2 I TUESDAY, Nov. 2, 2010
NEWS IN BRIEF
Blood dfi►e challenge begins
The 17th annual Penn State-Michigan State blood donor
challenge began Monday, Nov. 1 and will continue through
Nov. 18.
Penn State has beat Michigan State four years in a row
and eleven times in total. The goal is to receive 2,000 units of
blood in the next three weeks, Red Cross club member
Jordan Thomas (junior-meteorology) said.
Every blood donor receives a free T-shirt and is entered
into a raffle to win a prize, such as a flat screen TV or $2OO
shopping spree.
Blood donor Steve Koller said he donated blood because
some of his family members have needed blood in the past.
"I just know that some people need it more than I do,"
Koller (junior-sociology) said. "I've seen first hand what my
blood can do to help other people."
All blood drive locations for the contest can be found
online at http://psuredcross.org.
Jerzy Lewandowski, of the University of Warsaw
(Poland), will talk about "The Possible Partition Fbnctions
for the Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) Model," today
at 10 a.m. in 320 Whitmore Laboratory.
Penn State professor Gregory Larsen will talk about
"Simulated Adsorption and Characterization of Novel
Nanoporous Polymers," today at 10:00 a.m. in 301 Steidle
Building.
Mark Dykman, of Michigan State University, will speak
about "Fluctuation-Induced Switching and Power Spectra of
Modulated Quantum Oscillators," today at 3:30 p.m. in 339
Davey Laboratory.
LUNCH
Findlay, Pollock, Redifer and Warnock: Minestrone soup, tor
tilla and corn soup, bbq chicken bacon pizza, cheese pizza,
chicken and broccoli stir fry, Jamaican jerk chicken pizza, potato
and cheese pierogies, sauteed onions, sour cream, sticky rice,
kyoto blend, peas, shoestring fries
Simmons: Baked tomato basil tofu, tuscan smoked turkey wrap,
bruschetta flatbread pizza, whole wheat cajun chicken flatbread
pizza, whole wheat, milano sauce, turkey sausage and pepper
heroes, whole wheat penne with asparagus red pepper, baked
sweet potato, broccoli florettes, green beans and sunflower
seeds, Israeli couscous and mushroom pilaf, jasmine rice with
edamame, primavera vegetables, roasted roma tomatoes
Waring: Chili con carne, lunch roll basket, broccoli florettes, but
tered corn, chicken and biscuits, chicken cosmo not, feature
burger, feature grilled chicken sandwich, grilled chicken breast,
quarter pound hamburger, shoestring fries, teriyaki beef stir fry,
baked potato, broccoli florettes, brown rice and grain pilaf,
cheese sauce, tortilla and corn soup, vegetarian burger
DINNER
Findlay, Pollock, Redifer and Warnock: Minestrone soup, tor
tilla and corn soup, alfredo sauce, chicken alfredo fettuccini,
grilled chicken breast, miso glazed white fish, sour cream, zuc
chini corn quesadilla, Italian green beans, kyoto blend, orzo
risotto
Simmons: Fresh fish cajun style, chicken polo a la vino, garden
quesadilla, grilled chicken breast, linguini, roasted tomato
sauce, baked sweet potato, broccoli florettes, green beans and
sunflower seeds, Israeli couscous and mushroom pilaf, jasmine
rice with edamame, primavera vegetables
Waring: Chili con came, lunch roll basket, broccoli florettes, but
tered corn, chicken and biscuits, chicken cosmo not, feature
burger, feature grilled chicken sandwich, grilled chicken breast,
quarter pound hamburger, shoestring fries, teriyaki beef stir fry,
baked potato, broccoli florettes, brown rice and grain pilaf,
cheese sauce, tortilla and corn soup, vegetarian burger, ken
tucky bbq turkey sandwich, texas style baked beans
Corrections:
An extracted quote with an article "PSU bans logo from
shot glasses" on page 1 of Monday's Daily Collegian
incorrectly identified an individual.
The person quoted was student Hunter Smith.
