Wednesday July 23, 1997- The-Micigal Daity- 3 .Spray may prevent flu By Heather Wiggn Daily Staff Reporter After 30 years of extensive research, epidemiolo- gy Prof. Hunein Maassab's dedication has paid off in he form of a medical breakthrough. In 1967, Maassab developed a pediatric nasal- spray flu vaccine, which was deemed effective on July 14 by the National Institutes of Health. Research demonstrates that the vaccine has the abil- ity to preent the development of influenza in chil- dren. Vaccinating children against influenza is impor- tant because "children infect everyone in a house- hold' Maassab said. "It's the initial spread." Although children can receive the currently- licensed flu shot, some younger children will need an additional booster shot each month. The nasal spray s attractive to the public because "it doesn't require a shot and it's effective in children," said Regina Rabinoch, a doctor affiliated with the NIH. Most Americans are familiar with the head and body aches, fever, nasal congestion and other symp- toms that come with the common respiratory infec- tion. Approximately $4.6 billion is spent each year on the medical costs for influenza alone. Projections show that a severe national flu epidemic could tally at least $12 billion in medical bills. "Influenza is a very important disease," Maassab said. "There are economic factors (involved), like people staying home from work and health factors (to consider)" The drug was used in a study conducted last sum- mer, in which each of the 1,602 participating chil- dren were either given the new vaccination or a placebo and evaluated over the flu season. The results were definite - only 1 percent of vaccinated children contracted the flu, whereas 18 percent of children given a placebo came down with influenza. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious iseases and Aviron, a small biopharmaceutical company in California that specializes in the devel- Magazine to modify rankings By Jason Stoffer Daily Staff Reporter U.S. News & World Report will mod- ify tabulation processes for its 1997 col- lege rankings issue in order to minimize minor discrepancies in the categories. Unlike previous years, U.S. News will no longer rank universities by statistical- ly insignificas differences in average Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, alumni donasio-is and a multitude of other cate- gori'as. Bob Moris, U.S. News' director of research for the "Ametica's Best Colleges" issue said the 1997 rankings will round colleges' total scores to the nearest whole point. Last year, Yale, Harvard and Princeton Universities were separated by scant decimals of a point, yet were ranked first, second and third, respec- tively. Under the new system, they would have shared the coveted No. 1 ranking. Morris said the new ranking method clarifies the decision-making process for prospective college students and their parents. "We didn't want to exaggerate the dif- ferences in schools," Morris said. "Doing ratings at 10th place creates more differences than there are in the real world" Associate Vice President for University Relations Lisa Baker said that while there is a place for rankings, they are "superficial (and have) absolutely no impact on academic programs and how the University does things." See RANKINGS, Page 8 MARGARET MYERS/Dai Prof. Hunein Maassab, whose research led to the development of a flu-preventing nasal spray, works in the University's Jonas Salk Laboratory. opment of vaccines for the general public, co-spon- sored the study. Due to the study's success, the vaccine should be available to the public in about two years. Rabinoch said there will be "no immediate impact on the pub- lic ... because the vaccine hasn't been submitted to the (Food and Drug Administration) yet." However, Aviron plans to pursue licensing for children and adults within the next year. Rabinoch said the vaccine is "a tool that works." "(It's) one more gun to fight influenza. Give Dr. Maassab credit," Rabinoch said. "He's watched this for 25 years - to have this vaccine is a wonderful thing." The future of the vaccine and its use in medicine is promising. "In the face of the next probable serious influenza pandemic, a live-attenuated flu vaccine would pro- vide an effective new tool to combat the disease's spread," said NIAID influenza Program Officer Dominick lacuzio in a written statement. The vaccine's effects have not yet been studied on adults, but research in this area is expected to be the focus of future studies. I TUITION Continued from Page 1 modest hike to the slimming of costs in the central administration. "It is a great pleasure to see this bud- coming forward with the significant Power said. "We want to keep tuition as low as we can" Michigan Student Assembly President Michael Nagrant said the 1997 tuition increase represents Bollinger's goals to make higher education afford- able to students. "I think it definitely shows the presi- dent's interest with students' needs," Nagrant said. "It will put us in there to get the tuition tax credit." The Michigan tuition tax credit - ch was previously unavailable to University students because of tuition increases above the rate of inflation - will now be applicable to University students who are in-state residents. In-state students should be able to receive $250 in state funding by filling out the necessary informa- tion in their annual tax forms, Nagrant said. egent Olivia Maynard (D-Flint) said e low tuition increase will be appreci- ated and respected by University offi- cials, as well as by students and their families. 1-800-KAP-TEST Www.kaplan.com *LSAT is a registered trademark of the Law School Admission Council.