OPINION: New female characters break free from stereotypes, page 5 Dean to face Mainieri for first time as coach at UNO, page 3 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016
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Volume 121 · No. 42
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Potential cuts delay pothole fixes BY BETH CARTER @bethie_carter
GRETA JINES/ The Daily Reveille
all dolled up Anthropology student makes “alligator dolls” BY CAITIE BURKES | @caitie1221
GRETA JINES / The Daily Reveille
From the shelves of antique shops and Goodwill stores, Emeral DeLorenzo-Brown adds to her inventory of fancily-dressed porcelain dolls. About an hour or two after accessorizing each doll, she severs its head, chiseling the pieces away with a hammer. She positions a flathead screwdriver between the porcelain neck and head, only to hot glue small alligator heads, collected from various gas stations, to the rest of the doll’s body. After mending the doll’s dress, DeLorenzo-Brown paints the new alligator doll green to
match the reptile’s skin. Through her trademarked business, Oddly Unique Creations, the 24-year-old University anthropology student said she sells the alligator dolls on Etsy.com, a popular online crafting marketplace. “I feel like they’re kind of a part of me now,” DeLorenzo-Brown said. Though she trademarked the business last August, DeLorenzo-Brown said she has been creating alligator dolls for the past three years. When she and her husband moved from her south Louisiana hometown to the
see DOLLS, page 7
It’s no surprise the University’s infrastructure suffers as budget cuts deepen. Now, however, the University’s finances may affect Student Government initiatives. At SG’s Student Auxiliaries and Services meeting on Feb. 29, Sen. Lauren Accardo brought up a complaint voiced by many students: potholes near Kirby Smith Hall. Accardo lives in Kirby Smith, and she says the potholes pose major concerns for students who live in the area. “I know that within our Kirby Smith Hall, that many people have thought of the potholes as a safety hazard,” she said. “Literally everyone who drives through the parking lot comments on how bad the condition is.” Accardo and fellow senator Mallory Knudsen, who is also a Kirby Smith resident, reached out to LSU Parking and Transportation Services two weeks ago to address the issue and began drafting legislation to fix the pothole
see POTHOLES, page 7
RESEARCH
University student researches cure for cancer associated with HIV BY KATIE GAGLIANO @katie_gagliano Chemistry junior Blake Kruger is developing a new treatment for Kaposi sarcoma, a type of cancer which disproportionately affects black people, the homeless and gay males, three groups that commonly lack affordable access to healthcare. Kaposi sarcoma is a soft tissue cancer in which tumors most commonly develop on the body or inside the mouth, according to the American Cancer Society. The most common form of Kaposi sarcoma is linked to HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. Kruger said Kaposi sarcoma is angiogenic, meaning it rapidly
multiplies blood vessels through the use of proteins. In addition to multiplying blood cells, the proteins also mask the cancer from the body’s immune system and support the cancer’s metastasis, he said. His proposed treatment would target the two proteins, ceasing the proteins’ angiogenic metastasis and immunologic cloaking abilities or delaying them long enough to allow the patient’s body to react to the cancer, Kruger said. Kruger’s interest in Kaposi sarcoma developed just after his freshman year of college. In the summer of 2014, Kruger interned in the lab of Christopher Parsons, a doctor with LSU Health Sciences who specializes in HIV associated
cancers and malignancies related to Kaposi sarcoma. Kruger’s time in the clinic played a big role in influencing his research. “When I was in the clinics with Dr. Parsons, I got a chance to really see the people who were affected by Kaposi sarcoma,” he said. “These people who this illness is affecting fall in between the cracks when it comes to our healthcare system, particularly in Louisiana.” Black people constitute 69 percent of new HIV cases and 78 percent of new AIDS cases, despite constituting only 32 percent of the state population. Sixty-two percent of the state’s new HIV cases among black people in 2015
were homosexual men, according to HIV 411, a Louisiana STD and HIV awareness program. Kruger’s proposed treatment method would make it possible to more successfully and economically treat the three marginalized groups most affected by this disease, he said. His method proposes using a photo-therapeutic injection that would use a light source and metal nanoparticles to release the drug into a localized region. Essentially, the drug is attached to nanoparticles of certain metals and the nanoparticles are engineered to be attracted to the diseased cancer cells.
see RESEARCH, page 7
courtesy of BLAKE KRUGER
Chemistry junior Blake Kruger is researching an affordable treatment for Kaposi sarcoma.