Rats may help NU students
find the best time to study
By William Lauer
Staff Reporter
Students could take a lesson from some rats
at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to
help them prepare for late-night cram sessions
and early morning finals.
Lynne Farr, associate professor at the
UNMC College of Nursing, and Catherine
Todero, an assistant professor, are using rats to
aid them in their research of circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms are the cycle of biologi
cal rhythms; the metabolic, glandular and sleep
patterns that occur in the human body over a 24
hour period, Farr said. The timing of the cycle
determines whether a person is a day or night
person, and when their peak performance hours
are during the day.
Todero said if people recognize the cycle of
their rhythm, they can take advantage of it.
“If a student has problems in the morning .
.. if they can ’ t study or write a paper, they might
want to schedule all their classes in the after
noon,” she said.
But circadian rhythms can be altered,
Todero said.
“Fifty percent of the population are in the
neutral category, not exclusively day or night
people,” she said. “They respond to stimulants
in their environment.”
Farr and Todero’s research deals with
changing a patient’s biological clock before
surgery to help them recover more quickly from
the trauma their body undergoes.
Surgery alters patients’ circadian rhythm in
a way similar to jet lag, Farr said.
The research attempts to set the patient’s
biological clock ahead anticipating that the
surgery will reset it.
Farr and Todero used rats in their research to
establish a method to alter circadian rhythms.
They woke the animals early to feed them and
give them caffeine.
To alter a patient’s circadian rhythm, they
worked with them days before surgery by plac
ing them on a dietary schedule, Farr said.
“On alternate days we use a fast-feast regi
ment,” she said. “Some days we cut their
calories to 1,000 a day.”
No medication is used to prepare the patient,
Farr said.
“They are given no more than the equivalent
of a couple cups of coffee and high protein” to
stimulate them, she said. “The body is a lot
more amenable to natural cues.”
They also monitor the patients blood-pres
sure, temperature and urine to track the rhythm,
Farr said. But so many variables makes it
difficult.
“The temperature curve is a very accurate
way to monitor a patient,” Farr said. “A
person’s temperature doesn’t stay at a constant
98.6 degrees throughout the day. It is higher
during their peak performance hours.”
By knowing when a person peaks, they can
adjust their treatment accordingly, she said.
Neutral and night people have proven to be
the most flexible, Todero said. Morning people
have a stricter routine that is harder to disrupt,
she said. As a person gets older they tend to
become more day oriented, she said.
Farr and Todero have been working in
Omaha with patients referred to them by coop
erating physicians.
The process is slow, Farr said. Monitoring
an animal in a controlled laboratory environ
ment is more accurate than mon itoring a human
being, she said.
“Just the anticipation of surgery can alter a
person’s rhythm,” she said.
Union gives RHA office space
By Anne Mohri
Senior Reporter
Nebraska Union Board members
granted space next fall to all student organi
zations that applied, said Frank Kuhn, assis
tant director of the Nebraska unions.
Seven new organizations, including the
Residence Hall Association, will use office
space in the unions next fall.
Kuhn said RHA has tried for several
years to get office space in the Nebraska
Union and until now had been rejected by
the Union Board.
Union Board members said RHA could
find space in residence halls, he said. The
Union Board was afraid that another organi
zation would have to be rejected if RHA was
given space, Kuhn said.
RHA requested office space next to the
Interfratemity Council and Panhellenic
Association offices.
However, Kuhn said, this year RHA
applied for space in the union so they could
have a better opportunity to communicate
more closely with IFC, Panhellenic and the
Association of Students ot the Uni versity of
Nebraska.
“It’s an opportunity for the organizations
to get to know and understand each other,”
Kuhn said.
Also, RHA said the space they are cur
rently using is not large enough to accom
modate their activities, he said.
Kuhn said giving RHA space may be a
turning point in correcting the problems
between residence hall and Greek students.
“The Union Board felt it was important
enough to give up one of our meeting rooms
to try to get the improvement in the relation
ship between the two organizations,” he
said.
Bookstore officials doubt exchange will succeed
EXCHANGE from Page 1
Bookstore won’t be affected because if the
program does not work well, then not many
books will be exchanged.
He said students will not want to spend time
finding a buyer for their books.
“My experience has been that students want
money for their books now,” Lewis said. “The
book exchange will take some time for a seller
to find a buyer. The students that need books
will worry about books for next semester then.”
Lewis said getting a buyer and seller together
will be a problem.
“That’s why there are bookstores. There is a
lot less hassle,” Lewis said.
If the book-exchange program does de
crease the number of books sold back to the
bookstores, both managers said, it will have no '*
effect on the prices of the textbooks sold next
semester.
“That type of thing doesn’t affect the prices
of books,” Lewis said. “We buy used books
from wholesalers, and they have enough avail
able.”
Correll said the AS UN office will not make
any money from the program.
“It doesn’t cost anything to the students,”
Correll said. “The ASUN office will lose a little
money because of the materials that are needed.
We have to buy the files and the paper.”
Correll said the program will be in operation
by the end of this semester. Any book that will
be used in the fall semester can be sold through
the program.
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