Page 8 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1980
Local/ National
Class of’84 dance set Thursday Trying to cure disorders
The Class of ’84 will hold a dance
Thursday from 8 p.m. to midnight
p.m. at Cell Block Five. The dance
will be their first fundraiser with
proceeds going to the March 6
Freshman Ball.
Live music will be provided by
Red Stegall.
Admission to the dance is $5 per
person. Tickets may be bought in
the Memorial Student Center or
from class officers and representa
tives. Beer and setups will be free
with the price of admission.
Corps underclassmen will have a
free night out, class president Jay
Cross said.
Cross said the Class of ’84 will
probably have more fundraisers in
conjunction with Cell Block Five,
and will also sell T-shirts to raise
money.
Prof studies schizophrenia
bunch-a-b’loons
a fun way to say almost anything
ask about our
BONFIRE BUDDY SPECIAL!
call weekdays 1-5 696-4179
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
All Conceris Free ' ' " OASJS
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By BELINDA McCOY
Battalion Reporter
Physical health is a high price to pay for mental
health, but that is exactly the price that some
schizophrenics must pay.
With the currently available treatment for schi
zophrenia, serious side effects usually result.
Only about half of the cases can be controlled.
Not cured, just controlled, said Dr. Susan
Robinson, professor of medical pharmacology at
Texas A&M University.
Schizophrenia is one of two major forms of
psychoses — mental disorganizations which re
sult in personality disorders.
The cause of schizophrenia is still unknown,
said Robinson, and so is its treatment in many
cases.
Robinson is currently conducting a three-year
study, funded by a grant from the National Insti
tutes of Health, to develop new drugs to treat
schizophrenia. She is studying the brains of labor
atory rats to better understand the human brain.
“Actually I’m trying to make (something) like a
map of the brain,” said Robinson.
“If we know how the brain is put together, then
we can design drugs that act at a certain point, and
then we could see if that helps schizophrenics.”
Schizophrenia is characterized by a thought
disorder, said Robinson.
“They (schizophrenics) just can’t see things
straight,” she said.
There are three common types of schizophre
nia. In catatonic schizophrenia — which is char
acterized by zombie-like behavior — a patient
just sits and stares at a wall, said Robinson. It is
the most easily recognized form of the disease and
also the most easily controlled.
“If we know how the
brain is put together, we
can design drugs that act at
a certain point, ’’said
Dr. Susan Robison,
profesor of medical
pharmacology, “and then
we could see if that helps
schizophrenics. “
Paranoid schizophrenia exists when a patient
thinks that “everybody is out to get them.’ In the
third form of schizophrenia, hebephrenic, a pa
tient can only talk nonsense.
It is thought that schizophrenia is caused by an
excess of a chemical substance in the brain called
dopamine.
The brain works by electrical impulses, ex
plained Robinson. The neurons in the brain com
municate to start those electrical impulses by re
leasing chemical substances called neurotrans
mitters.
Dopamine is one of about 25 neurotransmitters
known today. Too much dopamine is believed to
cause schizophrenia by creating a biochemical
short-circuit in the brain.
i®
Some drugs — called antipsychotic cU
have been developed to treat schizophrenia U
most important of these, Thorozine, wasdL
vered accidentally in France. "
At one time, said Robinson, it was thouiM
sleep therapy helped mental patients. So U
tuates were given to them. 1
To speed up the effect of the barbito
Thorozine, an anti-histamine, was deveU
Eventually it was found that Thorozine ba<T
tain effects on schizophrenia on its ownbybli
ing reception of dopamine in the brain.
Today Thorozine is one of the most comm#
used anti-psychotic drugs. But the drugs are5
always effective on all forms of schizophrenia
“Only about one-half of the mental patient
helped by the anti-psychotic drugs now ^
able,” said Robinson. “There are a whole lot
chronic schizophrenics that these drugs fe
help at all.”
There are also two serious, automatic s|
effects of the drugs. One of those side effects ist
development of Parkinson’s disease, abraini
ease which in this case will go away as soonasfe
use of the drugs is ceased.
