2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 27, 1999
NATION/WORLD - -
Hormone may reduce at
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES - Americans are
fatter than ever, with potentially disas-
trous consequences for their health, but
ijections of the recently discovered
hormone leptin can help take some of
the fat off, researchers said yesterday at
University of California at Los
Angeles seminar sponsored by the
Amnerican Medical Association.
The number of obese Americans -
those at least 30 percent over ideal body
weight - rose from 12 percent in 1991
to 17.9 percent in 1998, according to
researchers from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
In a separate study, Tufts University
researchers found that 63 percent of
men and 55 percent of women over the
age of 25 are obese or overweight, the
highest rate ever recorded.
Such obesity leads directly to at least
280,000 deaths every year and perhaps
as many as 374,000, according to a new
study from St. Luke's/Roosevelt
Hospital Center in New York City. That
makes obesity the second-leading cause
of preventable deaths after smoking,
said Jeffrey Koplan, director of CDC,
and "a devastating public health threat"
But there is some hope. Other
researchers from St. Luke's have found
in the first clinical trial of the widely
touted hormone leptin that daily injec-
tions produced an average 15-pound
loss over a six-month period.
The findings are all contained in
today's special issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association
devoted to obesity.
The increase in obesity is somewhat
paradoxical, said Phil Fontanarosa,
interim co-editor of the journal. Interest
in jogging, inline skating, fitness in
general, and low-fat, low-calorie foods
has never been higher, he noted. Even
so, he said, 40 percent of adults engage
in virtually no sustained exercise, and
the consumption of fast foods is at an
all-time high.
The i I articles in this week's journal,
he added, represent an attempt to get
physicians to think more about the
problem and to encourage them to offer
more counseling to patients about the
importance of diet and exercise.
The primary findings were from the
CDC, where researchers led by Ali
Mokdad phoned a randomly selected
group of more than 100,000 people
each year during the decade.
Participants were asked questions about
height, weight and smoking, alcohol
use and a variety of other behaviors that
increase their risk for one or more of the
10 leading causes of death in the United
States.
"in a scant seven years (from 1991 to
1998), we had a 50 percent increase in
obesity in all age groups and in all eth-
nic groups," Koplan said. "We've had a
steady increase (in obesity) throughout
the 20th Century, but this is a remark-
ably quick upturn ... We don't have a
simple answer why."
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tive board member of th lack Student
Union, said many minoritV students lack
adequate schooling and resources prior
to attending college and are "not ready to
compete on an equal level."
Calzonzi said many elementary and
secondary schools that minorities attend
lack resources such as computer access
and advanced placement classes.
Members of the task force hope to
create an atmosphere where public and
private sectors make improvements in
education, Miller said.
Some of these recommendations
include development of information and
database resources, organizing a consor-
tium of colleges and universities to con-
sider options for raising achievement
levels of minority students, collaborating
with community groups outside the
school to support young people, con-
ducting research on underachievement
issues and establishing a panel of experts
to explore other options to raise the level
of achievement.
Educational improvements have to
begin early on in school, Miller said.
"Obviously you have to start at the
bottom," Calzonzi said, stressing the
importance of elementary education.
Clark said that in the meantime stu-
dents should take full advantage of the
resources offered to them while at the
University including tutoring and coun-
seling services and study groups.
- Daiy Srcporiwr k'wcl Gpowani
contrihcd Io this Report.
AROUND THE NATION
Dems prefer Gore to Bradley in poll
CONCORD, NH. - With an edge in national polls and a folksier approach to
campaigning, Al Gore's political team believes he has stopped his slide in the
Democratic presidential contest.
Trouble is, he hasn't gained ground against rival Bill Bradley where it counts
early primary states like New Hampshire.
"I haven't seen a major qualitative or quantitative shift in terms of how his cam-
paign is doing here,' said Clark Hubbard, political science professor at t*
University of New Hampshire.
Gore and Bradley campaigned lightly in New Hampshire yesterday, spending
the bulk of their day closeted with consultants to prepare for their first head-to-
head contest. The pair will participate in a televised forum tonight.
The vice president hopes to produce further evidence that his campaign has
stopped hemorrhaging. After squandering huge leads in national and state
polls, Gore shook up his campaign Sept. 29: He moved his headquarters to
Tennessee, weeded out half of his senior staff and jazzed up his public speak-
ing style.
A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll published Tuesday showed that Democrats pre-
ferred Gore over Bradley 57 percent to 32 percent. Two weeks ago, the margin wa
51-39.
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info@opie.org, or www opie.org..
GOP disputes delay
vote on budget cuts
WASHINGTON House
Republican leaders put off a vote yes-
terday on a plan to cut most proposed
government spending this year by 1.4
percent. They did so because of dis-
putes within the Republican ranks
about how the reductions should be
made.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey
(R-Texas) wants the cut to apply solely
to administrative expenses. Senate
Republican leaders want the cut
applied more broadly and want to
reduce it to 1 percent.
Sone rank-and-file Republicans
argue that the 3.4 percent congres-
sional pay raises that are to take
effect this year should not be exempt
from the cuts, as they are in the orig-
inal plan. Also exempt are civilian
and military pay raises and benefit
programs, such as Social Security
and Medicare.
The across-the-board reductions are
needed to fill a $4.6-billion hole in the
Republicans' proposed budget.
Arme' said he expects a final ver-
sion of the proposal to be voted upon
by the end of this week. That is when
the House will vote on the last of the 13
spending bills that will finance the gov-
ernment for the fiscal year that began
Oct. 1.
San Francisco could
ban ATM surcharges
SAN FRANCISCO - A proposal
to ban those SI to S2 ATM sur-
charges goes before voters for the
first time next month in Sai
Francisco, setting the stage for.
court battle.
There is little doubt the ban will
pass, but it is certain to face a lei
challenge from the banking industr7
which contends that federally char-
tered banks are not subject to local
and state laws. No court in the nation
has ruled specifically on an ATM fee
ban.
San Francisco's referendum is the
latest sign of growing consumer outs
rage over the cash-machine fees.
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AROUND THEWR
7 K '
House of Lords
surrender many seats
LONDON _- After lording it over
this land for centuries, the unelected,
unaccountable and unpredictable nobil-
ity of Britain surrendered their already
dwindling powers late last night along
with most of their seats in the House of
Lords.
Instead of bowing to a sovereign,
they yielded to a mere politician,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who
was determined to bring a whiff of
democracy to Parliament's upper cham-
ber.
Close to the stroke of midnight, the
lords accepted the third and final ver-
sion of a reform bill that will strip most
of the 751 hereditary peers of their
right to sit in the ornate upper chamber
of Parliament.
"The tale is now told," said Lord
Strathclyde, leader of opposition
Conservative peers. "The past is done.
The glass is shattered and it cannot be
remade. The prime minister has taken a
knife and scored a giant gash across the
face of history."
If all goes as planned when the bill
goes back to the lower House of
Commons, only 92 of the hereditary
peers will have the right to pull on the
ermine robes and attend the Nov
Queen's Speech, which opens the next
parliamentary session.
Indonesian Cabinet
lessens mili'tary' role
JAKARTA, Indonesia - In a move to
sharply reduce the military's political
dominance, Indonesia's new preside
took the radical step yesterday of appoi
ing a civilian to run the Defense Ministry.
President Abdurrahman Wahid,
whose election by parliament last week
marked Indonesia's transition to
democracy, announced a Cabinet filled
with political neophytes, Islamic party
politicians and fewer military officials
than ever before.
- CompledfiVom Daily wire reports.
The Mi bigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by
students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via US. mail are
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