Winter 1986 by Endeavors

As a newcomer to the Office of Research Services, I am continually struck by the wealth and diversity of research conducted on this campus. The basic and applied directions of the research point to some aspect of virtually every social and cultural need of our state and nation. This University is by no means unique in this regard, but if one now takes into account the quality of the research, it is gratifying to note The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continues to rank first among the public research universities in the Southeast. What of the future? Horace Freeland Judson has written recently that "the paradox of predicting the sciences is that to know what will be known in the future is to have the knowledge todayi' This statement rings true not only to the scientist but surely to those researchers in all other disciplines as well. It implies that progress is made in a step-wise fashion and perhaps slowly-though many would argue that scientific advances are occurring at too rapid a rate now in the decade ol the eighties. It also implies that true discovery necessitates new direction of thought or, again to quote Judson, "the science yet t0 come" will be "breakthroughs, new kinds of observations requiring new technology, and new ideas. Breakthroughs cannot be predictedl' Thus, he proposes making predictions "about not the content but the shape of science to comel'* These thoughts are timely and deserve

weightless condition for protracted periods.

Dr. Tom K. Scott. director of the )ffice of Services and professor

in the

Research

Department of

Biology

reflection. In recent years, much of my scientific investment has been with the Life Sciences Division of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA). During the last five years, the final planning and execution of the Space Shuttle has been achieved, and within the next ten years-ah, the optimism of NASA-a manned space station will be placed in permanent low orbit around the earth. To date the Shuttle has suffered from an unexpectedly long shake-down period, from the requirement of short periods in microgravity orbit, and from delays in and reprioritization of scientilic payloads. Most of the "advances" made by the space program are n0t given to headline treatment; rather, we are most apt to hear of the physical and mental states of the astronauts. This is as natural as it is necessary, both because we have a national reverence for these individuals (the last of our pioneers exploring the last frontier!) and because of the wealth of human physiological data that has been gained by putting man and woman into a near-

It is not inherently obvious why that under microgravity conditions, humans should undergo such physiological changes as significant loss of red blood cells, reduced muscle mass, and loss of bone calcium (some of which is permanent). These same symptoms occur in bed-rest patients as well as in some similar animal studies made on earth. But why in space? Stress has been implicated as part of the cause, but ground-based studies seem t0 rule it out as a big contributor. Rather, in space, the human experiences a massive shift of fluids to the upper body in spite of there being no directional "up" 0r "down" in this environment. Such shifts are now being studied intensively, and it is hoped that an understanding of them will lead to alleviation of these syndromes. However, more important is the potential they hold for understanding and correcting human maladies related to atrophies of blood, muscle, and bone on earth. This may be a breakthrough, made by space medicine, where chronic microgravity and the Shuttle's Space Lab have provided the "new technology" in what otherwise would still be a predictable science. Tko points should be made regarding this example: (l) the work is in its infancy; and (2) the concept of the breakthrough may be somewhat exaggerated. NASA objectives for space science and application, using both the Shuttle and the continued on inside back cover

At its simplest, a laser light scattering ment is one in which a laser beam is

experi-

locused inio a sample (such as a protein solution), and the light that is scattered from

it is analyzed in order to discover what goes on in the sample at the microscopic level. Most recently, Dr. .lohnson and Dr. Cabriel have developed holographic methods wherein crossed laser beams create

a liqht pattern, or

grating, and the light pattern exposes the sample and selectively modifies the molecules Importantly, the periodic pattern in the exposed sample can be monitored by a very sensitive diffraction method. This is a zero background method since no signal is present unless there is a grating. "The idea is that if you excite the molecules in a particular

pattern and look later, you will see that the pattern has smeared out, either because the molecules moved or because they underwent some Internal changel' Dr. Johnson explains. This experiment is particularly useful in that

to its initial state, much Iike photochromic

the rate of motion determined in holographic light scattering can be used to characterize

of photochromic labels to proteins,

experiments, improving upon old methods

and developing new methods and applications.

molecules even

For the past seven years, Dr, Don A. Cabriel. hematology oncologist and associate professor of medicine, and Dr. Charles S. Johnson. Jr., professor of chemistry, have worked in collaboration on various light scattering

At present, a new "second generation" transient grating spectrometer is in use. as a novel procedure using electrophoresis in conjunction with holographic laser light

mixtures.

scattering experiments. Working together, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Gabriel plan the experiments and applications. Johnson's background is in physical chemistr,v, and the work in his laboratory consists of the development of theory. design, and construction of laser-based optical instrumentation

and the analysis of physical measurements. Gabriel's background is in biochemistry and medicine, and his laboratory' work focuses on application of phvsical measurements t0

clinical medicine.

in complex

The project began with setting up instrumentation. "a gargantuan task, and one that has been in the making several yearsl' says Dr. Gabriel. The [irst holographi('system was assembled in Dr. Johnson's laboratory about five y'ears ago by Dr. Danny Miles. "ln our experiments, we have a way to label the particular proteins we want t0 observel' Dr. .lohnson says. A photochromic label. or molecule. changes its color when exposed to light, and will only slowly revert

eye glasses. Once

a protein is labeled,

researchers can diflerentiate between specifi-

cally labeled molecules and anything else that may be present in a sample. The application however,

presents special problems since labels that do not interfere with protein function are required. "A lot of our work is learning just how to attach labels to the various thinqs we want to studyi' Dr. Johnson explains. In the experiment, the sample is irradiated with a light pattern (light and dark areas

a few microns) having a duration of a few thousandths of a second, The moleseparated by

cules that are labeled change color where the light pattern is bright, and thus create a pattern of photo-excited molecules. "We then have a sample

with different optical properties

in the bright places than in the darkl' iohnson says. Another laser beam, called a probe, passes through the sample and is diffracted at a particular angle, indicating the presence of concentration patterns by produc-

ing a diffraction spot. Because of diffusion, or mobility of molecules, the concentration pattern smears out, and the intensity of the diffraction spot decays, thus providing a measure of the rate of molecular motion. A similar process is used for electrophoresis combined with holographic relaxation spectroscopy, developed by Drs. Johnson and Gabriel, along with their postdoctoral research associates, Kee W. Rhee and John H. Shibata,

and graduate student Amy Barish. In this experiment, an electric field is applied to

sample containing charged particles, or ions. After a grating of photo-excited ions is established by exposure to the writing laser beams, the electric field causes the grating of charged particles to move because the posi-

tively chareed particles are attracted to the negative electrode and vice versa. As soon as the pattern smears out, the writing laser beam is turned on to reestablish the pattern. The writing beam stays on for about a millisecond, while the probe beam is on as long as necessary to record the transient pattern, sometimes for as long as a second. The number of times the computer stores the signal depends on the strength of the signal and the type of data processing required.

Ronchi ruling The newest version of the holographic relaxation spectrometer uses the image of a Ronchi ruling in place of crossed laser beams t0 create intensity patterns. A Ronchi ruling is a flat optic consisting of alternative parallel strips having 0 and 100 percent transmission. Ms. Amy Barish assembled the spectrometer system shown on the front cover and pro-

grammed the associated computer as part of a Ph.D. thesis project. She and Dr. Michael S.

a research associate, have tested and refined this instrument and are now using it in a variety of experiments. Bradley,

Formerly, when two laser beams were crossed to create an interference pattern, if the researchers wanted to move the interference pattern in space, they had to change

the path length of one of the beams with a mirror. Dr. Johnson explains, "lt was difficult to achieve sufficient stability with this arrangement because the position ol the mirror had to be controlled within a fraction of the wavelength of light. This problem is now solved in the new spectrometer because the ruling that is used to create the grating is much less sensitive to positioni' Dr. Gabriel adds, "We can now image a Ronchi ruling onto the sample. The microscopic spacing in the image can be changed by simply changing the Ronchi ruling. This Ronchi ruling spectrometer represents literally the second generation of the instrumentl'

Future Biological Applications Both researchers agree that they are iust at the point where they can begin to apply holographic light scattering to interesting biological problems. "One of the problems of studying many of the biological applications is

that we tend to deal with complex systems, and, while there is detailed information available from highly purified systems (for example, one single protein), we do not have similar information available from the more complex systems;' Dr. Gabriel explains. Johnson and Gabriel are lust beginning a

study of fibrin assembly and formation. Gabriel explains that fibrin formation is important in many physiologic functions. Together with platelets, it forms the initial hemostatic plug that arrests hemorrhage. In addition, fibrin formation has been implicated

in acute inflammation and cancer

cell

metastasis.

The first event in fibrin formation is the removal ol a small peptide, fibrinopeptide A, from fibrinogen, which results in the formation of a fibrin monomer. Fibrin monomers generated in this manner then selt assemble into protofibrils, which in turn

to form the fibrin clot. As the assembly process proceeds from fibrin monomer production to fibrin fiber formation, the translational motion of the growing intermediate aggregates slows. It is in monitoring this aggregate

slowing of motion that light scattering experiments will prove useful.

The formation of fibrin in the blood system results in a three-dimensional network, or scaffold, which serves as a matrix for fibroblasts to infiltrate, resulting in collagen synthesis and wound healing. Gabriel explains, "Both acquired and congenital abnormalities in fibrinoqen, or factors that

alter the normal fibrin assembly process, can be detected. Many normally occurring proteins are known to induce alterations in the fibrin gel that may create subtle, but significant modifications

in fibrin functionl'

Dr. Gabriel points out that just as appropriate fibrin formation is important, the normal physiological removal of fibrin, termed fibrinolysis, is also an important process. For example, improved understanding of fibrinolysis has permitted, in some cases, dissolution

of fibrin blocking arteries supplying blood to the heart. When activated, certain components of the

fibrinolytic system, such as plasmin, bind to fibrin. Since the translational motion of bound plasmin is very different from that of free plasmin, holographic light scattering experiments can be used to study the interaction between fibrin and plasmin.

"ln general, holographic light scattering offers the additional possibility of studying the motion of selected species through a fixed matrix, such as a fibrin gell' says Dr. Oabriel. Previous dynamic light scattering experiments have had limited utility for the study of molecular transport in fibrin gels because all of the components in the gel scatter light,

it difficult to resolve the particular component under study. Many of the lactors that influence thrombus thereby making

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formation or dissolution can be investigated. In addition, certain tumor cells encase themselves with fibrin, which may be a factor involved in the spread of cancer. Some tumors produce plasmin, which dissolves the fibrin cocoon and permits the tumor to metastasize. Using electrophoretic

light

scat-

tering, the interaction of fibrin with the suspended tumor cell can be studied. Dr. Cabriel explains that as the surface of the tumor is coated with fibrin, and the tumor becomes more encased in the cocoon, its surface becomes charged, and thus its electrophoretic mobility decreases.