10 Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-moment news
www.twitter.com/dailycollegian
Collegian
Collegian Inc
James Building, 123 S. Burrowes St., State College, PA 16801-3882
The Daily Collegian Online, which can be found at www.psucolleglan.com, is updat
ed daily with the information published in the print edition. It also contains expand
ed coverage, longer versions of some stories and letters, Web-only features and pre
vious stories from our archives. Our site features full News and Business division list
ings and e-mail addresses.
News Division
News, Opinions, Arts and Entertainment, Sports. Photo. Graphics, The Daily
Collegian Online and The Weekly Collegian
Phone: (814) 865-1828
■ noon to midnight Sunday; 10 a.m. to midnight Monday to Thursday
Business Division
Advertising, circulation, accounting and classifieds
Phone: (814) 865-2531 Fax: (814) 865-3848
■ 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays
Editor In Chief
Managing Editor ....
Opinion Page Editor
Web Editor
Arts Editor
Arts Chief
Venues Chief
Campus Editor
Campus Chief
Metro Editor
Metro Chief
Copy Desk Chlef/Asst. Copy Desk Chief Aubrey Whelan/Allison Jackovitz
Copy/Wire Editors Caitlin Burnham, Samantha Kramer, Edgar Ramirez,
Caitlin Sellers
Sports Editor
Sports Chief
Football Editor
Sports Copy Desk Chief/Asst. Sports Copy Desk Chief Bill Landis/Kevin Kline
Sports Copy/Wire Editor .Zack Feldman/Adam Bittner
Visual Editor Heather Schmelzlen
Photo Editor Steph Witt
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Sales Managers
Customer Service Manager
Assistant Customer Service Managers
Layout Manager
Creative Manager
Assistant Creative Manager
Promotions Manager
Address
©2OlO Collegian Inc.
On the World Wide Web
Fax: (814) 863-1126
Board of Editors
Boon] of Managers
Kelsey Thompson
Chase Vickery
.Tom DePinto, Hank Sherwood
Alissa•Nemzer
Sara Chroman, Ben Gasbarre
Stephanie Haas
.Anna Chau
Danielle Meyers
Jamie Leder
LOCAL & NATION
Tonight: Extended forecast
NVelther - Today: C) Tomorrow: campumeathersarvlca.coin
tt High 52 Low 28 * 0 High 49 Courtesy of Campus Weather Service
Brain energy crisis may spark Parkinson's
WASHINGTON Parkinson's
disease may stem from an energy
crisis in the brain, years before
symptoms appear.
If the research pans out, it points
to a possible new approach for
Parkinson's: Giving a boost to a key
power switch inside brain cells in
hopes of slowing the disease's
inevitable march instead of just
treating symptoms.
"This is an extremely important
and interesting observation that
opens up new therapeutic targets,"
says Dr. Flint Beal of New York's
Weill Cornell Medical College, who
wasn't involved with the new study.
Beal said scientists already are
planning first-stage tests to see if a
drug now used for diabetes might
help Parkinson's, too, by targeting
one of the implicated energy genes.
At issue are little power factories
inside cells, called mitochondria.
Increasingly, scientists suspect
that malfunctioning mitochondria
play some role in a list of degener
ative brain diseases.
After all, brain cells are energy
hogs, making up about 2 percent of
body weight yet consuming about
20 percent of the body's energy. So
a power drain could trigger some
serious long-term consequences.
"It could be a root cause" of
Parkinson's, says Dr. Clemens
Scherzer of Boston's Brigham and
Women's Hospital and Harvard
University.
About 5 million people world
wide, and 1.5 million in the U.S.,
have Parkinson's, characterized by
increasingly severe tremors and
periodically stiff or frozen limbs.
Patients gradually lose brain cells
that produce dopamine, a chemical
key to the circuitry that controls
muscle movement.
There is no cure, although
First lady rallies Pa. Democrats on election's eve
PHILADELPHIA More than
a thousand people packed into a
chilly University of Pennsylvania
quadrangle Monday night to hear
first lady Michelle Obama tell them
that sitting out this midterm elec
tion could stop progress for people
struggling to stay in the middle
class, afford college or get health
care.
