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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1985)
Daily Nebraskan ' ' ' Fay, August 30, 1935 Page 2 News Dm - - Year of Bragom9 to canry a disclaiMer oin raosiE I ' - 1 LOS ANGELES (Reuter) The con troversial new film "The Year of the Dragon" will soon include a disclaimer aimed at appeasing Asian Americans who have protested its alleged racist portrayals of Chinese, the distributors said Thursday. UA-MGM chairman Frank Rothman said at a news conference that a one sentence disclaimer "will appear at the beginning, right before the lion roars," in prints of the film directed by Michael Cimino that are shown in New York and Los Angeles. It will state: "This film does not intend to demean or Ignore the many achievements of Asian Americans, and in particular Chinese American citizens." People of Asian descent last week set up picket lines outside Los Angeles and New York cinemas, asserting that the portrayal of New York Chinatown gang activities in the movie was racist. Rothman credited Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Wopythe first pol itician of Asian heritage elected to the Council, with having a prominent role in developing the disclaimer.. Woo said UA-MGM had agreed not to undertake a project involving Asian Americans without first consulting members of that community to ensure authenticity and fairness. Rothman said disclaimers would be inserted into prints in New York and Los Angeles by next Tuesday. Genetic cause pinpointed Disease research advances NEW YORK (AP) Researchers reported Thursday that they have taken a major stride toward identify ing the genetic defect that causes the most common form of muscular dys trophy, a deadly, incurable disease. The work may help lead to devel opment of a treatment for muscular dystrophy, the researchers said. It also will provide a better test for finding carriers of the defect that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy and for performing prenatal diagno sis, other experts said. Some 50,000 to 100,000 boys and young men in the United States are afflicted with the disease, which causes progressive destruction of the skeletal muscles. It usually kills by the time the victim reaches his late 20s. The disease is caused by a defect on the X chromosome, which carries genes, the basic units of heredity that give bodily cells their marching orders. The disease can arise if a key gene is defective or missing. The new research, reported in the British journal "Nature" by a team of Children's Hospital in Boston, greatly advances the search for the defective gene by narrowing the area on the X chromosome to look for it. "That was a quantum leap to get- ting to the gene itself," said P. Michael Conneally, professor of medi cal genetics and neurology at Indiana University Medical Center. The gene may be found within a year, he said Thursday. Once it is found, researchers can find what abnormal instruction it is issuing, in the form of a protein, that leads to the disease, he said. That knowledge will give leads on treat ment, said Conneally who wrote a commentary in Nature on the research. More immediately, the work has produced a genetic probe that can be used to screen other people in a vic tim's family to reveal the defect with a high degree of accuracy, he said. That's important because the Duchenne defect is carried by women who show no symptoms but who can pass the defect to their sons. Women are generally not affected because they have two X chromosomes, and a normal X chromosome can make up for the defect in the other. Men have only one X chromosome. Women "really want to know whether they're carriers or not," Con neally said. In addition, the probe can be used for prenatal diagnosis of Duchenne, he said. The test should provide more accu racy than a version reported earlier this year, being "essentially fool proof," he said. But he said a test for carriers can prevent only about 70 percent of Duchenne cases, because the other 30 percent arise from spon taneous mutations that are not inherited. Symptoms of the disease usually appear at age 2 or 3, when muscles in the neck and legs begin to weaken. Most victims cannot walk by age 8 or 9. They usually die by their late 20s because the disease has weakened the muscles used in breathing, mak ing them vulnerable to respiratory failure. Report shows farm conditions decline KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Farm credit conditions worsened and farm land values continued to fall during the second quarter of the year, according to a quarterly bank survey by the Fed eral Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Responses from 166 agricultural bankers in the district indicated that most bankers are referring some farm customers to non-bank credit agencies and are requiring greater amounts of collateral on loans. The survey said the rate of loan repayment at agricultural banks re mained slow in the second quarter, and 55 percent of the bankers reported loan repayment rates lower than a year ago. The 10th District, which is head quartered in Kansas City, includes all or parts of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming. The report by Mark Drabenstott, research officer and economist for the bank, and Kim Norris, research asso ciate, said farm real estate values con tinued to fall for the second straight year. For all land categories, values aver aged 6 percent below the first quarter of 1985, 22 percent lower than the same period a year ago and 40 percent below market highs reached in 1981. The report -said, rural businesses have been hurt by the financial