Holographic Light Scattering and Leukemic Cells RONCHI

RULING

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Initially, the application of light scattering to study leukemic cells employed electrophoretic quasi-elastic light scattering (ELS), a technique that utilizes the doppler shift resulting when light is scattered from a moving particle. "These early experiments using ELS indicated that leukemic cells could be distinguished from other cellsl' Gabriel says. Leukemic cells from different types of leukemia (for example, acute myeloblastic versus acute monoblastic) were shown to have a different surface charge, and hence a differ-

ent electrophoretic mobility (the rate at which the cells move under the application of an electric field). Factors such as the binding ol antibodies and mitogens were also shown to influence greatly the cell's electrophoretic mobility. Gabriel adds that alterations in the cell's electrophoretic mobility provide a means t0 study the interaction of the cell with certain drugs such as interferon or interleukin il. In addition, leukemic cells can be distinguished from other cells. "The utilization of specific monoclonal antibodies may further enhance

this diagnostic possibilityl' Gabriel says.

further points out that holographic light scattering has the advantage over earlier ELS studies of leukemic cells in that the more complicated combination of species that interact with leukemic cells can be analyzed, since holographic light scattering will monitor one selected component of the complex mixture. The collaboration of Drs. Johnson and Gabriel demonstrates the exciting possibilities not only of holographic laser research, but of significant cross-disciplinary strides in scientific discovery and biomedical application.

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hr Dr. ('ltar]e.: 5. ,lrtltnson ,lr.

-Ann

F. Stanfonl

AGru,ving Theaswyof Plantlore of Professors J. N. Couch and A. E. Radford, has grown from a small collection of local specimens to an internationally known

many sources, including staff and student collections, exchanges from other institutions (usually 0n a 0ne-t0-0ne basis), gifts, loans,

institution.

and, less frequently, purchases. Materials are unpacked and treated to rid them of insect pests that pose a serious

A herbarium is a collection of

presssed,

dried, and mounted plant specimens. After the specimens are mounted, they are filed for future reference. Originally, herbarium referred, not t0 a collection of plants, but to a book about medicinal plants. A herbarium today serves as a documentation center, as

well as a data storehouse for research. [t

Classification, preservation, and storage of the 500,000 plant specimens that the UNC-Chapel Hill Herbarium in the department 0f biology makes available to students and researchers present an ongoing challenge for Director

Jim R. Massey. Participating in exchange and loan programs with more than 130 institutions throughout the world, the Herbarium borrowed 7,214 specimens lor study at UNC-CH, and lent 9,097 specimens to 26 institutions in 1984-85. The UNC-CH Herbarium was one of

the first institutions in the United States to receive materials on exchange from the People's Republic of China. lndeed, students and researchers from all over the world have used many of the dried and catalogued specimens of ferns, gymnosperms, algae, fungi, bryophytes, and flowering plants.

ln a 1974 advisory committee study for the National Science Foundation, the UNC-CH Herbarium ranked third among all university herbaria and fifth among all herbaria in the nation, including such renowned institutions

the taxonomist's (one who classifies plants) most basic reference source, and has become a center for research as well as for teaching and public information. Each herbarium specimen contains a great deal of information, the value of which varies

ium uses a common microwave oven t0 treat most of its incoming specimens, but when

box of loaned specimens is returned to the Herbarium, it is put in deep freeze for three days before it is opened, in order to keep the Herbarium free from destructive insects that may have been picked up in transit. Shell nopest strips are put in each cabinet, and every specimen taken from the Herbarium is fumigated in the microwave or freezer before being returned to the shelves.

depending on the completeness of the speci-

Mounting delicate specimens requires the

men and label data. Ideally, a specimen will contain information about the vegetation of an area, a population, and the taxon to which it

utmost care, since a sloppy mount can render a specimen useless to a researcher. Mary Felton, who has been with the Herbarium as Curatorial Assistant since 1971, prepares over

belongs. According to Dr. Massey, taxonomists become adept at breathing life into the hundreds of thousands of dried and mounted samples they analyze and describe in the course of their work. "Herbarium specimens are now used for studies in disciplines that were never even dreamed of at the time early collections were made and herbaria organizedl' Dr. Massey explains. These studies include such fields as biochemical systematics and palynology (the study of pollen and spores).

as the New York Botanical Garden, Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, and the U.S. National Herbarium of the Smithsonian lnstitution. The Herbarium was founded in 1902 by Dr. W. C. Coker and, under his direction and that

threat to their longevity. The UNC-CH Herbar-

The procedure of pressing and drying specimens for storage has been an amazingly successful one in terms of preservation of detail and specimen longevity, Dr. Massey says. Materials come into the Herbarium from

10,000 specimens every year.

In mounting specimens, Felton, using a paintbrush, coats the surface of a glass plate with glue. Placing the dried specimen on the glue, she taps the plant gently with forceps, lifts the specimen, checks it for distribution ol glue, and places it on a heavy sheet of 100% rag paper. Cumbersome roots, stems, and some seeds must be sewn t0 the paper to prevent their loss. A label containing information about location, habitat, date, family, genus, and species is applied. Loose fragments, fruits, and seeds are placed in packets or envelopes and affixed to the Herbarium sheet. Each page is covered with a sheet of waxed paper, and placed in a stacking box until 20 to 25 are stacked, then weighted down

to dry for

least 24 hours. The dried specimens are then ready for the next step: sorting and filing.

is not enough. The same plant may look diflerent in different conditions. To complicate things further, the plants are clonal, that is, they rarely reproduce sexually. Usually pads break off and root, producing variations that confuse traditional concepts of the species. To discern true differences in species, Doyle is studying the chemistry of the plants. Approximately 300 individual plants in what Doyle refers to as the "0. hunifusa complex" have been collected, mostly from Florida, South and North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, as well as Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and New Jersey. The importance of asexual reproduction, the existence of polyploidy (extra sets of chromosomes), variable morphology, and the possi-

Dr. Massey, who is chairman of the editorial board of an extensive, three-volume work, Iie Vascular Flora of the Southeastern United Slaleg says that the last edition of a work treating southeastern flora was published in 1933. That book, Manual of the Southeastern Flora by J. K. Small, was essentially only a revision of a work published a decade or so before.

Also on the editorial board of the project are Dr. Albert E. Radford, professor of biology, who started the project in 1966, and Laurie Steward Radford, Herbarium associate and executive editor of the manual. The proiect received funding

in its early days

bility of hybrids, all complicate an understanding of the taxonomy of the group. "By QrowinQ the live plants in a uniform environment, some of the morphological variation that is environmentally induced will

from

the National Science Foundation. Volume I was published in 1980, and Volume II is expected by next year. The objectives of the manual include a floristic survey of the forested region of the southeastern United States-Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North

be eliminatedl' Doyle explains. Through the study of several different fields of evidence,

Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

such as chromosome number; analysis of flavonoids (secondary plant compounds that have proved useful in classification); scanning

The three-volume work will include keys, descriptions, habitat and distributional data, as well as pertinent synonymy t0 every vascular species growing without cultivation in the

electron microscopy; and traditional morphology, Doyle hopes to address these problems

southeastern region. Dr. Massey expects it to have special relevance to taxonomists, geographers, ecoloeists, foresters, wildlife workers, conservationists, students, garden club members, teachers, and amateurs. For the editors, the most important outcome of the work will be the extent t0 which people will use this information for their own purposes. Massey believes this large study will encourage the production of other

"lt would be easy to adapt the material and keys t0 a state level and refine

works.

the material to specific distributions, for example, in Mississippi or Floridal' he points

directly.

collections. In the course of collecting,

will often uncover new things. "Among the wonderful surprises in this work are the colors, odors, and textures we find in the live plants after working with the dried specimensl' says Dr. Massey. The up{o-date descriptions and distribution data in the manual will be of particular interest in comparing the distribution of fifty years ago to the drstribution of today. "Often we uncover unusual distribution patterns, new localities, and in some cases we see thal 'rare' things are not s0 rarel' Massey says. He researcher

adds,

"This project will be o[ tremendous

help to us in locating and protecting endangered speciesi'

out.

Many scholars have contributed to the manual. Volume l, treating the Asteraceae (sunflower family), was written entirely by Dr.

Arthur Cronquist 0f the New York Botanical Garden, but over 130 writers will contribute to the other two volumes. "Originally, this work was to involve a much smaller, local group of workers, but it soon became clear that it was going to have to expand. One of the most exciting things about this project is the number of people involvedl' Massey explains. After looking at specimens, a taxonomist will usually conduct field searches and make

Jim Doyle, who is studying the seemingly endless variety of the genus 0punlia (known as the prickly pear cactus) for his dissertation, is also a contributor lo lhe Manual of Southeastern Flora. Doyle explains that the

prickly pear in the Southeast is poorly understood taxonomically, including anywhere from

Over 200 individuals and organizations belong to the "Friends of the Herbariuml' From this group come many volunteers and supporters

of the Herbarium's collection and

research

activities. The Herbarium publishes a newsletter twice a year, hosts field trips, and offers the annual George R. Cooley Lecture in botany. Last April, the lecture and slide show, attended by more than 75 persons, was presented by Dr. Larry Mellichamp of UNC Charlotte, on the topic of "Pollination and the Sex-life of Flowersl' Dr. Massey notes the increasing need for additional space in the continually expanding Herbarium. "The overcrowding of this growing and useful resource is a pressing problem]'

he says. "Our dream is to have expanded facilities one dayi' For students, professors, and community members, the Herbarium offers a unique opportunity for "hands on" research and an increased understanding of the life of one 0f our nation's greatest resources, its ever-changing flora.

six to thirty{hree species. One problem in studying prickly pears and similar plants is that simply looking at them

-Ann

F. Stanford

Regenerating Bone

Hanker, Other problems with the bone qraft method included infection and complications

Loss of bone to disease or injury is a problem affecting the lives of many people. For instance, when a person loses many

due to secondary surgery t0 obtain hip

teeth-a relatively common occurrence-and

bone.

pressure is no longer exerted on the jaw

In the early 1980s, oral surgeons discovered a better method that they hoped could be used to build up jaw bone and enable patients to wear dentures. They found that when hydroxylapatite, the mineral component of bone, was baked and turned into its ceramic form, the body could not resorb it.

bone. the body begins to resorb the bone. Eventually, there is not enough jaw bone left to support dentures, and the person must live without the ability to chew. ln more drastic cases, such as accidents or removal of a

tumor, so much bone may be lost that

Ceramic hydroxylapatite (HA) particles could be mixed in saline, and the slurry could be injected into a tunnel between the patient's gum and bone [o build up the jaw bone. There was also, however, a significant problem with this process. The particles

complete replacement through conventional methods is very difficult. Until recently, methods for replacing bone have generally proven to be unsatisfactory. Now, dental researchers at UNC-CH have developed a new process, which not only obviates problems with previous methods, but also enhances healing. A composite implant of plaster of Paris containing ceramic particles can be formed to any shape before or durinq surgerl: The body not only accepts, but incorporates the implant, which stimulates the

it very difficult to maintain the desired form and shape of the augmented scattered, making ridge.

The problem of containment came to the attention of UNC CH researchers, who were prompted to look for a binder that would hold the particles together. Plaster of Paris was suggested because it could be molded

formation of new blood vessels and connective tissue to hold the implant material in p

Navy is interested in applications for personnel suffering craniofacial wounds. USG Corporation, which makes the plaster and holds a licensing agreement with the University to

and would hold a shape. Also, it had been used in the body for almost a century without untoward effects. Drs. Terry and Hanker, Dr. Cecil R. Lupton, professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery, and Wallace W.

supply the material after approval bv the Food and Drug Administration, has provided

Ambrose, a research analyst, selected this approach to the problem.

lace.

