University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, September 9, 1987
11
Nation/World
Siamese twins still in drug-induced coma and remain in critical but stable condition
The Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Siamese twins who were seated in a 22-hour operation over the weekend remained in critical but stable condition yesterday as doctors closely monitored their drug-induced comas.
The 7-month-old infants, Patrick and Benjamin Binder, were lying very still sleeping in separate cribs at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, hospital spokeswoman Joann Rodgers said yesterday.
At least one physician and two nurses were monitoring the babies around the clock, doctors said.
Doctors plan to keep the children in a phenobarbital coma at least until tomorrow, to give their brains a chance to heal from the surgery that ended Sunday morning. The pair had been attached at the head.
Following the operation, Dr. Mark Rogers, who coordinated the complicated surgery by a team of 70 nurses, doctors and medical technicians, said
the infants would be kept in the coma for a minimum of five to seven days.
Doctors are controlling virtually all the twins' body functions.
white the infants, from Ulm, West Germany, had separate brains, they shared a vein in the back of the head that helps drain the brain. Surgeons had to separate and then reconstruct the blood drainage system in each boy.
Two major risks doctors and nurses watched for were bleeding and swelling of the brain tissue. So far, there has been no excess bleeding, said the hospital spokeswoman.
insisted on speaking Surgery coordinator Rogers said that even when they were joined, the boys' demonstrated their separate personalities.
separate the doctor. "Patrick's head was turned . . . Benjamin was a little less active," he said. Before they were separated, the doctor said he once found one child crying for food while the other slept. "I couldn't believe it," Rogers said.
Siamese twins joined at the head occur in about 1 out of 2 million to 2.5 million births, and the survival rate of twins who have been separated is normally no greater than 50 percent, according to Dr. Ben Carson, chief of pediatric neurosurgery.
The operation required 60 pints of blood because the children bled more heavily than doctors had anticipated.
At one point in surgery, it appeared the supply of available blood for the twins might run out. At first, the operating room staff volunteered to donate their own, although the suggestion wasn't practical. The Red Cross came through with 10 additional units.
The twins' parents, Josef and Theresia Binder, were unavailable for interviews or photographs after selling exclusive rights to their story to Bunte, a West German magazine. The National Enquirer purchased North American rights to the story.
Ethiopian government predicts famine appeals for nearly 1 million tons of food
The Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The Ethiopian government has made an appeal for nearly a million tons of emergency food aid for next year to offset an expected shortage, the top United States diplomat here said yesterday.
James Cheek, U.S. charge d'affaires, said the United States and other diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, received letters yesterday from the government's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission asking for 950,000 metric tons of food aid.
the letter gave no figure for the
number of people affected by the potential food shortage, he said.
A relief official, who worked through the catastrophic Ethiopian drought and famine of 1984-85, calculated 5 million Ethiopians were threatened. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The United Nations Prevention and Preparedness Group in Ethiopia also issued an appeal urging immediate action to prevent a famine.
"The threatening situation makes such provisional planning estimates essential if widespread starvation and suffering are to be averted in 1988," wrote Michael Priestley, coordinator for the U.N. agency.
During the 1984-85 drought, more than one million Ethiopians were forced to leave their homes to seek food. Sprawling refugees camps were established overnight and many became breeding grounds for diseases like cholera.
disease cases in the country. In addition to food aid, Priestley said Ethiopia "will inevitably require further substantial investments in transport, port improvements and spare parts."
During the previous drought, it took five to seven months for food aid to be delivered to famine victims. Part of the problem was bottlenecks
created by poor facilities at Ethiopia's Red Sea ports, a shortage of vehicles and a lack of spare parts.
Donors nations and relief agencies pledged 500,000 metric tons of food aid for 1987. To date, no plaques have been made for 1988.
Cheek said there would have to be consultations in Washington before the United States responded to Ethiopia's latest appeal.
He said the United States was the largest individual donor during the 1984-85 drought, giving 500,000 metric tons of food worth $600 million.
