Investigations

After decades of molecular research, a cancer drug leaves the lab
> > Janet Rowley's 1972 discovery paved the way for a leukemia-targeting drug
When interferon chemotherapy failed to curb John Loecke's chronic myeloid leukemia, University of Chicago oncologist Richard A. Larson recommended a bone-marrow transplant, a risky but sometimes curative treatment for Loecke's form of blood cancer. With seven brothers and sisters, the 58-year-old retired middle-school principal had a good shot at finding a compatible donor. But no sibling matched, and Loecke's white blood-cell count rose dangerously high. He had already survived for three years since learning he had this leukemia; the average life span after diagnosis is four years.
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> > The Jeffersonian law of the land
It was legislators, Currie argues in The Constitution in Congress: The Jeffersonians, 1801-1829 (Chicago, 2001), who took the lead in elucidating those intentions in the era from Thomas Jefferson's inauguration in 1801 to Andrew Jackson's election in 1829. "The Constitution was interpreted by members of Congress and by numerous executive officers, up to and including the president," Currie says. "Whenever a federal official proposed to take a particular action, he always had to ask himself, 'Is it Constitutional?'"
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> > Oysters to go?
Of all the factors contributing to the collapse of coastal ecosystems, overfishing appears to be the worst-and not only the industrial fishing of the 20th century. Humans have been overfishing for centuries, says professor of geophysical sciences Susan Kidwell. The problem is, we have a taste for the sea's most important creatures: top predators like cod and water-filterers like oysters.
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