In laboratory animals this

increased blood

supply promotes healing and also results in new bone formation. "The process looks extremely promising and will offer the possibility to manv patients for restoration of therr mandible, marulla, and other facial and cranial bonesl' notes Dr. Bill C. Terry, professor of oral and maxillofacial surgerv, whose work with patients led to the development of the process. Dr. .lacob S. Hanker, pnrfessor of oral and marillofacral surgerv and biomedical engineering and director of the biomaterials

in biomedical engineering, has directed the research in the Dental Research Center course

with funds provided bv the U.S. Navy Medical Research and Development Command. The

or rib

additional support. Surgeons began using bone grafts taken from a person's hip or rib to replace lost bone following removal of teeth in the late 1960s Dr Terry was one of the first to use this approach and has used it for many years

in reconstructive surgery. The method, however, had a serious drawback. "Within several vears probably over 35 percent of these patients have enough bone resorbed so that the process is ineffectivel' explains Dr.

Dr. Hanker selected the rat ramus, the rear

of the lower jaw bone, as a study site for binders because its relatively poor blood supply discourages healing. Therefore, any filling would be directly linked to the binder and particles. Four-millimeter holes were drilled in the ramus of the rat mandible and filled with the particles mixed in one of four binders: plaster of Paris, bovine serum albumin, collagen, and demineralized bone. While the plaster immobrlized the particles, the

about a month's time. At the same rate, the body was replacing the plaster with collagen fibers and blood vessels. These were encapsulating and containing the particles. ln addition, the particles, a form of calcium phosphate, were apparently releasing calcium very slowly and stimulating new bone growth. There was no sign of acute inflammation, and the body was not only tolerating the implant well, but walling it off to prevent immunolog-

ical rejection. "The hydroxylapatite and plaster

of Paris combination is extremely tiblel' Terry

biocompa-

says.

These lindings

rodents were further

substantiated by another oral and maxillofacial

surgeon and faculty member, Dr. Myron

Tucker, who led the team implanting these materials in larger laboratory animals.

The researchers discovered the significance

of the process only after they had surmounted an initial obstacle. To see how the holes were being repaired, they needed to examine very thin sections of the ramus, made visible by a stain. The bone first had to be demineralized to yield thin enough slices. The demineralization, however, made the bone reject the classical stains. The development of the periodic acid thiocarbohydrazide silver methenamine (PATS) stain by Beverly Ciammara, research assistant professor of oral diagnosis and biomedical engineering, solved

the difficulty. "We really did not know what was going on until we used this stain to analyze the specimensl' Hanker explains. The stain, actually developed for kidney tissue, had several features that made it excellent for use with bony tissue: it was particularly successful in staining collagen, the matrix that holds the mineral component of bone; in hiehlishtine blood vessels; and in revealing evidence of bacteria and inflammation, signs of hostimplant problems. Ciammara is now employing analytical electron microscopy (see back cove$ to document the disappearance of plaster and formation of new bone and to distinguish the latter from mere calcium deposits, which could be induced by the plaster

in certain

ln refining the albumin and collagen were only a little more successful than the original slurry. The demineralized bone also did not give as good results as the plaster.

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i i.!l'i'r4 ,i I(

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lnitially, the scientists used the plaster of Paris merely to contain the particles, and they

soon found that the filling was indeed much more efficient with the plaster binder. In addition, they learned that the composite

implant had startlingly significant effects on bone formation. By microscopic examination of sections of the ramus with a new stain developed at UNC-CH, the researchers discovered that the plaster scaffold was biodegradable and was being completely resorbed in

situations. process. the scientists

uncovered and solved additional difficulties. Blood in the site was preventing the plaster

from setting well. Terry suggested allowing the plaster to set in isolation by inserting the mixture into an impermeable membrane adapted to the host bone surface. The implant could then be removed from the membrane and shaped precisely as desired before final implantation. This malor innovation comple-

Yr --

mented another, presurgical formation, introduced earlier by Drs. Tucker, Hanker, and Ronald D. Baker, professor and chairman of

oral and maxillofacial surgery.

A more recent problem was how to sterilize the implant without changing the properties of the material. But careful, exact procedures at this stage have eliminated the difficulties. "We are a long way from just putting in the particles and letting them scatterl' notes Hanker.

0n the basis of the excellent results in

the

animal studies and previous approval of the implant's individual components, the process has been used in a limited number of maxillofacial surgery cases where it was considered the best treatment available. Dr. Terry says that results have been extremely good. His first patient had lost half the lower jaw in surgery for the removal of a malignant tumor. Hip bone used in initial reconstruction was not sufficient in amount or form to allow a denture to be made. In February 1985, the

patient received a plaster/HA implant. "The patient has been completely prosthetically rehabilitated to a good functional and esthetic statel' says Terry. Drs. Stephen Fredette and Michael Buckley, residents in oral and maxillolacial surgery, and Christopher Btown, a

surgery for correction of bony defectsl' Terry comments. Given the advantages of construction, containment, host acceptance, revascularization, and new bone growth, the possibility of extending the process to these areas looks promising. The researchers also stress that

fourth-year dental student, have rendered

some of these procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis, eliminating the need for hospitalization. All who have worked on the project are

invaluable assistance in the research and are also pleased with the results. Another important application for the implants appears t0 be in treating bone loss resulting from periodontal disease. Pockets around the teeth of a number of patients have been packed with plaster/HA to halt the disease and stabilize loose teeth. This allows the patient to chew better and may result in retention of teeth. AIso, in this application, the process would become a chairside rather than an operating room procedure, making it

simpler and less costly. Researchers hope that implants can be applied successfully in still other situations, for larger. di[ferent. and more extensive defects such as may exist in the skull following brain surgery 0r trauma. "The plaster and hydroxylapatite combination appears to be a major breakthrough for patients requiring

extremely pleased with the development and results. They believe their efforts have greatly improved the original technique and have opened new avenues of application. In addition, continued development will enable many more patients to benefit from the process. Summing up the expected impact of the new process, Hanker says, "So many people need dentures and cannot wear them, and periodontal disease with bone loss is so common,

that this nsw process will be of tremendous benefit to many peoplei' -Diantha J. Pinner This research was included rn tie Science Digest list of the top 100 innovations of the year tn the Der:ember 1985 issue.

Tool-using insects displav surprising skill and cunninq.

Since 1956, Dr. Elizabeth A. McMahan, professor of biology at UNC-Chapel Hill, has studied the characteristics and behavior of termites. In 1980, when Dr. McMahan was investigating termite behavior at Finca La Selva,

a field station of the 0rganization for

Tlopical Studies in northeast Costa Rica, she serendipitously observed unusual predatory behavior in a little-known insect, Salyavata variegata, a member of the order Hemiptera and family Reduviidae, otherwise known as an assassin bug; it used bait to fish for its

termite

prey.

For centuries, humans thought that only they used tools. "Today we know of many other tool-using animalsl' says McMahan. She defines a "tool" as "an obiect separate from an animal's body that the organism manipu-

6 E E

lates to extend its innate capabilitiesi' The fascination of this particular assassin bug centers 0n its unusually complex use of tools, and on the fact that although the adult bug was described in 1849, neither its young nor

its behavior had ever been seen. Dr. McMahan observed not only the termitebaiting technique, but saw young-stage bugs,

among the

or nymphs. Although

she

has not seen the adult assassin bug baiting in the wild, she has observed representatives of all developmental stages of the bug,

including the adult, killing and eating termites presented to them in the laboratory.

(,itll l/lt1lti,f.\r, //lr:se/,r1l)f,l/h Ll

lht,irr: ,,! ittld rt;t',tt,lt l'i(lLtrc\l,rl

Discovering the Assassin In

1980, McMahan travelled

to La Selva

Bug to

h.'ll i.;

tltt

N;tsttliterttli's tterl

study a termite prominent in Costa Rica belonging to the genus NasuilTermes. "These termites build egg+haped nests of a brownish

Dr. McMahan accidentally observed the assassin bug one morning when she had been making holes in the surface of a ,Uasutiternes nest in order to ascertain which particular castes of termite would come to the surface and which worker types would repair the carton. She explains that the typical Nasutiternes colony consists of tens or even hundreds of thousands of individuals, all of them offspring of a single pair of reproductives, the king and queen. When the colony becomes too crowded, the worker termites, using their jaws, remove portions of the nest's covering skin in order to extend the exterior wall. Because the colony at that time is more vulnerable to predators, soldiers line the surface holes in a defensive stance, ready to prevent the entry of ants and other small carnivores.

Watching the termites repairing the nest's holes, Dr. McMahan noticed a small movement 0n the surface of the carton near the hole. After watching carefully, she realized it was an assassin bug in camouflage, and upon

further study, saw its remarkable tool-using behavior.

'Although the termites live in a protective, fortresslike nest and have a soldier caste capable of chemical warfare, the assassin bug has evolved several means to circumvent these defensesl' explains McMahan.

'L(\

The assassin bug first camouflages itself by scraping the surface of the carton with its hind legs and covering its body with the scraped crumbs. Because the bug is covered with glue-secreting setae, or hairs, the pieces

of carton stick to it readily. The unrecognizable bug moves slowly to the hole. At the edge, it seems to tap with its antennae the heads of the worker termites, who are busy repairing the hole. Suddenly the bug leans forward, snatches a worker from the rim of the hole, and retreats. Because of the bug's camouflage, the alarmed workers do not recognize it as an intruder. Dr. McMahan explains, "To an investigating soldier, the camouflaged bug probably feels, smells, and tastes like a protrusion of the nest surfacel'

gray material called cart0n, produced by the termites themselves out of anal fluid and undigested debrisl' explains McMahan. The nests average about eighteen inches in height

and fourteen inches in width. "The interiors are molded into a mass of galleries and chambers that connect with foraging tunnels leading to cellulose food sources in the vicin-

ityl' she

says.

McMahan continues, "The bug then inserts its long, sharp sucking mouthparts into the captured termite's body (usually in the neck region first), injects salivary enzymes that

liquefy the body contents, and then sucks out the fluids, leaving an empty carcass. Then holding the termite carcass between its front legs, the bug returns to the hole. "Using the carcass as a tool, the buq pushes it over the hole's edge and jieeles it

as bait among the worker termites engaged in nest repair. Since termites consume their own dead nest mates as a means of conserving nutrients, a worker usually seizes the dangling carcass

with its mandibles and attempts

pull it into the interior of the nest. But the bug holds on tightly and draws slowly backward, gradually pulling the tenacious worker out of the hole. As s00n as the worker is fully exposed, the bug drops the dead bait, seizes the new victim, and sucks it dry. If it is not disturbed, the bug repeats the process of baiting, capturing, and feeding without pause until it is satiatedl' McMahan adds that she once saw a single bug fish out and eat thirty-one worker termites in a feast that lasted more than three hours.

"l was agogl' she says of the discovery. McMahan brought a nest into the lab and set it up with several assassin bugs to convince her colleagues that she had not been seeing things. She reports that there were "shouts of amazement and disbeliefl' Dr. Pedro Wygodzinski of the American Museum of Natural History helped McMahan identify the strange bug. The adult had been first described in 1849, but because the original specimen was lost, and because no one had ever seen a young specimen or its unique baiting behavior, Wygodzinski encourto study the insect further. McMahan's first report 0f the bug's behavior was sent to a scientific journal in 1980, but unusual production delays pushed its publication date into 1982. Meanwhile she continued her studies of the bug, returning to La Selva for this purpose in both 1981 and 1983. aged her

"As it stands, assassin bugs are not what consider to be my most important workl' McMahan. She says that "pure curiosity"

says

about the complex organization of termite colonies keeps them in the forefront of her scholarly endeavors. Having traveled to India, Australia, Egypt, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama, and through-

out the United States, McMahan says, "l go where the termites arel' Her particular branch of termite biology is polyethism, or the study

of the division of labor in the colony, usually based on caste (reproductives, workers, soldiers), age, or size.

Developing a novel technique, McMahan was the first person to work out the rate of colony development of one of the worst pest termites, Cryptotermes brevls Building

hundreds of termitaria (homes for termites) out of tongue depressors bolted together to form small, easily dismantled blocks, McMahan was able to rear young colonies in

the laboratory. By this technique she could observe how many eggs were laid, and the relative proportions of the different castes produced within the first year of a young colony's life. She has studied behavior differences in male and female soldier termites in Australia, used radioisotopes t0 trace within the termite colony, and examined insect diversity in the

= = !

rain forest of Puerto Ricq among many other

things. McMahan tells of studying the diversity of insects in a cypress swamp of Florida, where she used a heavy-duty shop vacuum cleaner with a filter on the nozzle and a sock inside to catch the insects necessary for

r 9

r,*\

a/e .shori'/r lt;tlt htnq

in llt ltlahan s

labor,tfu,rv.

the study. Currently, along with ongoing studies on

the assassin bug, Dr. McMahan is continuing her investigation into how a termite society is organized. A central question for her is how jobs are apportioned within the colony. She explains that a great deal of work has been done on the caste type of division of labor, but she is looking at how jobs change with age. The Nasutiternes, for example, have three stages of development in their large workers, who happen to be female. The male

workers, who are smaller, have two stages. Most of the soldiers develop from the small worker and are therefore also male. The youngest workers concentrate on tending the brood, and the oldest, large workers g0 out t0 forage. lt was during her long vigils

Ihe

;r.ssa.s,r-irr

hu4. S. rariegata, tLrt'rs and L'antotilages ilsell

ternres 1eflri1e.

tvitlt t:artou. tlte ntlt nalerial o/ lle \asuti

Nasutitermes nests, while trying to discover the roles of the different worker stages in

nest repair, that McMahan discovered the assassin bug's unusual behavior.

ln the future, McMahan plans to work on termite communication, such as trail laying and alarm initiation. She is also interested in conelating physiological attributes with age and behavior. Noting that she does not do applied research per se, Dr. McMahan says, "The more we know about the biology of a pest species, the more likely we are t0 discover its points of vulnerabilityl' By learning more about termite habits and colony organization, McMahan believes researchers will be closer to finding a means of controlling termites without pesticides, an increasingly urgent need in a society confronting serious environ-

B o o

mental challenges. TJre as.sas,slrr ltut!

tnd

it.s

ltn't

-Ann

F. Stanford

HiII attitude toward dentists, which can last throughout life and help a person feel more comfortable with dental care. Apart from training the general practitioner,

the department offers a graduate residency program, which will be extended from two to three years next fall. Through program coursework, residents receive intensive training

in child development and psychology,

behavior

management, management of special patients and their parents, growth and development problems, and preventive orthodontics. Residents also receive specialized clinical

training. Cerebral palsy hospitals in Durham and Greensboro and the UNC-CH Division for Developmental Disorders and Learning provide

in working with special patients. in the treatment of very young and

experience

l'edodontics becontes Pcdi,ri''ir" i )etrt istir Last summer the Department of Pedodontics, one of ten departments in the UNC-CH School of Dentistry, became the Department of Pediatric Dentistry. The name was changed to communicate the department's purview more clearly to the public, the university community, and colleagues in dentistry and medicine, says Chairman and Associate Professor William F. Vann, Jr. The word pedodontics is confusing, Vann explains. While it is derived directly from the Greek words for child and tooth, the distinction between the Greek root paed- lor child and the Latin root ped- lor foot is hidden because the Americanized form of the word lacks the letter a. Also, there is a proposal before the American Dental Association to change the official name of the specialty to pediatric dentistry. Vann says that he and his faculty strongly

TYaining

very sick children involves a pediatrics clerkship, an anesthesiology rotation, and experience working in the operating room at North Carolina Memorial Hospital. Residents also staff a 24-hour call service at NCMH, where they see children in the emergency room as an important part 0f the medical team in diagnosing and treating oral-facial trauma and pain.

In addition to advanced training in pediatric dentistry, the program entails a "serious research componentl' Vann says. Residents

have investigated a wide variety of topics. Recently, Dr. Johnny Johnson, under the direction of Dr. James Bawden, studied a

dentists

in the state over the next few still areas of needl'

years

because there are

-Diantha J. Pinner

The Institute of Nutrition: Addressing Contemporary Issues in 1969, The lnstitute of Nutrition, a multidisciplinary organization of UNC faculty and administrators, promotes the nutritional well-being of North Carolinians through education, research, and communication. fuo recent lnstitute projects reflecting this threefold approach have attracted national Founded

attention.

The first two issues of Currents, the Institute's quarterly journal of food, nutrition, and health, have drawn praise from nutrition and pubtic health professionals across the country. Dr. Howard N. Jacobson, director of the Institute, emphasizes that "every effort will be made

in Currents t0 present material that

addresses the broad spectrum

issues

of contemporary

in this diverse fieldl'

Another project, a feasibitity study for

of Tampa, Florida, is part of the Institute's broad goal of develReflectone Media Systems

oping user-oriented nutritional data collection

nationwide sampling of infant formulas to determine whether manufacturers were reporting fluoride content accurately. Other studies have looked at such questions as what kinds of biomaterials have the greatest longevity in restorations in children's mouths; what methods can reduce the amount

of nitrous oxide

support this change because they believe the general public will comprehend the new name better and will make the obvious association with the pediatrician, the physician counterpart to the pediatric dentist.

into the operating room atmosphere during administration; what is normal child behavior and what variables affect a child's

The primary responsibility of the department is training dental students who will be general practitioners to be competent in children's dentistry and to deal effectively with their child patients, who require a different approach than adults. A key ingredient to working well with children is developing trust, Vann says. If a child trusts the dentist and views him or her as a friend, any necessary procedures will be easier for both. Developing trust at an early age establishes a positive

the mother.

released

attitude and behavior; and what benefits there might be in administering prenatal fluoride to Pediatric dentistry is a small, highly specialized field, Vann says. Except for the pediatric dentists at the School of Dentistry, there is only one practitioner in Chapel Hill and

in Durham. There are about 45 pediatric dentists practicing in North Carolina, and another

half were trained at UNC-CH. While North Carolina has a proportionately smaller number than many surrounding states, Vann adds, "We will probably see more pediatric

DirttIt,r tl Tlte ]ns ttritt rf \utritiou. llow'arrl N. /,r ' . / 1//r Dr. /, . ',.. .. . ././,.r,./. ..r, t:rtntrrn all p/ta.se.t r,/ riulnlittn jn tltt' ltlt t.rcle rlilh Vrr'(/irl empirasrs ott lln eldtrlv. ()l ltaftiL:ulat rr.,/r1.r'rlr r\ the dr.'tr.'htptntnt r.t[ tfu tet httital and i'r!,tni,t,ti irtDal rrt;ot:rliotis re0Uintl t,, t'i1lr/t/rslt nullliot, //trrlr/frrtilrf sl,!1{'/lri

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regularity of menses, type of exercise, and race. Women with regular periods, who have higher estrogen levels, will be compared with women whose level of exercise is so high that menses cease, creating post-menopausal conditions. Also, by studying women involved in

services. User-oriented strategies promise to

be far more efficient and economical than traditional collection methods. Since January 1985, Institute researchers, led by Dr. Jacobson, have been working on design, methodology, and testing to adapt Reflectone's interactive video disk technology to the data collection aspect of a nutritional status

different varsity sports, the researchers hope

to discern which sports are more effective in

The Reflectone "Kioski' or "Standalone Unitl' a machine resembling a video arcade game, takes the place of the human inter-

promoting bone mass. Anderson says they expect the gymnasts to lead, based on results of other studies. The study grew out of Frances Tllavsky's

viewer. Users anonymously respond to a series of questions by touching the color dis-

analysis of women over 65. Working with Drs. Anderson and Talmage, Tllavsky conducted a

play screen. At the end of a session, the machine dispenses three strips of paper with bar graphs indicating the user's eating habits in relation to the U.S. Recommended Daily

similar study t0 assess the various risk factors contributing to osteoporosis. The researchers found that lifetime dietary calcium was very

network.

Allowances (USRDAS). The questions are designed t0 measure usual intake of basic food groups for a defined time period (such as the past six months or the past year). A calculated nutrient composition of each specific food item listed in the program is the basis lor the

individual diet analysis. Plans are well under way to put this new technology to work in a field study t0 be conducted in North Carolina and the Southeast in the next several months. Expectations are that this effort will help form the basis for the development of the kind of regional, state, and local data collection service that would be suitable as an integral component

of a program that is already under consideration for enactment in H.R. 2436 by the 99th Congress.

New ventures, such as the launching of Currents and participation in nutrition monitoring, have heightened interest in the field

and focused attention, both locally and nationally, on these important issues.

-Anne B. Mangun

Calcium Intake and Bone Strength in the Department of Nutrition of the UNC-CH School of Public Health are Researchers

studying how calcium intake and exercise affect bone strength and help prevent osteoporosis, a disease in which the bones lose mass, becoming weak and easily broken. They

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are looking only at women because women, especially those with small builds, suffer most from osteoporosis. The National Dairy Council is funding the research. Dr. John J.B. Anderson, professor of nutrition, assisted by doctoral students Frances Tllavsky and Janet Lacey, is studying collegeage women to determine how significant calcium intake and exercise are in promoting bone mass. To date more than 100 UNC-CH women, aged 18 to 22, have answered a questionnaire about their diet, exercise, and lifestyle. The researchers are also measuring the mineral content and density of the women's bones, under the direction of Dr. Roy V. Talmage, professor of surgery and pharmacology and former director of orthopedic research. These measurements are then compared with the women's calcium intake and level of exercise. Results so

far indicate a significant differ-

ence by age twenty

in women who

stopped

significant in determining bone strength in older women. The results led Anderson to think that ages eleven t0 twenty probably are essential in building bone mass. "We thought

that, if you were going to see differences, you would probably see them early in lifel' Anderson recounts. Another study extending Tllavsky's work is that of Lydia Halioua, doctoral student in

nutrition, who is looking at older but premenopausal women. Although Halioua is focusing on obtaining good exercise histories, she is examining the same dietary and lifestyle variables.

