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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1981)
THE BATTALION Page MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1981 7A First time humans used Hostilities erupt Lab interleron tested JJ3 Texas House were 'ed less urvived > 102 ly iccident md 10 1. 76.7pe] iter a pei the sui rcent for 0 hours. :r, that lion and ; time of4 rtant facta it success >n when High Steaks Photo by Greg Gammon sm (the I Buddy Davis, captain of the 1951 Aggie SVVC champion bas- holding I Ijetball team, shows off his free throw shooting style during a I contest between halves of the SMU game Saturday night in G. I Rollie White Coliseum. Davis made the shot and won two ! steak dinners in the Fort Shiloh Steak House promotion. The | entire 1951 team was honored at the game. xse next kyards. history, ling out iger" of United Press International HOUSTON — A 37-year-old mother of three has become the first human cancer patient to receive a dose of synthetic interferon, which researchers hope will prove to be a major advance over natural interfer on already in use. Joan Karafotas of Northbrook, Ill., a Chicago suburb, began her treat ment at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute Thursday. She is one of eight Anderson pa tients who will participate in the world’s first test treatment of hu mans with interferon made by re combinant DNA technology, genetic engineering. Program supervisor Dr. Jordan Gutterman said this first four-month test is intended only to identify pos sible side effects and determine proper dosage. A later program will test synthetic interferon’s effective ness against cancer. Researchers hope synthetic inter feron will prove a workable substi tute because natural interferon is produced in the human body only in tiny quantitites. Unless it can be mass-produced synthetically it will remain scarce and costly. Researchers also hope the super ior purity apparently achieved with the synthetic interferon will facilitate larger, possibly more effective doses. The new synthetic interferon lacks toxic impurities found in natu ral interferon. Karafotas, who suffers from usual ly incurable cancer of the lymph nodes, received 3 million units, or three one-thousandths of a gram, in her first injection. The test goal is er discs m they sd with rd here eked in ; in the record Group wants anti-abortion egislation i* ;did- r liac pj" HMalcui ssss?™ /f United Press International AUSTIN — Texas anti- irtionists are ready to try to per- lade the Legislature this session to is bills making abortions more dif- ult to obtain. Douglas Johnson, legislative aison for the Texas Right to Life pmittee, said Friday his group ants laws to prohibit abortions in ix-funded hospitals, require minors i have their parents’s or a judge’s mission before abortions can be erformed and make late-term abor- ons difficult to get. In addition, Johnson said, his roup favors another bill that would [Hire women seeking abortions to iven information about abortion, alternatives before the abortions performed. The committee will seek a bill protecting doctors im lawsuits if they do not give pre- oant women information about sts that show whether fetuses are pective. Johnson said the committee has 't found sponsors for all the bills * legislators will probably begin to traduce them in one to three Iras. J Johnson outlined the favored bills Impress conference for Rep. Henry ‘Hyde, R-IU., sponsor of the Hyde ffndment that restricts the use of _ er al funds for abortions for poor fomen. de was in Austin to address the |ysicians for Life and the Texas P [° hife Committee’s confer- pobserving the Jan. 22 anniver- F 0 the Supreme Court’s abortion raon. L! eview ^' sas the greatest civil ' lssue since Dred Scott,” he r an< ^ ^h uc k Donovan, legis- f e Sector f 0r the National Right yL‘ e ' om mittee, predicted that L I reme ^ our t decision permit- Ei T 10n wiU be overturned, Jpdment >aSSage ° f 8 Human Life Lu buman Life Amendment leral end a . ri 8 hts untler the Lotion to fetuses, from ™ e ™ e of conception. the perfect place for a quiet evening of dining 11 a.m.-12 a.m. Mon.-Sat. 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Sunday and the perfect place for happy hour 4:30-6:30 p.m. imm day-Friday _ woodstone commerce center on hwy. 30 >r ★ ★ Harlem Globetrotter/ Presented by MSC Town Hall TUESDAY JANUARY 27 7:30 PM G. Rollie White Coliseum reserved seats: $7.00 all others: $6.00 adults $5.00 students tickets on sale: MSC Ticket Office (9-6 daily) Sears in Bryan CHARGE BY PHONE (Visa/MC), call: 845-2916 doses as high as 198 million units. “From animal studies, we antici pate this material is relatively free of toxic side effects, but we don’t know that until we give it to patients,” Gutterman said. “We think it should be safe since they’ll be very closely monitored. ” Karafotas tentatively is scheduled to receive two injections a week for six weeks, including two injections of natural interferon in the first two weeks. Continuation of the test will de pend on her reaction. She will live in a hotel near the hospital during the test period and will undergo 24-hour monitoring, including blood and other tests. A spokesman said the other seven patients will be brought into the program as it progresses. Recombinant DNA production of interferon involves isolating — or chemically making — a human gene for interferon production and splic ing that gene into the DNA of a harmless strain of bacteria. The bacterium accepts the gene as its own and begins producing human interferon. The bacterium repro duces rapidly and the company har vests the comparatively large quanti ties of interferon produced. “I’m very positive about it,” said Karafotas, whose lymphoma was di agnosed 18 months ago and, though incurable, has not worsened. “I understand it’s all very experimen tal. I don’t feel any apprehension.” Karafotas, whose husband Phillip is a commodities broker, said her children ages 3, 10 and 13 are having mixed reactions. “The 3-year-old, it’s pretty hard,” she said. “Possibly my husband can bring him down for a while. The other two think Tm gonna be a celeb rity so they’re excited.” Karafotas said she was chosen for the program partly because she has not undergone chemotherapy — the usual injection of powerful chemicals to treat cancer — and has fought the disease by controlling her diet. She participated in a one-month test of natural interferon last year. Gutterman said her blood chemis try is good for the purposes of the test. But Karafotas also said she did a selling job on Gutterman. “I think I talked Dr. Gutterman into it,” she said. “I’m a good sales person because I really wanted it. I really wanted to try it. I just said I’m not shy about it and if I can help other people.” United Press International AUSTIN — Unexpected early hostilities among factions in the Texas House prompted immediate speculation that Speaker Bill Clayton may be faced with steady and bitter sniping from his opponents in his fourth term as presiding officer. Within 24 hours of the opening gavel: -Twenty-one House members voted publicly against Clayton’s election. —House conservatives aligned with Clayton attempted to take over the House Study Group, which was founded by liberals as a means of providing research on legislative issues. You remember ’71? We re going to have another 1971,” one House member said. He referred to the session in which Speaker Gus Mutscher, caught up in the Sharpstown scandal, was under steady attack from the liberal group which became known as the “Dirty 30.” A few representatives already are predicting the divisions brought about by Clayton’s election to a fourth term may surpass the 1971 session in bitterness. Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, one of only two “Dirty 30” members still in the House, said he feels more tied down by Clayton’s adminis tration than he did by that of Mutscher. Have you been published yet? We’re completing the Kinko’s Professor Publishing Library for the spring semester now! But we still have plenty of time to prepare your outside reading materials for your spring classes. Just call and we’ll come by to explain our program and pick up your materials to be copied. All at no charge to the professor! KINKO’S COPIES 846-8721 Wanted!... used books Who needs them? Your College Bookstore. Top prices for used textbooks. Now that you’ve finished the fall semester, why delay? Bring in your used books and get cash on the line today. AMERICA ★ "DON! MSS IKE MUM! A 3 DAY FUN FAIR * GAMES * PRIZES * SAMPLES TV WIN A TRIP TO DAYTONA BEACH AND EXPO AMERICA M COME SEE THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS! ff BUCKING BULL WORKS!”