2-News

2A — Wednesday, April 15, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

THREE THINGS YOU 
SHOULD KNOW TODAY

The 
Statement 

Magazine 
has 

announced its Students 

of The Year in its annual 
issue. The magazine also 
heavily features a variety of 
the best photos taken by the 
Daily’s photo staff.
>> FOR MORE, SEE STATEMENT

2

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Country-jazz 
concert

WHAT:Hot Club of 
Cowtown, a country-jazz 
band, will perform their 
latest album. 
WHO: Michigan Union 
Ticket Office
WHEN: Today at 8 p.m.
WHERE: The Ark, 316 S. 
Main

Film screening

WHAT: A screening of the 
2010 documentary, “Going 
Blind.” The film discusses 
vision loss in the United 
States.
WHO: University Library
WHEN: Today from 5 p.m. 
to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Harlan Hatcher 
Graduate Library, Room 
100

Atlanta 
educators 

who were convicted of 
inflating 
student 
test 

scores were sentenced on 
Tuesday, 
The 
New 
York 

Times reported. All but one 
of the 10 sentenced received 
jail time. 
1

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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by 

students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may 

be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. 

Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates 

are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must 

be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.

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Editor in Chief

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The 
Pentagon 

announced that Iraq has 
re-captured more than a 

quarter of the territory it lost 
to the Islamic State since the 
U.S. air campaign began in 
August, BBC News reported. 
3

EDITORIAL STAFF
Lev Facher Managing Editor lfacher@michigandaily.com

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Davis, Catherine Sulpizio, Adam Theisen 
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SENIOR PHOTO EDITORS: Luna Anna Archey and James Coller
ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS: Amanda Allen, Virginia Lozano, Paul Sherman

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BUSINESS STAFF
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Diversity 
discussion

WHAT: E. Royster 
Harper, vice president for 
student life, and Regent 
Shauna Ryder Diggs will 
lead a dicussion about 
diversity on campus. 
WHO: Trotter 
Multicultural Center
WHEN: Today at 5:30 
p.m. 
WHERE: Trotter 

Book 
discussion

WHAT: A presentation 
of the award-winning 
memoir, “Border 
Crossings: Coming of Age 
in the Czech Rsistance.” 
WHO: Osher Lifelong 
Learning Institute 
WHEN: Today at 10:30 
a.m. 
WHERE: Turner Senior 
Resource Center, 2401 
Plymouth Rd. 

TUESDAY:

Campus Voices

THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk

FRIDAY:

Photos of the Week

MONDAY:

This Week in History

WEDNESDAY:

In Other Ivory Towers

THROW ME A CONE
HEALTH

A wireless health lab at UCLA 

recently developed WearSens 
— a necklace that can track the 
amount of food and drink a per-
son consumes.

The device connects to an 

application 
that 
recommends 

meal patterns and is able to track 
nutrition intake by monitoring 
the movement of neck muscles.

While the necklace does not 

count calories, it does track food 
patterns, such as how often a 
person is snacking and whether 
or not a person is regularly eating 
breakfast.

Majid Sarrafzadeh, the com-

puter science professor who runs 
the lab, said he thinks that by giv-
ing people a way to monitor their 
eating habits, the device could 

cut medical costs for preventable 
diseases.

Pennsylvania State Univer-

sity sexual assault education 

petition gains momentum

Nearly 25,000 people have 

signed a Care2 petition, written 
by Penn State University alumni, 
which asks Penn State’s adminis-
trators to provide sexual assault 
education for all students.

According to the petition, the 

educational 
programs 
would 

cover bystander intervention, 
consent, survivor support and 
Title IX and Clery Act rights.

Last month, the Penn State 

chapter of Kappa Delta Rho was 
accused of operating a secret 

Facebook page that included 
nonconsensual photos of nude 
women. After the allegations 
surfaced, an anonymous mem-
ber of the fraternity said the page 
was “satire.”