Still another study will involve a population sample of Japanese women, probably from Tokyo and Kobe. Janet Lacey

will

assess

many of these same variables among the Japanese women, who have a high incidence of vertebral osteoporosis but a low incidence of hip fracture, despite low calcium intake. Determining the factors responsible for differences between Japanese and American

women might help

in planning preventive

drinking milk, a major source of calcium, in their early teens. "Preliminary examination shows that, for every bone parameter, the

strategies.

low-calcium consumers have statistically significant lower bone valuesl' Anderson says.

difficulty, the researchers are taking an interdisciplinary approach, combining expertise from such fields as nutrition, orthopedics, physical education, epidemiology, and biostatistics. For instance, the study is using a model developed by biostatisticians and epide-

"lntuitively we have thought this all along, but now we have data to prove iti' The results also indicate that women who exercise have stronger bones, as researchers have suspected. While no U.S. studies have produced

data yet t0 support this hunch, Anderson says, from looking at other countries, researchers believe "exercise is important over the long

Multi-factorial causation

cult to unravel, Anderson

disease

is diffi-

says. To combat this

miologists for coronary heart disease and

applying it to a different disease. "lnterdisciplinary research is what Public Health is generally aboutl' Anderson comments.

haull' Three other factors being examined are

-Diantha J. Pinner

Iltedievat Culture and the

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The study of medieval literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is vigorous and diversified. Medievalists in the

of English illustrate a variety of to an accumulation of texts ranging from the eighth to the later fifteenth Department

approaches

century. The writers whose works have survived differed from us today in almost every attitude. George Kane, William Rand Kenan, Jr. professor of English says, "This period was one of constant, gradually accelerating changel'

According to Kane, this change came t0 a head in England in the later fourteenth century, in the shape of economic and spiritual upheaval with an accompanying sense of insecurity. Oxford professor ,lohn Wyclif questioned institutions that had been accepted without question for nearly a thousand years. In addition, a popular preacher of the time predicted that the world would end in the

year 1400. "There was deep eschatological

concern, especially about the questions of predestination and salvation. This period

is recorded; and the p00r state of those texts, of which the literal accuracy is almost invari-

produced Langland and Chaucer, the first two English poets of world stature. Their poetry

ably much impaired by successive hand copying so that many of them are corrupted by

reflects that concern and other concerns of their timesi' says Kane. Much of the energy of the six medievalists in the Enelish department at UNC-CH is

stratifications of error. Dr. Connie C. Eble, associate professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in English, points out that frequently, when students at the graduate level discover the great

to equipping graduate students for t0 the culture of the middle ages. This culture was expressed first in Old English, the devoted access

language spoken by the Angles and Saxons who colonized England after the fall of the Roman Empire, and then in Middle English, the form of the same language that developed after the Norman Conquest. Kane points out that the barriers t0 access are of three main kinds: differences in cultural imprint and mental outlook, what sociologists call "mindset"; the number of languages needed to read the texts in which the culture

interest of the medteval period and its literature, they are handicapped by lack of an adequate language background. "Here students are probably asked to learn more languages

than at most American universitiesl'

says

Eble.

According to Dr. Kane, an ideally equipped medievalist would have reading knowledge not

only of Old and Middle English, but also of Old and Middle French; Old Provencal; Italian; Old and Middle High German; and Old Icelandic; and beyond that, of modern French

and German for access to foreign scholarship. "There are not many students like thatl' Ifune admits, "but we are trying to build up the numberl' In fact, the University has excellent resources for students of medieval English. Gothic, the oldest surviving Germanic language, Old lcelandic, and Old and Middle High German are taught in the Department of Germanic Languages; Old French and Old Provengal in the Department of Romance Languages; and the English department itself offers Old English, Middle English, Old lrish, and Middle Welsh. Ph.D. student Bill Arfin

that is, an alphabetical print-out of the words contained in the poem in the form of citations of the lines where they occur. With the help of Dr. Joseph S. Wittig, associate professor of English and another medievalist in the department, he plans to devise a computer program for feeding the language of the first and third versions into that concordance. One of the courses IGne teaches trains students to use English vernacular manuscript materials. This has to be done from photo graphs, which he has been collecting for years. He points out that

considers that UNC-CH is exceptionally wellequipped: "Where else can you take Middle

effective. Three

in the same semester? Certainly nowhere in the United Statesl' he

successful work

Welsh and Old Norse says.

it is

nevertheless

of the department's medieval

Ph.D. students have recently carried out very

with primary materials in

Great Britain. Student Bill Arfin comments, "Dr. Ihne has a wonderful insight into the way scribes worked, the kinds of mistakes they made, and their textual emendationsl'

Editing Piers Plowman Student Research

Kane, who has published extensively on

Langland and Chaucer, is general editor of series of lour volumes of Piers Plowman, Langland's twice-revised masterpiece of the

light was used for manuscript reading. The poem, 439 lines long, is believed to have been copied around 1000

Horn's editing

eighty years to bear on the work. Eloise Grathwohl, who became interested in medieval English while taking a Chaucer class as an undergraduate with Dr. Kane, says, "l love the challenge of working with languages,

and the challenge of a twentieth-century mind trying to understand the medieval culturel' Using both medieval French and Middle English, Grathwohl is locating and analyzing twelfth- through fourteenth-century French antecedents of allegorical motifs in Pi'ers Plownan as her dissertation project. She adds, "The fascination 0f the Middle English culture, along with the desire to learn more about my own cultural roots, led me to the

Research on the graduate level

is as diverse

as that of faculty. Doctoral student Mike Kuczynski studied in England last fall on a Reynolds Dissertation Fellowship, transcribing between four and five hundred pages of religious prose from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries in Oxford, Cambridge, and London. He is studying the stylistic and thematic differences in religious prose and verse of the mid to late Middle Ages.

from Aelfric to Slang UNC-CH has long maintained a strong tradition of philology, the study of texts, or language via the written text. As a student,

Dr. Connie Eble received rigorous philological training from Kenan professors Norman E.

ful they arei' Removing such accumulated error is a primary function 0f editing medieval texts. In 1960 Kane published an edition of the first version of Piers Plowman, and in 1975, with ET. Donaldson of Yale and Indiana, an edition of the poet's first revision of the poem, the second version. The third version, Lang-

land's second revision, nearing completion, is being edited under Kane's direction by a professor emeritus of Melbourne University in Australia.

Kane is working on the fourth volume of the edition, which will contain a complete glossary for the three versions and studies of their meter and syntax. As a preliminary exercise to making the glossary, he is transIating the poem. The translation is halffinished and should be completed, Kane hopes, by the summer. For the actual making of the glossary, he has a computer-made concordance to the second, most widely-read version of the poem;

l.o.

will bring important scholarship 0f the last

study of medieval literaturel'

later fourteenth century, which survives in 52 manuscripts and a black-letter edition of 1550 based on a fifty{hird, lost copy. None of these copies accurately represents what Langland wrote. "The occurrence of error when texts are copied by hand is axiomaticl' Kane says. "Sometimes, to demonstrate this to my students I make them copy a piece, say 1,000 words long, of some easy text in their own time. There is invariably error, however care-

IYish Horn, who is just beginning her diswill be making a new edition of the Old English poem, "Christ Il' which was edited in 1900, before ultra-violet sertation research,

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this problem, Wittig transferred the 200 pages of text and commentary he had compiled to a computer disk. "Every time you retype a page, it is easy to introduce a new errorl' he says.

A man of many and diverse interests, Wittig is equally devoted to c0mputer technology. He keeps a tool box handy and spare memory chips in his desk. Since 1982 Wittig has been the department's computer coordinator, and he teaches all incoming graduate students how to use microcomputers for word processing and the University's mainframe c0mputer for tasks such as compiling a concordance and carrying out verbal analyses. "A computer can do things that would otherwise take yearsl' he explains. "lt's good for the busyworki'

Studying the British Isles Patrick 0'Neill, assistant professor of English, focuses his study on the British Isles as a

Eliason, George S. Lane, and Urban T. Holmes, and likes to think that she carries on their commitment t0 the study of language. Eble's work spans the distance from the earliest recorded stage of English, 0ld English, to current changes in American English. She wrote her dissertation on the Ianguage of the monk Aelfric, the chief prose stylist of the late tenth century and the earliest English grammarian, and is now at the other extreme, working on slang, a rapidly evolving form of everyday, spoken English, most o[ which is not yet recorded. Eble originally began to study slang in

order to make a course in English grammar livelier. She then presented her findings at Iinguistic meetings, where they were well received. "This Ied me to continue with the study of slang as serious scholarshipl' says Eble. Currently, she is writing a book that "will examine the general nature of slang as representative

of living languagei'

from Cornmentaries to Computers Dr. Wittig is editing the earliest Latin commentaries on Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy. Boethius, an early sixth-century Roman scholar, philosopher, theologian, and statesman, wrote the Consolation

prison

while awaiting execution. He had been charged

with conspirinq aqainst Theodoric,

king of the Ostrogoths, who were in military control of ltaly. The Consolation is a philosophical affirmation of his beliefs in the face of his own execution. The first surviving copy of the text dates to the early ninth century, and the commentaries were probably written in the late ninth to early tenth century. 'As soon as copies appear, s0 do commentariesl' Wittig says. The commentaries, reflecting the attitudes of the people who wrote them, are useful illuminators of the time. "From them we can under stand how the text was read and tauqhtl' Wittig explains. The commentaries have not yet been fully studied and edited. Wittig, who has examined all of the manuscripts, many of which he discovered, plans to describe the early commentary tradition and provide an edition of the text. In the past ten years he has examined over one hundred and fifty, and he will edit at least sixty of the commentaries. "Boethius was called the 'schoolmaster of the Middle Agesl" Wittig says, "because he wrote treatises 0n such diverse subjects as logic, mathematics, philosophy, theology, and music. His texts were standard for a long time.' King Alfred, Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I were among a number of translators of Boethius' Consolation. One of the inevitable problems

in working

with a text that has been handled by so many over the centuries is errors in translation and transcription. To avoid contributing to

whole, as they were represented by different language groups in the early medieval period.

From about the seventh century to the eleventh, the principal languages 0f the British lsles were Old English (spoken by the Anglo-Saxons), Gaelic (spoken by the Irish and many Scots), and Welsh (spoken by the people of Wales). The interaction among three cultures and

their three languages and three resultant literatures has been little studied, and 0'Neill believes that the neglect has especially

impeded thorough understanding of the influences that shaped early medieval English literature.

There are many indications in medieval English literature of the influence of Celtic themes. O'Neill points out that the roots of Arthurian literature, which appears in the

twelfth century, are found in Celtic literature. Middle English poetry bears comparison with contemporary Welsh poetry. Dafydd ap Gwilym (David son of William), the most famous o[ medieval Welsh poets, was contemporary with Chaucer. "This would provide a wonderful subject of comparison that could shed light on Chaucer as well as Dafyddl' says O'Neill. Northumbria, a large area of northwestern England, was converted by the Irish in the seventh century. "l think it is possible that the earliest Old English literature originated in Northumbria, and that the impetus for a vernacular English literature may have come from the lrishl' For a vernacular to arise in

the midst of a Latin stronghold, and to be taken seriously as a medium for literature, was a profound happening, O'Neill notes. The fact that the lrish who came to Northumbria already had their own vernacular literature may have acted as a stimulus for Englishmen. The earliest known Old English poet, Caedmon (incidentally a British-Celtic name), was

a Northumbrian. Few universities study medieval British lit' erature across language boundaries, Cambridge being one exception, says O'Neill. 'As a rule, Anglo-Saxon scholars do Anglo-Saxon, and Celtic scholars do Celticl'

Steve Killion, a doctoral student, recently completed his M.A. thesis with Dr. 0'Neill. Studying a manuscript believed to be a copy

of a Latin work on the Psalms from the seventh century, Killion examined the relationship of the glosses, written in 0ld Irish, to the text of Psalm One, written in Latin. The author of the glosses, says Killion, sometimes produced a grammatical duplication of the Latin, sometimes drew a conclusion about the text, and sometimes quoted an authority. "The Latin text itself is heretical, but the author of the glosses was quite orthodoxl'

Killion

notes.

of the major problems confronting the student of medieval lir erature is understanding medieval society. He

Along with direction from Dr. 0'Neill, Killion received help from Dr. Wittig in using the computer for this project. With Wittig s

points out that literary conventions can be easily misunderstood. For example, digressions and "doublets" are important conventions in Irish literature, but may appear redundant and

program, he was able to design characters and do the necessary word processing in

0'Neill

agrees that one

unnecessary to a twentieth-century reader. He also notes the difficulty with "iokes" in the literature. We cannot be sure that what seems amusing t0 us was intended to be humorous. The reputation of the "yocular lrish" may not

be iustified. "We simply do not know how an Irish audience respondedl' he says. Dr. O'Neill is currently working on Old English psalters. He is collaborating on a project with Dr. Richard W. Pfaff, professor of history, studying the Old English glosses (notes on the Latin text written in the margins of manuscript$ in the Eadwine Psalter, a product of Christ Church Canterbury, while Dr. Pfaff is studying the Latin text as a whole.

order to reproduce closely the manuscript text

in his

thesis.

