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By Janet Goode
Senior Staff Writer
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980, and
ar °l a patients will be used in tests
peak 6in|B ec i u i e d to begin next week that
mgatthesjB com bine the work of Texas
■M researchers with that of Ri-
Htor Corp. scientists. The experi-
"tr02* nls are ^ ie resu *t of years of re-
5 U vClItHrch expected to ultimately lead to
i- Binical treatment for the disease,
t arbonneau4m)r. Claude Nicolau, founder and
I rophy, gisr,Birman of the corporation located
‘fensive fon at the A&M Research Park, said re
ts Naslund scan hers plan to begin experiments
Bsix testing sites, including the
Bxas Medical Center in Houston
Btl Scott Sc White Hospitals in
Itemple. Tests also will be per
formed in New York, Cleveland as
well as France and England.
■Twenty Biophor researchers are
working to isolate the CD-4 protein
! Bm normal human white blood
The researchers will insert the
™ MW ™iGD-'l protein into red blood cell
Bmbranes and then inject the com-
Bite cell into patients suffering
Bm acquired immune defeciency
^Bidrome.
i> ^-*^g|iBrhis “scavenger cell” wall hope-
^ idlvVy U) cells i”fueled with the
Irlill^i 115 ’ Nicolau said.
ll.UV )nce * )<)U1K *’ aggregate cell is
l# 1 /moved very fast by the circulation
Bough the liver and the spleen —
Baning the system, he said.
■Sixty AIDS patients, at various
Bges of the disease, will be tested —
10 at each hospital.
■Nicolau said this technique is not a
cure because the number of infected
qgIIs would only be decreased in the
circulation system of the patient, and
4 process would only be effective
during particular stages of the dis
ease.
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acted a found
n raw oysters
orries officials
GALVESTON (AP) — People
ith liver disease or other immu
nological deficiencies are being
strongly advised against eating
■aw oysters harvested between
April and October because of a
otentially deadly bacteria.
The deaths of 20 people in
ouisiana and 20 in Florida have
een linked to a type of bacteria
|ound in raw or improperly
ooked seafood, said Dr. Ralph
orris, Galveston County’s
health director.
Morris said no deaths in Texas
ave been attributed to the bacte-
|ia — vibrio vulnificus — but
[bout six cases of illness asso-
Pliated with the bacteria have been
•reported in the state each year
Isince 1986, when it was recog-
Rized by health officials.
I “At this point, it is probably not
■ major public health problem in
■’exas,” Morris said. “But I am
|trongly advising these individu-
1s against eating raw seafood.”
Morris made the comment at a
Wednesday workshop held in
Jalveston by the Federal Food
jnd Drug Administration, offi
cials from the county and state
[health departments, Texas A&M
Jniversity, the FDA and the
Ipyster industry.
Tom Hulls, president of the
Texas Oyster Association, en
dorsed Morris’ warning.
C.L. Standley of Dickinson,
president of PISCES, a group
Representing the seafood indus
■ry, said the bacteria is having
little effect on the seafood busi
jess because it’s relatively un
known right now.
The fishermen, he said, fear
Rdverse publicity about the prob
lem could affect their business.
“Anything that involves health
dnd seafood is detrimental to the
industry if it’s blown out of pro-
xirtion,” he said.
The bacteria can be harmful if
It is ingested in raw or partly
looked seafood or if it comes in
pontact with a break in the skin,
diere it can cause infection.
People with liver disease or
Isuppressed immune systems ap-
Dear to be most prone to infec
tions from the bacteria, which
causes blood poisoning, Morris
^aid.
Symptoms of infection include
fever, chills, vomiting and abdo-
hnal pain.
Graphic by M. Rohsner
“It’s a healing — a treatment. It’s
not a cure.” Nicolau said.
For the treatment to work, the
scavenger cell must be long lived,
Nicolau said. The ideal situation
would be for the scavenger cell to
live in the system for 120 days — the
life span of normal red blood cells,
he said.
If this and all other expectations
of the research are realized, AIDS
patients would be able to live rela
tively normal lives by receiving these
injections about three times a year,
he said.
Biophor scientists plan to obtain
CD-4 from normal white blood cells,
but A&M research is aimed at pro
ducing a clone of the protein that
will be more cost effective.
Dr. Max Summers, distinguished
A&M professor of entomology, said
that in regular gene cells, proteins
are not expressed well. To combat
this, Summers, along with Dr. Gill
Smith, has developed a more effec
tive system, called the baculovirus
system, to produce protein more
abundantly.
The system was the first to be ap
proved by the FDA for production
of these proteins used in AIDS test
ing.
