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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1998)
Frontiers Monday • March] n< Science Briefs Starving sea lions fill beaches in Peru SAN JUAN NATURE RESERVE, Peru (AP) — A sickly smell of death hangs over Peru’s southern beaches, where thousands of starving sea lions have washed ashore to die. El Nino has dri ven away the fish they eat. Of the 180,000 sea lions that lived on Peru’s Pacific coast before El Nino arrived late last year, only 30,000 re main, said Patricia Majluf, a biologist with the New York-based Wildlife Con servation Society. But biologists have found 3,000 dead sea lions just in the San Juan re serve, where 9,000 to 15,000 sea li ons usually live. Scientists find clues to language origins BEIJING (AP) — Archaeologists have found 3,500-year-old sheep bones carved with Chinese charac ters, a discovery that offers a glimpse at the primitive origins of the world’s oldest written language. Characters found on the bones in clude an upside-down “V” that ex perts deciphered as the Chinese word for “six” and a symbol that means “divination,” the state-run Xin hua News Agency said Sunday. Six other characters carved rough ly but deeply onto the two fragments of shoulder blade have not been de ciphered, it said. Researchers look for ways for fighting deadly viruses Drugs used as treatment neglect central nervous system By Jill Reed Science writer Texas A&M University is working with scientists across the United States to find vaccines for dead ly viral infections like HIV. Dr. Diane E< Griffin, a Johns Hopkins Universi ty neuroscientist, spoke to Texas A&M professors and students earlier this month about how virus es affect nerve cells in the central nervous system. Dr. Jane Welsh, a neuroscientist in A&M’s De partment of Veterinary Pathobiology and Griffin’s colleague, said brain and spinal cord cells cannot be replaced so it is important to learn how to fight diseases that attack the central nervous system. Welsh said viruses like HIV usually attack and then live within the central nervous system, which the immune system cannot protect. If immune cells attack and kill invading viruses and bacteria, they also kill the body cells in which they reside. “Nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord usual ly do not divide after early development, so if they are killed, they are permanently lost,” Welsh said, “where cells of the liver and other organs can re generate.” Too much nerve cell death can cause paralysis or dementia, Welsh said. “If we can understand how viruses cause dis ease, we can understand how to assist in develop ing treatments for infections of the central nervous system,” Welsh said. It*s so easy! 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ApartNet FREE online apartment locator http://wvirw.apartnet.com Search By: Location Bed/Bath Size Alphabetical Price Custom ^Battalion Tiffany Inbody, Editor in Chief Helen Clancy, Copy Chief Brad Graeber, Visual Arts Editor Robert Smith, City Editor Jeremy Furtick, Sports Editor Jeff Webb, Sports Editor James Francis, Aggielife Editor Mandy Cater, Opinion Editor Ryan Rogers, Photo Editor Chris Huffines, Radio Producer Sarah Goldston, Radio Producer Dusty Moer, Web Editor Aaron Meier, Night News Editor Staff Members City- Amanda Smith, Stacey Becks, Susan Atchison, Kelly Hackworth, Suzanne Riggs, Lyndsay Nantz, Jennifer Wilson & Katy Lineberger Science - Jill Reed. Sports - Assistant Editor: Jeff Schmidt; Michael Ferguson, Chris Ferrell, Travis Harsch, Robert Hollier, Al Lazarus, Colby Martin, Aaron Meier, Katie Mish, Philip Peter & Michael Taglienti. Aggielife - Marium Mohiuddin, Rhonda Reinhart, Night News - Joyce Bauer, Jaclynn Barker, Ali Belin & Shane Elkins. 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Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax: 845-2647; E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu; Website: http://battalion.tamu.edu Advertisine Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display adver- Chris Martin, Leah Templeton, Travis Hopper, April Towery, Travis Irby & Stephen Wells. Opinion - Len Calloway, Adam Collett, John tising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. Mail subscriptions are $60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester and $17.50 for the summer. To charge by credit card, call 845-2611. The Battalion (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall spring semesters and Monday through Ihuisday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77840. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Battalion, 015 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1111. it ,'es • / y f- •• i . . — gpni m \ Sunday, April 5,1998 7:00 p.m. Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater (Rain Out: Bryan Civic Auditorium) Ticket Prices: $10 in advance $12 at the gate Group Tickets: $8 for groups of 10 or more Ticket Outlets: Christian Bookstores, Wehner, MSC, College Station Parks and Recreation or any Aggie Men’s Club member For more information call: Wayne Hanks 775-0579 Sponsored by The Aggie Men’s Club Benefiting Still Creek Ranch - ”A Home for Boys and Girls” Reading for tomorrow Griffin said since the body cannot effectively fight viruses in the central nervous system, the out come of a viral infection depends on the virulence of the infecting virus and the nerve cell’s ability to resist infection. Specializing in microbiology and immunology, Griffin uses a mosquito-borne virus that causes acute encephalitis in horses as a model system to study the way nerve cells eliminate viruses and re spond to viruses in the central nervous system. Griffin has found that the age of the infected cell determines how well a virus will affect it. A young cell will die immediately, Griffin said, while a mature cell will only have a persistent in fection. “If a nerve cell has started producing vital im munity factors and has made connections with other cells, it will be more likely to manage the in fection and stay alive,” Griffin said. To date, scientists have foifhd no treatment to rid the body of viral infections like encephalitis, in fluenza, HIV, herpes, genital warts and some forms of cancer. Welsh said drugs that interfere with HIV repli cation have proven effective, but many drugs are excluded from the central nervous system because of a blood - brain barrier which prevents immune cells and toxins from entering nerve cells. Griffin plans to research the nervous system disease in AIDS by studying the clinical features of HIV-infected patients, cerebrospinal fluid and leukocytes and tissues taken at autopsy. IV** >rMlV Laura Bush, first lady of Texas, spe< Saturday during "Project Bookmark.” JAKE SCHRICKLAT to elementary schoc' Spring ‘99 INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS in 154 Bizzell Hall West Monday, March 30 9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 1 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Pick up an application at the meeting or drop by (he Study Abroad Program Office. 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