Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1981)
THE BATTALION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1981 age 12 National F Virus may be link to cancer United Press International BOSTON — Researchers re torted Thursday they have trengthened the link between he virus that causes hepatitis and iver cancer, the number one can- er killer worldwide. fever, nausea and other symp toms. “That strengthens the link be tween hepatitis B virus and liver cancer,” said Dr. David A. Shaf- ritz, author of the report in the New England Journal of Medi- The researchers at Albert Ein- tein College of Medicine in New ■fork City, with the help of two >ther institutions in Greece and iouth Africa, found DNAfrom the iepatitis B virus had worked itself nto the tumor cells of 12 liver can- ■er patients. “It doesn’t prove that the virus itself is oncogenic (cancer- causing). Other types of work will be necessary to prove or demons trate what ways hepatitis B virus can participate in or cause liver cancer. ” DNA, the building block of Jenes, carries codes that enable he virus to reproduce itself. The /irus causes a disease that can ange from liver inflammation to lomplete failure, accompanied by Liver cancer causes only about three in every 100,000 deaths per year in Western countries, the study said, but in the Mediterra nean, Africa below the Sahara, Southeast Asia, China and Japan, it ranges from 25 to 100 cases. “Worldwide, it is the leading cause of death from cancer,” the study said. Lung cancer is the No. 1 one cause of cancer deaths in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Shafritz, a professor of medicine and cellular biology at Einstein, said it is not known how the hepa titis B virus’ DNA becomes a part of the liver tissue. Nor does it mean that people who contract hepatitis will develop liver cancer, he said. However, past studies showed people with liver cancer were five to 10 times more likely to have been victims or carriers of hepati tis B than others. Previous research also showed hepatitis B carriers — those who had the virus in their blood and could transmit it to others, but were unaffected by it — were 22 times more likely to contract liver cancer. At least a small indication of the presence of hepatitis has been found in up to 35 percent of pa tients with primary liver cancer in the United States and in 75 to 95 percent of patients in areas of high hepatitis incidence. Other causes of liver cancer in clude pollution, steroids and alco hol, the study said. Shafritz said the link between hepatitis B and liver cancer could eventually help in finding new ways to treat the disease. Other groups have been researching a hepatitis B vaccine, he said, which might help prevent cancer. Man accused of murder asks for death penalty United Press International JACKSON, Miss. — Within hours of leading lawmen to the body of Peggy Lowe, accused killer Marion Pruett told repor ters Wednesday he killed three other people and wants to die for his crimes. Against the advice of his court-appointed lawyer and the local district attorney, Pruett met with reporters for nearly an hour at police headquarters. Pruett said he killed bank officer Peggy Lowe after the Sept. 17 robbery of Unifirst Savings and Loan in Jackson. He also said he killed two peo ple in Colorado and one in Arkansas during recent rob beries. Pruett, 32, said he was high on cocaine when he committed the crimes but now hopes he will be executed. “I want the death penalty,” he said in a steady, unemotional voice. “I have imposed some judgment on some people and now I want to be my own judge and jury. ” He said he will resist any attempts to delay his trial or ex ecution. He has been charged with capital murder in the Lowe case. He asked the people of Mis sissippi to help him get his death wish. “I think the people of Missis sippi want to see me dead as much as I want to die,” he said with a trace of a smile. Pruett, smoking cigarettes and dressed in a blue jumpsuit, appeared tired but spoke cohe rently throughout the inter view. Authorities watched and asked reporters not to talk about the Lowe case, but Pruett made several references to it and in criminated himself numerous times. He drew a picture of himself as an unhappy but unremorse ful man who was born in Gasto nia, N. C., lost an eye in an acci dent at the age of 2, faithfully attended West Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, N.C., had a scrape with the law at 17, and spent most of his 20s in prison. He aided authorities in their investigation into the killing of his cellmate, William Zambido, and was given a new identity of Charles Sonny Pearson under the federal witness program in New Mexico, he said. He got out of prison in 1979 and turned sour on the witness program when he felt federal officials betrayed him. “I started out holding up banks to embarrass the federal government, ” he said. Then, he said, a cocaine habit turned him into a “mad-dog killer. I don’t mind telling you I killed the two people in Colorado and one in Arkansas too.” Pruett is wanted for question ing about two robbery- homicides at all-night grocery stores in Loveland, Colo, and Fort Collins, Colo. Arkansas au thorities want him for the Oct. 