Summers said that if the clone
protein will act in the system the
same way as the authentic CD-4, the
substance would be extremely cost
effective because it produces clone
gene proteins abundantly.
“This is what everyone wants —
the cheapest way to produce a pro
tein that can be used for a vaccine or
a therapeutic product,” Summers
said.
Dr. Garret fillers, professor and
head of the department of Medical
Biochemistry and Genetics at the
A&M College of Medicine, is collab
orating with Biophor on a genetic
engineering aspect of the experie-
ment, but refused an interview
Wednesday.
Biophor researchers also are
working with many other people in
cluding the Baylor College of Medi
cine, Nicolau said.
Nicolau said it is important to re
alize that this research “didn’t just
appear.” He said it is the result of at
least 15 years of work.
He said he expects to have some
experimental results in four to six
weeks. And phase one of the experi-
ement should be “statistically signifi
cant” in about four months.
So far research has been encour
aging and Nicolau, his colleagues
and the collaborating researchers
are hopeful, but he said caution is
necessary.
Nicolau pointed out that cancer
has been killed many times in labo
ratory settings, but many people are
still dying from it.
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Wrong way
A driver goes the wrong way on Ireland Street, a
one way street on the north side of campus. The
Photo by Jay Janner
street is closed for construction of the new parking
garage and will be closed until August.
Radical Korean students
struggle with riot police
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) —
Thousands of radical students
screaming “Skin the Yankees!” bom
barded riot police with firebombs
and rocks Thursday. Orange flames
engulfed dozens of officers but oth
ers quickly doused the fire.
Scores of policemen and students
were injured. Officers with burns or
blood pouring from cuts were
dragged away by comrades or
slumped exhausted against walls.
Student leaders said at least five
Bush: Presidential candidate
doesn’t put any stock in polls
protesters were hurt seriously.
Students took two captured offi
cers away with their hands tied and
their fate was not known. Police
made scores of arrests.
Before the battle, radicals gath
ered at Yonsei University in Seoul to
prepare for a 30-mile march to the
border Friday for talks with students
from communist North Korea about
forcing reunification of the divided
peninsula.
The government has declared the
march illegal.
Running clashes were reported in
at least eight provincial cities be
tween police and students trying to
reach the capital for the march.
Eight thousand riot police in
green combat fatigues and visored
helmets fired thousands of tear gas
bombs as 20,000 students stormed
off the Yonsei campus in Seoul, and
more volleys came from 15 armored
vans. Other students trying to reach
the campus joined the fray.
The protest was bitterly anti-
American. Radical leaders blame the
United States for the peninsula’s di
vision in 1945, and several violent
anti-American protests have oc
curred in the past month.
Fighting ended after dark and
about 6,000 students remained on
the Yonsei campus for an overnight
vigil.
Thursday’s violence was the most
serious since last summer. The
march scheduled for Friday marks
the first anniversary of the start of
riots that forced the government to
agree to elections and reforms.
HOUSTON (AP) — Republican
presidential candidate George Bush
said Thursday he doesn’t put much
stock in polls showing him behind
Michael Dukakis because he is con
vinced the country doesn’t want to
swing left politically.
Answering questions at a news
conference just after arriving for a
Texas state GOP convention, Bush
sought to minimize reports of a trou
bled candidacy. He noted one story
depicting him as tense and nervous,
and complained to reporters that the
depiction was inaccurate.
“Yeah, I don’t worry about it,” the
vice president said when asked to
comment on a newly released Texas
Poll showing him leading Dukakis in
his adopted home state by only 7
percentage points.
“I feel really relaxed about it,” he
said. “We’re not play-acting here. I
like fighting back.”
Bush presided over the news con
ference and met briefly with the His
panic caucus to the state Republican
convention before going to the floor
of the George R. Brown Convention
Center to address the delegates.
With the Bush campaign running
very near the limit on the amount of
money the candidate can spend be
fore the election cycle switches at
nominating convention time in Au
gust, the vice president has met in
creasingly with reporters in recent
weeks,
“There’s no reason for me to ex
pect that you all are going to write
good news; you don’t write about the
banks that didn’t close today,” he
said.
But Bush said he was shifting his
campaign into a more aggressive
posture, aimed at spelling out more
clearly the differences between him
self and Dukakis, the certain Demo-
-cratic nominee.
Bush said he had no quarrel with
the way his campaign is being run,
although he acknolwedged that
there will be some changes along the
way.
Campaign manager Lee Atwater,
while sidestepping the question of
whether Treasury Secretary James
A. Baker III would be soon arriving
to head the campaign, strongly sug
gested that such a move is in the of
fing- .
“My sense is that everybody would
love to see Jim Baker as campaign
chairman,” he said. “My idea is that
anytime that he’d like to come, we’d
love to have him.”