“The responses of the public 

and KDR’s anonymous member 
illustrate the Penn State com-
munity is not properly educated 
in matters of consent and sexual 
assault,” said Julie Mastrine, 
petition co-author and Penn 
State alum, in a press release. 
“It’s troubling that many in the 
PSU community do not under-
stand why sharing nonconsen-
sual photos of naked women is 
morally wrong.”

— GEN HUMMER

UCLA research tracks nutrition

ON THE WEB... 
michigandaily.com

Michigan Sniper

By GENEVIEVE HUMMER

WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily

An Ann Arbor resident poses with the free scoop of ice 
cream from Ben & Jerry’s Free Scoop Day on State St. 
on Tuesday. 

City council 
debate

WHAT: The Ann Arbor 
City Council candidates 
will debate. Former 
Mayor John Hieftje will 
moderate. 
WHO: Center for Local, 
State, and Urban Policy
WHEN: Today at 1:10 
p.m.
WHERE: Weill Hall, 
Annenberg Auditorium 
1120

THE FILTER
Music memories

By MICHAEL FLYNN

Flynn writes about the April 

5 anniversary of “two great 
musicians and icons of the 
Seattle scene — Kurt Cobain of 
Nirvana, and Layne Staley of 
Alice and Chains.” Cobain died 
in 1994; Staley died in 2002. 
Both had heroin addictions.

After 
a 
website 
called 

Trending 
T-Shirts 
began 

selling a “Michigan Sniper” 
T-shirt with Michigan football 
coach Jim Harbaugh’s signa-
ture on it without authoriza-
tion from either the Athletic 
Department or Harbaugh, the 
University sent the company a 
cease-and-decist letter.

Researchers find stem cell 
associated with leukemia

Testing on mice 
reveals gene could 
lead to advances in 
diagnosis, treatment 

By SANJAY REDDY 

Daily Staff Reporter

A new study conducted by 

University 
researchers 
has 

identified a gene that plays a 
role in regulating blood-forming 
stem cells.

The study, published in the 

Journal of Clinical Investigation, 
provides new insight into the 
role of the absent, small or 
homeotic 1-like (Ash1L) gene in 
the human blood system. The 
research sheds new light on the 
scientific processes involved in 
both maintaining healthy blood 
cells and renewing old and 
diseased ones.

Ivan 
Maillard, 
assistant 

Hematology/Oncology professor 

and a senior author of the study, 
said a central feature of the study 
was the association researchers 
uncovered between Ash1L and 
another gene, Mixed Lineage 
Leukemia 1 — or MLL1 — which 
belongs to the same family.

“We saw that this gene (Ash1L) 

was playing an important function 
in the blood-forming stem cells, 
but also that it was doing so 
in 
conjunction 
with 
another 

member of the same family that 
has previously been implicated in 
leukemia,” he said.

Maillard 
said 
it 
is 
this 

association 
between 
Ash1L 

and MLL1 that has researchers 
excited. Finding a link between 
Ash1L and leukemia creates the 
possibility of making advances 
in both diagnosing and treating 
leukemia.

Rackham 
student 
Jennifer 

Chase, an author of the study, said 
researchers are looking into how 
Ash1L and MLL1 cooperate.

“Once 
we 
understand 
the 

biochemistry 
behind 
their 

interaction, we will be able to 

make 
therapeutic 
approaches 

toward the diseases that they are 
involved in,” Chase said.

Researchers 
used 
mice 
to 

investigate the Ash1L gene. They 
selectively inhibited Ash1L in 
one contingent of mice, MLL1 in 
a second contingent and both in a 
third contingent. Results showed 
a mild reduction in blood-forming 
stem cells in the bone marrow for 
mice missing either Ash1L or Mll1, 
but a catastrophic effect for mice 
missing both.

“When we looked at the bone 

marrow of the mice and saw no 
stem cells, that was very unusual,” 
Chase said. “These experiments 
showed that the Ash1L gene is 
critically important in regulating 
stem cells in mice.”

