Wednesday, October 1, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
A&M researchers link hormone
body control of blood volume
By Molly Fisher
Reporter
Two Texas A&M University med
al scientists who are researching a
ecently discovered hormone called
iNF can explain why swimming can
lusethe urge to urinate.
ANF, which stands for atrial na-
biretic factor, is produced in the
ria of the heart and then secreted
ito the bloodstream. It was discov-
ed by a Canadian scientist in 1981.
It is believed the heart reacts to
hanges in blood volume by produc-
jig ANF, which tells the kidneys to
crete salt and water. The greater
e amount of pressure on the heart
[alls, the greater amount of ANF is
Iroduced.
“When you are in a pool, blood is
ished from your limbs toward
£mi chest,” physiologist Dr. Bruce
enjamin said.
“The blood then puts pressure on
ur heart, making it think you have
omuch blood volume,” he said. "It
acts by making you have the urge
to urinate.”
Benjamin and Dr. Thomas Peter-
n are researching the importance
of ANF at normal levels found in the
Benjamin said most recent re
arch has been aimed at the effects
NF has on the body in either very
igh or low amounts.
[ratification
mount to
• Reagan
ican dream
e and mow
r lives prow
daily basis,
By Sandee Smith
Reporter
Republican lieutenant governor
andidate David Davidson said
uesday night at the local Republi-
an headquarters that the way to bal-
ncethe state budget is to review the
icedsof Texas.
Davidson, a 47-year-old Austin
usinessman and graduate of Trin-
:yUniversity, has been campaigning
titleonafcl S a ‘ nst ^ ov - Hobby for the
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Dr. Bruce Benjamin
“Our interest with ANF is based
on the normal function of the hor
mone, and with this understanding
we can then see how it applies to
other areas,” he said.
The work of Peterson and Benja
min has possible applications in the
areas of hypertension, congestive
heart failure and other sodium heart-
related diseases.
Peterson said, "Other researchers
have information from patients with
heart failure or other conditions
where the kidneys aren’t excreting
enough salt and water, which indi
cates that these people have in
creased levels of ANF.
Dr. Thomas Peterson
“These high levels of ANF should
trigger the kidney to dump excess
body fluid, but why this doesn’t oc
cur in these patients isn’t under
stood,” he said.
Benjamin said, “ANF definitely
has a role as a therapeutic agent. It
can help hypertensive patients by
decreasing their blood pressure. But
we want to know if its normal circu
lating concentration does anything
important, or if it is too low to be of
important measure.”
One theory on how the heart
helps control blood volume is that
the production and secretion of
ANF works together with “stretch”
receptors in the heart, Peterson ex
plained.
The stretch receptors can detect
when the blood volume of the body
has been stretched beyond normal
limits, and then they will cause the
kidneys to increase excretion of salt
and water, Peterson said.
The researchers are trying to find
out how much the kidneys are react
ing to the stretch receptors and how
much they are reacting to the ANF.
Peterson and Benjamin said they
are concerned with how ANF works
to control blood volume and how
ANF communicates with the kidney.
The two scientists are experiment
ing with dogs and monkeys. One ex
periment involves the removal, from
several dogs, of the part of the heart
that produces ANF and then the in
crease of the dog’s salt intake.
The result should have been an
increase in blood volume in a direct
relationship to salt intake, but none
was shown, Benjamin said.
Along with various studies done
with the effects of ANF on dogs and
monkeys, one study the two scien
tists have done involves putting ani
mals on different salt diets, he said.
This allows the researchers to see
how a high, low and normal sodium
diet changes the production of ANF.
Resources institute to open
21st state water conference
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
The Water Resources Institute
at Texas A&M will sponsor its
21st Water for Texas Conference
at Rudder Tower Thursday and
Friday.
This year’s conference theme is
“Urban Water Resources Man
agement,” and the issues of water
supply management, water de
mand management and water
quality management will be cov
ered.
