Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Cool again tomorrow with mostly sunny skies.
Kansan
Tuesday
October 20,1998
Section:
A
Online today
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Sports today
Vol.109·No.42
Women who participated in athletics at Kansas did not receive letters prior to 1974. Saturday, those deserving varsity Ks received them.
SEE PAGE 1B
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AIDS vaccine experiment gives hope to researchers Med Center team believes they may be on track to cure
By Jason Poarce
Kansan staff writer
A virologist at the Kansas University Medical Center believes that a vaccine to treat and prevent the AIDS virus in humans may be on the horizon.
Bill Narayan said he and his team of 20 researchers have gone from disbelief that a vaccine would be developed a few years ago to a highly positive outlook.
"I was one who figured it would never happen until we did the experiment on the monkeys," he said.
That experiment, Narayan said, included giving 12 monkeys an AIDS vaccination—six orally and six by an injection — in late 1996. Then in February of 1997, the monkeys were infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
He said the result of the test showed that none of the six monkeys given the oral vaccine were infected with the virus, and only two of the six monkeys injected with the vaccine were infected, he said.
He said the vaccine worked because it contained a mild form of the virus, which allowed the monkeys to build resistance by producing antibodies.
His findings, published in the November issue of Journal of Virology, could pave the way for future tests to see whether the vaccine also can kill the AIDS virus.
"This is a protective molecule...nobody knows how long it will protect for," he said. "That is what we want to find out."
The next experiment for Narayan and his team will be to give the oral vaccine to monkeys that already have the AIDS virus.
"Protein can't make you sick or give you side effects," he said.
Narayan said the vaccine,which is taken in a single oral dose,would be a safe human product because it is made of protein.
"If that works, then we will think about testing on humans with the virus," he said. "It would be exactly the opposite on humans — therapeutic first then preventive."
Anil Kunaar, a researcher who works with Narayan, said the team was trying different combinations of the vaccine to find out how to directly kill the AIDS virus.
"The beauty of the system is that an oral-drop immunization is generally very effective," Kunaar said.
The team's goal is to present the research to the Food and Drug Administration by July 1999 for approval to test the vaccine on humans.
The researchers and Narayan receive most of their $1 million yearly budget from the National Institutes of Health.
Narayan's team is not the only group moving in the direction of an AIDS vaccine.
One of the projects, AIDSVAX, is in the final stage of testing on people, and 5,000 volunteers are being recruited across the United States including Kansas City.
Searching for the Great Pumpkin
Above;Toby Jones, Manhattan senior, and 8-year-old Shaquanda Sweet of Lawrence, make sure they do not overlook any pumpkins. Jones, along with her roommate, Anne Leek, Olathe senior, and Shaquanda, spent their Sunday afternoon at Schaake's pumpkin patch, 15th Street, as they prepared for the Halloween season. Below: Leek carries Shaquanda on her back as they head to the pumpkin patch. Photos by Tara Bradley/KANSAN
Autumn falls over Kansas
Bv Carolyn Mellett
Kansan staff writer
he weather is cooling, and the leaves on the maple trees have turned shades of yellow and red. Piles of pumpkins for sale by the side of the road remind students and Lawrence residents that Halloween is less than two weeks away.
that Hannah is less than two weeks away.
It's autumn in Lawrence.
"By far my favorite season has got to be autumn, because we don't have autumn back home," said Andrea Bates-Chacon, Guatemala City, Guatemala, sonhonore.
Batres-Chacon said the weather could be similar in Guatemala but the leaves there did not change colors.
The trees in Lawrence are typically the most brilliantly colored during the middle of October, said Craig Martin, professor of botany. This week, he said, they probably would peak.
Martin said the primary cue for leaves to begin changing was the decrease in daylight. But if the schedule is off by a week, he said, it would be because of unusual temperature conditions.
Autumn is a perfect time to take romantic walks with her boyfriend to look at the leaves, Batres-Chacon said. She said she also enjoyed riding bicycles and playing Frisbee during the cool sunny days of autumn.
Trees turn shades of yellow and red, which
See COOL on page 2A
Greek leaders: Alcohol-free is advantageous
Kansan staff writer
By Melody Ard
Leaders of five national greek organizations identified five advantages to alcohol-free housing at a meeting last night.
