HIGHER EDUCATION
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 21, 1999 - 7A
4New trials start for Harvard prof.s anti-cancer drug
i "
By Eli M. Alper
Harvard Crimson
:CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (U-WIRE) - After
decades of research, Andrus Professor of
Pediatric Surgery M. Judah Folkman is one step
closer to his research goal of attacking cancer by
c ng off the flow of blood to tumors rather
than attacking them directly.
This week, doctors will begin testing endo-
statin, a cancer-fighting drug developed from
Folkman's research, on human beings for the
first time.
ndostatin is the first of several anti-cancer
drugs under evaluation which prevent angiogen-
esis, the growth of new blood vessels in the
body. Doctors hope that, by stopping the growth
of blood vessels around a cancerous tumor, the
drug can shrink tumors and prevent the cancer
from spreading.
Susan Craig, spokesperson for the Children's
Hspital in Boston, where Folkman conducts his
research, says that endostatin has been success-
ful in studies on mice, reducing cancerous
tumors to nearly microscopic size with no
observable side effects.
Folkman has been working on restricting
blood vessel growth, particularly near tumors,
for more than 30 years, according to Emery
Professor of Organic Chemistry Elias Corey.
"The whole theory of angiogenesis inhibition
was developed by Dr. Folkman," Craig said.
Folkman's research aims at preventing tumors
from growing, rather than targeting them directly,
as treatments like chemotherapy do, Corey said.
"If you block the supply of oxygen to tumor
cells, then that's an approach to controlling
tumors" Corey said. "It's a very interesting sci-
entific hypothesis. (Folkman) has been working
in a pioneering way to test that."
Although endostatin might prevent blood ves-
sels in the body other than those around a tumor
from forming, Corey said normal adult tissue
can remain healthy without angiogenesis. Only
tumors would be adversely affected, he said.
"The (new blood vessel) requirement for
existing tissue is minimal:' Corey said. "The
requirement for rapidly-growing tissue is sub-
stantial."
The first endostatitti stng on humans will be
conducted by Iana-Farber Partners CancerCare
--- a coalition of Massachusetts General
Hospital. Brigham and Women's Hospital and
the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Two other
institutes, one in Houston and another in
Wisconsin,will begin testing the drug later in the
year.
Todd Ringler, a spokesperson for Dana-
Farber Partners CancerCare, said that the first
phase of testing will look only for toxic side
effects. Fndostatin's efbetiveness will be noted,
but it will only be studied directly if the drug
proves non-toxic.
Ringler said "hundreds" of applicants volun-
teered for testing. Only three were selected for
the initial round of tests, although up to 27 more
w ill be selected later. No control patients will be
used. he added.
Ringler said the first phase of the study will
take 9 to 12 months. Final, complete approval
for human use will take years, he said.
Despite high public expectations, Ringler said
that researchers are remaining cautious.
"This clinical trial is merely one of hundreds
of clinical trials:' Ringer said. "We want to keep
expectations down"
Corev said historically, the odds are against
endostatin succeeding.
"Only 5 to 10 percent of drugs survive human
testing," Corey said. "Of those, one in five wl
turn out to be successful drugs."
Explicit photos found
on U. Miss Website
Let's give 'em something to talk about
* Delta Kappa Epsilon social
air says photos feature former
umbers
By Chris Thompson
Daily Mississippian
OXFORD, Miss. (U-WIRE) - Four pho-
tographs featuring a pair of nude female strippers
with as many as eight fully-clothed males were
posted on the Delta Kappa Epsilon page of the
University of Mississippi Website..
The university's M-Book explicitly states that
students "may not possess, willingly receive or
ribute obscene material" on the university's
work system. The M-Book is the university's
handbook of standards and activities.
According to the M-Book, anyone who violates
the policy could have his or her computer equip-
ment impounded and may also face other discipli-
nary actions including possible suspension or
expulsion from the university. At least four of the
males pictured in the photographs are wearing
Delta Kappa Epsilon T-shirts.
in one of the photographs a stripper appears to
erforming a sex act with one of the males
while he has a dollar bill in his mouth. The other
three photographs depict the males and the strip-
pers touching each other. The breast and groin
arias of the strippers are blacked out in all of the
photographs.
"Something like that is totally against policy,"
s i4 Thomas Wallace, interim vice chancellor for
student life. Wallace said the university was to
begin investigating the photographs yesterday.
Wallace said he contacted Kathy Gates, director
of academic computing and support services, and
asked her to inspect the Website Tuesday night.
According to Wallace, Gates shut down the
Website around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday so that outside
parties could not view or alter the site. A web
counter on the site had recorded over 2,000 hits
before Gates shut down the site.
Scott Burton, social chair of the fraternity, said the
photographs were "taken at an off-campus party
about the second week of school" and that the
females were "hired entertainers from Jackson."
"There were no sexual acts performed," said
Burton, who also said that he was responsible for
arranging the party.
Burton said the party was held in a hotel ban-
quet hall and that the hotel was not in Oxford.
According to Burton, all of the males in the pho-
tographs were fraternity members except for one
security guard, whose face was blacked out.
"This is a bunch of guys at a party, nothing
more, nothing less," said George Wade, president
of the Ole Miss chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. "1
don't feel I need to defend these pictures"
Both Burton and Wade said that no illegal activ-
ities took place at the party, and they did not know
posting the photographs violated university policy.
The national Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity
was chartered in 1844, and the Ole Miss chapter
was founded in 1850. The chapter was kicked off
campus in 1985 for a hazing incident, and this
semester is its first semester back on campus since
the incident.
x
JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily
LSA sophomores Karen Soules, Geni Michaud and Julia Klein watch last night in the East Lounge of Alice Lloyd Residence Hall as other
members of the theater troupe "Talk to Us" practice their plays about students with disabilities for their upcoming show this Tuesday.
