Page 28 University Daily Kansan Friday, April 20.1962
Long Ignored Gland Now Considered Vital
By Delos Smith UPI Science Editor
ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. — (UPI) The scientific case for the once-despised thymus gland being one of the most important organs of the body has been all but cinched, the scientist who has led in building the case has revealed.
It wasn't so many years ago when physicians attacked the thymus glands of infants with X rays if they seemed enlarged. Much medical opinion considered it a useless and possibly troublesome organ like the appendix. Dr. Good has promoted it to a high spot among the organs essential for long life.
HE RECEIVED the annual Parke Davis Research Award of the American Society for Experimental Pathology at a banquet and had the honor of delivering the award lecture at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
He is Prof. Robert A. Good of the University of Minnesota. The case he presented was that in the first day or two of life the thymus gland establishes the body's chemical system of immunological defense which preserves it from "foreign" invaders throughout its life.
The clinching evidence for the indispensable importance of the thymus comes from experiments with just-born rabbits and mice. When their thymus glands are removed in toto they grow up into "immunological cripples," he said.
In short, their body chemistry produces relatively few antibodies against "foreign" invaders and they're readily overpowered by any sickening bacteria or viruses which happen along. Thymus gland deficiency in infancy could even be related to leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis in later life, he suggested.
The human thymus gland is comparatively large at birth because it
has immediate work to do, in his theoretic view. Its cells are rapidly dividing and disperse through the lymph system and especially to the spleen, where they become "stem" cells. From them stem the cells specialized in manufacturing antibodies against any "foreign" invader.
BONE MARROW also produces antibodies and so an animal deprived of thymus function at birth is not wholly without defense. But he's in bad shape defensively and Good said, (in a private conversation) that people who "pick up one infection after another" could have been born with inadequately functioning thymus glands.
However, he doubted that the X-ray treatments once given thymus glands of infants had harmed their immunological defenses. The X rays were usually given a few weeks after birth and by then the "stem" cells had been dispersed through the body. But the thymus has some function throughout life, he continued, even though it begins drying up around the age of 12 years. The thymus gland is at the base of the neck immediately behind the top of the breast bone, by the way.
Good believed the new and growing knowledge of the importance of the thymus gland would lead to successful transplants of organs from one person to another. That is presently impossible (except of kidneys between identical twins) because immunological chemistry considers a transplanted organ a "foreign" invader and immediately manufactures antibodies against it.
To forestall this defensive reaction, you'd have to remove the recipient's thymus gland at birth, to be sure. But Good's view was that the thoroughly scientific understanding of how the chemistry works, which is coming, will provide techniques for overcoming the defense on a selective basis when there is a need to do so.
Story of a Political Murder-
(Continued from page 17)
the army of Arab shoeshine boys or "yaouled." Then he had a score of jobs—messenger, errand boy—until his muscles became strong enough for him to go to work on the waterfront.
THE DAY—WHICH turned out to be the last in his life—started out the way every other day did since he began to work on the waterfront.
He took his usual route to work, down a succession of steep staircases that lead from the top of the Casbah, where he lived. He walked down the broad Rue de la Lyre.
He skirted the barbed wire barricades which keep OAS terrorists out of the Casbah and arrived at the broad Place du Gouvernement near the waterfront.
As he did every day, he stopped to buy cigarettes. Like many Arabs, he could not afford to buy a pack but merely a few cigarettes at a time. He lit one on his way to work.
Ahmed left the docks a little afternoon. It was a warm, sunny spring day, the kind of day that made Ahmed feel good. But he did not dare to loiter. He had to pass through the European business section to return
home to the Casbah. Far too many Moslems had met their deaths from OAS gunmen in the past few days and Ahmed knew it was not a place to hang around.
- The need for "adding facilities according to the most desperate need" will be overcome and there would be no need to do piecemeal construction under strain and pressure.
BUT HE DID not hurry. He just went steadily on his way, minding his own business, talking to no one, enjoying the sunshine.
As he walked along the Rue D'isly, a main shopping and business street, Ahmed even stopped for a moment on the corner of the Rue Gueydon to light a cigarette.
A dry crack, a spurt of blood, Ahmed spun around three times and fell quietly to the ground without ever knowing what had hit him. The gunman was somewhere in the crowd. We never saw him.
No one told us the rest of the story.
We saw it happen.
Ahmed lit the cigarette, put the matches back in his pocket, and stood for a moment with both hands crammed into his jeans pockets. His head was bent slightly forwards.