Obama spoke on the eve of
today's election, in which
Pennsylvanians will select among
candidates for U.S. senator, gover
nor and the state's 19 congression
al seats.
With Pennsylvania's Democratic
candidates trailing in polls for gov
ernor and U.S. Senate, Obama said
digging out of the recession's
depths is difficult and President
Barack Obama needs strong lead-
Election
From Page 1
Bard (sophomore-political science
and economics) said. He said com
mittee members would stick
around after the polls close to
watch the results in the HUB and
hand out any leftover food from
earlier in the day.
Members of the Penn State
College Republicans will work the
polling location in the Paul
Robeson Cultural Center's
Heritage Hall up until polls close at
8 p.m., Vice Chairman Anthony
Christina said.
psuc.llegian.com
highest royalty revenue in the logo on a shot glass sends a mes
nation's from the Collegiate sage the university does not con-
Licensing Company, according to done.
the company's rankings for the The decision has elicited a mixed
swoman. Many universities ban 2009-2010 fiscal year. reaction from students and corn
their logo not only on shot glasses, Purves said the company can't munity members.
but also wine glasses, flasks and release how much revenue the uni- Shot glasses will be phased out
other alcohol containers, she said. versity is projected to lose by opt- of stores, Rushton said and the
Some universities have restric- ing to no longer license its name or licensing company has been told to
tions on incendiary devices as well, logo on shot glasses. deny requests for the university's
like firearms and lighters, Powers University spokesman Geoff logo or names on shot glasses.
said. Rushton said the decision was
Sales
From Page 1
Penn State receives the ninth made because having the name or To e-mail reporter: mers2oo@psu.edu
Elizabeth Murphy
Alex Weisler
Beth Ann Downey
Council
Andrew Metcalf
Lexi Belculfine
Chris Zook
From Page 1
Somer Wiggins
Council member Peter Morris said
he thought the developer's propos
al was "quite reasonable," consid
ering that many of the buildings in
downtown State College have high
er levels of stories.
Kevin Cirilli
Ashley Gold
Laura Nichols
La une Stern
Steve Hennessey
However, the building would sit
next to a neighborhood where
many community members live.
Ever since the issue was first intro
duced, many State College resi
dents have attended borough coun
cil meetings to express their con
cern that another apartment build
ing would bring too many students
to an already unstable area of State
College.
Lafer stressed the importance of
listening to such community mem
bers.
Paul Casella
Nate Mink
"When people who live in the
Lauren Neergaard
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Marc Levy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"This is an extremely important and interesting
observation that opens up new therapeutic
targets."
dopamine-boosting medication and
an implanted device called deep
brain stimulation can help some
symptoms.
No one knows what causes
Parkinson's. To find genetic clues,
Scherzer gathered an international
team of researchers to comb stud
ies of more than 300 samples of
brain tissue from diagnosed
Parkinson's patients, from symp
tom-free people whose brains
showed early Parkinson's damage
was brewing, and from people
whose brains appeared normal.
They even used a laser beam to cut
out individual dopamine-producing
neurons in the most ravaged brain
region, the substantia nigra, and
examine gene activity.
The team found 10 sets of genes
that work at abnormally low levels
in Parkinson's patients, genes that
turned out to play various roles in
the mitochondria's energy produc
tion, Scherzer recently reported in
the journal Science Translational
Medicine.
Especially compelling, the genes
also were sluggish in people with
pre symptomatic, simmering
Parkinson's.
And all the gene sets are con
trolled by what Scherzer calls a
master regulator gene named
PGC-lalpha responsible for acti
vating many other genes that
maintain and repair those mito
chondrial power factories.
So might revving up PGC-lalpha
in turn boost underperforming
mitochondrial genes and protect
the brain? To see, the researchers
ers by him through the fear, cyni
cism and doubt.
"As Americans, we have always
pushed past the cynicism, we have
always kept moving forward,"
Michelle Obama said.
