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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Feinberg prof tests leukemia drug By Christine Farolan
the daily northwestern @crfarolan
A multinational research team that includes Feinberg School of Medicine professor Dr. Shuo Ma is testing a drug that may make a common form of leukemia treatable without the use of chemotherapy. Led by Dr. Richard Furman of Weill Cornell Medical College, 19 medical centers administered clinical trials of the new drug to qualifying patients. As a principal investigator, Ma offered the treatment to her patients at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, saying it has shown promising results. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a disease of B cells, a type of white blood cell that produces antibodies as part of the immune system. Leukemia cells rely on the B cell receptor, which transmits signals allowing the cancerous cells to survive. The new drug hinders an enzyme that facilitates this process. The drug, idelalisib, is being orally administered in tandem with rituximab, a common current treatment for this form of leukemia. Only 13 percent of patients taking rituximab alone responded to treatment after six months, compared to 81 percent of patients receiving idelalisib. After the study ran for a year, 92 percent of patients receiving both drugs were still living, while 80 percent of patients receiving just rituximab were alive. This difference was so striking the study was cut short and clinics began giving idelalisib and rituximab to all patients, Ma said. “By blocking the enzyme’s function, it therefore blocks proliferation,” Ma
said. Patients take the drug twice daily until the leukemia cells stop responding. Most patients from the original trial are still taking the drug, and, as with all new medications, it will need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before being offered outside of clinical trials. Gilead, the company that produces idelalisib, is working on submitting the drug’s information to the FDA. “Because it was so effective, the approval (process) has been accelerated,” Ma said. Historically, it takes various phases across a period of years to complete this process, depending on whether data is found to be sufficient. Ibrutinib, a similar drug that also blocks the B cellsignaling pathway that allows the cancer cells to grow, was the first drug in this category to be approved to treat this type of leukemia in November 2013. Given that the toxic side effects of chemotherapy can be more harmful to patients than the disease itself, these developments are significant in B cell lymphoma care. On campus, Northwestern’s Relay for Life raises money to fund cancer research and increase awareness. Cochair Bridget Popovic said it was exciting to hear about research for new drugs. “Anyone who knows someone who’s gone through cancer treatment knows how debilitating that can be,” the McCormick sophomore said. “If there can be any alternatives for someone to replace chemotherapy treatments, it would be fantastic.” christinefarolan2017@u.northwestern.edu
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City crime, 2010-2013
Infographic by Meera Narula/The Daily Northwestern
Crime drops nearly 10 percent By Ciara McCarthy
daily senior staffer @mccarthy_ciara
Crime in Evanston fell nearly 10 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, according to police data. Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott presented the department’s 2013 crime
report Monday to the City Council. The overall drop of 9.8 percent came with double-digit declines in robbery, burglary and aggravated battery. The reduction is the most significant Evanston has seen since 2010, Parrott said. In addition to the drop in overall and violent crime, Police Chief Richard Eddington drew attention to the
department’s clearance rate for the shooting deaths in 2013. Police have cleared all four deaths that were ruled a homicide. EPD considers a case to be “cleared” if it has collected enough evidence to show a person is more likely than not an offender, Parrott said. A case can be cleared without the arrest » See Crime, page 5
ASG Senate hears updates on group funding, CAPS After analyzing data from the last fiscal year, Associated Student Government discussed Wednesday a proposed idea that advocates say will better allocate funding to A- and B-status student groups. Tori Zuzelo, the head of a working group that assesses student groups, said some organizations currently do not use all the money granted to them while others continuously request more. Some B-status groups may only apply for ASG recognition — and the funding that comes with it — for publicity purposes, Zuzelo said. ASG research in the 2012-13 fiscal year showed these student groups often do not spend all of their allotted funds.
Currently, ASG caps its funding by category, allocating only a certain amount for areas such as storage, venue and sound and light costs. However, research showed some organizations need to spend more than the ASG-determined cap. Under the new proposal, ASG would work to decrease these costs, possibly by working with the administration to negotiate lower fees and purchasing commonly-rented equipment. “We want to weed out those groups that don’t actually need the funding but expand the lower caps so the groups that actually could use that money, get that money,” Zuzelo said. The working group will be looking more closely at how these student groups use the money allotted to them. A possible solution would be to create a middle tier between A-status and B-status groups to create an additional
funding group. John Dunkle, executive director of Counseling and Psychological Services, also updated Senate on recent CAPS initiatives, including the mental health Essential NU that debuted this year; NU Listens, a peer-listening program; and the emotional intelligence course piloted last year. Dunkle discussed the success of recent programming supported by a clear increase in the numbers of students utilizing the CAPS services. “Last academic year we saw a 14 percent increase in number of students requesting services at our center,” Dunkle said. “So this year, I just ran some numbers today, we are on pace to beat that number. We are up 12 percent this year the same time that we were last year.” Dunkle also said invitations will be sent out Friday to invite individuals to contribute to a campus coalition on
mental health and suicide prevention, a new program comprised of students and faculty to test the efficiency of CAPS. It will incorporate a Jed Foundation survey to assess the state of campus mental health services that will take place in March. “At the end of that, we are going to have some really clear recommendations of areas where we can approve and also some real kudos for what we’re doing really well because we are doing a lot really well,” Dunkle said. ASG’s election commission introduced updated guidelines for the ASG presidential election and explained the timeline for the election, which will take place in the spring. Senators voiced concerns about the current guidelines and voted to wait to fully consider the proposal until next week’s meeting.
car after he performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at Wisconsin Lutheran College when he was shocked with a taser, fell to the ground and dropped the violin. The Lipinski violin, which was built in Italy in 1715, was on loan to Almond, the orchestra’s concertmaster. “The artistic heritage of Milwaukee was assaulted and robbed,” Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said at a news conference Tuesday. “This violin is very
valuable, but very valuable to a very small population. This is not something that can be easily sold for even a fraction of its monetary value.” Flynn said the violin could be worth seven figures and has a special design on the back. Police believe the violin was the target of the robbery. There are fewer than 700 Stradivarius violins in the world. “This, theoretically, could be an international crime,” Flynn said.
Mark Neihaus, president of the orchestra, said Almond was recovering from the incident but would not be performing this weekend. “We continue to play these instruments in the tradition that they were built in and the instruments need to be played to live on,” Neihaus said at the news conference. “So, that’s why these instruments are out in circulation and why they’re played on stages all over the country.”
It was the only Stradivarius in Milwaukee, he added. Almond has been on the faculty at NU since 2010, and since 1997, he has been a part of the Grammy-nominated chamber group An die Musik. He will join the faculty of Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in the fall of 2014, according to Roosevelt’s website.
By Rebecca Savransky
the daily northwestern @beccasavransky
Annabel Edwards/Daily Senior Staffer
WHAT’S NEW? John Dunkle, executive director of Counseling and Psychological Services, speaks at the Associated Student Government Senate meeting Wednesday evening. Dunkle delivered an update on continued efforts to improve CAPS.
Bienen lecturer’s 300-year-old violin stolen in Milwaukee
A nearly 300-year-old Stradivarius violin was stolen from a Bienen lecturer on Monday after he performed at a concert in Milwaukee. Frank Almond was walking to his
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