- KU's average classroom use of 36 hours per week, 10 hours over the nationally recommended average of 26 hours, would be reduced to a more desirable level, thereby making better instruction possible, especially in laboratory classes.
Next morning they dug a grave and buried Ahmed in the El Kettar Moslem cemetery, high on the hills overlooking the sea. It was a spot Ahmed might have picked, if he'd had the chance.
- The Planning Council investigated how other institutions solved expansion problems and found that leaving old buildings on choice sites causes constant expansion of the campus grounds, the result being unnecessary duplication and expense brought on by problems of communication, transportation, utilities, logistics and increased overhead.
- No priority schedule has been developed for the new buildings. Fraser Hall will be the first constructed, and then a logical sequence will be followed.
- The third floor of Strong Hall, now used for art classes, will be used for multi-purpose classrooms for it is strategically located in the center of the campus.
VOTE
Mary Louise St. Clair Soph. Sec.
- Robinson Gymnasium, when originally built, was on the edge of the campus. Now in the center of the campus, it is "hopelessly inadequate" because of its obsolescence and distance from intramural fields in the Allen Field House area.
(Continued from page 17)
Neil Jouvenat Soph. Pres.
- Haworth Hall, also inadequate for modern purposes and methods, also will be removed for reasons that apply to Robinson Gymnasium: The cost of renovation for any purpose is excessive; the possibility of renovation for a specific purpose does not exist, and the limitations of the existing structures provide only a minimum of classroom space in contrast to the potential maximum use of the land.
Barry Duwe Soph. Vice Pres.
Nancy Patterson Soph. Treas.
Campus Population-
IF YOU REALLY WANT MORE WE ARE THE FOUR
PAID POLITICAL
THE OLD journalism school already has been torn down to make way for the Watson Library addition.
Considerable sentiment for the old buildings, particularly Fraser Hall. has been expressed by alumni and
KU fans. Built in 1872, this structure has been repaired many times. Its original cost was $146 thousand and it is named for a former Chancellor. Its red-roofed twin towers have been one of KU's most familiar landmarks for generations.
The old building cannot be remade into a modern structure so the Planning Council decided that another Fraser would be necessary. The new one will house English, home economics and language classes.
TWO MAJOR construction projects are under way now;
- The construction of the new $1.9 million Engineering Building on the northwest corner of Naismith Road and 15th Street. It is expected to be ready by September, 1963.
The Noble Savage #4
Funds have been appropriated for the $720 thousand Blake Hall replacement. The new building is scheduled for completion by January, 1964.
- The $840 thousand addition to the north side of the Natural History Museum (Dyche Hall) for classroom and laboratories. Completion is scheduled for July, 1963.
To keep pace with the increased enrollment, KU has planned a separate dormitory expansion program. This is a $14.3 million proposal for six new scholarship halls and four to six new dormitories by 1970. The present formula for financing them calls for private support in addition to state money. Thirteen million dollars come from the state and $1.3 million from bond sales.
The addition of the new dormitories and residence halls will raise KU's housing accommodations to 5,978 students. More than double this number would have to find off-campus housing.
KU's nine present scholarship halls house 450 students of outstanding scholarship. These students share operating costs and are thereby able to continue in school. Limited financial need is a prerequisite to admission into the scholarship halls, and without these halls many of KU's best students could not remain in school.
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THE MEMBERS of the KU Planning Council are Raymond Nichols, executive secretary of the University: George M. Beal, chairman of Architecture Department and special counsel to the group; Kenneth E. Anderson, dean of the Education School; Keith Lawton, administrative assistant for physical plant operations; George Baxter Smith, dean of the University; Irvin Youngberg, executive secretary of the KU Endowment Association; Alton C. Thomas, assistant professor of architecture and special counsel to the planners; and James Hitt, registrar and director of admissions.
The five traffic control stations which will operate from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will be placed in the center of the streets as follows:
Traffic lights probably will be installed at 13th and Oread and Sunflower Road and Sunnyside Avenue.
- On Mississippi Street south of the Memorial Drive intersection.
- On Oread Avenue north of the Kansas Union but south of the 13th Street intersection.
- On Sunflower Road just north of its intersection with Sunnyside Avenue.
- On Jayhawk Boulevard just east of the Chi Omega fountain.
Only a few minor accidents and no traffic deaths have occurred at KU. But the steadily climbing number of students and cars on the campus make traffic controls necessary, officials say.
Acquitted, Admits Guilt
RENSSELAER, Ind. — (UPI) There were a dozen embarrassed jurors today in Tippacane county.
Richard D. Smith, 24, whom they acquitted of burglary charges last week, admitted yesterday he was guilty.
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