Newspapers / InterCom (Durham, N.C.) / Oct. 1, 1965, edition 1 / Page 3
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Clues to a Missing Chemical Inside the Leg Muscle of a Toad Xife in These United Stales’ ‘Ambassadors' Find Many Differences To see liim in liis laboratory one would never >:uess that Dr. Frans F. Jobsis is riiniiin' a race af^ainst time. ]lis movements are not swift, but they are forwfird. For more than 10 years the Duke University research scien tist has continued to push for ward in his search for a “lost” body chemical that may some day prevent muscular dystro- I>hy. He believes that the absence of this elusive chemical in the body brings about an ind)alance that leads to muscular dystrophy. The Duke physiologist ex pects to find clues to the “missing” chemical’s identity buried somewhere inside the leg muscle of a toad. He looks forward to the day when thousands of children each year will be spared the horrors of a cripi)ling disease that causes muscles to waste away and can sometimes mean deatli. Though still as far away as a polio vaccine was 20 years ago, Dr. Jobsis visualized that muscu lar dystrophy will be halted with injections of the now unknown missing body chemical. In the race to rescue dys- trophied children, the public becomes imjjatient. And doctors eager. J^ut pliysiologists and l)io- chemists know the pace of science is painfully slow. Sur rounded by electron microscopes, spectrophotonietric analyzers and digital comi)uters, they methodically txirn lu)pe into action ... bit by bit. Dr. Jobsis has examined leg muscles from more than 1,500 giant tropical toads in an at tempt to learn more about the basic mechanics of muscle activ ity. He chose the toad because its log muscles are big and easy to work with. The basic study by Dr. Jobsis aims at discovering the reactions l)roducing the mechanical power output of the muscles, lack of which is one of the i)rimary sym])toms of tlie disease. A physiologist in his search for scientific evidence sees a lot of dead ends, Dr. Jobsis says, but they must be explored and crossed off. Sui)porting Dr. Jobsis and other scientists across the United States like him is the .Muscular Dystroj)hy Associations of America. Kecently he received a 10th yeai- renewal grant for .$12,000, the second he has i-eceived at Duke ^ledical Center. Earlier, grants were made while Dr. Jobsis was at the E. R. John son Foundation for Medical Physics, TTniversity of Pennsyl vania School of Medicine, Phil adelphia. “Our headpieces have been met with wide eyes and open mouths . . . and everyone asks where we’re from,” says Mar garet Thomas, Exchange Nurse from Sydney, Australia, who is working on Ilanes Ward. Margaret is one of thi’ee nurses who arrived at Duke in September as participants in the American Nurses’ Association Exchange Visitor Nurse Pro gram. Also particij)ating in the Exchange Program are Berilie Swan from Sydney, Ai^stralia (now working on Howland AVard) and Hanora Bygrave from Cork City, Ireland and Birmingham, England (now working in the Operating Room). The purpose of the ANA Ex change Program is to provide nurses opportunities to improve their nursing skills and to pro mote better understanding of the United States—and, in this ease, an introduction to Duke Univer sity iledieal Center, Durham and the State of North Carolina. The nurses will be working here at Duke for at least six months; howevei-, their visas allow them to remain in America for a maxi mum of two years. It would seem that the Ex change Program’s desire to “promote better understanding of the Ignited States” would be an easy, natural achievement. However this has ])roven to be somewhat difficult, for the three vivacious nurses (juickly dis covered that we in the United States speak a language quite our own. Soufhern Dialect Hanora: “The Southern dia lect is really like a different lan guage—and our words are so different. In England to line up means to ‘queue’. And, oh, you know those carts that you wheel about here in the hospital? Well, in England we call those ‘trol leys’. No one could understand me at first. ” Berilie: “You know. I’m a nurse on Howland; and I had the same ])roblem. I ke))t asking for ‘napkins’ when I came here, and they didn’t have any idea what r wanted. Finally I learned that what we call ‘na()kins’ in Australia you call ‘ diapers ’ here in America. What you call napkins here in America—the paper napkins that yon use in the cafeteria—we call ‘serviet tes’ in Australia.” Hanora: “And you say seven thirty, where we say half i>ast seven or half the hour.” IMargaret: “ I t took me a bit to learn that when you refer to ‘braces’ you mean the same thing that we mean in Australia when we say ‘cali])ers’. And the way you pronounce certain drugs here in America—I have to have several spelled out for me; for 1 can’t understand the different ])ronunciations! ” (Continued, page 6) A warm, warm welcome to Duke Medical Center is extended to the three ANA Exchange Nurses pictured above (left to right): Miss Berilie Swan, of Sydney, Australia, Miss Hanora Bygrave of Cork City, Ireland and Bimingham, En gland, and Miss Margaret Thomas, also of Sydney Australia. INTERCOM - 3 OCTOBER 1965
InterCom (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 1965, edition 1
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