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ittalion ■Yews News PageSjT^iesdaYjFebruar^^lQQQ SA official discusses role of technology Federal BY EMILY R. SNOOKS The Battalion -lar Mils TOCKHOLM.H leWonderar: NASA administrator Dan this year's?” ^Idip said in upcoming years, -i by the Roya” ^SA will be able to travel outside ► f Music. ir th's galaxy to seek biological ne prize, annc e an d geographic features on i dowedbythe her planets at the inaugural lec- son, whoserf re of the Distinguished Lecture isedthese; ‘lies. ■ ded to one p;;. Goldin discussed how technol- sical musioar:;y will bring the world into the $125,000. ture safer, faster and more envi- Bnakis, a f -nmentally sound to a crowd of ■ k wholivesinf 10 last night. He addressed the 3 one of con:; ASA vision, characteristics of the t innovative a r ture system, the evolution of en- neering and revolutionary e once con-ip ianges in engineering, c work whost : “By 2001 we be landing on oth- ce was an-: planets, moons and comets and ;plo|-ing black holes in other a ilaxies,” he said. oOiud Sy “in about 10 to 20 years we will haort o+hf a bl e t0 l anc ^ on Mars and live ilcdfl ^ c f the land.” VLPARAISQhiM ny Lasordahai: 'Lg ana givinv;: aming how to pi? ssorda. known ; : lanager of b gers. had a's Goldin said by 2020, NASA will eliminate the space shuttle and re place it with rockets 100 times less expensive and 10,000 times more reliable. Goldin began his career with NASA in 1962 as a research scien tist at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. He is a fellow in both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering. In 1993, he received the John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award and the Spaces Pioneer Award. Goldin is one of nine NASA administra tors and has occupied the position for seven years. Jon T. Pitts, professor of math ematics and chair of the lecture se ries, introduced the presentation as the kick-off event of the series. He said the goal of the lecture se ries is to reflect the diversity in in terests on this campus. Guest speakers included Presi- ERIC NEWNAM/Tm Battalion Dan Goldin, NASA administrator, speaks Monday night as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. dent Ray M. Bowen, who gave a welcome address, and Aaron Co hen, mechanical engineering pro fessor, who introduced Goldin. Study finds chemotherapy with radiation reduces risk of death from cervical cancer 3. He quit his iet and becar ie American cercise anc ed, too. ^BOSTON (AP) — In the first ireakthrough in the treatment of preading cervical cancer since the 950s, a series of studies found that idding chemotherapy to radiation feel great ' — :an cut the risk of death in half. : feel anywhe r f • The five studies, made public jsorda rieipe. Aonday, proved so convincing ispitalmarkt-r hatthe National Cancer Institute iwest Indianah ook the unusual step of mailing lead attacks:: etters to thousands of doctors urg- you do the “ ng them to adopt the new ap- he said. “I beg )roach immediately, eckup. There: “We think the data are so com- .|p walking- Jelling that this should change the 'is rouiTr>y women are treated all over 's wrongwh: r ^ e countr Y cin( ^ indeed around he world,” said Dr. Edward Trim- ale, head of surgery in the insti- ute’s therapy evaluation program. "" Currently, doctors routinely of- • ■L*#W er iN er y or earl y- sta S e cervical llVIV»cancer and radiation alone for cancer that has spread nearby. Radiation has been the stan dard treatment since the 1950s for cervical cancer that has spread nearby, and the five-year survival rate for these women is now about 50 percent. The new approach involves giving radiation and chemothera py simultaneously. The five studies, all sponsored by the cancer institute, tested var ious combinations of chemothera py and radiation against radiation alone. The victims’ cancer had be gun to spread beyond the cervix but was still confined to the pelvis. The studies showed that the drug and radiation combinations reduced the risk of death between 30 percent and 50 percent com pared with radiation alone during follow-up periods ranging from three to eight years. The combina tions involving the drug cisplatin, a common kind of chemotherapy, appeared to work best. ‘‘While many have previously been cured by radiotherapy, we believe that the opportunity to substantially increase the cure rate for these women has really been demonstrated through this collec tion of studies,” said Dr. Walter Curran Jr. of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, who did not take part in the research. All of the studies involved sev eral hundred women at hospitals around the country. None of the reports have been published yet. Three will appear in the April 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. One will be published in the spring in the Journal of Clin ical Oncology, while the fifth will be presented March 22 in San Fran cisco at a meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. Dr. Mitchell Morris of the Uni versity of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer in Houston, who directed one of the studies, noted how un usual it is to have five studies on a single subject come to light at one time with similar results. “It means we can definitely make a