Presents
Texas Aggie
Baseball's 25$
Sausage Dog Night
Tonight
vs. Sam Houston 7pm
Sates Open at 5:30
Co-hosted by ARA
certain limits will apply on purchases and number available
ENGL
210
Credit by Exam
The English Department is offering credit for
English 210 : Scientific and Technical Writing
based on a portfolio of documents you write over the
course of the semester and an impromptu writing exam.
Registration (Blocker 224): May 5 ■- 6; May 31 - June 2
Portfolio Development: May 31 - July 27
Impromptu Writing Exam: August 3-4
Students with work experience or who will be taking
writing-intensive courses are especially encouraged to apply.
Students graduating in August may not apply. See our web
site or come by Blocker 224 for more information.
English Department - Writing Programs Office
845-9936
http://www.english.tamu.edu/wprograms/credit210.html
Why wait?
Get started early with Kaplan.
Enroll today and you’ll receive your MCAT review
books right away, so you can prepare now.
Get a jump on the competition by starting before classes begin!
MCAT classes begin May 15th
DAT classes begin June 8th
1 -800-KAP-TEST
www.kaplan.com
The World Leader in Test Prep
Page 8 • Tuesday, April 27, 1999
N
ATION
ie Ball a
Snappy comeback
! • •• - » *7- ' -• • ■%*'" • ? * '
mm
o. ' *•
i
• ••
< ’ •* -t.'t * i * •. •' * , • , .
>'T • - S .' . ^
' • ' ' - ■ - • .
GUY ROGERS'
An unidentified rescuer saves an alligator snapping turtle on West Campus after heavy rains Monday. Legend has it that one-
snapping turtle, the largest freshwater turtle in the world, bites down, it will not let go until it hears thunder.
Battling the bulge
Xenical, new fat-absorbing drug, receives FDAappn
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
government approved a long-
awaited pill Monday that sounds
like a dieter’s dream: It blocks the
body from absorbing almost a
third of the fat a person eats.
Xenical is supposed to be only
for obese people on strict diets.
Indeed, popping the pill before a
big greasy cheeseburger and fries
is almost certain to cause un
pleasant side effects as the left
over fat exits the body.
But Xenical is the first-ever diet
drug that works in the gut instead
of targeting the brain to suppress
appetite.
So scientists expect that, gas
trointestinal discomfort aside, it
should be a safe drug — unlike
two popular appetite suppres
sants that had to be banned in
1997.
Consequently, doctors are
bracing for demand from people
seeking a magic elixir for weight
loss.
“This drug is not a magic bul
let,’’ stressed Dr. Steven Heyms-
feld of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hos
pital in New York, who helped
research Xenical. “We don’t want
it used just casually by itself with
out any diet, or just for cosmetic
weight loss.’’
Xenical, known chemically as
orlistat, blocks intestinal en
zymes.
So instead of being stored on
people’s hips, 30 percent of the fat
they eat passes straight to the
colon for excretion.
In studies, adding Xenical to a
diet let people lose about 7 1/2
pounds more in a year than the
diet alone, the Food and Drug Ad
ministration said Monday.
Because of the way it works,
Xenical can cause intestinal
cramping, oily spotting, gas, fecal
urgency and oily or loose stools.
Some 27 percent of Xenical
users had at least one episode, al
though the side effects tend to
wane the longer people take the
drug.
The more fat eaten, the more
side effects — thus, the FDA rec
ommended that Xenical users get
no more than 30 percent of their
daily calories from fat, something
they can calculate by reading food
labels.
Xenical also decreases absorp
tion of the important fat-soluble
vitamins A, D, E and K, so users
should take supplements two
hours before or after swallowing
Xenical.
Dieters take one Xenical cap
sule with each main meal, up to
three daily. Manufacturer Hoff-
man-La Roche said the prescrip
tion-only drug will be available
within two weeks, at a wholesale
price of $1.10 per pill.
Xenical was long-awaited by
obesity experts, who say they
need new alternatives after the ill-
fated Redux and the fenfluramine
half of “fen-phen’’ were banned
in 1997 for causing heart damage.
Those drugs had been wildly
popular; many people even
bought them on the Internet with
out ever seeing a doctor, some
thing specialists say is dangerous.
Only two other prescription
weight-loss drugs are sold in this
country.
Doctors expect many dieters
will begin taking Xenical together
Fat blocker
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first medica::j
blocks the absorption of almost a third of fat eaten. A lookatf*!
and effects of orlistat. the chemical name of the drug:
NORMAL FAT
ABSORPTION
□ Food from stomach enters Q
the small intestine
FATABSl
WITH0 : :
□
TRIGLYCERIDE
Enzyme
lipase binds
to surface of
triglyceride, a
fat, and
breaks it
down
□
Byproducts
of breakdown
bind with bile
and form
micelles that
are absorbed
as fat
MONO . .
GLYCERIDE7* I
.-FATTY
ACID
MICELLE
rone
with those appetite suppressants
in hopes of greater weight loss.
But the FDA warned that no one
has studied the safety of mixing
those drugs, and Roche said it has
no plans to do so.
The FDA delayed Xenical’s ap
proval by almost two years be
cause of a perplexing concern: in
studies of over 1,000 patients, 12
Xenical users came down with
breast cancer, vs. just 2 women
given a dummy pill.
The FDA ordered Roche to re-
' DENY!
L ire Sum
ves he c
imem o
Denver
fcirmed
r filigfo!
INTFl n 111 ini
Nt J>blemst
fine. ”
The u:
ped all
new n kith
study the issue.
In January,
8,000 women tested'D 08 -Oh
showed just one caseTcmble
cancer in a Xenical pa 311,1 d a;
five in women who had
placebos. -U requu
That proved theoriga^wlei
some cases weremereh ^ a( |y dt
cal fluke and “makesusF Sund
able that this drug is ^ he term
way promoting breasiwn 0 w
said FDA chief medicalf * a n 'lic
Dr. Eric Coleman.
College Station
Utility Customer
Services
We’re Moving!
FM.2818
Waimart
□
Police
Department
m
Texas Ave.
ICentrall Utility Customer
par* ] Services
City
Cemetery
Kronok Tap Rood
Southwest Parkway
Our new site
opens
June 21,1999
The new address is
310 KrenekTap Road
764-3535
www.ci.college-station.tx.us
id. “We
’l in an}
ss.
r efet
The College of Liberal Arts ne vhe
congratulates the following liberg
arts students on their induction
Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
Matt Allen
History
Troy Allen
Political Science
Katherine DeWitt
Psychology
Vanessa Flores
Political Science
Kim Gossett
English Literature
Anne M. Hoar
Speech Communid
Brandy Hunt
Political Science
Elizabeth Koch
Political Science
Lisa Noelle Nothen
English
Andrew C. Perrone
Economics
Aaron Reese
Economics
Bryan N. Sutcliffe
History
Kathie Thoroughman
History
Aaron Tilley
Political Science
hind us
Treno
lappy ti
In Mon
> doubt,
“Absoh
k s Pape
1 saying
8 what I
H ser
Roi
HOUS"
ad 26
!
°uston
uilt a bi
Pnot lo
ln 8 a t
itg str
P'80 vi
10 noun
peles
ftf day i
f T he L
heir thii
ail:i e anc
ea st 20 p
'Dd Hoc