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VOLUME 21, NUMBER 23
JUNE 7,1974
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Luce Foundation
Awards Students
Asian Year Funds
Since the bombing of Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941, Americans have
learned the hard way that their
understanding and perception of Asia and
its inhabitants are painfully inadequate.
World War II, the Korean Conflict, the
war in Vietnam and China's emergence as
a world power have all combined to bring
this point home.
Two students enrolled in the School of
Medicine are among 15 young Americans
chosen by the Henry Luce Foundation of
New York to participate in a new
scholarship program designed to give a
greater number of this country's future
leaders broadened insights and
sensitivities into the cultural differences
which lie between East and West at a
formative time in their careers.
The students are Diana S. Cooper of
Bethlehem, Pa., a 1974 Duke graduate
who has postponed her entrance into the
School of Medicine to participate in the
Asian program, and Ned S. Stoughton of
Berkeley, Calif., who has already
completed three years of medical
training.
The two will spend a full year in
different areas of the Far East studying,
working and travelling in programs of
their own design with the support of the
Luce Foundation. Other members of the
highly select group, whose interests range
frqm journalism and theology to
archetecture and the law, will do likewise.
In the words of a foundation
spokesman, "at the end of the year, these
scholars will be expected to return to the
United States not as Asian experts but as
citizens and future leaders in their
professions w/hose perception of Asia, of
America and of themselves will have been
substantially sharpened as a result of their
experience."
Although specific plans will not be
(Continued on page 2)
TYING THINGS TOGETHER-lronworkers Frankie Pittman (left) and James Williams are pictured making reinforcement cages for
concrete columns to be used in the construction of the Seeley G. Mudd Building (the medical center's new library) and the Edwin
L. Jones Cancer Research Building. Both buildings are scheduled for completion in mid or late 1975. (Photo by David Williamson)
Tindall and Turner Get Lilly Grant
'Heartbreak of Psoriasis’ To Be Target
Of Clinical Studies by Dermatologists
'The Heartbreak of Psoriasis," ad men
from Madison Avenue have called it.
That phrase, which sounds humorous
to many television viewers who have
PALM READING BY SPECIALISTS—Dx. Harrison Turner, a dermatology resident, (at
left) and Dr. John P. Tindall, associate professor of dermatology, examine a patient
with a skin disorder in a hospital clinic. Harrison and Tindall are the recipients of a
large grant from the Eli Lilly and Co. drug firm of Indianapolis, Ind., aimed at finding
new drugs for combating psoriasis. (Photo by Dale Moses)
never had the skin disease, may be one of
the most accurate the skin-cream sellers
have ever come up with.
When the disease covers faces, hands
or sex organs, it can indeed break the
hearts of those who have it.
In ancient times, victims of psoriasis
were not distinguished from lepers and
often they were forced into leper colonies
where they had to live in contact with the
much more notorious and dangerous
disease, according to Dr. John P. Tindall,
an associate professor of dermatology at
Duke University Medical Center.
More recently, there are cases on
record in which psoriasis sufferers became
depressed enough to commit suicide, he
said.
Psoriasis is a chronic skin ailment
characterized by red or silvery patches
which can affect only an inch or so of a
person's body, or it can cover vast areas.
It is caused, Tindall said, by skin cells
which reproduce at a rate from four to
seven times that of normal skin cells.
The build-up of these "extra" cells is
what gives the disease its unsightly
appearance.
Although there is no cure for psoriasis,
dermatologists have been able to retard it
by using a drug they call methotrexate.
Unfortunately, however, this drug, which
has spared thousands of sufferers the
embarrassment of scaly skin, has come
under attack from researchers and
clinicians who believe it can cause liver
damage in certain patients.
Now, with the aid of a three-year grant
which may amount to more than $75,000
from the Eli Lilly and Co. drug firm of
Indianapolis, Ind., Tindall and Dr.
Harrison Turner, a resident in
dermatology at Duke, will be able to
carry on studies of a "new" drug which
promises to be very effective in curbing
psoriasis while at the same time sparing
the livers of those who cannot use
methotrexate.
The drug is called mycophenolic acid,
and it's not really new at all. Discovered
in 1896 as a product of fermentation, this
weak organic acid began life as an
anti-cancer agent. When it showed only
specialized usefulness against cancer, the
possibilities of other uses were examined.
The first clinical trials of
mycophenolic acid were conducted in
Indianapolis. Researchers there found
that of the 29 patients treated with the
drug, 15 were almost completely relieved
of their symptoms, 13 showed a definite
improvement and only one patient
showed a slight improvement.
Seeking rruire conclusive evidence of
the drug's performance, the Duke
(Continued on page 2)