Wednesday, March 19, 1997
Legislature to consider UC campus at Merced
Proposed legislation to help establish a new University of
California campus in the San Joaquin Valley was recently passed
along to its final hurdle prior to consideration by the California
Legislature.
Assembly Bill 1528, the Higher Education Bond Bill, will place a
measure on the June 1998 ballot requesting $1.25 billion in bond
sales to provide funding for the construction of UC Merced, other
new on- and off-campus centers, the equipping of new and renovated
facilities, and the repair of existing buildings.
Merced was selected as the site for the 10th UC campus by the UC
Board of Regents in 1995.
The bill passed a committee vote of 8-4 on April 8 and now moves
on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for review, said
Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, bill co-author.
"Passage of a significant bond measure is essential to the
timely development of UC Merced. I have been working closely with
other state elected officials from the Central Valley for the
passage of AB 1528," he stated in a press release.
Moving forward on the planning of the Merced campus has become a
top priority, said Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante, D-Fresno, bill
co-author.
The $1.25 billion needed for the new campus would come from a
series of bonds issued by the state, said Toni Symonds, consultant
to the Select Committee for AB 1528.
The proposed bonds will not only benefit the building of UC
Merced, but will also provide capital outlay at existing UC, CSU
and community college campuses, Symonds said.
New pill to prevent flu by stamping out virus
An anti-flu drug jointly developed by UC Berkeley Professor
Raymond Stevens and Gilead Sciences may soon allow people to dry up
runny noses and coughs with the pop of a pill.
The drug prevents the reproduction of the flu virus by shutting
down neuraminidase, the enzyme associated with the influenza
strain, and preventing it from traveling through the body.
Neuraminidase works by attaching itself to the influenza virus,
which helps it travel and eat its way through the body.
"The drug sticks in the enzyme’s mouth so it can’t chew,"
Stevens said. "The enzyme is like a snowplow  if you can’t
clear the road, then the virus just sits there and stops
spreading."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
between 25 million and 50 million people in the United States
suffer each year from the influenza virus, an illness that
manifests itself in fever, aches and respiratory difficulty. About
20,000 people, most of them elderly or with weak immune systems,
die annually from the illness.
Laboratory tests found that after being given a dose of the
drug, 87 percent of infected mice survived. When the mice were
given higher doses, all of them survived.
The January announcement of the anti-flu drug’s discovery
prompted shares of Gilead to rise in one day from $2.13 a share to
$31.50.
In accordance with a $50 million licensing agreement with
Gilead, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche will test the
anti-flu drug in Europe later this year. Gilead is currently
awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration to commence
limited tests in the United States that would focus on the drug’s
dosage and safety.
"It is about 87 percent effective in mice, so one hopes it will
have the same effect on humans," says Stevens.
Rodents are suitable test subjects because they often contract
the same strains of influenza as humans, and cures that work on
mice may work on people. Nevertheless, researchers caution that
drugs successfully tested on animals have failed when tried on
humans.
Researchers say that if further tests back up initial findings,
the dosage of the drug would be approximately 100 milligrams once
or twice a day. The pill would be smaller than an aspirin
tablet.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire services.