Monday, August 17, 1998
Community Briefs
Man struck, killed at UCLA construction site
A 19-year-old man was killed Saturday morning when a
tractor-trailer struck him at the DeNeve Plaza work site.
Nancy Greenstein, director of community relations for university
police, said that the man was working inside an enclosed area near
Dykstra Hall just before 9 a.m. when he was struck.
He was identified as Jason Drass of Diamond Bar, said Deborah
Peterson, Los Angeles County coroner’s spokeswoman.
African Marketplace, Cultural Faire returns
Over 350,000 people are expected to attend the African
Marketplace and Cultural Faire during its three-weekend run at
Rancho Cienega Park in Los Angeles, beginning Aug. 22.
The faire, first started in 1985, features artists, crafts,
medical information, technology and food.
"It has been a primary goal of the African Marketplace to
sustain itself by establishing creative ways to capitalize on the
diversity and tremendous impact of the Pan-African community,"
James Burks, founder and organizer, said in a statement.
The theme of this year’s event will be "Africa, Not a Continent
Away" and the focus will be on children with a series of
programs.
New treatment for
HIV-related cancer
Doctors at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center are experimenting with a
new treatment for patients with HIV-related non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma.
Eligible patients must have the AIDS virus and lymphoma
responsive to chemotherapy.
Patients are treated with a standard dose of chemotherapy, then
given a hormone to stimulate the growth of new immune cells. These
cells are then harvested and treated with a gene called RevM10.
After patients are treated with a high-dose of chemotherapy, the
engineered stem cells are transfused back into the patient. The
study, expected to last a year, will determine whether RevM10 can
survive in the mature cells.
Researchers say they have already determined that RevM10
inhibits the replication of HIV in cells the virus normally
targets, and the genetically-engineered cells are resistant to
HIV.
Researchers say they are hopeful the subjects will recover from
their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a result of the new combination
treatment.
"We might be able to prolong survival," said Rafael Amado, head
of the study.
Roughly 30 percent of HIV patients develop the cancer which can
be treated with chemotherapy. About half of the time, the cancer
returns, causing a low survival rate.
Law enforcement
at colleges gets boost
Designed to improve investigation procedures on college
campuses, the Kristin Smart Campus Safety Act has been signed by
Gov. Pete Wilson. The act is named for Kristin Smart, a student at
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, who
disappeared from the campus area in May, 1996.
"Today, we take an important step forward in making (college)
law enforcement agencies more efficient and better capable of
serving the public interest," Gov. Wilson said.
The act requires that colleges in California enter into written
agreements with local law enforcement agencies regarding the
investigation of violent crimes on campuses.
The bill requires that procedures, authority and geographical
boundaries be pre-determined between campus police and local law
enforcement.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports