Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1982)
About Life... Neu) 'miracle sweetener" hits market Remember when you were a little tyke. And a trip to the store was an adventure. This time it was 14 cents— a fortune! As the enormous task of decision making started, with all the brightly colored packages catching the eye, the little fists clenched even tighter. One more time! Just when an Almond Joy, a Hershey bar with almonds, and four sticks of licorice had been decided upon, after what seemed an eternity, the case was swiftly brought to a close. From an early age, the concept that what is good to the tummy, is also off limits by Mommy, is constantly reinforc ed. The culprit, of. course, is sugar! Life can be miserable for those who constantly have to watch what they eat to insure they don’t do any more than maintain their body weight. Diabetics must give themselves daily injections of insulin and/or eliminate this pleasant tasting substance from their daily food intake to insure that their life support systems are not jeopardized. Hypoglycemics (those with low blood sugar) need to replace sweet foods with high protein foods to avoid symp toms which can range from mild to severe depression, headaches, and dizziness. Ad ditionally, sugar is thought to have a detrimental effect on our biochemical systems in general. What if someone said, “Hey, you don’t have to worry about those things anymore!” Loren Studer, Organic Chemistry instructor says this may very well be a possibility in the near future. He is very ex cited about the possibilities. And what is the answer to this dilemma? It is glucose, itself. Studer explained that there are two forms of glucose- -D-glUcose and L-glucose. Both these forms have the same exact number of elements (six carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and six ox ygen atoms). The only difference is that if you looked at a diagram of the L-glucose molecule, it would be the same as the D-glucose molecule, only in verted, as if you were observ ing it through a mirror. So what does all this mean? The glucose we use everyday is D-glucose. And all carbohydrates that we eat cure metabolized into the D-glucose form, which is acted upon by enzymes for our systems to use. The L-glucose form, Studer reassured, tastes just as good to our taste buds as the regular D-glucose form. However, it has one major ad vantage. It passes right through our systems without being metabolized because the en zymes in our systems cannot make contact and attach themselves to its structure. According to Studer, this means no calories—no reac tions. Theoretically, one could eat all the sugar one wanted and not gain a pound; and diabetics might be rid of injec tions and special diets. When will this be available? Studer stated that the California firm which is capable of converting. (or twisting) D-glucose to L-glucose is ready to go! They went public and sold shares of stock which, predictably, skyrocketed because of the possibilities involved. So what’s holding it up? Loren’s pet peeve is the restric tive actions of the Food & Drug Administration which he feels are to blame in this instance. He agrees with Linus Pauling’s view in that the FDA‘does have its place but that they are too powerful. So, it may be a little while longer for that miracle; but the possibilities are very interesting! By Darla J. Weinberger Of The Print In some buildings, the ex termination of rats is a big pro blem. In the Linus Pauling Science Center, however, everything is done to keep them breeding, white rats, that is, and for experiments, of course. Classes such as anatomy and physiology or zoology need rats for study and ex periments. “Instructors tell me how many rats they will need for a class and when they’re needed,” said Joan Heiser- man, science lab technician. “It takes about 12 to 15 rats per term.” “Basically you let a male and female rat live together and let nature take its course,” Heiserman commented. “I leave them together for two weeks even though it doesn’t take that long for them to breed.” After 24 days, the female rat has a litter of seven or more. Heiserman leaves the baby rats in the cage with the mother for three weeks before weaning them. When the rats do not have a large enough lit ter, she has to buy them from a Staff Photo by Duane Hiersche WORKING IN THE RATRACE, Joan Heiserman breeds lab animals for the science department. “It’s good to bring in ‘out side’ rats, because of inner breeding and genetic disorders,” said Heiserman. “The rats make better mothers when they receive love and are handled a lot,” she commented. “I try not to get too close to them, but my work study student gets attach ed.” When the rats are sexually matured or two months old they are ready for the class ex- “We put them to sleep with ether,” said Heiserman. “It’s like giving them an over dose of a sleeping drug.” The life expectancy of rats is about three years. Heiser man usually lets the breeder die of old age because she gets at tached. “Rats are nice pets if you give them love and give them a nice atmosphere so they are not afraid or ap- Kudos for speech team Last weekend, the speech team participated in the Western Washington Invita tional and faired “pretty well,” according to Forensics Coach Frank harlow; Competing against 27 other colleges; Teresa Svatos finaled in oratory and ex pository, and Mike Doane and Sandy Brainerd finaled in dual page 8 interpretation. Harlow said, “The com petition was really tough stuff, there were only two other com munity colleges competing and the rest were four-year schools.” The speech team will trek to North Idaho Community College in Cour D’Alene to compete in the Regionals Clackamas Community College D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer Density