nPepticles may reduce illness
THE BATTALION Page 5
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1977
By SUSIE WILLIAMS
Certain enzymes in humans may
partially responsible for turning
rmal cells into cancerous cells,
id Dr. George I. Glover, a re-
arch chemist at Texas A&M Uni-
rsity.
He said these enzymes are also
5>st! factors in high blood pressure,
•N'lifllood clotting, inflammations such
arthritis and many other impor-
•cs ( jnt body functions.
Glover heads a team of A&M
^ 2'2l hemists working on chemical de
ices to block these enzymes. He is
ssisted by David Breeden and
e, C.
ft Vu-Schyong Liu, graduate assis-
ngton
dCJ
five i
m.
MSC
Hits, and Kristine Kelley, a senior
liochemistry major.
The enzymes, called proteases,
were first recognized in saliva, in
the stomach and the intestine where
they break down the large proteins
and convert them into amino acids
that the human body can use,
Glover said.
He explained that a series of small
peptides (protein molecules) have
been isolated that are effective in
hibitors of proteases.
“These natural inhibitors, how
ever, are not selective enough,”
Glover said. Although they may de
stroy enzymes that raise your blood
pressure, they also may destroy the
enzymes that break down your food,
he added.
Glover said they are trying to im
itate these natural inhibitors by
synthesizing them in the laboratory.
“We want to synthesize a group of
inhibitors which is specific for par
ticular enzymes,” he said.
Kelley, who is in charge of the
synthesizing, said they are trying to
create an artificial inhibitor by pro
ducing analogs and derivatives of
the natural inhibitor.
Kelley said single amino acids and
dipeptides (double amino acids)
have proven unsuccessful. She
added that she plans to experiment
with tripeptides (triple amino acids)
next.
Sometimes a virus is injected into
a normal cell, which causes it to
transform and behave like a cancer
cell, Glover said. It is not really a
cancer cell, but is called a trans
formed cell, he added.
“If we had a group of inhibitors
and knew exactly what they would
do, we could study things like blood
pressure relationships, blood clot
ting or transformation of cells,”
Glover said.
An understanding of these
enzymes and their inhibitors could
lead to methods of controlling cell
transformation, blood pressure and
inflammation, he added.
Glover said he hopes to have
some data to release in about a year
that will deterine whether the artifi
cial inhibitors are good or bad.
Still earning fewer than men
More women get doctorates
Quit I
Thealii The number of women earning
loctorate degrees has increased
xas I s ply over the past few years, but
T30 pMomen still lag far behind men in
liriellLrms of total doctorate winners, ac-
lording to data released by Marie
I). Eldridge, administrator of the
Jlational Center for Education
’ring Statistics (NCES).
Recent NCES studies show the
|lumber of women receiving earned
goctorates increased 59 per cent
irom 1970-71 to 1974-75, going from
lion Jmost 4,600 to nearly 7,300. In the
1 lame period, the number of doctor-
Ites awarded to men declined from
|!7,500 to 26,800, a 2.6 per cent
drop. In terms of total doctorates
awarded, the proportion of women
receiving doctorates went from 14
per cent in 1970-71 to 21 per cent in
1974-75.
“These data suggest that the
number of women receiving doc
toral degrees will not approach that
of men in the near future,” said El
dridge.
A similar trend seems to have oc
curred in the area of first-
professional degrees (the degrees
that prepare one to practice law,
medicine, dentistry, and a number
of other professions), according to
NCES. The number of women re
ceiving such degrees nearly tripled
from 2,500 to 7,000 between 1970-
71 and 1974-75. At the same time,
the number of men receiving such
degrees went from 35,800 to
49,200. Women comprised 6.5 per
cent of such first-professional de
gree recipients in 1970-71 and 12.5
per cent in 1974-75. Eldridge indi
cated that in this area too, based on
current data, it is doubtful that the
numbers and proportions of women
in the professions will soon equal
those of men.
Eldridge said the proportion of
female appicants to medical schools
increased from 9.4 per cent of total
applicants in 1969-70 to 20.4 per
cent in 1974-75. On the other hand,
the total number of female appli
cants, 8,712 in 1974-75, was less
than the number of men actually ac
cepted, 11,674. The women’s ratio
of acceptances to appications, how
ever, was higher than that for men”
Although women accounted for 20.4
per cent of the total number of ap
plicants in 1974-75, women were
22.5 per cent of those accepted.
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