(lhrmn

it:ltls

a ro,el I{

c}lrr;lilitr*

Dr. Edward Donald Kennedy, associate professor of English, is compiling a bibliography of the Middle English Chronicles with a commentary, to be included in the Manual of the Writings in Middle English. The multivolume manual will cover the period 1050 to 1500 lo and will be comprehensive. Kennedy's section will explicate the various historical accounts, or chronicles, written during the period. These include histories of England, reworkings of Biblical history, genealogical histories, and accounts of specific events.

Kennedy's work involves locating

all

the

manuscripts of the Chronicles; tracking down all scholarly references; indicating all editions, translations, and sources; and discussing tex' tual problems. A massive undertaking, the bibliography alone contains 11,000

12,000

entries so far.

A compilation such as this has never been done for the Chronicles. An earlier edition of the manual, published in 1916, stopped at the year 1400 and covered only the eleven chronicles written by that date. Kennedy has increased that number to 112, making his part of the manual virtually a completely new work.

The Chronicles belong to the realms of both history and literature. The earliest chronicle was begun long before the Norman Conquest, and its post-Conquest portion pro vides important information about the Norman impact on language and culture. The Chronicles also contain literary elements and sources for later writers, most notably Shakespeare. "The concept of history in the Middle Ages wasn't the same as the concept of history todayl' Kennedy notes. "Then it was more a blend of fact and fictioni' Legends and stories, such as the legendary founding of Britain by the TYoians and the adventures of King Arthur, were woven into the historical fabric and became matters of controversy. While history was not dismissed as fiction, Kennedy explains, not everything in a chronicle was necessarily accepted as true. Kennedy says he hopes to complete the Chronicles pro.ject in the next year and return to work on a book on Middle English adaptations of French prose Arthurian romances, which is about half done. The book discusses the concept of King Arthur and how it differed in England and France, seen through the Morte dArthur of Thomas Malory and works

of lesser authors. French works became popular in England after the Norman Conquest and were well known, Kennedy adds. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the French romances were being adapted into English. Kennedy is asking what appeal they had for the English and what happened to the romances in the sixteenth century, during the Tbdor period.

['oeus nrn Aelfrie: The research of Dr. Theodore H. Leinbaugh, assistant professor

of English, has centered on

the late tenth-century theologian Aelfric. A writer who revised his manuscripts, Aelfric

burned at the stake-literally-for their viewsl' Leinbaugh explains. Archbishop Parker included the miracle stories in his edition of the sermon but claimed that they were interpolated. Later edi. tors excised the stories, and contrary evidence continued to be edited out of the text. Leinbaugh has traced the development of Aelfric's sermon as it was transformed into an Anglican document by its editors. Recently, he has identified two of the sermon's sources:

the work of a ninth-century Benedictine monk, Ratramnus, who asserted a figurative interpretation of the doctrine, and that of his abbot, Paschasius Radbertus, who believed in the literal interpretation.

At present, Leinbaugh is completing

edition of the liturgical homilies in Aelfric's Lives of Saints, to be published by Toronto University Press in 1986. "Saints' lives were the popular literature 0f the timd' Leinbaugh explains. The book will present eight texts, including the previously unpublished De Creatore et Creatura. He has compared different manuscripts, using infrared and ultraviolet techniques to study the nearly invisible traces of ink scraped away. He has also studied manuscripts that have been imperfectly edited and has examined the Latin sources. His larger goal is to edit the complete lires, about 35 texts. "l want to be able to see through Aelfric's eyesl' Leinbaugh comments. "l want to know what it was like to be alive

10001'

Shadowy Reflections from the Mirror of Time Similar interests and challenges drew others

srrpl (.ollrrn Otho. (). i. vl. ). lllro

to the study of medieval literature and culture.

ll.t)r)

has been called the first English stylist. "He wrote in a metrical prose and elevated diction that seems to have captured the hearts and minds of those in the early church and later Christiansl' Leinbaugh says. Aelfric's Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae, an Easter sermon, became one of the most controversial texts in English church history, Leinbaugh adds. Furthermore, some scholars have argued that the publication by Archbishop Matthew Parker in 1566 of an edition of the Easter sermon marks the beginning of the study of English texts.

ln the sixteenth century, after the

break

with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries, the English theologians began to

"lt

examine ancient English texts, "looking for early precedent for Anglican viewsl' Leinbaugh says. Aelfric's Easter sermon, which was written near the year 1000, for the most

part seemed t0 support the Anglican figurative interpretation of transubstantiation and, therefore, became of interest. To the embarrassment of the Anglicans, however, the sermon contained two miracle stories that described a

quite literal presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In one story the Host was transformed into a bloodied child lying on the altar, and in the other it became a bloody finger about to be served to a communicant. What were the Anglicans to make of these? "This is not an esoteric matter because people were

seemed the most interesting periodl' Dr. Kennedy explains, "perhaps because it was the most remote. lt's fascinating to study a different time and culturel'There are great differences between the Middle Ages and our

time. Nevertheless, Dr. Wittig notes that, despite differences in attitudes, the people of the Middle Ages were not aliens: "lt's not like studying Martiansl' Dr. IGne concurs: "Sociologically, historically, and for students of Iiterature, the Medieval period is not only intrinsically interesting but affords significant insights into the character of our world todayi'

-Diantha J.

-Ann

Pinner

F. Stanford

iii

Pattern and Stnrcture in Batkan l"anguages

Building 0n more than ten years' research, Victor A. Friedman, UNC-CH professor of Slavic languages, is spending this year comparing the use of verbal categories in several Balkan languages. Looking for patterns

and structure in the languages, he is asking why the patterns exist and what they mean. A grant from the American Council of Learned Societies has provided him the opportunity for concentrated research and ini-

tial work on a comparative grammar. The Balkan languages as a group are particularly interesting to study, Friedman says, because they are only distantly related; yet, through linguistic contact and influence,

they have developed shared categories that are more complex than those of most other European languages. Also, because the area is one of multilingual contact, the Balkan languages help answer more general questions about how language is used. "The study of individual languages leads to an understanding of how Language with a capital worksl' Friedman comments. "You study specifics to

make generalizationsi' Friedman also has a more personal intetest in studying these languages. Understanding better how a language works, he says, helps him learn and teach the language more effectively. One of the few professors in the country to teach languages of the Balkans and Caucasus, Friedman offers courses in Albanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Lak, Macedonian, and Turkish on a rotating basis. Georgian, for example, currently is taught at only one other university

in the United

States.

Friedman is focusing primarily on the categories of tense, aspect, mood, and voice in what he calls the "canonical Balkan languages": Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, and Rumanian. 0ther languages such as Turkish, Arumanian, the South Serbian dialects, and the Balkan dialects of Romani will also be relevant. Over the years Friedman has been able to amass numelous examples of all types of documents

in these

languages,

including humoristic journals, newspapers,

textbooks, and literature, and ranging from

colloquial to formal in style. Now he is studying the collected data, examining the verb forms in context. From this examination he will form hypotheses about how the various verb forms work and will construct key examples to test his hypotheses. This step in the research is one feature that sets it apart from many other linguistic studies. Friedman will test the constructions on native speakers, traveling to Bulgaria and several areas

of Yugoslavia, including the

predominantly Albanian region of Kosovo. "The native speaker is the essential subject of language researchl' Friedman says, yet

speaker must resort t0 a different tense t0 express that the duration of the strike was limited.

"All of this is on the grand levell'

Fried-

often this step is omitted in studies. More testing with native speakers should be done, Friedman adds, but researchers do not always have the necessary manpower and funding. Another feature that takes Friedman's work a step beyond past studies is that he will be looking at differences among the languages and trying to explain them. Most research

man says, that is, the question of the meanings the speakers assign to the forms. "There is also the picky level, which is style, or what sounds righti' Friedman will also be trying t0 define the boundaries in style by looking at the differences between what sounds right, weird, and unacceptable. "0n the way from what sounds good to what sounds bad, there is what sounds weirdl' The

since linguists began studying Balkan categories in the 1930s has been aimed at identifying shared categories. Friedman will delve

weird-sounding constructions are important, he says, because they can help illuminate what is stylistically right and wrong. A construction

into superficial similarities that on a deeper

sounds weird because the listener cannot resolve what he hears with the context he understands. To make the construction stylistically right, he must seek a new context. The

level reveal differences rather than 0ne{0-0ne correspondences among the languages. He then will try to establish what accounts for

the differences.

An example of one such superficial similarity, Friedman says, is the imperfect tense in Macedonian and Albanian. At face value one would call it a shared structure because both languages use an impetfect tense to denote a repeated or on-going action in the past. But consider the sentence, "The strike lasted three weeksl' While the Macedonian speaker would use the imperfect tense, the Albanian speaker would use the aorist, a very different tense denoting a single action occurring in the past. Why? What is the difference in what they mean? The Albanian imperfect denotes duration just as the Macedonian imperfect does, but it does not allow for the concept of bounding a period of duration. The Albanian

difference in contexts thus helps define meaning assigned t0 stylistically right forms. As a result of decreased foreign language requirements in universities over the past two decades, Friedman says, there is a great need

for more training in and knowledge of foreign languages. As the country needs to take an increasinQly broader perspective on world affairs, foreign languages-especially in a strategic area like the Balkans-become increasingly important tools for keeping up with a rapidly growing and changing interna-

tional scene. "AIl studies of national languages are

of strategic importancel' Friedman

observes.

