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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1983)
Page 16/The Battalion/Wednesday, March 23, 1983 Adult leukemia cure linked to antibodies United Press International NEW YORK — Genetically jngineered antibodies, especial- y designed to zap abnormal pells, may advance the treatment )f adult leukemia and spark progress similar to that seen in reatment of childhood eukemia. The hope comes from Dr. Hurt I. Civin, assistant professor >f pediatrics and oncology at the fohns Hopkins Medical Institu- ions in Baltimore. He said one of the keys to dramatic improvements in cur- ng childhood leukemia in the >ast decade has been the ability >f researchers to diagnose varia- ions in certain kinds of leuke mia so doctors know exactly Jvhich cell types become ibnormal. The so-called subtyping had aken place only in acute lym phocytic leukemia, the most ommon childhood type. Civin believes his investiga- jions should lead to a similar understanding of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and custom-designed treat ments. AML accounts for only 10 percent to 20 percent of all leukemias in children. But it constitutes about 80 percent to 90 percent of adult leukemias. Advances in curing children with leukemia, now at about 60 percent success rate, have been credited largely to drugs de signed to rub out lymphocytic cells. Those are the cells that turn cancerous in acute lympho cytic leukemia. Civin hopes that pace will go on once subtyping of AML dis ease becomes as well established. “To subtype AML, we need to know much more about the myeloid cells, the bone marrow cells which become cancerous,” he said. “By knowing more about which subtypes of myeloid cells become cancerous, and at what stage in their maturation they are arrested, we should be able to improve therapy.” In AML, myeloid cells seem to stop maturing at a point in their growth. The normal cells are re placed by the arrested growth abnormal cells. He believes the research might lead to one or more of the following: • Development of drugs to wipe out only the affected cells, sparing normal ones. • Discovery of tumor-specific antibodies to serve as markers only for cancerous cells. • Development of drugs that might be piggybacked onto tumor-specific antibodies, so the drugs are carried only to cancer cells. But at this point, he cautions these are only theoretical possi bilities. Painless possible eye surgery with new laser United Press International CHICAGO — Doctors say a new “cold” laser that explodes tissue instead of burning it bpens the way for a new era of sye surgery. It’s painless, takes seconds and patients can go back o work that day. Dr. Manus Kraff, an ophthal mic surgeon at Northwest Hos- nital — one of six centers in the nation to receive the $130,000 aser last fall — calls the laser an Exciting new development in the leld of ophthalmology. “What we used to have to do vas to go in with a knife at the jperating table and make a slit >r an opening in there,” said <xaff, who also is president of the American Intra-Ocular Im plant Society. “Now we focus a light in there and the light literally explodes that tissue. It vaporizes it, or ato mizes it, and makes that opening.” The laser can. treat patients with cataracts and diabetic hemorrhages and may be able to help doctors prevent some blindness. The “cold” laser is so called because it delivers its energy in pulses and creates practically no heat as do conventional argon lasers widely used in . eye surgery. The new laser is known as the LASAC neodymium: YAG laser. YAG — yttrium alu minum garnet — is the crystal in the laser. This particular laser was de veloped by Dr. Franz Fankhaus- er, an opthalmic surgeon in Bern, Switzerland, and was de monstrated last week at a Uni versity of Illinois Department of Ophthalmology symposium. In Europe, the laser already is used to cut scar tissue and adhe sions and treat diabetic hemor rhages. Fankhauser has been in vestigating the treatment of glaucoma. Kraff said the laser will prob ably be more useful in the pre vention of certain types of blind ness than in the actual treatment of blindness. m K> 4 m « Tonight! Ladies ‘Night Ladies Admitted Free and Drink Free bar drinks Free draft beer Free wine 7:00-9:00 250 draft beer for men in the gameroom 1600 S. College 779-6529 * * * * ■¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Parents paying high price Smugglers reunite familie United Press International HONG KONG — Parents de sperate to be reunited with their children are hiring smugglers to get the youngsters illegally out of China into Hong Kong. But it can be dangerous for the children. “I have seen some of these