FDA endorses drug to treat Alzheimer’s
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP)—A drug
for treating Alzheimer s disease won
endorsement by a federal advisory
panel Thursday, a step away from
making it the first government-ap
proved drug for the incurable brain
disorder.
Members of the Food and Drug
Administration committee said new
studies had shown positive, though
small effects in Alzheimer’s patients.
“This is a baby step, but it is in the
right direction,” said panel member
Gary M. Oderda of the University of
Utah.
The advisory committee’s 10-0
vote sends the matter to the FDA.
The vote came after a daylong
meeting during which researchers
analyzed two new studies using the
drug called tacrine. Warner-Lambert
Co. plans to market it under the brand
name Cognex.
The drug had twice been rejected
by the advisory committee earlier.
Panel experts said during the meet
ing that the drug had shown “statisti
cally significant” benefits in long
term tests.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progres
sive, incurable disorder of the brain in
which patients gradually lose intel
lectual function and eventually die.
The cause of the disease is not known
and there is no cure.
If approved, tacrine would be the
first drug to directly treat the disorder.
Nancy Smith, an FDA statistician
who analyzed a new drug trial con
ducted by Warner-Lambert, said that
at the end of 30 weeks patients who
were taking tacrine scored higher on
Alzheimer’s disease tests than did
patients who were not taking the drug.
She said the improvement
amounted to several points on the
Alzheimer’s disease assessment
scale. The rating measures intellec
tual performance on a scale of 0 to 70,
with lower numbers marking improve
ment. "
Some UNL buildings to stay open
By Juliet Oseka
Staff Reporter
For some students at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, spring break
won’t be spent in exotic destinations.
For those staying in Lincoln, some
campus facilities will be open.
The Recreation Center will close
at 9 p.m. today. The hours from Sat
urday to March 27 will be 9 a.m. to 9
p.m. On March 28, the rec center will
be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Recreation Center on East
Campus will be open until 6 p.m.
today and will be closed Saturday and
Sunday. The hours Monday through
Friday will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will
be closed on March 27, and will re
sume regular hours, noon to 10 p.m.,
on March 28.
Mabel Lee Hall will be closed
today through March 28.
The Administration Building will
remain open during the break with its
regular hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The hours of the Nebraska Union
will change over spring break. The
union will open at 7 a.m. through
March 27. TTie building will close
today at 6 p.m., and the information
desk will close at 3 p.m. The union
will be closed over the weekend. On
Monday and Tuesday, the building
will close at 6 p.m. The union will
close at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and 7
p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
The union will resume regular hours
on March 29.
The East Union will close at 5
p.m. today and remain closed over the
weekend. It will open at 6:45 a.m. and
close at 5 p.m. Monday through
Wednesday. On Thursday and Fri
day, the union will open at 7:30 a.m.
and close at 5 p.m. The East Union
will be closed March 27 and 28 and
will resume regular hours on March
29.
The University Health Center will
be closed Saturday morning, with
regular services Monday through Fri
day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But no
evening services will be available on
Tuesday evening. On March 27, the
health center will have regular hours
from 8 a.m to 11:45 a.m. The Urgent
Care division will be open as usual.
The East Campus Health Center
will be closed from Saturday until
March 29, when it will resume regular
hours.
Love Library will close at 5 p.m.
today. The hours on Saturday will be
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library will be
closed on Sunday, but will be open
from 8 a.m. to5 p.m. Monday through
Friday. On Saturday, it will resume
i ,* v. ,'hki<-V'v ■§•] #•■»«■ .
regular hours.
C.Y. Thompson will close at 5
p.m today and remain closed Satur
day and Sunday. The hours will be the
same as Love Library’s on Monday
through Friday. On March 27, the
Ahours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on
March 28, the hours will be noon to
midnight The other branch libraries
will follow the hours of C.Y. Thomp
son but will be closed March 27 and
28.
The computer lab in Andrews Hall
will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun
day. From Monday to Friday, the
hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On
March 27, the hours will be 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. and 12 noon to 10 p.m. on
March 28. The computer labs in
Sandozand Selleck halls will beclosed
Saturday through March 27. But com
puters in room 7006D in Selleck Hall
will be available 24 hours a day
through spring break.
The computer lab in Henzlik Hall
will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Thursday. The com
puter lab in the Nebraska Union will
be open only during building hours
Saturday through March 28.
The residence halls will close at 10
a.m. on Saturday and reopen at 1 p.m.
March 28. ••
’ ' NEWS BRIEFS____,
' . , *
Drains to lengthen life of Burnett roof
From Staff Reports
Students in Bumett Hall may
have noticed a little tramping
around and the smell of glue this
week as construction workers in
stalled five new roof drains.