The other side effect, tardive dyskinesiii
permanent, even if the patient stops taking
drugs.
Tardive dyskinesia does not damage thebrt
said Robinson, but it changes the neurotranstf
ter receptors in the brain. It is characterized:
uncontrolled movements of arms and facial nw-
ments, and can sometimes be embarrassingtotl
patient and family.
“They look like freaks and they can’t conrj
what they are doing,” Robinson said.
& Aggie ' : ''l 1 MX missile support bases
" Christmas Cards 1 named in Utah and Nevada
and
Wrapping Paper
£
on Sale in the
MSC
Nov. 17-22
4
United Press International
SALT LAKE CITY — The Air
Force confirmed Tuesday that it pre
fers to locate the primary support
base for the proposed MX missile
system in Coyote Springs, Nev., and
the secondary base at Milford, Utah.
Ken Olson, Utah coordinator for
the MX proposal, said he was in
formed by Air Force officials that a
draft environmental impact state
ment on the nuclear weapons system
would list the two communities as
recommended sites to house support
personnel.
Coyote Springs, about 60 miles
northeast of Las Vegas, would serve
as the primary support base for the
mammoth $33 billion missile sys
tem, while about 6,500 Air Force
workers and their families would live
near Milford, 45 miles east of the
Utah-Nevada state line in Beaver
County.
Olson said the Air Force environ
mental statement would be released
during the second week of Decem
ber. Utah and Nevada officials will
then take about 90 days to analyze
and respond to the document.
“We presume that during that 90-
day period the new Reagan adminis
tration will also be formulating its
policy concerning basing modes for
the MX,” he said.
Pentagon officials have recom
mended building 4,600 concrete
launch sites in the Great Basin of
Utah and Nevada to house 200 multi-
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
OIVFIRE t
*
P*
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PRE-
SALE PRICES! PRE-SALE WB yL
DAYS ARE NOV. 16-25 FROM
10-2 DAILY IN THE MSC MAIN v
HALLWAY SPONSORED BY JJ
MSC CAMERA COMMITTEE. yL
Picture Size Pre-sale Price Post-sale Price
ATTENTION OFF
CAMPUS STUDENTS
OFF CAMPUS STUDENTS
MAY PURCHASE BOARD
DINING FOR THE
SPRING SEMESTER.
Dining space will be available in Sbisa, Commons, and
Duncan Dining facilities. Sign up for the board plan
during pre-registration.
warhead missiles. The miss:®
would be moved from bunke!|[
bunker to thwart enemy detection I
specific missile locations.
Olson said preliminary studies: i
the Utah MX office indicate Mi f
would be a good support base sits
"One advantage of the Milfordsi ^
is that it is about equadistant k
Cedar City and Beaver — allow:
all three communities to share li |
social impacts and economic benet
of the settlement of thousands
military personnel,” he said.
But Olson said the draft envin*
mental statement probably wool
not include Air Force recommeno
tions on the best way to provii
housing and services for its II
workers.
The Air Force has indicated
might house all of the technici»
security personnel and their depet
dents on the base itself, he said. H
he also said those workers might I'
located off-base if communities!
the area had available housing.
“Unfortunately, what.—
to rely excessively on the free mark
when the housing industry is in w
ly bad shape, Olson said. lit®
prefer to have their employees '■
off-base, we think they should W*
providing federal funds to help cot
munities provide water, sewer i£
street services associated wit
housing.
He said such federal investment-
localities would help contracto
build additional housing units nw
quickly and cheaply.
As many as 16,000 r .
move to the Milford area to work!
the MX if that site is approved on
secondary base, the Utah coord®
tor said.
8x10
11x14
16x20
8 2.50
*8.00
*15.00
*3.50
*10.00
*20.00
Show Your Support
For House Speaker
BILLY CLAYTON
class of ’50
at a pre-game
APPRECIATION BAR-B-Q
TEXAS HALL OF FAME, F.M. 2818
SATURDAY NOV. 22
11:00A.M. TO 1:00 P.M.
nd
Tickets available at
all financial institutions
and MSC Thurs & Fri.
Adults — *10
Students — *5