children tucked under the floor boards of a leaking sampan, frightened out of their lives, in some cases drugged so that they won’t make a noise and be de tected,” said Police Commission er Roy Henry. Given uses genetically en gineered monoclonal antibodies to accomplish the subtyping. De veloped in his laboratory, these tailor-made antibodies match receptors — antigens — on the surface of myeloid cells. The smugglers, known local ly as “snakeheads,” sneak the children past barbed wire bar riers and armed patrols along the border, or bring them in by sea to be reunited with parents who fled their homeland to find new homes. “And then if they are de tected, they’re abandoned by the racketeers and left either to drown because the racketeers have jumped over the side, or to wander in a confused state of mind not knowing where they are, not knowing what they are doing.” Nearly 4,000 children, aver aging only 6 years old, have been smuggled into Hong Kong since October 1981, when Hong Kong revised its immigration laws and no longer granted illeg al immigrants permanent resi dence. cutoff want to be reumi children they left behind na. But gettingpermissit Chinese authorities is uu Immigration authorii secretive about the h plying to illegal immigra dren, apparently to an con raging the smugglini The general policy Tin tt change reduced the ■ in- immigrants — childt flux o f Chinese from hundi eds adults alike — is to sr of the tusands it i 1979-80 t o a hack from whence tli trickle of a few t housand a y< t?ar. But with minors, an Nov v many ol f those who en- said, each case is judge terfd Hong K< mg before the own merits." Bronco a bowler’s heaven ;et United Press International DALLAS — In the south part of town, literally on the other side of the tracks, is a little bit of bowling paradise: the Bronco Bowl, 72 lanes of hardwood heaven, and it could be argued that bowling is just its sideline. “It’s got the works,” said Richard Babb, a Safeway clerk who bowls at the Bronc a couple of times a week. One marquee out front, the biggest of three that sports a giant bowling ball and pin, is less modest about what the Bronc offers. “World’s Finest Recrea tion Center,” it brags, and that might not be an overstatement. For the record, the 180,000 square-foot building offers 72 lanes of bow ling (with automatic or “Magic Scoring”), a golf driv ing range, three batting cages, an archery range with six targets, 31 pool tables, a barber shop, a beauty salon, a nursery, video games, a snack bar, a pri vate club and a 2,500 seat audi torium that offers a variety of shows and exhibitions, includ ing one weekend of full contact karate in early March. The facility opened in 1960 in the Oak Cliff section of mostly black south Dallas — not the part of town frequented by its owners, the billionaire Hunt brothers, Nelson Bunker, W. Herbert and Lamar. Lamar Hunt said the Bronc was built by the brothers as a business enterprise. Hi has l>een no silver mint Hunts. Manager Don Strvke mer pitcher in the White Sox organization, Bronc keeps from 25(1 Ixiwling balls on hand. “Friday and Saturday biggest nights," Sink “and if the weather’s b ness is really good." nited I .1.1 LAF <, the w'or lanent a nBday at was days, 17 1 Helhad Ik nan-made Kh 2. Tokyo Steak House NEWP'KT -mversitv < esitian Jol :ause of dt Hand. n jvstems N 4 o Aggie Special Chicken Fried Steak Other Daily Specials s 3 50 s 3 95 )wan said ten the m lan DeV’r : not avail B|< \ wer Visit our new Aloha Club Clyde Dove at the piano Fri. & Sat. Happy Hour V2 price drinks 4:30-7 10-12 M-F A NEW CLASS IN STUDENT LIVING!P ecaus< • compact, efficient space • 3 minutes from campus • security/covered parking • washer/dryer in every unit • CHANCE FOR FREE TRIP TO EUROPE’ (• subject to total occupancy) 846-8960 Hla.k suff nlsday af an ik-7 ht an hour at arl was Bout 4 p dlbu ngrac r (lictors the Bre the: ii fair c< inn Oyster Bar Coming Soon! Hours Mon.-Sat. 5-12 Sun. 5-10 Tokyo Steak House Texas Ave. 846-5711 ground T Classified Heal.... ^ — *^Pp>nions - Pports... This T-shirt offer can’t be topped Order now! ptaie Jpational. Police Bea Boat's up This red & white T-shirt, tor men and women, is made of 50% combed cotton and 50% polyester, styled with three athletic stripes on the raglan sleeves. Please send a check or money order for $4.95 per T-shirt (no cash, please) to: Seagram’s 7 Crown T-shirt Offer P.O. Box 725, Dept. 249 Lubbock, Texas 79491 Name_ College. Address. City. .State. TAMB34 Adult sizes only. Specify quantity. T-shirt @ $4.95 ea., S M L ^ vi a r- Offer expires January 31,1984. No purchase AL : Amoun t Enclosed $ m — mm fM M 8£5%sales tax Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for shipment