Richard Hoback, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln maintenance project was completed WednSs
manager, said Burnett’s roof had day.
been ankle deep with water at times. Hoback said the project was
The drains are intended to ex- funded by LB309, a bill that has
tend the life of the roof, he said. been around for 10 to IS years and
The project started last fall, but is designed to provide additional
the wet, icy winter stopped its funding for maintenance not in the
completion until this week. The general budget.
UNMC Outpatient Care Center opens
From Staff Reports
After two and a half years of
construction, a new addition called
the Outpatient Care Center opened
Tuesday at the University of Ne
braska Medical Center.
The six-level, 266,500 square
foot building, located at 44th and
Emile streets in Omaha, houses
nine outpatient clinics, six hospital
departments, a surgery suite with
___
eight operating rooms, a central
sterile-supply facility, a gift shop
and a loading dock and warehouse.
The roof will be used for Sky Med
landings later this spring.
The new clinic, which will see
about 700 patients a day, has a five
level parking structure to handle
the traffic. The parking garage,
which opened in 1990, has an addi
tional entrance to separate emer
gency traffic from other traffic..
Total cost for the parking ga
rage and the new clinic is $46 mil
lion and will be funded by revenue
from University Hospital and Uni
versity Medical Associates.
The former clinic building will
be converted into office space and
teaching areas. The renovation
should be done in about a year.
The public is invited toattend^n
open house and wellness fair on
April 25 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Regents
Continued from Page 1
should have interviews and a final
candidate selection by Dec. 1,1993.
But even if the new president is
selected by that target date, that per
son may have other responsibilities to
fulfill first, Wilson said.
Water
Continued from Page 1
ice jam Thursday on the Platte River.
The blasts have loosened some of
the ice, but it didn’t affect the Lin
coln efforts.
Jerry Obrist, chief engineer of
the Lincoln Water System, said the
dynamite wasn’t responsible for
any of .the dike progress.
The priority for Lincoln offi
cials now is to restructure and se
cure die 48-inch pipe, and to assure
Wednesday’s progress is not dam
aged.
That is why there is a proposal to
keep Massengale in office until the
new president begins, Wilson said.
It allows a “sliding ending date”
sometime between Jan. 1 and July 1,
1994, Wilson said.
Other proposals to be voted on
Saturday include:
• Approval to change the name of
the School of Heal th, Physical Educa
tion and Recreation to the Depart
ment of Health and Human Perfor
mance.
• Approval to accept a bid to begin
construction of a hazardous waste
facility on East Campus, which would
be used to store laboratory chemicals.
• Approval of a tuition rate in
crease for high school independent
study courses.
Lane
Continued from Page 1
didn’t control them,"Lane said. ‘They
were controlled by the gangs."
Along with the Chicago police,
Lane initiated ‘‘Operation Clean
Sweep," storming the gang-controlled
buildings to pave the way for renova
tion and repair.
Then Lane and his staff went to
work.employing a self-help altitude,
helping resklents get off welfare and
attracting working families to the area.
‘‘We redeveloped these buildings,
not as housing, but as public housing,
period," Lane said.
But Lane’s work has just begun.
tie saia mere was a neeo 10 inte
grate low- and moderate-income fam i
lies with suburban society.
“We need to talk about socioeco
nomic integration,” he said. “We need
dispersion of poor people in these
communities. We need to take all the
resources that we have available, pul
them in a funnel, then spread them out
over ihe private sector.”
The first step to meeting that ob-,
jective, he said, is to provide opportu
nities for people to reach their goals.
“Public housing is supposed to be
transitional — not cradle-to-grave,
from generation to generation," he
said, ‘it's a way of life that nobody
should have to endure.”
Are You Late?
• Free Pregnancy testing Women's
I A&sncpr^dures Medical Center
to 14 weeks of Nebraska
’ available appo,n‘men‘s 4930 "L" Street
• Student discounts 7snn 7
• Visa, Mastercard Toll free (800) 877-6337
. ▼
Interested in Aviation?
Pre-register for aviation courses at UNL by calling
the UNO Aviation Institute.
1-800-858-8648
(Nebraska and Iowa only)
See Tuesday or Thursday’s paper for more information.
University of The University of N*6r*»ka at Omaha doaa not
fci l" t_ . diacrlmlnata In la academic, employment or admlaatom
IMBDraSKa ar podclee and abldee by all fader*, data and regenta
Omaha regulation* pertaining to tame.
A L.
EL TEATRO CAMPESINO
ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY OF TWO ONE-ACT PLAYS
"SOLDADO RAZO"
&
"HOW ELSE AM l SUPPOSED TO KNOW IM STILL ALIVE"
7 pm SATURDAY 27 MARCH 1993
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Auditorium
12th and R Streets - UNL
Tickets are available for $10 at:
Hispanic Community Center 2300 hO" Street or
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
For ticket information call 474-3950
We re pulling an
all-nighter.
How about you?
/ v •' . —_
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