Scope - Volume 05, Number 10

              Loma Linda University V
Loma Linda, Calif. 92354 ^.
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Vol. 5, No. 10 Wednesday, August 7, 1968
Research scientists awarded
Hartford Foundation grant
Medical research scientists
at Loma Linda University are
engaged in studies which may
free the recipients of trans
planted organs from lifelong
dependence upon immunosup-pressive
drugs.
The three- year investigation
began last month with the sup
port of a § 269,995 grant from
The John A. Hartford Founda
tion, Inc., of New York, it was
announced jointly July 14 by
Foundation President Ralph W.
Burger and David B. Hinshaw,
MD, dean of the School of Med
icine. The Loma Linda
research team will attempt to
refine a procedure that has ap
parently prolonged the survival
of skin transplants in hu
mans and of other transplanted
organs in laboratory experi
ments not involving human
subjects.
Earlier investigations
Intensifying earlier investiga
tions with support from the
new Hartford Foundation grant
is a surgical research team
headed by Dr. Hinshaw and
Weldon B. Jolley, PhD, associ
ate professor of physiology and
biophysics. Reports in scientific
literature since 1961 have des-investigators
in extend
ing the survival of transplanted
living tissue with the use of
ribonucleic acid ( RNA), one of
the basic constituents of every
animal cell.
Several severely burned hu
man patients have received
transplanted skin from unrela
ted donors using the RNA pro
cess, according to the reports.
The transplants appear to have
been permanently successful af
ter up to several years, with
the patients completely free
from the daily doses of rejec
tion- inhibiting drugs which are
ordinarily mandatory for trans
plant recipients.
Basically, the procedure de
veloped at Loma Linda Univer
sity calls for soaking the or
gan or tissue in an RNA solu
tion before it is transplanted.
Surgeons at the University of
Colorado have reported dou
bling the survival time of trans
planted kidneys and livers in
animals using the Loma Linda
procedure without the usual im-munosuppressive
drugs after
surgery.
The drugs currently in use
to suppress the body's natural
rejection of transplanted for
eign tissue present the patient
and his physicians with a deli
cate problem, according to Dr.
Jolley.
Rejects
" The drugs we have can't
knock out the mechanism that
rejects a transplanted organ
without seriously reducing the
body's ability to protect itself
against infection and disease,"
explains Dr. Jolley. " This
leaves the physician with al
most no margin of safety be
tween effective control of the
graft rejection and destruction
of the patient's defenses against
hostile elements in his environ
ment."
The new series of studies be
gun in July with Hartford
Foundation support seeks to
discover more clearly why and
how the RNA solution and sim
ilar compounds work to control
rejection. The team's findings
will tie applied in sutaseTJueiit""
transplants of major human or
gans at Loma Linda University
Hospital, a spokesman says.
Participating in the research
project in addition to Dr. Hin
shaw and Dr. Jolley are Louis
L. Smith, MD, professor of
surgery, and V. Wilfred Stuyve-sant,
MD, assistant professors
of pathology.
Hospital physician
to serve in Biafra
A Loma Linda physician is
scheduled to leave for a three-month
term as a relief physician
to the beleaguered nation of
Biafra.
Donald R. Wilson, MD, resi
dent in " surgery at University
Hospital, volunteered for the
medical assignment after the
Continued on page 2
Summer commencement
to be held at La Sierra
Loma Linda University will confer degrees on approximately 100 graduates in
summer commencement ceremonies Saturday night, August 10, according to University
President David J. Bieber.
Mr. Dunham
Photo by Robert A. Kreuzinger
HAROLD M. S. EICHARDS, Sr., and the King's Heralds work be-for
audiovisual cameramen during the first taping of a television
program in the newly completed studio faculties at the University.
Audiovisual service tapes
first television program
Loma Linda University audio
visual service taped its first
television program last week in
newly completed studio facili
ties.
Harold M. S. Richards, direc
tor and speaker of the Voice of
Prophecy radio broadcast, and
the King's Heralds, a male quar
tet, recorded a pilot program to
be used in Seventh- day Adven-tist
institutions throughout the
country. The videotape will be
first aired at Glendale Adventist
Hospital, Glendale.
Completion of the facilities
was made possible by a gift
from the School of Medicine
class of 1942. The studio is the
most modern and complex facil
ity among Seventh- day Adven
tist denominational institutions,
says Ellis R. Rich, director of
the audiovisual service.
Philip W. I
Dunham, pastor!
of the Arling-'
ton Seventh- 1
day Adventist
Church, will de
liver the com
mencement ad
dress, " That He
Might Be Glor
ified."
A 1950 grad
uate of Loma Linda University's
College of Arts and Sciences,
Mr. Dunham received a master's
degree from Andrews Univer
sity, Berrien Springs, Michigan,
in 1955. He has pastored church
es in Portland, Oregon; Ukiah;
San Diego; San Pasqual; and
El Centre.
Advance figures indicate that
seven associate in arts, 12 bach
elor of science, 35 bachelor of
arts, four master of public
health, 13 master of science, one
master of science in public
health, 23 master of arts, and
four doctor of dental surgery
degrees wiii be awaraed.
The conferring of degrees is
to begin at 8: 45 p. m. in the La
Sierra Seventh- day Adventist
Church, adjacent to the Univer
sity's Riverside campus at
Pierce and Sierra Vista streets.
A reception for the graduates
will follow on the campus mall.
This will be the largest of
summer commencement cere
monies in the history of Loma
Linda University.
New assistant dean
establishes residence
Newly appointed assistant
dean of men on Loma Linda
University's Riverside campus
David R. Dickerson assumed
responsibility for Calkins Hall,
the freshman men's residence
hall last month.
Mr. Dickerson is agraduate of
Pacific Union College, Angwin.
Universities initiate program;
deans issue joint statement
5- Day stop smoking programs
achieve permanent success
A new program of coopera
tion between Loma Linda Uni
versity and the University of
Redlands, involving liberalized
acceptance of graduate credits
will be initiated this fall, accord
ing to a joint statement issued
by J. Paul Stauffer, PhD, dean
of the Graduate School, and
William E. Umbach, PhD, dean
of graduate studies at the Uni
versity of Redlands.
The cooperative program will,
in time, make possible the de
velopment of complementary
areas of concentration and pos
sible new areas for graduate
degree study. Initially this will
involve the liberalization of
transfer units in programs lead
ing to the master's degree.
Both Redlands and Loma Lin
da customarily accept only six
units of graduate credit from
any other institution. The new
program, however, will allow
students at both universities to
take up to half of their gradu
ate work at the other campus.
" We believe it will be mutu
ally helpful to draw upon the
complimentary strength of the
other institution," Dr. Umbach
said.
Cooperative venture
The cooperative venture will
make it unnecessary for each
university to develop its staff in
all areas and may make possible
greater depth of concentration
in given areas in each school.
For example, a Loma Linda
University student, working on a
master's degree with a major in
history or English will be able
to draw upon the strengths of
these departments at the Uni
versity of Redlands beyond the
maximum previously available
on his home campus.
In the other hand, a Univer
sity of Redlands candidate for
a master of arts degree con
centrating in such fields as bio
logy or chemistry may take the
science courses at Loma Linda
University.
The primary emphasis of the
cooperative venture, a growing
trend among graduate schools
throughout the country, is en
richment of the programs, the
deans explained.
Librarians of the two insti
tutions are exploring the extent
to which library facilities may
be made available to students
from the other schools. When
the University of Redlands
opens its new library next year,
it will have increased seating
and additional volumes to share
with off- campus students.
Interim semester
The University of Redlands'
new interim semester, a four-week
period in January when
each student takes a single sub
ject, will provide unlimited op-
Continued on page 6
A study by four Loma Linda
University faculty members of
the results of the Five- Day Plan
to Stop Smoking has been pub
lished in the " Archives of En
vironmental Health," an Amer
ican Medical Association publi
cation.
Authors of the report are
Donald I- Peterson, MD, assist
ant professor of pharmacology;
Lester H. Lonergan, MD, asso
ciate professor of tropical
health; Mervyn G. Hardinge,
MD, dean of the School of Pub
lic Health; and Charles W. Teel,
chaplain supervisor at Loma
Linda University Hospital.
Results of the survey taken
among 134 enrollees in the pro
gram show that of those who
attended three or more of the
five sessions, 79.1 percent had
quit smoking by the fifth day.
One month later, the percent
age of those still abstaining was
reduced to 44.5 percent, and at
the end of 18 months, 21.3 per
cent maintained their ex- smoker
status.
Nearly all of those who parti
cipated in the program had un
successfully tried to stop smok
ing on previous occasions.
The survey indicated a signi
ficant improvement in pulmo
nary functions among those who
stopped smoking. The ex- smo
kers also reported a decrease in
coughing and breathlessness
and an increase in appetite af
ter they stopped smoking.
The stop smoking program
consists of five consecutive
evening classes and several fol
low- up sessions. Each program
includes a film on the effects of
smoking on health, a brief pre
sentation by a clergyman on
the nature of the habit and its
effective control by willpower,
a lecture by a physician on the
effects of smoking, and a group
discussion period in which parti
cipants ask questions and relate
their experiences in their efforts
to discontinue smoking.