change in treatment that will save lives,” he said. “We don’t have to do more studies. We know this is the way to go.” eace talks in Kosovo continue BOUILLET, France (AP) — With a new dead- minent and the Serbs refusing to budge, ethnic Ibanians met Monday night to decide whether to ac- pt a self-rule plan for Kosovo designed to end their arlong long conflict. They were told beforehand by Gen. Wesley Clark, the ATO commander, that a NATO peacekeeping force would jsure their security in event an agreement is reached. New fighting, meanwhile, broke out between Serb 'ices and ethnic Albanians. The threat of NATO airstrikes against Serbian targets ,ung over the talks, although Secretary of State ladeleine Albright has said that NATO would not car- i out the threatened bombing strikes against Serbs if ie ethnic Albanians continued to object to provisions f the agreement. Albright shuttled between the two sides Monday, and lark flew in unannounced from NATO headquarters in russels, Belgium, for a meeting with Hashim Thaci, the olitical director of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which has fought a bloody war for independence with Serb troops. Some 2,000 people have died and about 300,000 more have been left homeless in the conflict. Diplomatic sources in Europe, declining to be identi fied, disclosed the meeting without providing any details. U.S. and European mediators have pushed the eth nic Albanians to give their final approval to a Kosovo settlement. “We have tried very hard to explain the benefits of the agreement,” said a senior U.S. official. “These are wrenching decisions.” The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymi ty, said Albright hopes to get “a true sense” of the eth nic Albanians’ stance when she meets with them again on Tuesday. Albright met separately with Serbian leader Milan Mi- lutinovic, but without making any apparent headway in breaking down Serb resistance to the use of NATO peacekeepers to enforce a settlement. agencies unprepared for ‘Y2K ’ problems WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agencies are belatedly responding to the year 2000 computer problem, and some of the biggest depart ments, including Defense and State, are still lagging behind, a House expert said Monday. Agencies, “are finally getting around in the last year to really putting some effort into this,” Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., said in re leasing his seventh quarterly “re port card” on the status of efforts to what is known as the “Y2K” problem. Horn, who heads the House subcommittee on government management, information and technology, gave the 24 agencies he has followed an overall grade of “C + .” That’s up from the “D” grade handed down in his survey last November. “At least we know there is recog nition that Y2K is not a new cere al,” said Rep. Constance Morelia, R- Md., who has worked to draw attention to the problem. President Clinton has given most federal agencies until March 31 to upgrade their computers so there will not be breakdowns in ba sic public services on Jan. 1, 2000. Most older computers use only two digits to mark what year it is and could confuse 2000 with the year 1900 at the turn of the century, causing malfunctions and shut downs. John Koskinen, head of the pres ident’s Year 2000 Council, said he was pleased by Horn’s latest as sessment. Horn, Koskinen said, “has complained I was overopti- mistic, but when the dust gets set tled we’ll find that I was more right than he was, and I’m delighted with that.” Koskinen and Horn agreed that about 90 percent of federal com puter systems will be ready by the March 31 deadline, and Koskinen said critical transportation, defense and benefits programs will be fixed well in advance of the year’s end. “I think the public should be satis fied that the risk is not coming from federal systems,” Koskinen said. Horn gave 11 agencies, including the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Affairs Depart ment, either an “A” or “A-” for in stalling software that is Y2K-com- pliant. He praised the Energy and Justice departments for making major strides since the last report. He said three departments — Health and Human Services, Agri culture and Defense — were still in the “C” category and three others — State, Transportation and the Agency of International Develop ment — got failing grades. Led by Defense, those six account for more than 50 percent of the mission-crit ical computer systems in the feder al government. Health Professions Symposium 5-1515 Free! Meet over 50 Representatives from Medical, Dental, and Nursing Schools, Vet Medicine, and Allied Health, Military Scholarship, and Public Health Administration Programs MSC Flagroom FEBRUARY 23 10:30-2:30 P.M. JtFGiWLV Texas A&M University Executive Council of Health Organizations T' HI I«tni AttHS o«*yo « *•%- <3 «<? TONIGHT, Feb. 23 Kokhs 111, 8:30pni Directors of tke week * Geoff Williams * Jerry Ckii http://oca.tamn.edB Wear a CRAZY Hat Director Positions OPEN => Student Relations, Gazette Editor, Commnnity Service, Fundraising, History & Photography, Social Affairs, & YELLOW POT Office: Koldns 130 Phone: 845-0688 TV* Crazy Hat NigHf ^4 'V4 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. - 5 p.m. “HAVING FUN ALL WRONG” THURSDAY I 25 th