Tom Balzer, Phi Delta Theta fraternity; David Glassman, Sigma Nu fraternity; Bill Tallman, Delta Chi fraternity; Jon Sticka, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity; and Ginny Carroll, Alpha Xi Delta sorority, spoke to about 100 people at the Kansas Union Ballroom.
In the presentation, the group listed a return to original focus, improved academic performance, liability insurance costs, the needs of today's students and alumni involvement as positive aspects of alcohol-free houses.
greek houses would be a good place to begin improvements.
Although Glassman said alcohol was not the only thing that gave the greek community a negative image on some college campuses, he said removing alcohol from
Glassman said alcohol was the source of 80 percent of insurance claims at fraternity houses, and the cost of insuring those houses was becoming nearly unaffordable.
"Millions of dollars have been spent to pay for damage done," he said. "But the human cost is really what matters to organizations who speak to brotherhood and sisterhood."
begin improvements.
Tallman said another key issue was returning the fraternity focus to why members joined in the first place.
Glassman: In favou
of alcohol-free
greek houses
"More and more students are concerned with whether or not they will make friends." Tallman said. "It's not the big house or intramural trophies that make them join. One thing alcohol-free houses will do is make sure the focus is on things that matter."
Alcohol was not the reason most members became involved in greek organizations, he said.
The majority of the meeting focused on fraternity, but Car-
Tallman: Says drinking isn't needed to make friends.
coll included a sorority perspective on alcohol-free housing.
"Women's role in this is as important as
the men's," she said. "If sorority women say they are only going to alcohol-free parties, do you think fraternities with alcohol flowing out of their windows are going to stand there by themselves?"
Amy Heinemann, Newton senior and president of Alpha Xi Delta, said she came to learn more about the process and to encourage her chapter to become involved.
The group of national leaders met with students this weekend at Greek Endeavor and with alumni and University administrators yesterday.
Jennifer Kinney, assistant director of greek programs, risk management and education, said the group was brought to the University following discussions by the presidents of the KU chapters of Delta Chi, Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta and Phi Gamma Delta fraternities. Those four fraternities have made commitments to make their houses alcohol-free.
A memorial service for William J. Bell, professor of entomology, will be held at 4:45 p.m. tomorrow in Danfort Chapel. Bell died last Saturday. He was 55 years old. Contributed photo
KU loses biology professor to illness
By Liz Wriston
Kansas staff writer
The University of Kansas lost a researcher, teacher and scholar on Saturday.
William J. Bell, a professor of ontology and former chairman of the department, died in his McLouth home after a long illness. He was 55 years old.
Michael Greenfield, professor and chair of the entomology department, said he knew Bell reasonably well and that his death was devastating for the University.
A memorial service will be held in Danforth Chapel tomorrow at 4:45 p.m.
"It's been a terrible loss for our department, the students, faculty and the University." Greenfield said.
Bell was appointed as an assistant professor of entomology at the University in 1970, and he became a full professor in 1976.
He served as associate dean of research administration from 1974 to 1976 and as chair of the entomology department from 1987 to 1993.
Larry Kipp, adjunct assistant professor in entomology and biological science, was advised by Bell while a graduate student at the University. Later, Bell asked him to become a member of the entomology faculty. In 1989, Kipp collaborated with Bell on a project involving Hawaiian fruit flies.
"It's awful. I hate to see anybody die before their time, and he was only 55 years old," Kipp said. "It's a personal loss to myself, but it's also a loss for those in the department, today's students and those students in the future who never got the
Becca Diebolt, Lawrence junior, said,
"Everyone who knew Dr. Bell knew what a wonderful person he was."
Bell was born Jan. 10, 1943 in Boston, Mass., and earned degrees from Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Mass., the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
He was awarded the Olin Petefish Award for Research Accomplishments in Basic Science by the University in 1986.
Bell also was prominent in academic editing. He was editor of the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society from 1982 to 1984 and the editor of Environmental Entology from 1984 to 1987. He initiated the Journal of Insect Behavior in 1988 and served as its editor until his death.
Bell was the author of more than 100 research and review articles on topics including insect behavior, development and physiology. He also wrote two books and was writing his third on the biology of cockroaches at the time of his death.
Bell is survived by his parents, William and May Bell of Melbourne, Fla., his sister, June Little of Mission Viejo, Calif., his son, Calder of Yachats, Ore., and his former wife, Claire, of Eugene, Ore.
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