The conference features 17
speakers from across the country,
including Texas A&M President
Frank E. Vandiver, state of Cali
fornia Water Consultant Harvey
Banks and Myron Knudson from
the Environmental Protection
Agency in Dallas.
Conference registration begins
Thursday on the second floor of
Rudder Tower at 7:30 a.m, and
continues until noon.
A banquet will be held at the
College Station Hilton on Thurs
day at 7 p.m., and a luncheon will
be held at the Memorial Student
Center at noon on Friday.
The $40 charge for faculty cov
ers the luncheon, banquet tickets
and a copy of the proceedings.
Students will be admitted free
with a current A&M ID.
TIowever, students must pur
chase tickets for the luncheon
and banquet separately.
Luncheon tickets are $8 and
banquet tickets are $15.
Those planning to attend the
luncheon or banquet should in
form the institute as soon as pos
sible for a reservation.
For more information, call the
institute at 845-8571.
Correction
An article in The Battalion
Monday incorrectly stated that
voter registration cards are avail
able at local post offices.
Actually, the cards are avail
able from the office of the county
tax assessor-collector.
The story also said the cards
are available from the registrar’s
office. However, the reference
was to the Brazos County voter
registrar’s office. Cards are not
available at the campus registrar’s
office.
The Battalion regrets the er-
andidate: Texas must review needs to balance budget
past 10 months and focusing on his
solutions to the state’s budget prob
lems.
Davidson said the financial prob
lems are due to increased state
spending and too many upper man
agement employees.
“Over the last 12 years, state
spending has increased by 400 per
cent,” he said. “Inflation is responsi
ble for only 133 percent of that in
crease.” During that time, he said,
the state’s population rose by only 30
percent.
Davidson said 69 percent of the
state’s budget is committed to pro
jects before the legislators get to it,
leaving less for them to work with.
Most of the budget that is out of
the control of the legislature in
cludes money for education, mental
health and retardation, highways
and the prison system.
“The legislature needs to get con
trol of the budget before it can make
the needed changes in spending,”
Davidson said. “The present divi
sions in the budget were made in the
days when state money was plenti
ful.”
Davidson said one key difference
between the two candidates is that he
is in favor of a constitutional ban on
state income taxes while Hobby is
against the ban.
“I don’t believe in increasing tax
es,” Davidson says. “I believe in liv
ing with what we’ve got.
“During the 14 years Hobby has
been in power, a layer of fat has de
veloped in the state agencies. The fat
can be reduced without losing public
services.”
According to Davidson, New York
and California have fewer state em
ployees per capita than Texas.
“This is an unnecessary excess,”
Davidson says. “There are people
occupying offices in Austin who
don’t provide any services to the
people of this state.”
Davidson said the state must keep
from spending faster than it collects
revenues.
“By exercising stewardship and
good management techniques, the
state could grow over the next few
years without additional taxes,” Da
vidson said.
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Danny has a dream of turning a wreck into
a rock and roll hotel. But the town, the cops and
the odds are against him.
So, he’s getting some help from the oddest team he can find.
His friends.
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Thursday, October 2,1986
Rudder Auditorium
7:30 p.m.
PRIZES • RAFFLES Limited Seating. Be There Early! PRIZES • RAFFLES
“Playing for Keeps” opens in theatres nationwide on October 3rd.
Don’t miss
the wildest
150
rodeo in
The Tbxas Prison Rodeo is back and it’s bigger and better than ever. Every
Sunday in October some of the toughest cowboys and wildest stock in Tfexas
get-it-on in the dirt. This is real rodeo so hair-raising that only convict cowboys
would dare try it.
We also have the biggest line-up of
musical stars in the rodeo’s history.
Next Sunday we’ll present the 1985
Country Music Association Entertainer
of the year, Ricky Skaggs.
Tickets are $7 and $8 and available
at all Ticketron locations. All
proceeds go toward prisoner
rehabilitation programs.
Don’t miss the 55th Tbxas Prison Rodeo. Every Sunday in October, behind
the walls in Huntsville.