"And you know what? That is what
we must do again today because
there's too much at stake. There's
too much at stake, and we have
come much too far to turn back
now..,
Pennsylvania's top elected
Democrats, outgoing Gov. Ed
Rendell and Sen. Bob Casey, also
spoke, as did Democratic guberna
torial candidate Dan Onorato and
the party's nominee for U.S.
Senate, Joe Sestak.
Specifically, Obama talked about
new laws signed by her husband
that expand college tuition aid to
students by diverting money that
once went to banks to provide fed
eral loans, prevent health insurers
"I hope they realize that this election cycle is
going to be key for the next couple of years."
Christina (sophomore-political tion in the elections is the best way
science and history) said he for students to have a direct impact
expects a big rush around noon in what happens in government.
and is optimistic about the overall think students are becoming
turnout. more aware of issues that matter
Bard said he hopes these efforts most," Bard said. "I hope they real
will encourage students to get ize that this election cycle is going
involved and vote in the election. to be key for the next couple of
There is a chance to break the years."
turnout record from the 2006
midterms, he said, and participa- To e-mail reporter: kmws34o@psu.edu
"That kind of business draws people downtown,"
he said. People aren't hanging out in front of the
Palmerton."
West End came to us last year, we
listened," she said. "I think we
have to take strongly into account
that the neighbors do not want a
building higher than four or five
stories."
Council member Ron Filippelli
pointed to student behavior prob
lems, describing the image of
drunken students outside of
Canyon Pizza.
Ignoring the current problems in
the Beaver Canyon area, including
the cost of police services, he said,
is not a solution.
"Because Beaver Canyon is a
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Dr. Sint Beal
New York's Weill Cornell Medical College
tested dopamine-producing neu
rons from rats that were treated in
ways known to cause Parkinson's
like damage. Sure enough, boost
ing the power switch prevented
that damage.
This genetic evidence supports
years of tantalizing hints that mito
chondria are culprits in
Parkinson's, says Dr. Timothy
Greenamyre of the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center.
He ticks off the clues: A rare,
inherited form of Parkinson's is
caused by a mutated gene involved
with mitochondrial function. A pes
ticide named rotenone that can kill
dopamine cells and trigger
Parkinson's symptoms in animals
also is toxic to mitochondria. So is
another Parkinson's-triggering
chemical named MPTP
Now with Scherzer's study, "it's
going to be harder and harder for
people to think that mitochondria
are just a late player or an inciden
tal player in Parkinson's disease,"
Greenamyre says.
The crux of all that complicated
neurogenetics: A diabetes drug
named Actos is among the com
pounds known to activate part of
that PGC-lalpha pathway, and
Weill Cornell's Beal says it's poised
for an initial small trial in
Parkinson's.
Separately, a nutrient named
Coenzyme QlO is believed impor
tant in mitochondrial energy pro
duction, and Beal is leading a study
to see if high doses might help
Parkinson's. Results are due in
2012.
from disqualifying sick people from
coverage and cut taxes for the mid
dle class.
In moderate Pennsylvania,
which has 8.4 million registered
voters. Democrats have a substan
tial registration advantage over
Republicans of 1.2 million, thanks
in part to a surge two years ago in
support of Barack Obama's presi
dential candidacy from younger
voters and minorities.
But Democrats are trying might
ily to get those voters interested in
the election and into voting booths
to counter what pollsters say is
widespread discontent with job
lessness and a strong Republican
reaction to the Obama administra
tion's policies. On Monday morn
ing, Republican U.S. Senate candi
date Pat Toomey addressed a GOP
rally in northeast Philadelphia, lay
ing out his argument for GOP con
trol of Congress.
UPUA Governmental Affairs committee chairman
mess anyway, so let's increase it
to me that's not a very good argu
ment," he said.
State College resident James
Meashey said that rezoning might
solve some of these problems.
By removing businesses like
Canyon Pizza, he said, there would
be less of a cause for people to con
gregate downtown.
"That kind of business draws
people downtown," he said.
"People aren't hanging out in front
of the Palmerton."
To e-mail reporter cabs3s6@psu.edu
Ti Bard
James Meashey
State College resident