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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1999)
HOPE PREGNANCY CENTERS OF BRAZOS VALLEY FREE PREGNANCY TESTS (immediate results) ♦ Pregnancy, Adoption & Abortion Education ♦ Practical Assistance ♦ Post Abortion Counseling ♦ Adoption, Medical & Community Service Referrals ♦ Free & Confidential 846-1097 3620 E. 29TH ST • BRYAN Page 12* Monday, February 1, 1999 Scientists trace origin of HIV to African chimps Q. Do you wonder what your future holds? A. Come talk to UCS and discover the answers. UCS has been in computer and automotive business for twenty-eight years. We are looking for many different majors and backgrounds for entry level positions including sales, customer service, consulting, programming and technical support for our Houston, College Station and other regional offices. For more information, please stop by and visit with our depart ment representatives: Student Engineers Council Memorial Student Center - 2nd Floor February 3rd & February 4th, 1999 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. If you are unable to attend but still wish to apply, please call or visit our website. E.O.E. Universal Computer Systems, Inc. 1-800-883-3031 www.universalcomputersys.com UCS hires non-tobacco users only. May Graduates Official Texas A&M Graduation Announcements on sale Jan. 11 - Feb. 26, 1999 For Information and to place your order access the Web at: http://graduation.tamu.edu All orders must be placed over the Web All payments must be received by February 26 MSC Box Office 845-1234 Mon-Fri 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. CHICAGO (AP) — Where did the AIDS virus come from? Scientists believe they have solved this lingering mystery. The answer: chimps. In a presentation Sunday, researchers from the Univer sity of Alabama at Birmingham said they have convincing proof that the virus has spread on at least three separate occasions from chimpanzees to people in Africa. One of these cross-species transmissions was the start of the epi demic that now infects about 35 million people world wide. Chimps, which have probably carried the virus for hun dreds of thousands of years, apparently do not get sick from it. Figuring out why could be important. “This is excellent science with biological and virologi- cal importance. If we understood how the chimp has dealt with this infection over time, that could have implications for human medicine,” said Dr. Kevin DeCock, an AIDS ex pert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion in Atlanta. Whatever its origins, HIV is a recent affliction of peo ple. At last year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Oppor tunistic Infections, Dr. David Ho and others from the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller Uni versity presented evidence that the virus probably first in fected humans in the 1940s or early ’50s. At the opening of this year’s meeting, Hahn made the case that this event almost certainly occurred in west equatorial Africa when someone caught the virus from a chimp, perhaps after killing the animal for food. Hahn said her team nailed down the connection by an alyzing frozen tissue saved from a chimp named Marilyn that died from complications of childbirth at a U.S. Air Force primate center 14 years ago. The chimp version of the AIDS virus — the microbe now thought to be the grandfather of HIV — is called SIVcpz. It is extremely rare among chimps in U.S. lab colonies, apparently because these animals are removed from the wild as babies and so are never exposed to the virus sexually. Until recently, SIVcpz had been isolated only three times. The fourth turned up when a colleague cleaning out a lab freezer ran across Marilyn’s specimens and sent them to Hahn. Her team was able to perform various kinds of genetic analysis that were unavailable when the chimp died. Then the Alabama team used molecular analysis tech niques to study all four examples of the virus. They found that three of the four were genetically ex tremely similar to the human AIDS virus. They included one gene, called vpu, that also is part of HIV but not of other AIDS-like viruses that infect monkeys. reve; BY AMAND The Bat ■Texas A&M f loseph Vail II wa: :aU 1 when he fell :ording to toxico eased Monday. ■The 18-year-olc day after falling th southwest stairwi side Parking Garaj ■lob Wiatt, dire ty Police Departm icology report she alcohol content \ than twice the leg ■Vail and two fi ins the Southside Saturday after sallie TURNER.™ fourth floor of the Karl Seiler, a student Blinn College, models a wedding dress at the sociation of Brazos Valley’s Bridal Show and Benefit Sunday afternoon. 1 -taken by UPD. JmVJil lost his b< nhe first floor of t iiebuffered massi Jsul ■Viatt said Vail support at 6:30 p, at St. Joseph’s Center. ■Wiatt said the 3everage Comi nay further inve o find the sour /ail consumed b Jp: “We are in the o locate where Plannc for wo BY MERE TheE [Representath Parenthood are today to discus: pai icularly wot - . -- . (With state legisl. (not in credit cards I D '' a r„ san ' c m 'Bikan-College S Introducing the American Express Credit Card for Student! Live for today. enthood clinic, with legislators Bryan-College $ ■ “We are meei resentatives F Charles B. Jone; Steve Ogden,” Build for tomorrow. Side < BY A The American Express Credit Card for Students is a resource you can depend on. With benefits like big air Aspartame, fare savings, free credit information, accepm'nceTnd and no annual fee, it'll help you get ^countries arom most from your student years-and An article by help you build a solid financial ffloridEnvirom foundation for the future. 323©' a 13^5 U 008 * v 98 A* CALL TOLL FREE 1-877-IMO-FEE-4U TO APPLY, OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.AMERICANEXPRESS.COM/STUDENT g of disagreemen iicle, circulatin; isilinked to mi erythematosis p Markle also defects, blindr for diabetics. ^Marketed ai tame is made n |nts, aspartic approved by tl trationin 1996 ■ Eric Myers, said the artic Markle attribu tific basis. 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