-Diantha J. Pinner

UNC CH Coltaborative Studies Coordinating C,enter

The Center's initral prolect was the Lipids

Clnics Program, begun in 1971 and now in a follow-up stage. One of the proQram Research

studies, the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial, has produced highly noted results. The study and its conclusion that lowering blood cholesterol levels reduces the rate of heart attacks have been published in medical

journals as well as popular magazines such as Tine and Consumer Reports Since the summer of lg85 the Center has taken on projects that study the decline in cardiovascular disease and treatment of congestive heart failure. These two proqrams, as

well as the Lipids program. have been funded

by the National Heart, Lunq, and Blood lnstitute of the National lnstitutes of Health.

domly divided into two equal groups. One group was placed on a mild cholesteroilowering diet and given a cholesterol-lowerinq drug, cholestryamine. The other qroup was placed on the same diet but given a placebo. For seven years participants were monitored

for adherence to the program, general health and cardiovascular condition, blood cholesterol Ievel, and possible drug toxicity. As the study generated data, the forms were forwarded to the Center. There, staff copied the data, hired local businesses to key them into a computer, and then applied sophisticated computer programs to make sure the numbers made sense. All major data were checked, and any suspect number was questioned and resolved or discarded. 0nce verified, the data were tabulated and analyzed.

At the end of the trial, the group taking the cholesterol-lowering drug had experienced 155 heart attacks, a statistically significant reduction from 187 in the control group. Also, Williams says, for every percent that cholesterol was lowered, the risk of heart attack was

Cardiovascular disease remains the nation's leading cause of death, but the UNC CH Col

laborative Studies Coordinating Center

helping find answers to major questions about the disease. Scientists have discovered that investigating such health problems as cardiovascular disease requires a large-scale, muiti-

disciplinary approach. To aid this comprehensive research effort, the Center coordinates national and international collaborative studies, which are projects conducted at multiple facilrties using the same procedures to answer the same questions. The Center helps design and manage the studies, analyze the data. and publish the results, Staff are drawn from the UNC CH departments of biostatistics, c0mputer science, epidemiology, medicine, and nutrition.

The Prevention Trial Study provides a good model for how the Center operates. During the design phase of the study, the staff helped decide what questions to research and what tools. personnel, training, monitoring, and quality control would be necessary, recounts 0. Dale Williams, director of the Center and professor of biostatistics.

The resulting plan established twelve clinics

to study whether the risk of heart attack could be reduced in people with hiqh levels of blood cholesterol. Between lg73 and 1976. these clinics identified men aged 35 to 59 with high levels of blood cholesterol but no evidence of coronary heart disease. The 3,806 men included in the study were then ran-

reduced by two percent. Thus, if cholesterol can be lowered by one-quarter, risk will be

cut in half. In 1984 the Center began to pubIish reports describing these results in journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the ,{ew England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and Clinicat Chemistru 'At the end of the study we knew wherl everyone was and what his vital status wasl' Williams recounts. Participants are no longer receiving clinical treatment, but the clinics are continuing to monitor them. The study will gather information for five more years t0 study two issues: whether the group receiving the drug will continue to have a lower rate of heart attacks and whether the higher rates of

ing data under a similar rather than identical, protocol, but data have not yet been exchanged. Thorn is writing papers for joint symposia to be held with the Soviet Union and with Poland in September 1986. China has completed a four-year population screening with Williams' help and in 1985 bought microcomputer software to analyze the data. Last spring Thorn spent two months in Beijing and Guangzhou, training researchers and programming the microcomputers for convenient and accurate data entry, error checking, and analysis. More recently, Thorn has been reviewing technical manuals and creating quality control manuals for the Chinese researchers. "Lipids in China, especially in the south of China, tend to be much lower than in the

United Statesl' he notes. The countries are planning to exchange data and to conduct some intervention studies.

In the United States, the Center is developing programs to investigate new questions. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) program grew out of a 1978 conference which recognized

a decline in cardiovascular

in the United gastrointestinal cancer and accidental deaths in that group are related to the drug. No link between these problems and the drug was established in the data collected during the trial.

The other Lipids Research Clinics Program studies observed population samples to develop a comprehensive profile of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. Three of the studies were related to the same population:

one gathered sociodemographic information, correlating it with blood cholesterol levels; another determined hereditary factors; and a third, still in progress, is estimating mortality rates. "The data collected were an absolute

gold minel' says Catherine C. King, social research assistant and assistant to the director. The data have provided information lor eighty articles and will be available to other researchers.

The Center has also coordinated population studies in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Poland, and the People's Republic of China. The Soviet Union is operating two clinics under the same protocol as those in the United States and is producing "virtually identical datal' says Michael Thorn, a doctoral student in biostatistics who is working with the studies. Researchers in Poland are collect-

disease

patients with congestive heart failure and compare its efficacy with current treatment. The other will administer the drug t0 try t0 prevent congestive heart failure in patients who have had heart attacks but who have not

yet developed heart failure. Congestive heart failure has a mortality rate of fifty percent within five years, says Dr. C. E. Davis, S0LVD principal investigator and deputy director of the Center. "[t's really pretty badi' he comments. FDA approval for use of the drug to lower high blood pressure is expected soon, and physiologic reasons lead researchers to believe it will be effective also in treating congestive heart failure. "We hope

this drug will cut that mortality ratel' Davis says. Researchers also expect the drug to

improve a patient's ability to function. lf funded, a third project, Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS), would evaluate the efficacy of carotid endarterectomy. The carotid artery is the main artery to the brain, and an endarterectomy is the surgical reaming of a clogged artery t0 improve blood flow. "lt's an important question because this surgical procedure is beginning to be used frequentlyl' Dr. Williams says. The complication rate is high, and researchers are asking how beneficial the procedure is and for whom.

States but could provide no

clear reason for the trend. "There has been a precipitous decline-two percent per yearsince 1972, but we don't know whyl' explains Dr. Gerardo Heiss, a member of the ARIC team and associate professor of epidemiology. ARIC will investigate how much the trend is due to changes in risk factors and how much is due to better medical care. "lf we can identify what has reduced it, we can augment that process and target efforts to those factors that are importantl' Heiss adds. The program will collect information from four diverse communities with adult populations of at least i0,000. One community will be selected from North Carolina, and Heiss will direct that clinic. fuo simultaneous studies will be conducted

fi:

or' * {}s}i.trr}i}rt'.1i ihi l iti,i'l;

"This work requires enormous attention to detail and planningi' says Dr. Williams. 0rganization is essential t0 ensure that the data published reflect the truth. The volume of data handled is staggering. The Prevention Trial study alone involved 1,055,000 clinic data forms, 341,000 blood tests, and 72,000 electrocardiograms collected during 193,000 clinic visits. At one time, the four major lipids studies funneled 20,000 records per week into the Center. "We had 4.5 million pages of paper in processing these datal' Williams says.

identify, examine, and follow a representative sample of 4,000 people aged 45 to 64 with coronary heart disease. A new program aimed at studying treatment for congestive heart failure, called Studies of Left Ventricular Dysfunction (S0LVD), involves

At the same time, the data are relayed through numerous transfer points. Tests and data forms collected in clinics across the country are routed through processing laboratories and centers before arriving at the Chapel Hill center for compilation and analysis. At each transfer point there is a potential for error. "This is the biggest probleml' Williams notes. "The greatest challenge is being able to provide g00d data in an arena where so many disciplines are working

two clinical trials involving 6,800 patients.

togetherl'

in each community. One study will

survey

over six years the number of cases of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease in people aged 25 ro 74. The other study will

One

will administer a new druq, enalapril,

Key requisites to providing good data are

A related concern during the design

phase

is methodology, or how one will gather and analyze data to answer questions. [n designing methodology for new studies, the Center's faculty helps develop new ways of measuring c0r0nary heart disease risk factors. explains Dr. Lars-Goran Ekelund, research assistant professor of medicine at UNC-CH and Duke University. For instance, several new methods have been introduced in ARIC to monitor the progression of atherosclerosis to the point of heart attack and to provide nonsurgical techniques for detecting arterial changes in patients not displaying symptoms.

.::.:.'

Another important task in the area of methodology is analyzing current statistical methods to develop new models for manipulating and interpreting the data. Fraser Smith is one staff member who works in this area

sophisticated computer programs that check for error. These programs are desiqned by the data management division, which also develops procedures for collecting and transmitting data. In the past, the Center has checked the data after it reached Chapel Hill. A new system, now being tested in ARIC, will transfer much of that task to the individual clinics, which will enter data into a microcompuler and verify the numbers on-site. This system represents a major innovation in data collec-

tion. "['m unaware of anyone in a medical

research project involving human beings directly entering data into a microcomputerl' says Dr. James D. Hoskrng, director of data management and assistant professor of biostatistics.

This system has two major advantages: speed and quality. Because the data will be computerized as they are collected, they will be available for analysis faster. Also, because computer programs can check for error as measurements are recorded, corrections can be made immediately, improving the quality of the data. Before, by the time an error was detected, it was sometimes too late to correct

a measurement. Another important step in providrng good data is assuring that laboratory measurements are accurate. When the lipids program started, many scientists doubted that it was possible to make cholesterol measurements at twelve different laboratories agree as closely as the program would require. 'lI someone is going

to be told to diet or to take a drug because of high cholesterol, it's important that the measurement be accurate and reliablel' explains Robert P McMahon, shepherd

the

quality control data. Working with the Centers

for Disease Control, the coordinating center helped develop a program of standardized procedures and quality monitoring that held

differences between laboratories to less than five percent. This program set a standard now used by researchers worldwide. Good communication among the different disciplines is also required to produce useful data. "0ne of the Center's responsibilities is to effect good communicationi' Williams explains. King, whose task is to support this function, tracks the individual studies as they progress through the phases of design, pilot testing and evaluation, data collection, and data analysis and publication. She facilitates communication and provides continuity within each study while maintaining an encompassing view of simultaneous projects.

0nce the Center has good data, the next step is to analyze the numbers. This responsibility is the province 0f the statistical computing division. Analyzing data is a complex task that requires research as well as computer analysis expertise, says Dr. David H. Christiansen, director of statistical computing and research assistant professor of biostatistics. "We feel that one of our strong points is the vast experience we have in analyzing the lipids program datal' Christiansen says. Statistical analysis also provides key information in earlier stages of study. Monitoring results as data are collected is especially important when patients are receiving treat-

ment. Analysis can reveal side effects or signs that the treatment is successful, which should be reported as soon as they are discovered, Christiansen notes. Also, analysis of pilot study data helps guide the design of a study.

under Dr. Regina C. Elandt-Johnson, professor of biostatistics. Sometimes a model appears t0 be valid but leads to false conclusions, Smtth explains. To guard against such error, he evaluates methods

of assessing models

used

for analyzinQ survival data. The Center provides excellent professional training for students, adds Smith, who also worked as a graduate research assistant while completing his master's degree

biostatistics.

Thorn concurs, saying the experience is invaluable because the Center is one of the bestknown statistical centers in the country. "lt really is exciting t0 be involved in research that wiil benefit people in the long-runl' he adds. Students, both undergraduate and graduate, have been employed extensively as secretaries, data clerks, computer programmers, high-level analysts, and junior scientists, says

Dr. Williams. "l think it's an imp0rtant thing to do, and the level of work has been exceptional herel' he comments.

The Center's role in the future will be one of expansion and refinement, Williams explains. "One of the things we've tried to do is help address an expanded list of scientific questionsl' The Center hopes to move beyond the

ol cardiovascular disease with a study on prevention of blindness in diabetics. It is also trying to improve the cost-effectiveness and meth0d0logy of these difficult yet vital studies. area

"We made a significant jump into the future this yearl' notes Williams, referring to the Center's new projects. So this is the futurel'

some respects

-Diantha

,J. Pinner

News fi,omthe

GraduateSchool Some Current Concerns

in American Graduate

Schools

During the past year, members of the Graduate School administrative stalf have been active participants in a number of meetings of organizations, committees, and task forces considering the special problems facing the graduate schools

of research universities in

the United States.