Maillard said perhaps one of the 

biggest implications of this study is 
the potential it creates for future 
research. One avenue researchers 
can take is inhibiting the gene, and 
the proteins it encodes, to further 
understand its chemical function.

Even more exciting, Maillard 

said, is that further research may 
indicate Ash1L plays a role in a 
host of different diseases.

“Because this gene is so well-

conserved in evolution, we think 
that it is possible for it to have 
a role in many different human 
cancers in different organs,” 
Maillard said.

NEWS

Improv 
workshop

WHAT: An introduction 
to improvisational comedy. 
Aughts, an improv student 
organization, will lead the 
workshop. 
WHO: Miscellania
WHEN: Today from 6 p.m. 
to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan Union, 
Wolverine Room
 Please report any 
error in the Daily 
to corrections@
michigandaily.com.

Abducted Nigerian 
girls remembered on 
anniversary of “Bring 

Back Our Girls” 

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — They 

have been gone a year now, the 
hundreds of girls abducted by Is-
lamic militants from their school 
in northeastern Nigeria.

And while the cry to “Bring 

Back Our Girls” remains a world-
wide cause, the new president 
Tuesday would not repeat his pre-
decessor’s failed promise to find 
them — only that they won’t be 
forgotten.

A solemn march was held to re-

member the 219 girls seized from 
their boarding school in Chibok 
by gunmen from the Boko Ha-
ram extremist group. In Nigeria’s 
capital of Abuja, 219 girls paraded 
in the streets, with each carrying 
a placard bearing the name of a 
kidnap victim.

“We believe the girls are still 

alive,” said Dr. Allan Manasseh, 
the brother of missing 18-year-old 
Maryamu Wavi, in an interview 

with The Associated Press.

But it was clear that hope has 

dwindled a year after the April 14-
15 mass abduction.

President-elect 
Muhammadu 

Buhari said he must be honest 
about the prospects of getting the 
missing girls back to their families.

“We do not know if the Chibok 

girls can be rescued. Their where-
abouts remain unknown,” Buhari 
said in a statement. “As much as I 
wish to, I cannot promise that we 
can find them.”

The statement by Buhari, a 

former military ruler of Nigeria 
who was elected last month and 
takes over May 29, is a marked 
departure from President Good-
luck Jonathan. After Jonathan’s 
administration initially denied 
there had even been a kidnap-
ping, he made repeated hollow 
promises that the girls would be 
rescued.

Campaigners have replaced the 

slogan of “Bring Back Our Girls — 
Now and Alive!” with a new one: 
“Never to be forgotten.”

Still, some of the marchers 

Tuesday held the new leadership 
accountable.

“We are here to appeal to the 

government to do better. We want 

our girls now and alive,” said Sol-
amipe Onifade, 16.

The gunmen initially seized 

276 girls, but several dozen man-
aged to escape as the militants 
transported them to the Sam-
bisa Forest, with some clinging 
to the branches of trees from a 
moving open-back truck. Those 
still missing may have been split 
up. Witnesses said some girls 
were taken across the border 
into Cameroon.

Boko Haram’s leader, Abuba-

kar Shekau, claimed they had 
converted to Islam and been 
married off to his fighters.

A negotiator said that at least 

three died in the early days, from 
a snake bite, malaria and dysen-
tery. Then, Jonathan refused 
to negotiate with Boko Haram, 
who were offering to exchange 
the girls for detained insurgents.

The girls became the focus of a 

global campaign soon after their 
abduction. U.S. first lady Michelle 
Obama had said she was “out-
raged and heartbroken” about 
the kidnapping and also posted a 
picture of herself holding a sign 
reading “#BringBackOurGirls” 
on her official Twitter account 
in May 2014.

SUNDAY ALAMBA/AP

Young girls known as Chibok Ambassadors, carry placards bearing the names of the girls kidnapped from the government 
secondary school in Chibok, a year ago, during a demonstration, in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday.
One year later, kidnapped 
Nigerian girls still missing

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