During the news conference,
Bush said among other things that
he does not speak Spanish — and
wishes he did, since Dukakis speaks
it. But the vice president noted that
he has a Mexican daughter-in-law,
and said several members of the
family do speak the language.
South Africa extends
state of emergency
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
(AP) — President P.W. Botha on Fri
day morning extended the nation
wide state of emergency for a third
year, according to a presidential
statement.
The statement came two days af
ter blacks ended their biggest and
longest general strike. The exten
sion takes effect on publication Fri
day in the government gazette.
Botha said despite success in cur
tailing violence and unrest, he be
lieved ordinary laws were still inade
quate to ensure public order and
safety.
“It is indeed the aspiration of the
government that conditions will
change to such an extent that the de
clared state of emergency can be
lifted,” Botha said in the statement.
“Intimidation and terror are
aimed at undermining the political,
economic and social activities of all
our communities. It is also being em
ployed to disrupt our courts and le
gal procedures,” he said.
There were no immediate details
of any possible changes in the emer
gency regulations, which allow
sweeping powers of detention, out
law many forms of peaceful anti
government protest, and restrict
freedom of speech, press and assem
bly.
More than 2 million blacks stayed
away from work, school and shops
from Monday to Wednesday.
Israeli soldiers kill 1, injure 4 in clashes
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli sol
diers killed one Palestinian and
wounded four on Thursday, one of
the most violent recent days in the
occupied lands. Arabs mounted an
other general strike to begin the sev
enth month of their rebellion.
At least 203 Palestinians have
been killed and more than 5,000 in
jured since the uprising began Dec.
8, and 5,000 Arabs are in prison. An
Israeli soldier and a Jewish settler
also have been slain.
Stores were closed and public
transport halted Thursday in the oc
cupied West Bank and Gaza Strip,
and in Arab east Jerusalem, but the
army said many Palestinians ignored
the general strike.
A 40-year-old Arab motorist died
of a heart attack after his car was
stoned as he passed the Dheishe ref
ugee camp near Bethlehem, the
army said. Israel radio said camp
residents stoned several Arab-owned
cars, apparently to enforce compli
ance with the strike.
The radio, quoting military offi
cials it did not identify, said Thurs
day was one of the most violent days
Arab summit supports uprising against Israelis
ALGIERS (AP) — An Arab summit called to
discuss the PLO-guided rebellion against Israeli
rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ended
Thursday with agreement by rich Arab nations
to subsidize the uprising.
Eight delegation chiefs, including those of the
four wealthiest nations, devised a formula in a
two hour meeting for subsidies to the Palestin
ians and to Syria and Jordan, which are in the
forefront of the confrontation with Israel.
In a communique issued at the end of the
three-day summit, the 21 Arab League members
again designated the Palestine Liberation Orga
nization as the “sole legitimate representative” of
the 5 million Palestinians.
They also agreed to oppose any peace initia
tive that bans PLO participation and to demand
an international peace conference giving equal
status to all concerned parties, including the
PLO.
Sources close to the delegates said Saudi Ara
bia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates
agreed to “specific sums” that would be provided
for the uprising and to Syria and Jordan.
Chief PLO spokesman Bassam Abu Sharif told
reporters that the Arab leaders agreed to keep
the precise sums a secret to avoid showing their
hand to the Israelis.
Before the report of an agreement, Sharif
denied reports that Arab leaders had rebuffed
the PLO’s demand for funds to run the uprising.
“There is no truth to the report.”
Yasser Arafat, the PLO chairman, told the
summit earlier in the week that the rebellion was
costing his organization more than $50 million a
month in relief, compensation for wages lost by
strikers and medical expenses for injured rioters.
Conference sources said the PLO agreed in
preliminary discussions to reduce its annual re
quirements to $300-$400 million.
since the level of protest began to de
cline in May.
In an attempt to quell violence,
the army put eight refugee camps
and towns under curfews that con
fined nearly 10 percent of the 1.5
million Palestinians in occupied ter
ritories to their homes.
A report by six army doctors on
army methods in Gaza accused sol
diers of misusing tear gas by firing it
into closed spaces.
It also said use of high-velocity
bullets that can cause devastating in
juries is unjustified in dispersing
protests. The army will not say
whether it uses such ammunition.
Israeli military officials in the
West Bank said many students and
Palestinians who work in Israel ig
nored the strike.
Arab doctors said soldiers killed
Ahmed Hassan Hawari, 17, with a
bullet in the head in Sebastiya village
near Nablus. The army said Hawari
was standing on a terrace and an of
ficer shot him when the youth raised
a large rock, apparently to throw at
soldiers.
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