client had no idea the drinks were poisoned. Gates said somebody other than his client apparently gave out poisoned drinks as soon as they walked in the door of Limmer's apartment. The girl who survived a coma has said in court the beer she first was handed was "skunked" and she refused to drink it. Gates said his client was a good friend of the two girls who were sick- ened and would not want to hurt them. THE CALENDAR What's happening in Ann Arbor today r...a...vp M.-.~le y hv FORAI[ ,Michigan Union. *Northwalk. 763-WALK. Burslev 1 4