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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
â–º 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.
â–  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
â–  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.”
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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
«
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<3 «<?
TONIGHT, Feb. 23
Kokhs 111, 8:30pni
Directors of tke week
* Geoff Williams
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Jan. 11 - Feb. 26, 1999
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