This election a no-lose proposition Mexican president de la Madrid to pick successor from ruling party
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — President Miguel de la Madrid will reveal the name of his successor any day now. It is done in Mexico by choosing the candidate of the governing party, which has never lost a presidential race.
The election is scheduled for next July. Whoever de la Madrid chooses to represent the Institutional Revolutionary Party in what is popularly called "el desaté" (the unveiling), is sure to be sworn in for a six-year term on Dec. 1, 1988.
There is a difference this year, but only a slight one.
So powerful is the party's grassroots control that it has won every contest for president, senator or state governor since its founding in 1929
Previous incumbents have announced the names of those who will follow with no prior indication of
who would be anointed, but de la Madrid will choose from among six men who have presented their views publicly.
They appeared over a two-week period, in alphabetical order, at breakfast meetings of the party leadership that were broadcast nationally.
Potential presidents in previous years avoided admitting even privately that they might be chosen.
De la Madrid's innovation is widely interpreted as an attempt to counter growing disenchantment with the current political system. In Mexico, where small steps sometimes are called milestones, his action has prompted both applause and denunciation.
One thing on which critics and supporters agree is that many Mexicans are unhappy with the system and its secrecy. That has been made
clear by declining voter participation, especially in state and local elections.
Lorenzo Meyer of the Colegio de Mexico, a respected graduate and research institution, called the innovation a small step that would lead Mexicans to press for more reforms and that showed the system was willing to change.
All six potential candidates are Cabinet members, in keeping with the party's tradition of choosing the next president from the incumbent government.
government
They are Ramon Aguirre, mayor of Mexico City; Sergio Garcia Ramirez, the attorney general; Manuel Bartlett, interior secretary; Alfredo del Mazo, secretary of energy and mines; Miguel Gonzalez Avelar, public education secretary, and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, secretary of budget and planning.
Bartlett, del Mazo and Salinas de Gortari are considered the front-runners.
Because of the revolution of 1910-21, which nearly tire Mexico apart and cost 1 million lives, the party's founders sought political stability above all else — even at the cost of corruption, repression and election fraud to stay in power.
A top official of the party, which is known as the PRI for its initials in Spanish, was asked in a private conversation recently about the possibility of choosing a candidate in open convention. His response was a picture of armed factions shooting it out on the convention floor.
Pressure to liberalize the system began increasing this year. A small but influential party group that calls itself the Democratic Current demanded more open selection of candidates.
The Kansas Relays Are Coming!!
Applications are now being accepted for the Student Relays Committee.
This committee is instrumental to the organization and administration of one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious Track and Field Meets.
BECOME PART OF THE TRADITION! Working with the Kansas Relays can be an exciting and rewarding experience. Applications will be accepted through FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. Interviews will be conducted the following two weeks. Stop by the Kansas Track Office, Room 143 Allen Field House today and fill out an application
PRE-MED STUDENTS The Annual Junior/Senior Pre-Med Meeting is:
Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7:00 p.m.
Alderson Auditorium - KS Union
- Application Information
- Video - "The AMCAS Story"
- Video : "Passage To Physicianhood"
- KU Med representatives in attendance
ALL PRE-MEDS WELCOME!
Representatives from KU Med will be on campus to meet with students individually on:
Sept. 28
Oct. 5
Oct.12
Oct.19
To make an appointment, see the Pre-Med Secretary in Room 106, Strong Hall, 864-3667.
$24,000 FOR COLLEGE
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TO QUALIFY -
- U.S. CITIZEN IN GOOD PHYSICAL CONDITION
- COLLEGE JUNIOR
- AGE 18 TO 25
OFFICER REPRESENTATIVES WILL BE ON CAMPUS AT THE CAREER FAIR SEPTEMBER 15, 16, 17, 1987. COME BY OR CALL THE NUMBER LISTED BELOW FOR FURTHER INFO.
APPLY NOW!
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