12 killing of a convenience store clerk in Fort Smith. Pruett, who bears a tatoo “Mad Dog 20-20” which he said is his nickname, is also wanted for the strangulation murder of his wife in New Mexico. He re fused to talk about that case. He said he was “too high when he held up the Unifirst Savings and Loan in Jackson and abducted Mrs. Lowe, whose body was found Wednes day in a wooded area in West ern Alabama. She will be buried Thursday. “It was accidental, something that shouldn’t have happened, he said of the killing. He said he liked to rob sav ings and loans instead of banks because they don’t have secur ity guards and the employees and officers are usually women “who do what you say.” He said he wanted to be cap tured Oct. 20 when he was arrested for speeding near Amarillo. “I let the police in Texascatct me,” he said. “I wanted tok caught. I’m tired of living, lldl- let! four innocent people, hvas no longer embarrassing the fed eral government. I was killing innocent people.” Pruett, who displayed a familiarity with legal jargon and rules of criminal procedure, said he was a sort of “jailhouse attorney and insisted he would defend himself on the capital murder charge in Mississippi “so 1 can get my justice. He said he did not want groups “like the ACLU” (American Civil Liberties Union) interfer ing in his case "so they can tfile an appeal for me. He insisted he wants to be tried in state rather than federal courts because he feels he will have a better chance of being executed. “They (federal courts) might parole me in 10 years. I wouldn’t be but 12 then, and I might have been ready to go raise hell again, ” he said. Asked about suicide, Pruett said he was not the type who would commit suicide. He added: “I think I would kill somebody else before 1 would kill myself.” L0 Speck first f Pk wean i ssuec Tin ticku I :ause aper; Tc police Iresse mand; Ian F heun he po ey st£ Spi 'from r On thi nd ra; chool Icoho Shi hen A. Blind man recaptures life by rebuilding machinery CAl Jwab omin; huttle Bichar ith a The ir bui an de ted b lesear ion ti ranspc The itellitc ill re£ iturn I ig No at hav ill be i nsitioi United Press International PRAIRIEVILLE, Mich. — Ho ward Harvey lost his eyesight 30 years ago to a hereditary disease, but he’s not looking for sympathy. Harvey’s too busy rebuilding and fixing any mechanical item people put in his hands. In the summer, spring and ear ly fall, he’s got his lawnmower re pair business. In the winter, there is always some remodeling or re pairs to be done on the house, garage or one of the sheds he uses for storage. Harvey’s 26-by-32 garage, which he built himself, is so filled with lawn mowers during the summer visitors can hardly make their way from one end of the building to the other. He pushes the brim of his John Brut | Rese; the scrip Like Deere hat hack a bit and chuckle when a visitor marvels that a man could build a garage. Hethei )ec t s ( admits he didn’t build it all. cause the foundation was laid fa , him. But the roofing, sidingariJ in 8 electrical work are all his. He also remodeled most home, which is more than l(i years old. He put in a new room, divided one large room m loulde nt me id a w loves Thea completely renovated the livinsl elect room by taking out and repladpj all the plaster, removing three W windows and lowering the ceilinf When visitors come arount now, they find him in a shed be- rith a cl em witl ristan The 'aphite hind the garage, working on aspe- dy 15 The Best Pizza In Town! Honest. WE DELIVER 846-3412 Mr. Gatti's Pizzamat AFTER 5 P.M. — MIN. $5.00 ORDER cial project — a 50-year-old trac tor, just like the one he drove when he was a hoy. “I can’t sit here all day,” Hanej said. “I’ve got to get up and move around. I’ve been a whole yea trying to get a carburator fixed tip for it — they want $100 forane* one. “Ma wants me to get ridofit but it ain’t hurting nothin’. Wfal the heck, it gets more valuabk every day I keep it.” He finds his way around tie tractor with ease, just as he does* tiller or a riding mower. His hand) move knowingly to the part hefa) been working on recently, a got; ernor that is not working properly He may never have seen tit part in his life, but he will sooa learn by the feel what it is sup posed to do and what it will taketo fix it. There is no fear of the un known or of failure in Harvey, ai least when it comes to tinkcririE with something mechanical. Unfortunately, the lifestyle Harvey leads may actually him from enjoying one of the plea sures available to the blind. He says the callouses on his fingers make it almost impossible to read Braille. eighs ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES Graver Tank & Mfg., Co., Inc. in Pasadena, Texas is recruiting engi neering students for permanent employment. Graver has been a leader in storage tanks and pressure vessel fabrication and erection serving the Petroleum and Petro-Chemicals markets since 1857. We are seeking engineering students graduating in May, 1982. Pre ferred degrees are, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Metallurgical/Welding. Please sign up for on-campus interviews in placement office today. A Graver representative will be interviewing on campus Monday, November 2, 1981. Ha zz