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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 1974)
; urate, K * Ut. «««, Call Uj.. Whif^ 2Slllii curate. a 23JII, Ku Statloi PleW 3!!tli ’ nar '8ion on ^ pool, j ntique ( Ur . ' P^nellinj icarvei j ^ ground. R- B. Fer. n.'t! !S!t! ant in m, 51ement4rj SIStI 1 freeiei, ay reu» before i. 39Wt Heart of mercury tested for clock The physical principles for a new atomic clock are being investigated by physics professor Dr. Hans A. Schuessler and his research group at A&M. They set this goal when they went to work to develop the heart of a device more accurate than present atomic clocks. The present cesium beam atomic clock and the hyd rogen laser are accurate to about one second in 30,000 years. Schuessler began his work before coming to TAMU and, in 1972, be came one of three scientists in the field of precision measurements to receive the Precision Measurement Grant made by the National Bureau of Standards annually. “Time is one of the most accu rately measurable quantities today,” Schuessler said, “and since space flight is a reality, accurate time measurements are needed. Today’s methods have reached their physical limits in their present sys tems. On the other hand, with our proposed method we have not yet seen our limits. “In a clock, the pendulum deter mines the accuracy,” he explained. “In an atomic clock, we use the in ternal vibration of an atom as the pendulum. “In our project, mercury ions are prepared in such a way that they J and ter • need # Surprise him everyday Center cut Beef Chuck Roast 79<t lb. ...not only on Father’s Day. It’s easy when you shop Fed- Mart. Dad will think you’re some kind of genius when your food budget stretches week after week. And when you hear Dad rave about the meals you serve, you’ll be glad you can count on FedMart for consis tent high quality, too. So, if you’re not already a FedMart shopper, why not try us. We have lots of surprises in store for you, too. Tail Removed Beef T-Bone Steak $1.49 lb. Regular Ground Beef 69<t lb. Full cut, Bone in, Beef Round Steak..$1.19lb. Save on Meat at FedMart. All Beef cuts are USDA Choice. Extra Lean Ground Beef 990 ib. Beef Steak Rib Fillet $1.89 ib. Center Cut Rib Pork Chops. $1.19 ib. Beef Steak. Tail Removed. Porterhouse $1.55ib. Beef Roast. Bone in Rump Roast $1.19 ib. Country Style Pork Sparer! bs. 890 ib. Beef Steak Sirloin Steak $1.39 ib. Boneless Stewing Beef $1.19 ib. Fresh. Fryer Drumsticks 690 ib. Beef Steak Sirloin Tip Steak $1.49 ib. Quarter Loin Sliced Pork Loin 850 ib. Ribs Attached Fryer Breasts 790 ib. We Gladly Accept U.S. Food Stamps The Consumer’s Friend Since 1954 FedMart Family Savings Centers 701 University Drive East (at Tarrow St.), College Station THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1974 freely float in space and are unper turbed by their environment,” Schuessler pointed out. “We put about a million ions in an ion cage and suspend them by elec tromagnetic fields in an arrange ment of hyperbolic electrodes. The ions are then polarized so that they all are oriented along one axis, which is determined by an external magnetic field. “To discover the internal vibra tion or hyperfine frequency of the ion, a variable frequency is applied Page 7 to the ion cloud until the correct frequency depolarizes the ions,” he explained. “This frequency is then measured and related to the stan dard definition of the second used in a normal clock. “We chose mercury because it has the highest internal frequency (hyperfine structure) of the ele ments that we are interested in,” Schuessler added. “The higher the frequency, the more accurate the measurement can be made.” Possible inhibitors of cancer studied Cyclic AMP may be the answer to many questions about the growth and inhibition of cancer, A&M sci entists believe. Cyclic Adenosine Monophos phate (AMP), noted researchers Joseph Nagyvary and Robert Gillen of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, is naturally occur ring in the body and is implicated in many physiological problems, among them cancer. Normally in cellular growth, there is little cyclic AMP per cell and the cells grow. As growth nears natural limits, the cyclic AMP in creases and the cells stop dividing. If cyclic AMP could be introduced into cancerous cells, tumor growth would probably be halted, accord ing to Dr. Gillen. “However, administration of cyc lic AMP is not effective because re searchers found that it was rapidly destroyed by the body and didn’t penetrate tissues efficiently,” he continued. To combat this, the A&M group developed a series of analogs (synthetics) of cyclic AMP which are neutral triesters. “These compounds are not easily destroyed in the body and are more effective than cyclic AMP as a growth inhibitor of tumor cells in tissue cultures,” Gillen went on. “Moreover, mice with cancer have had their life spans increased up to 50 percent when the neutral tries ters have been used for chemotherapy. “We need to know how our com pounds affect other physiological processes,” he observed. “Further knowledge along these lines is necessary to show the suitability of these analogs for treatments. Be sides, we have hope that neutral triesters of cyclic AMP may be of benefit in diseases such as psoriasis, shingles and even obesity.” Current research by the A&M group is proceeding in three phases. First, work is continuing on improv ing the yield of neutral triesters in organic synthesis. Another area is devoted to animal and tissue culture studies. Finally, the interaction of neutral triesters with enzymes as sociated with cyclic AMP metabolism is also being investi gated. STORE HOURS: M-F 10:30-8:00 SAT. 9:30-6:00 SUN. CLOSED