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Monday, June 1, 1998

Community Briefs

COMMUNITY BRIEFS:

Students fill Stanford quad for housing rally

STANFORD, Calif. -- More than 1,000 graduate students, representing a wide range of university departments, attended a rally in the Quad last night to raise support for more graduate student housing.

Students covered their tents with signs reading, "Look Mom, no housing," and "Rent plus Ramen equals stipend." Organizers of the rally provided free food, as well as extra sleeping bags and pads.

The rally was the culmination of student anger over the current housing situation.

With rising prices in the local housing market and the excessive demand for on-campus housing provided for graduate students, many students have found themselves with little university assistance and are unable to afford housing anywhere in the area.

Frustration grew more heated with last week's release of a report on graduate student housing by the the Graduate Student Council and the Graduate Housing Advisory Committee. The report, based on the recent graduate housing survey conducted on the World Wide Web, outlined the dire problems graduate students perceive in regard to housing, parking, quality of life and lack of university support.

Toxic protein discovery sheds light on disease

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A research team led by a Northwestern professor has discovered new highly toxic proteins which disrupt brain mechanisms for learning and memory, and may trigger Alzheimer's disease.

The new study identified globular-shaped proteins called amyloid beta-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs).

ADDLs are a new form of the protein known for years to accumulate as enormous spaghetti-like fibers in brains of Alzheimer's patients.

Researchers had long believed that these fibers attack nerve cells and cause Alzheimer's.

The team discovered that ADDLs - tiny clumps of amyloid beta only a fraction the size of a fiber - may be more important to the progression of the disease, rather than merely causing it.

The experiments on laboratory specimens found that ADDLs interfere with nerve cell processes essential to learning and memory.

This dysfunction occurred well in advance of the cellular degeneration considered by many researchers to cause Alzheimer's.

Scholarships help

OSU single mothers

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Not all Ohio State students are concerned with partying - some are raising children on their own.

OSU's Critical Difference for Women organization provides scholarships to non-traditional female students who want to go to college. A non-traditional student is more than 25 years old and works to support a family.

Rani Collins, a single parent and an OSU graduate strived to get good grades while raising her children. Collins, one of 70 scholarship recipients, completed her bachelor's degree in sociology in 1997.

Collins first attended a community college in 1988, but she was unable to continue because of lack of financial support. She soon entered a repetitive cycle that had plagued poverty stricken family members before her. Then in 1991, Collins had a baby girl.

The scholarship allowed Collins to concentrate on her academics and spend time with her daughter instead of worrying about money.

Due to her successful undergraduate performance, she able to continue her education by entering the College of Medicine.

Funding for this program is supported by the Coca-Cola Foundation and grant money from the Longenberger Foundation. As of this year, $750,000 has been donated to help women take advantage of educational opportunities.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.