LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 3A
, ...
Cozy in Cosi
Researchers make
discovery after
shuttle flight
Researchers at the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Cen-
ter at Dallas have discovered the
mechanism that causes lighthead-
edness and a brief loss of con-
sciousness in astronauts following
their missions, according to a
recent press release.
In research conducted aboard a
16-day space shuttle mission,
researchers found that orthostatic
intolerance, the condition responrsi-
ble for dizziness, is due to the
heart stiffening and shrinking.,
Two-thirds of astronauts experi-
ence this condition in the upright
posture after their flight, as well as
500,000 other Americans.
Drugs can prevent and potential-
ly reverse the condition. An
increase in salt and water consump-
tion and exercise can have the same
effect.
The study examined the blood
pressure and cardiovascular system
of six male astronauts at various
times before and throughout the
day that the Neurolab space shuttle
mission landed.
Results of this study appear in
this month's issue of The Journal
of Physiology.
Antibiotics better
for inflammation in
stomach lining
Rather than reducing the amount
of acid in the stomach to calm
down the burning sensation caused
*by fining inflammation, University
Medical School researchers sug-
gest people take antibiotics,
according to a recent press
release.
In two experiments using labora-
tory mice, researchers found that
antibiotics killed the bacteria that
cause gastritis most effectively and
eliminated stomach inflammation.
The antibiotic used, called
omeprazole, was a proton pump
inhibitor, which blocks acid pro-
duction.
Researchers also examined the
role of gastrin in acid production,
using a strain of transgenic mice
that could not produce it.
Gastritis develops from people
eating food or drinking water cont-
aminated with a number of bacte-
ria, including Helicobacter pylori,
which infects 75 percent of people
with gastritis.
Because H. pylori cannot be
killed by hydrochloric acid,
researchers excluded its presence
to better study the relationship
between other bacteria and gastric
acid.
Untreated gastritis can lead to
peptic ulcers and stomach cancer.
Early diagnosis for
aortic dissection
can save lives
Aortic dissection, which is a
purging of blood from the heart
into its main artery, causing a rip
in the lining, kills one of every
three patients who enter the hospi-
tal for the condition. But Universi-
ty Cardiovascular Center
researchers have discovered new
techniques to identify sufferers
who are likely to die quickly,
according to a recent press release.
The findings of the study will
help physicians to make speedy
treatment decisions on surgical
procedures and to lessen complica-
tions.
The research examined 547
patients who were treated at 18
hospitals across the world for type
A acute aortic dissections, the
most common and serious type of
this condition. Variables included
age, gender, blood pressure and
previous medical history.
The mean age of the patients was
62, and 65.5 percent of the patients
were male. Eighty percent of the
people had surgery, of which 27
percent died during their hospital
stay.
- Compiled by Daily Staff
Reporter Lisa Hoffman.
Kmat silent as
bankruptcy talk
swirls, stock falls
DETROIT (AP) - Kmart Corp.
remained silent Wednesday, refusing
to release any information regarding
its financial future even as its ratings
and stocks took deeper blows.
Eric Beder, a senior vice president
and retailing analyst for Ladenburg,
Thalmann & Co. Inc., called Kmart's
silence "spooky."
"Nothing scares investors more
than a vacuum of information," Beder
said. "No one knows what's going on
except for the people in Troy, Michi-
gan, and they're not telling anyone
else."
Kmart's board of directors held a
regularly scheduled meeting on Mon-
day and Tuesday, but the Troy-based
retailer declined to discuss if any
decisions had been made.
"The session ended Tuesday.
There is nothing to report," Kmart
spokesman Jack Ferry said yester-
day.
In release yesterday announcing
ratings downgrades, Fitch Inc. said
it appears increasingly likely that
Kmart will choose to file for Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy, and in making
the downgrades cited "continuing
uncertainty as to Kmart's current
financial strategy in the absence of
any communication from the com-
pany."
"There's a lot of word out there
about it and that usually precedes it
happening," said Stuart Hirshfield,
chairman of the bankruptcy divi-
sion at Dewey Ballantine LLP, a
New York-based law firm. "But it's
really hard to predict right now."
Hirshfield said based on sales,
Kmart would be the largest retailer
ever to file for Chapter 11.
Beder said Kmart should be more
concerned with reaching a new agree-
ment with their banks to extend their
revolving credit line and closing
stores that have become a burden. He
doesn't think Kmart will file for
bankruptcy.
"It would put its (Kmart's) con-
tracts with its vendors into chaos.
They could lose vendors like Martha
Stewart and Sesame Street," Beder
said. "You have to wonder what the
point of Kmart would be without
those kind of vendors."
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
has a provision in its contract that
allows Stewart to exit Kmart in bank-
ruptcy, but it would have to be inter-
preted by a bankruptcy judge.
Amid the speculation, Kmart's
stock tumbled to under $2 a share in
trading yesterday. Yesterday after-
noon, it was trading at $1.41.
Standard & Poor's, one of the
nation's largest debt rating agencies,
announced that Kmart will be taken
off of its 500 index at the market's
close yesterday. Kmart will be
replaced on the index by Plum Creek
Timber.
DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
Two-year-old Kaoru Toyokawa peers onto State Street from inside Cosi while his parents eat inside the restaurant
yesterday.
Settlement reached over pyramid scheme
LANSING (AP) - The Michigan attorney
general said yesterday she has reached a set-
tlement agreement with a company she
charged with illegally selling Internet
"malls" through an online pyramid scheme.
Attorney General Jennifer Granholm said
she expects the settlements with KM.NET
and its president, Stewart Giardina, to lead to
refunds for thousands of people.
Granholm alleged that KM.NET and affili-
ated companies PowerCard and ECB4U.COM
violated Michigan law in their sales, and said
KM.NET officials indicated,tbat up to 23,000
Internet malls were sold to Michigan resi-
dents.
Granholm said her office received numer-
ous complaints from Michigan consumers
who made initial investments of $399.95 in
an Internet mall but had not received any
return on their investment.
She said PowerCard records showed that
more than 17,000 Internet shopping malls
were purchased in 2000, and Michigan resi-
dents made most of those purchases.
The settlement announced yesterday
resolve a lawsuit Granholm had filed. She
also had intervened in a private class-action
lawsuit brought against the company in
Alabama, which reached an agreement Oct. 1.
Stewart Giardina, president of KM.NET,
did not immediately return a phone call seek-
ing comment. In a visit to Michigan last year,
Giardina told a group gathered in Mount
Pleasant that the company was cooperating
with the state.
Granholm said settlement of the Michigan
and Alabama suits should pave the way for
the release of about $6 million related to the
sale of online malls which is being held by a
federal court in Maryland.
The malls are websites that are linked to
sites for major retailers, such as J.C. Penney
and Toys R Us. Mall owners earn a commis-
sion each time someone buys something at
a retailer that they reached through the
mall. Mall owners also earn $100 cash pay-
ments whenever they recruit additional
owners.
Granholm said PowerCard violated Michi-
gan's Pyramid Promotion Act, which pro-
hibits businesses from offering compensation
in return for bringing other people into the
business.
Granholm also said the company's decep-
tive marketing practices violate the Michigan
Consumer Protection Act.
Citing, terror factor,
Michigan reps call
for trash inspection
LANSING (AP) - Each garbage
truck carrying Canada's trash into
Michigan would be inspected for things
such as bombs and medical waste under
legislation proposed Monday by a few
state lawmakers.
"I want to make sure we're getting
what we're supposed to be getting," said
state Rep. Mike Kowall of White Lake,
one of the three Republican House
members working on the package of
three bills.
The legislation would require the
Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality to inspect the garbage in trucks
coming to Michigan landfills from
Canada at the state's international cross-
ings.
Canadian waste accounted for 7.5
percent of all waste in Michigan land-
fills in 2000, according to the most
recent data available from the DEQ. The
amount of Canadian trash dumped in
Michigan increased 80 percent between
1999 and 2000, a 2000 DEQ report
said.
The bills also would set fines for
bringing garbage to Michigan that
doesn't meet state standards and require
out-of-state trash to be sealed to prevent
leaks. Lawmakers said they haven't
determined either the cost of the pro-
gram or the penalties.
Rep. Mickey Mortimer, one of the
House members working on the bills,
said he was concerned a terrorist could
sneak a weapon of mass destruction into
Michigan in a garbage truck.
"How do people get things like that
into the country? You put them in things
people don't want to look into," the Hor-
ton Republican said.
Toronto City Councilor Betty Disero
said she doesn't think Canadian
garbage should be screened for security
reasons.
"I certainly think there are other,
more effective ways of using limited
resources for security in North Ameri-
ca,"she said.
Although Michigan also receives
trash from Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin, lawmakers said they aren't
ready to call for inspections of that
garbage.
DEQ spokesman Ken Silfven said it
could be illegal for Michigan to single
out trash from one municipality for
inspection.
A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
denied states the right to refuse waste.
Since then, state lawmakers have looked
to Congress to approve a law allowing
states to make such restrictions.
"This problem has to be solved in
Washington," said Silfven, who added
that it's unlikely the department has the
manpower to inspect each load of
garbage from Canada.
Out-of-state trash accounts for 16.7
percent of all trash in Michigan, the
DEQ said.
Michigan is No. 3 in the nation
behind Virginia and Pennsylvania for
the most out-of-state trash, said Mike
Garfield, director of the Ecology Center
in Ann Arbor.
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MARTIN,
LUTHER
KING, JR
DAY
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS for Japanese Studies, U "Black Rice of the SERVICES
Noon, 1636 International African Diaspora"; Spon- Campus Information
"T'al Chi; Sponsored by Institute, School of Social sored by the University Centers, 764-INFO,
International Neighbors, Work, 1080 South Univer- Center for Afroamerican info@umich.eduio
All women are invited to sPity and African Studies, 4:00 S.A.F.E. Walk, 763-WALK,
January 21, 2002
1:30 PM
at the
University of Michigan
Business School
Ford Conference Center
Assembly Hall
Hale Auditorium
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