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University Daily Kansan, February 2. 1983
MS treatment not cure but results offer hope
By MICHAEL BECK Staff Reporter
The results of a new multiple sclerosis treatment are promising, but still offer little hope for a cure for the disease, a neurologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center said yesterday.
"When I sit down with patients, I can only tell them that there is very little known about the disease, but that there is a chance they will improve on their own," said Chi-Wan Lai, assistant professor of neurology.
A patient with acute multiple sclerosis will probably undergo a series of hormone injections to relieve the symptoms of stiffness and pain, he said.
Neurologists at the Med Center rely on prednisone, a hormone that stimulates the adrenal gland, to improve spinal cord flexibility, he said, but there is a high chance of cancerous side effects with hormone treatments.
LAI SAID HE did not prescribe any treatment for patients with stable multiple sclerosis, because of the chance for improvement.
Multiple sclerosis attacks the central nervous system, affecting coordination, speech, and sexual bladder and bowel. More than 400 Americans have multiple sclerosis.
"There is no use in patients spending money for miracle treatments when there are real alternatives."
However, the New England Journal of Medicine last week published the results of two studies that claim dramatic improvement in the symptoms of multiple sclerosis victims.
The results of one technique, using the hormones cyclophosphamide and ACTH, showed improvement or stability in 18 of 20 patients tested.
DOCTORS CAREFULLY avoided saying a cure was imminent. But because the technique offered the first real clue to the nature of the disease, they did suggest it could lead to an effective treatment.
An editorial accompanying the articles also warred that the new techniques were not cures, but that they could improve bright into the origin of multiple sclerosis.
"The results shed some light on the cause of multiple sclerosis, but to take it as a treatment is premature," Lai said.
The other technique, which tested 17 patients in a pressurized oxygen chamber for 90 minutes, showed improvement in 12 cases.
Lai discounted the results of the oxygen chamber technique because there also had been improvement in the placebo group used.
THE RESULTS of both studies prompted physicians of the Multiple Sclerosis Society's medical advisory New York City to issue words of caution.
"These results clearly provide grounds for hope for MS people, but also highlight the frustrating uncertainty that exists between the treatment trials and the transition to broad use of therapy," the advisory board said in a statement.
In addition, Lai said recent MS research projects at the Med Center had included the hormone loricel, but those tests were designed to investigate the hormone's reaction on spinal elasticity.
UNIVERSITY FORUM will feature a lecture by Marc Franca about "India, China and the USSR" at 11:45 a.m. at Ministers' Institute, Ministry of Ministries Center. 1204 Oren Ave.
TOMORROW
discuss elections in Germany at 4:30 p.m. in 4067 Wescoe.
THE KU GERMAN CLUB will
THE MELLON FACULTY Development Seminar will discuss a paper titled, "The Song Begins Where Summer Comes," at 3:30 p.m. in the Kansas Union.
THE KU SAILING CLUB will meet at 7 p.m. in the Union.
TODAY
EPICAPSOL EUCHARIST will be at noon at Danforth Chapel.
KU SWOR AND SHIELD will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Oread Room of the U.S.A.
On campus
KU RUGY FOOTBALL Club will practice at 7 p.m. in Allen Field House.
However, the proposal would be a step in the right direction, KU School of Law.
Gov. John Carlin's proposed 4 percent to 8 percent pay raise for Kansas public teachers will not completely stop the flow of teachers from the state, area education officials said this week.
"The governor's premise is if salary is higher, more teachers will go into teaching," Scannell said. "By itself, it probably won't be sufficient."
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SCANNELL SAID enrollment in the school had decreased from a high of 2,000 students in 1971 to 1,056 in fall 1982. The average composite ACT scores of incoming education students during that period have also dropped, he said.
Officials say teacher outflow will persist
Staff Reporter
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Nita Sundbye, director of teacher education in the School of Education, said a salary raise would help, but
Dale Scannell, dean of the School of Education, said the proposed increase would help, but would not be enough to give more students into the education school.
School financing discussion began Monday in the Legislature, Swenson said, and several legislators have proposed an annual budget increase for school districts.
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MIKE SWENSON, Carlin's press secretary, said the proposal would allow the budgets of local school districts to increase 4 percent to 8 percent and would provide an extra 1.5 percent solely for teachers' salaries, depending on each district's standing relative to other districts in the state.
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Bill Wilson, director of personnel for the Lawrence School District, said Carlin's proposal was noble, but would not slow the flight from teaching.
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Scannell said he thought the press had discouraged students from becoming teachers in the 1970s by stating that there was an oversupply of teachers.
"A lot of good students think they'll be associated with losing professionals," he said.
"IF WE ALLOW this problem of tow salaries to continue, within the next 10 to 15 years, we'll see the results of this," he said.
Now, a teacher shortage is predicted for 1985, he said.
The proposal is part of Carlin's plan to raise Kansas teachers' salaries to the national average in four years, when said. Kansas now ranks 35th, with the national salary of $19,829 almost $3,000 less than the national average, he said.
With fewer students enrolled in school, fewer teachers are needed, she
fewer people were going into teaching because the birthrate had declined.
increase teachers' salaries,he said.
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Sundbye said expanded opportunities for women in other areas also contributed to the decrease, because the tenacity of nationalization has been dominated by women.
Students, however, have never gone into the teaching field for the money, he
"Historically, if you wanted to get into it or be comfortable, you didn't go into it."
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All Shows Start Promptly At 9 p.m. Open to the Public
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Place a Kansan want ad. Call 864-4358.
Presented by SUA Films
The classic 1920 German horror film Plus "Modeling," a Max Fleischer Cartoon and live piano accompaniment by
Thursday, February 3 7:30 p.m.
$1.50 Woodruff Auditorium
The classic 1920 German horror film
In the original, uncut version... the film voted the 4th greatest film of all time in a 1982 international critics' poll
Akira Kurosawa's
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written by and starred
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