Wednesday, May 28, 1997 - The Michigan Daily - 3 ' professor y Peter Meyers aily Staff Reporter Hmmm, that's a nasty cut you've got there, son. 'd better glue that shut for you. Bizarre as it may sound, doctors in the near future vill be using adhesives to heal the cuts that are now reated with stitches. Clinical Assistant Medical School Prof. James Quinn has announced the development of a new adhesive that may replace stitches as the stan- lard treatment for moderate lacerations. Trips to the tmergency room may never be the same. "It's basically like a flexible plastic that holds the wound together," Quinn said. He said the glue was from "the same family as crazy glue or super glue," and is much like the hundreds of other adhesives already on the market. Application of the glue is much easier than sutur- creates glue that may replace stitches ing and takes only one-third of the time. Also, unlike ed in the experiment, half received the glue treat- stitches, no removal of the glue is necessary. Human ment. skin is shed naturally every seven to 10 days; the Overall, the glue was highly successful. It aided glue comes off with the healing as quickly as stitches skin beneath. and left a scar of approxi- The only side effect Half of the mately the same magnitude. appears to be a mild burn- Dr. Peter Johns of the ing sensation. peo le a said Ottawa General Hospital "It gives offa little heat," was one of the emergency- said Quinn, but noted that they had no sense room doctors who partici- the reaction didn't happen of pated in the study. to everyone. "Half the peo- of iscomflort "For those lacerations that ple in the study said they - James Quinn came together very nicely and had no sense of discomfort A . were not that large, it was very at all" Assistant Medical Professor painless," Johns said. With A field study of the glue that sort of neat laceration was performed in Canada on patients who had cuts where no cleaning of the wound is necessary, doctors of the appropriate nature. Of those who participat- can forgo anesthetic as well as sutures. Needles can be entirely avoided, Johns said. When doctors apply the glue, they hold the cut together with their fingers while painting the glue on top with a special applicator. The glue is origi- nally purplish in color, but dries transparent. "The key thing about using the tissue adhesive is that it's applied to the skin," said Johns. "You don't want to get any between the edges" Johns said most doctors assume that the glue is applied like normal household glue - that the lacer- ation is squeezed shut with the glue inside. Quinn and Johns both warned that if this is done, the glue will not only fail to seal the wound but also will become an obstacle that the body will try to heal around. Quinn's version will be marketed under the name Dermabond, and will appear in emergency rooms everywhere as soon as it receives final FDA approval. MEMORIAL Continued from Page 1 we give them free lots (at the cemetery) and today we're having the fire depart- ment put flags on veterans' gravesites. "We still don't think we're doing enough,' Clark said. "Next year we'll have marching bands, a speaker from the Veteran's Administration and a 21- gun salute." The Memorial Day tradition dates back to more than a century ago. Gen. John Logan, president of the Grand Army of the Republic, estab- lished the holiday following the Civil War. He designated May 30, 1868 "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebel- lion." After World War I, the day was extended to honor the dead of all American wars, and in 1971 the date was changed to the last Monday in each May. Memorial Day, along with honoring veterans, also serves as the traditional opening day for beaches, pools and other popular summer destinations aroutd the country. However, the weather was just a little too cold for people to venture poolside, said Amy Murrow, lifeguard at Ann Arbor's Buhr Park public pool. "The first couple of weeks are usual- ly pretty slow," said Murrow. "Today, there's only three people in the pool and three others on the deck." LSA junior Rob Schmitz was also disappointed with the weather. "I would like to be waterskiing, but it's too cold outside," said Schmitz. "Instead I'm going to be studying eco- nomics and psychology." Nevertheless, people still were able to have fun in the sun, said Jim Lapointe, manager of Gallup Park Canoe Livery. "There's a lot of people in the park walking, biking and rollerblading," said Lapointe. "People seem excited to be out here." JOE WESTRATE/Daity LSA senior James White concentrates on juggling as he enjoys one of the first warm days of spring. White is staying in Ann Arbor for the spring semester to participate in Research Experience for Undergrads. Reps. pass sexual assault act I .. By Katie Piona 1 News Editor Michigan universities may be facing new pressure from the state that will reg- ulate how the schools structure their campus sexual-assault policies. The Sexual Assault Information Act, a legislative package of 12 individual bills, was passed in the Michigan House of Representatives yesterday. The act, if approved in the Michigan State Senate, will disqualify universities that do not c ply with the requirements from ying for some forms of state finan- cial aid. The act states that all Michigan uni- versities must have a written campus sexual-assault policy, which is already mandated by federal law. Furthermore, the act requires the complete and thor- ough reporting and investigating of any campus sexual-assault crimes. "This legislation encourages col- " es to do everything they can to pro- students on campus and provide victims of sexual assault with the information they need to seek counsel- ing and protect themselves," said Rep. Laura Baird (D-Okemos) in a state- ment released yesterday. Although Baird is the act's lead spon- sor, 10 other representatives voiced their support by individually sponsoring parts of the legislation. Brian 0' Connell, legislative aide to Rep. Jim McBryde (R-Mount Pleasant), said the House-passed act will go to a Senate committee for consideration. However, the Senate has seen the act at least once before, when it sat in com- mittee without being debated on the Senate floor, he said. John Truscott, Gov. John Engler's media spokesperson, said the governor's office is taking a neutral position towards the Sexual Assault Information Act until they have more information. "This is such a serious issue,'Truscott said. "We want to make sure it's addressed appropriately.' He said they do not know what kind of programs are implemented at each Michigan university, so they cannot judge whether enforcing further campus sexual-assault policy legislation is nec- essary. "To mandate may not be the right course at this point," Truscott said. "We just don't know." Vice President of University Relations Lisa Baker said the legislation should not affect the University's sexual-assault policies. "The University is obviously in com- pliance with all laws and beyond that, we have a comprehensive set of policies and programs," Baker said. "The legislation is unnecessary (for the University). O'Connell said the act's passage would give universities another outlet to aid students. "It allows the universities another remedy outside the court system," O'Connell said. Joyce Wright, interim director of the Student Assault Prevention and Awareness Center said SAPAC offers many services to students. "We do a lot of advocacy on the behalf of survivors - medically, academically, as well as legally,"Wright said. Wright said that, aside from Michigan State University, she does not know of any other schools in Michigan that have centers like SAPAC, which are run entirely separate of other University deparpnts orgganso Sma lClsssof 5 or Less The e s n s 3 S m ,,ue oo nfr