U. Minnesota receives $9M grant
Former USC student given
sentence for killing infant
By Jennifer Kelleher -
Daily Trojan
LOS ANGELES (U-WIRE) - Former
University of Southern California student Linda
was sentenced last week to 10 years in state
pon for killing her newborn baby in 1997.
Under a plea agreement, Chu will serve five of
the 10 years, said Los Angeles Deputy District
Attorney Steven Slavitt, adding that he did not
know where or when she would enter prison.
A campus maintenance worker found Chu's
newborn child dumped at the bottom of a trash
chute in Century Apartments on May 7, 1997,
when Chu was a sophomore majoring in business.
She was arrested a month later while on sum-.
mfer break at her home in Illinois. She was later
radited to Los Angeles.
Chu pleaded guilty on Friday to felony child
endangerment charges and admitted to a special
allegation that she was responsible for her daugh-
ter's death.
At a pretrial hearing in December 1997, evidence
was presented that Chu's baby was alive at birth and
then strangled. Chu kept her pregnancy a secret and
delivered the child in her apartment shower.
On Feb. 18, 1999, she pleaded no contest to
child abuse charges. Had she been convicted, she
would have faced serving 25 years to life in prison,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
Slavitt said the plea deal came as a surprise.
"She didn't enter (the plea deal) until right before
trial,' he said. "We were prepared to go to trial"
Chu's defense attorney Shawn Chapman could
not be reached for comment.
By Craig Gustafson
Mrinncsota l) ihr
MINNEAPOLIS (U-W IRL) -- University
of Minnesota researchers received a S9) million
grant from the National Institutes of Health to
study nicotine levels in the bloodstreams of
cigarette smokers.
The NIH grant will fund research at the
University for the next five years and will sup-
port four separate projects to help cigarette
smokers kick the habit.
The grants came from the National Cancer
Institute and National InstituiC on Drug Abuse,
divisions of the NIH. The NCI and NIDA will
spend more than S70 million, divided among
several institutions.
Minnesota, along with sixth other schools,
was chosen from a field of 30 institutions.
Together the research facilities will create a
consortium called the Transdisciplinary
Tobacco Use Research Center.
"It's now clear that a large number of people
cannot stop smoking,' said Stephen -echt, a
University cancer researcher. "Our goal is to
reduce the amount a person smokes."
A recent NCI study showed that 80 percent
"It'now clear that a large number of people
cannotstopsmoking
--Stephen Hecht
University of Minnesota cancer researcher
of smokers cannot or will not quit.
If someone can't quit, then the goal should
be to reduce the amount of cigarettes smoked,
l-echt said,
Reducing nicotine levels in people, he
explained, is one of the first steps toward cut-
ting down on smoking-related health risks.
According to the NCI, tobacco-related dis-
eases cause more than 450,000 deaths each
year, including I70,000 cancer-related deaths.
A 1997 Center for Disease Control study
revealed that nearly 30 percent of 18- to 24-
year-olds in Minnesota smoke.
And a 1998 Boynton Health Service survey
revealed that about 36 percent of Minnesota
students used tobacco-related products.
Alan Leshner, director of the NIDA, said
nicotine addiction is such a complex subject
that a wide-ranging approach is needed to
understand addiction in young people.
To address the multiple facets of cigarette
addiction, each of the seven participating uni-
versities has a unique research objective.
Minnesota's goal is to treat smokers who have
been resistant to conventional methods of inter-
vention or who have not been previously target-
ed. Dorothy Hatsukami, a Minnesota professor'
of psychiatry, will lead researchers on the four °
projects to meet that goal.
The projects include: examining different
techniques to reduce smoking such as nicotine
patches; focusing on nicotine levels of individ-
uals with heart disease; reducing tobacco-
smoke in children, specifically secondhand"
smoke; and finding new nicotine replacement
therapies in animal studies.
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::,
'U' has not ruled out
computer requirement
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COM PUTERS
Continued from Page 1A
world, the majority of workers use
laptops on a daily basis.
This program is designed to put
college students one step ahead in
the working world because it aims to
produce graduates who are familiar
with computers, Hunt said.
Still, Hunt said some MSU stu-
dents and faculty are opposed to the
proposed action because of its
potential pitfalls for learning.
They said computers could be an
added distraction in classrooms and
a financial burden for many stu-
dents.
They also said laptops would lack
the ability to update and run com-
plex programs.
Northern Michigan University is
one step ahead of MSU in its plans
to integrate personal computing into
the requirements of undergraduate
students.
In the Fall of 2000, all NMU stu-
dents will be required to lease an
IBM laptop through a university
program.
The program, which is the product
of more than two years of research
and development, also allows stu-
Aintc atro t financial aid money for
Joyal said.
NMU decided on this program
more than a year ago, MSU Provost
LouAnn Simon maintains that it is,
not the right one for MSU.
Simon said that requiring students
to own or rent a specific type of
computer, like with NMU's program
and another proposed program at the
University of North Carolina, would
unfairly force those who already
own computers to spend money on a
second computer. .
Wanda Monroe, director of public
relations for University of Michigan
Chief Information Officer Josie- '
Marie Griffiths, said computer
requirement programs are unique to
each school.
After looking into a program thzt "
could work for the University, it was
decided that a computer requirement
was unnecessary, Monroe said.
"The University of Michigan'
already provides an excellent infor-
mation-technology environment in
computer labs around campus,"
Monroe said, "and we leave it up to
students to take advantage of those
facilities."
xMonroe said the School of
Business Administration recom-
mends to its students that they own a. ,
comnuter. although it is not manda-
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