stress on farmers. "District bankers reported that 23 percent of the rural non-farm busi nesses in their trading areas were hav ing severe financial problems. That was slightly above the percentage reported six months ago and substantially higher than the 13 percent reported a year ago. The rate of rural non-farm business closings in the first half of 1985 was about three times higher than bankers considered normal," the report said. E5 eWS fiflelkGrS A rounduP 01 the daV's happenings Police stormed the home of Pakistani dissident leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday and put her under house arrest for three months. Bhutto heads the banned Pakis tan Peoples Party. She arrived in Karachi last week after 19 months of self-exile, and urged the government to stick to its pledge to lift martial law in Pakistan by the end of the year .... Top-seeded player John McEnroe bounced back from a first-round scare and is back on the track with a second-round U.S. Open win ... . The presi dent of the National Farmers Organization, Devon Woodland, told a group of Montana farmers that produc tion pooling and collective bargaining by masses of farmers are the only "safety net", that can save individual farmers from extinction .... In what promises to be one of the most sensational court cases in West German his tory, two former cabinet ministers and an erstwhile cap tain of industry went on trial on charges of corruption in a political bribery affair. It is expected to focus on allega tions that in the past, all main political parties in West Germany have peddled favors for funds .... Harold Stassen, 78, the last survivor of eight Americans who signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, said the U.N. needs a new weighted voting system to give large, power ful nations a greater say instead of giving all states equal vote .... Former President Gerald Ford is in Ham burg, West Germany, for a private visit with former Chan cellor Helmut Schmidt . . . .A sniffer dog led police to 37 pounds of heroin hidden in the suitcases of three Portugese travelers at Rome airport . . . Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry is examining two brands of domestic wine following a report that they had been found to contain a toxic anti freeze chemical, the same chemical was found in an Italian wine in Hong Kong .... Air Line Pilots Association members have voted to increase dues to set up a $100 million "war chest" and continue funding a 23-month strike against Continental Airlines. Said the Union: "This is a message, in foot-high letters, to all air lines. We've got the desire, the determination and now the money to protect the professional airline pilot from the onslaughts of deregulation and anti-unionism" Former U.S. astronaut James Irwin came down from Turkey's Mt. Ararat empty handed after his fourth attempt to locate the remains of Noah's Ark In Bunol, Spain, 5,000 people pelted each other with 60 tons of tomatoes in a traditional annual feista called Tomatina, which cost the city hall and private sponsors more than $4,000 .... Patti Davis, daughter of President and Nancy Reagan, has written a fictionalized account of her life called "Home Front." Davis reportedly received a sum totaling six figures for the book her first . . . .The new class of 1,387 freshmen at Rhode Island's Brown University in cludes actress Jane Fonda's daughter, Vanessa; 1984 Democratic vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferra ro's daughter, Laura; former President Carter's daughter, Amy, and socialist Claus von Billow's daughter, Cosima. Educational cost each: $16,000 for the year Israel's education Ministry is organizing shooting matches in an effort to improve the ability of teachers to fend off Palesti nian guerrilla attacks. About 7,000 teachers now are licensed to carry guns at work. From News Wires CHKA'A, ;lr. :U. 1 -: ... IL i&.:.'eL.3V"a at Jtle to force toor trari ptis it cr:-"i::::s jtrtho zammTj, cf world. trade tJh, v'Jtui h arm ItiUrV t GAIT trziv.t&vpiZS Thftrsday IS Fort)(-hir.3:.x-citntria i -i. fc-:';c J U.Seve; t;;req;'r -Senior' f&Sdste.io'incdt ti.:'3.f-Ud;J:.';c:;:3f tsU.ir rallirziz 'zz--mXom to "At a I 'U , IS net 1 r tf iv : 1 VFi : . V ' j, d a I rrcvL- 7 ui Ifrtc-. V tlcliu at' ' '.AfrrJby anrj ntycfGATTrcr ! M t - rfjprtthto Ipis$tM'iruti$! Ihe43va!fslv! irtliiJ.S;.: ! :.??..... 1 1 y v . "ktestr.eesof V c fi-; r i 1 tea T, ' . J TrSi&$&M$MW&$M0 mZ(,n&mtMo in.e&a .rev:; U- .yiXXMMMWM :-y-.-,y . : ;' .-:-.:.-y.;v: X- :v:::0:": ';: y ':' -: ' 1 ' V'i'.' N :'yy :. : y'yl-;. ::yC.-y.y iCyXv' .' yy':y-yy :::''':-x';:::;:;::-: dusk-to-dawn curfov imposed oa ?:.:" tUKi Ll:t c,lzf& coup and i reefer.:-J til ec a ?. ts. A c -r tor r ee rf.".-: 3 1 tf o new govern merit Ur-rted t ccir.3 cn fcd! scr.c cf th? sr-. --it; U who were jailed lxVn r.ot mid t' ? jrc-Mcnt fvl't:: I V : C, ::J?H cicul- i tm tita to-f i'stu "Never I ' !. r.' I-: z tt h sere serlotts The tr..irrr; 1: r ,:i t :t ir (c-. - , j ttir. tUj v.ilt tv ,-3 l .t ri i f a '.t , :tH J they will 1 ' " V trJ,l:;itudilz f " :-ttlsl;3L:;u . ; t : 1 Uolhtr steles v,ilh More than 200 die in China floods 255 3pso;Is tsj tr. n?wly 1 :Jf a r:lri til tbfi cCcUJ China Uzq l ivc? rou! d I urst throBjh C k cs j. rc : J ; r II, tv.;rc--'r- 'llT-g p lain. Alio, tlirQ nWm f,em of fenalAtiti 1 n I !r united d-out 1.5 : iiilllipi!llf:ifiilliii A:-.:ricaa the automaker's chief kbrr execiitu'e .si ,1 1fiJ, ' a ted Auta Vorkrs its tstt prcpc-,1 on a r.v.v v?sLa 70,000 expires Oct 15 srJI II e IUW leaders! Jo is- "i.f nc .-jc: s i--r auihoriza- JCtuUim,! l-! 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