Research Facilities and Equipment Following World War II, the decision was made that basic research in the remainder of the twentieth century would be conducted primarily by universities. This has proven to be the case, and at present about two{hirds of U.S. basic research is campus based, representing $6 to $8 billion per year. [n recent years, funds for research grants and contracts

all

have risen at a modest rate, but the research infrastructure of old equipment and antiquated laboratories is in perilous condition. In July Dean Manire was invited to participate

in a

Covernment-lndustry-University

Roundtable convened by the National Academy of Sciences. Estimates of total need range from $5 t0 $50 billion for new and renovated

laboratories and equipment. Participants sugof equipment

gested that significant updating

will ultimately

depend on federal suppot. The principal focus of this meeting was the Research Facilities Revitalization Act 0f 1985 (H.R. 2823). lntroduced by Representative Don Fuqua of Florida, this bilt would set aside a reserve fund of about ten percent of the bud-

gets of

all six lederal

research agencies with

the monies awarded to institutions as fifty percent matching grants for research facilities, totalling about $470 million per year. Another problem receiving much attention at the meeting was the circumvention of peer review represented by fourteen U.S. universities that have received direct congressional appropriation for research facilities at a time when such funds are not available on a competitive basis.

The Need to Establish Patterns of Self-Study and Regular Renewal of Graduate Programs Technological developments generally require constant updating of the best graduate programs in the sciences and in some of the social sciences. Such updating, however, has not been evident in many of the humanities and social sciences departments. Many leading research universities, including UNC-CH, have instituted systematic reviews of all graduate programs with outside scholars participating

in the

processes.

Harvard University recently released the "Report of the Committee to Study the Graduate Schooll' Among the recommendations in this report is that the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences begin regular systematic reviews of all graduate programs 0n a six-year rotation with outside experts involved in each review. Also, in a major report by The Commission on Graduate Education at the University of Chicago (University of Chicago Record, XYl, May 1982) are numerous recommendations relative to regular evaluation of all graduate programs on a five-

to ten-year-cycle. A sweeping recommendation aimed at the social sciences and humanities, urges that formal course work for the Ph.D.

not extend beyond six quarters full time. In addition, the recommendation was made to establish a Research Institute Structure for Humanities and Social Sciences where graduate students in these areas would more clearly enjoy the intensive apprenticeship model of the natural sciences.

that many of our best teaching scholars are trained. How best to provide for this training is a perennial topic of discussion at meetings

of graduate deans. Progress is being

Instruction This has long been an area of discussion and disagreement. One can regularly find examples where graduate students have been exploited, or unqualified graduate students have been given inappropriate assignments, or

even cases where foreign students with poor language skills are used as teachers.

in professional programs, funding continues to be a deterrent to four 0r more years of further study for potential students enrollments

who have incurred debt for their undergradu-

The Support of Graduate Students This subject, discussed at every meeting that graduate deans attend, refers to the decline in support of federal programs, which have waxed and waned since the 1950s. The rise and subsequent decline in such programs as NDEA fellowships and federal training grant programs at NIH and NSF highliaht the need

for some consistent patterns of support. Dean Manire is a member 0f the Department of Defense-University Forum working group 0n Engineering and Science Education, which for the past two years has been involved

in developing

increased support in

the DOD for graduate and postdoctoral students. This program, the University Research Initiative, represents a significant re-entry by the Department of Defense into training programs. Many scientific organizations and associations of graduate deans have also expended great efforts to educate congressional committees and individual congressmen concerning the necessity to continue support of graduate student assistance of

all

kinds.

It is still a part of our

culture that students in professional schools find many sources of family support and non-service loans and fellowships, whereas those persons working for the Ph.D. degree are much more likely to be expected by family and institutions

The Role of Graduate Students in Undergraduate

made,

and many departments are establishing model training programs for teaching assistants.

the number of black students enrolling in tra. ditional graduate programs continues to decline. While these declines have been to some noticeable extent offset by increased

to be sell

supporting. Fellowships, teaching assistantships, and research appointments are essential components of any successful graduate program. It is completely reasonable that such support be available, because in the best programs these graduate students are an integral

part of the research teams that conduct that great proportion of basic research in American universities.

The Status of Minority Recruitment Programs in Graduate Schools of Research Universities

0n the other hand, there are many examples at every research university where enthusiastic young apprentice scholars are able, with excellent supervision, to sharpen

Despite well-organized and well-funded efforts

their skills as teachers. It is in this setting

at many of the nation's research universities,

ate educations. Nationwide, at

all types of institutions of higher education, the peak year for minority graduate enrollments was 1976-77. Figures published by the American Council on Edu. cation Office of Minority Concerns reveal a 5.3 percent decline in graduate enrollment for blacks between 1976 and 19i8, with an attendant 9.5 percent decline in first-year enrollment.

For the Graduate School at UNC-CH, despite fluctuations in the number of applications received from 1979 to 1982, the number of admission offers remained steady, and the school maintained a 6 percent level of black graduate student enrollment.

1983, however,

applications received declined to 4.4 percent of total applications. 31.3 percent of the applicants were admitted, with blacks representing 5.1 percent of the total enrollment. For the

fall of 1984, comparable figures for blacks are 4.2 percent of total applications, 34.7 percent admitted, and 4.3 percent 0f total enrollment. Fall 1985 figures reflect 4 percent 0f total applications, 36 percent admitted and 4 percent of total enrollment. UNC-CH continues strong participation in the 22-member Name Exchange Consortium, exchanging the names of promising minority juniors and seniors who express a serious interest in graduate study. This year, Name Exchange activities have been expanded to

include minority doctoral candidates' names. Dean Renee Dobbins holds a three-year term on the AAU Universities Association of Graduate Schools Committee on Minorities. In this effort, effective models of recruitment and retention are identified for possible adaptation to research universities. The 1985 Annual Meetinq of the American Council on Education featured malor sessions promoting cooperation between business and higher education to insure access and success for minorities. The corporate link for lunding

for students in the liberal arts and sciences has not yet been fully explored, but holds promise for institutions such as UNC-CH.

continued from inside front cover

Space Station, include: (1) studies

processes

governing the behavior of space plasma; (2) further exploration of the universe, using the variety of technical advances that can be maximized through a long mission life; (3) determination of the state of our solar system and that of other planetary systems; (4) collection of cosmic dust and attempts t0 relate it to planets, stars, and perhaps extraterrestrial life; (5) expansion of our knowledge and understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological processes of the Earth and determination of which changes are taking place in the global environment; (6) investiga-

tion of material and fluid behavior and effects 0n processes which involve them; and last, but not least, (7) extension of studies involv' ing crew welfare over months in space and providing for the capability for an even more extended human presence Biomedical studies

will

space.

take into account

countermeasures against physical reconditioning to lg (unit gravity), as well as an accurate assessment

of radiation exposure

effects.

Animal experiments will ask whether a normal mammalian life cycle can occur in microgravity and whether the organisms can survive through multiple generations under these conditions. Likewise, plants will be investigated on much the same basis: will development be normal, and if sq can it persist from seed to seed; will directional growth (tropisms)

organisms withstand gravity, and one which emphasizes how organisms use gravity. As a plant physiologist, I must restrain myself from

going into the many very elegant and precise ways plants respond

to the lg gravitational

factor.

time, gravity-sensing mechanisms have evolved in order to make the gravity vector informa-

tion available to organisms. We understand some examples of how this worls, but in the great majority of cases, the sensing, transduction, and response chain of events remains obscure. Yes, big bulky animals have evolved large, strong skeletal frames to support the

weight and its movement. But no, plants do not appear to respond to the 1g force on Earth as a stress factor and indeed are so overconstructed that even the smallest, weedy

seen utensive senice

in a wide variety ol

Univer-

sity activities. A prolific author and a popular lecturer

in the

scientific comnunity, Scott often is

on the problens ol woild food production. He joined the UNC-CH faculg in 1969. He earned his Ph.D. fron Stanford Universily. asked

speak

This overview of only some of the basic and applied areas of research supported by NASAs Space Science program exemplifies, it seems to me, how ideas and even new technologies can further that which was mentioned earlier as "predictable" science. However, one can only imagine or hope that there will be breakthrough discoveries all along the way that will alter the course of humankind and, if properly taken advantage of, alter it in a positive way. This will be

slow and extremely expensive work. But if it is considered one of the many "shapes of

Endcevorr Research and Graduate Education at The University of

North Carolina at Chapel Hill

science to come]' space science can be defended.

Winter

1986

Finally, I return to paragraph one. There is research expertise at UNC-CH in literally every topic touched on in this brief synopsis

Volume

lll,

(and consequently even more, considering the many topics omitted). All would agree that our first priority in seeking and obtaining knowledge is to benefit this planet, its inhabitants and contents. lt appears likely that one significant means t0 this end is to explore and expand into space, this new frontier. Obviously there is only one way to achieve this-bring the best minds to the question.

microgravity take place;

and will yield of edible and useable plant products be affected? Life, since its beginnings, has been exposed to only one environmental factor that has remained virtually unchanged-gravity. 0ver

O.R.S

A.V

D.E

E.II

-Ton 15

K. Scott

0ctober

Enduwrs is a magazine published three times a par by the Office of Research Services, a division of the Graduate School of The University of North Catolina at Chapel Hill. Each issue of Eldearors describes only a few of the many research projects undertaken by faculty and $udents of the University.

to reprint material, readers' comments, and requests for ertra copies should be sent to Editor, tndearon 0ffice of Research Services, 300 Bynum Hall 008A, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (telephone 919/966Requests for permission

5625).

1985

*Horace Freeland Judson, "Paradoxes of

Prediction-The Shape of Science to Comel' Science 85, 6:32-36,

Number 2

1985.

Chancellor: Christopher C. Fordham, Ill Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Graduate School: G. Philip Manire Director, Oflice of Research Services: Tom K. Scott Assistant Director, 0ffice of Research Services:

Phyllis H. Lewis Editor: Anne B. Mangum Assistant Editors: Diantha J. Pinner

Ann E Stanford

Ton K.

of biologr, was appointed director of the )ffice of Research Services at UNCCH on )ctober I, 1985. A specialist in plant growth and food production, both on earth and in Scott, professor

space, Scott is involved in a wide range of scientific endeavors at the national and international levels.

Since

1980

has serued

on several National

plants can withstand imposed forces of 3040g for a significant period without any damage. In neither case, however, are the parameters that lead from sensing to the final

Aeronautiu and Space Administntion panels, and is a rcferee in the NA70 Advance Studies Institute Scientific Affairs Division. He was director of the

structural responses understood. Perhaps, the field of gravitational biology can be separated into two parts: one which emphasizes how

Dr. Scott was professot and chairman o[ the Departnent of Botany hon 1972 until 1982. He has been professor of biology since 1982 and has

lnstitute

1978.

Photographer: Will 0wens

Designer:

Donna S. Slade

Corrr: Graduate student Amy Barish adiu$s laser light scattering s),stem. Photograph by Cliff Haac and Jirnmy Crawford. Story on

page l.

1986 by The University of North Cuolina at Chapel

Hill in the United

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