14A
Thursday, December 7, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fighting erupts at protest led by Islamic candidates
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt — Rival gangs clashed with guns, knives and sticks yesterday in a bloody conclusion to parliamentary elections boycotted by leading Islamic candidates to protest what they called an attempt to bar them from political life.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded during the runoffs for 300 seats in the People's Assembly, or parliament. The voting followed last week's election,
in which govern-
tacked candidates won 90
percent of the decided seats.
The rest of the seats went to independents, many of them government supporters. Opposition candidates, including members of the influential Muslim Broth-
any party," Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif told the Egyptian news agency. "Some are trying to distort Egyptians' democracy by attacking the elections and the freedom that exists in Egypt."
"This is unprecedented even in Egypt's history of rigging elections."
erhood, did not win a single seat.
In recent months, police have arrested dozens of Brotherhood supporters and closed its headquarters in Cairo in a campaign many attributed to the government's fear of the group's influence.
erhood, did not win a single seat. Like last week, opposition candidates accused the government of stuffing ballot boxes, forcibly barring election monitors and blocking voters from entering polling stations.
The Brotherhood, Egypt's largest
The government called yesterday's ballot free and fair, saying the governing National Democratic Party's popularity meant there was no need for fraud. It was almost sure to win at least two-thirds of the 444 seats. Results were expected today.
"This is unprecedented, even in Egypt's history of rigging elections," said Mokhtar Nooh, a Brotherhood candidate in Cairo. "The elections were tailor-made."
The government was neutral because it has no interest to interfere in the elections for the sake of
Mokhtar Nooh Parliament candidate
Islamic group despite being banned, ran 150 candidates as independents anyway. About 30 entered the runoffs, but at least 10 abruptly withdrew yesterday.
Abdel-Qawi el-Sisi, a Brotherhood candidate in the Nile delta. "If I do that, people will laugh at me."
The Brotherhood, which has renounced violence, says it supports democracy and has promised to treat Egypt's Christians as equals. It appealed to frustrated Egyptians with its simple slogan, "Islam is the solution," and campaigned against corruption.
The government tried to link the Brotherhood to Muslim militants fighting since 1992 to overthrow the government and install Islamic rule. More than 850 people have died.
Clashes between gangs of rival supporters using guns, knives and sticks erupted across Egypt yesterday, killing at least 12 people, including an 8-year-old boy hit by a car.
Find opens door to AIDS cure
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - After a long search, researchers have discovered AIDS-virus suppressors that the body produces naturally, possibly opening the door to new treatments.
Scientists long have known that white blood cells called CD8 cells secrete one or more substances that hamper the virus' efforts to reproduce and infect cells. But they hadn't been able to find out what the suppressing substances were.
Two research teams say they've found some answers. One identified three substances that dramatically reduce HIV's ability to infect cells in test tubes. The second team found that an unrelated protein from CD8 cells restrains the virus' reproduction in test-tube experiments.
Scientists hope to find a way to use the substances to control the body's HIV levels for long periods, maybe indefinitely, prolonging the years that infected people can stay healthy.
Although HIV-infected people produce antiviral CD8 secretions naturally, prior research shows that the levels decline as the immune system deteriorates.
One of the research teams, from Germany,
reported its results in today's issue of the journal Nature. Another publishing in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Science included prominent AIDS researcher Robert Gallo of the Institute for Human Virology, part of the University of Maryland at Baltimore. He was with the National Cancer Institute at the time of the research.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said both papers were important. He also said it was no surprise that the two teams had different findings because it would have been astounding if only one CD8 secretion suppressed HIV.
Fauci said the important questions now were how the substances suppressed HIV and whether the test-tube results could lead to a workable therapy for people.
The substances had been known before for doing other jobs.
Reinhard Kurth, president of the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, Germany, and his colleagues reported that a protein called interleukin-16 sharply reduced HIV replication in test tubes.
Kurth said that in people, interleukin-16 someday might be combined with drugs to
attack the virus at different stages of reproduction. If no new virus is made, the body's level of HIV will fall, giving the immune system a better chance to keep it under control, he said, but the virus probably still would not be eliminated.
Kurth said interleukin-16 would have to be tested in animals not only for its usefulness but also for its side effects. High doses of other interleukins are known to cause fever, diarrhea and other problems, he said. Combining IL-16 with other drugs might reduce the dose of each required and diminish the side effects from each, he said.
The Science paper reported that three other substances from CD8 cells dramatically suppressed HIV's ability to infect cells in test tubes. The substances are called RANTES, MIP-1-alpha and MIP-1-beta.
Kurth said that by studying how they work, scientists might learn more about how HIV caused disease.
Like Kurth, Gallo said the substances would not be expected to eliminate HIV from the body.
"We are talking about control of HIV," Gallo said. "It will be like diabetes that is controlled with insulin."
Science should be hands-on, group says
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — By grade four, American schoolchildren should know that light travels in a straight line until it hits an object, teachers and scientists recommended yesterday.
By grade eight, they should understand that all organisms are made of cells. And by the time they leave high school, they should know something about how chemical reactions occur.
in Seattle. Wash.
Most importantly, throughout all grades, students should learn about science by conducting experiments rather than memorizing from a textbook, the National Research Council recommended.
Backman and other teachers helped develop the science standards, designed to give states and school districts guidelines they can follow if they wish.
"By doing science hands-on, you raise it to a level where the child can reason and apply what they learn," said Judi Backman, a teacher who develops lesson plans and trains colleagues in Highline School District
Learning by doing is the rule in Backman's district, she said. Third-grade teachers give students a piece of wire, a small battery
"By doing science hands-on ... the child can reason and apply what they learn."
and a bulb and ask them to find different ways to light the bulb.
"Rather than just telling them, 'If you have the light connected to the wire connected to the battery, that's a complete circuit,' they figure that
out themselves," Backman said. "And it's so much richer."
The national standards don't recommend actual lesson plans but give broad guidelines and specific examples of what children should know.
The recomendations come as
a meric a schoolchildren
continue to show improvement in math and science test scores. Scores have risen since 1982, when a report entitled "A Nation at Risk" found American children woefully behind peers in Europe and Asia.
Despite the improvement, too many American schools still teach science through memorization, the standards project found.
The council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, coordinated the effort among teachers, scientists and school administrators. The academy is a private congressionally chartered organization that conducts research.
In the past, conservatives have criticized efforts to set national academic standards, fearing the federal government will tell local schools what to teach.
But federal officials say the standards are meant only to be guidelines that states, districts or individual teachers can use to develop their own curricula.
The research council plans nationwide meetings with parents and teachers to discuss the science standards.
STREETSIDE RECORDS
NEED HATS?
WE'VE GOT'EM.
NEED A SALE?
WE'VE GOT IT!
20% OFF
ALL HATS & BRANDS INCLUDED
SHARK'S SURF SHOP
813 MASS 841-8289