February 1998

The mortality rate for prostate cancer is twice as high for African American men as it is for white men. The mortality rate for breast cancer is 1.35 times higher for African American women than for white women. Because of these discrepancies, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, review panels that make cancer research funding decisions should include more African Americans, contend minority cancer advocates. "Without representation, there's not going to be funding," says W.

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States, predicted to reach about 15 percent of the population within the next two years. But these numbers are not reflected in the percentages of Hispanic students in college and graduate school. As debate swirls over what is causing Hispanic students to drop out of the educational system, several organizations are working to increase the numbers of Hispanic students in the pipeline to science programs in four-year colleges, as wel

TACTICAL RETREAT: Many institutions, fearing lawsuits, will abandon their affirmative action programs, predicts NACME's George Campbell, Jr. Universities are feeling the impact of recently approved anti-affirmative action initiatives that ban the consideration of a student's race in admissions decisions. Medical schools have seen a dramatic decrease in minority enrollment; grad schools also have seen a noticeable decline. In hopes of maintaining diverse student bodies, many institutions-includ

The federal government is beginning to take a close look at the accountability of programs designed to increase opportunities for minorities in science. Funding applications now require that grantee institutions set internal goals, fashion programs to meet those objectives, and become actively involved with government agencies in the evaluation process. Moves also are afoot to create an independently managed clearinghouse of data on such programs. But these changes are occurring under a shadow

Edited by: Paul Smaglik T.P. Leary, A.S. Muerhoff, J.N. Simons, T.J. Pilot-Matias, J.C. Erker, M.L. Chalmers, G.G. Schlauder, G.J. Dawson, S.M. Desai, I.K. Mushahwar, "Sequence and genomic organization of GBV-C: A novel member of the Flaviviridae associated with human non-A-E hepatitis," Journal of Medical Virology, 48:60-7, 1996. (Cited more than 150 times since its publication in January 1996) Comments by Thomas P. Leary and Isa K. Mushahwar, Virus Discovery Group, Abbott Laboratories Inc.,

Edited by: Paul Smaglik H. Duan, A.M. Chinnaiyan, P.L. Hudson, J.P. Wing, W. He, V.M. Dixit, "ICE-LAP3, a novel mammalian homologue of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell death protein ced-3, is activated during Fas- and tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271:1621-5, 1996. (Cited in more than 125 publications since its publication in January 1996)Comments by Vishva M. Dixit, Director of Molecular Oncology, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, Calif. THE EXE

Date: February 16, 1998 Chart 1 Chart 2 nyone tired of mixing darkroom chemicals should read this article. The modern generation of instruments for viewing both radioactively and fluorescently labeled samples can save you countless hours of time and provide quantitation only dreamed of by researchers in the past. The products to consider are phosphor screen and fluorescent imagers. These handy devices offer numerous advantages over film autoradiography: Sensitivity: estimates of sensitivity

Date: February 16, 1998 Thermal Cyclers Chart DNA Ligation Chart here are specialized thermal cyclers on the market today with prices comparable to that of a luxurious automobile or a small to midsized home. However, LabConsumer wanted to devote an article to thermal cyclers that don't send you reeling when you go to balance the checkbook. Perhaps your laboratory doesn't have endless cash reserves, or maybe too many people are fighting for time on one thermal cycler. Pay heed, for your optio