The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 30, 1998, Image 2

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    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.
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^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.
Photo - Assistant Editor: Brandon Bollom; Robert
McKay, Greg McReynolds, Cory Willis, Mike
Puentes, James Francis & Jake Schrickling.
Graphics - James Palmer, Chad Mallam, Jared
Faulkner & J.P. Beato.
Cartoonists - Ed Goodwin, John Lemons, Dave
Hoffman, Gabriel Ruenes, Victor Vanscoit, Michael
Nordfelt and Quatro Oakley.
Copy Editors - Leslie Stebbins, Jennifer Jones,
David Johnston, Martha Gidney, Patrick Pavlik &
Lemons, Donny Ferguson, Caleb McDaniel, Beverly Veronica Serrano.
Mireles, Manisha Parekh, Stewart Patton, Mickey Radio - Andrew Baley, Jody Rae Sartin, Laura
Saloma, Joe Schumacher, Michelle Voss, Frank Stuart & Karina Trevino.
Stanford & Jennifer Jones. Web - Anita Tong & Jeremy Brown
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publications, a unit of the
Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. 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.
Study Abroad Program Office, 161 Itiz/.cll Mall West, 845-0544
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