THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Monday, April 20, 2015
Volume 103, No. 121
T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S I S S I P P I S E R V I N G O L E M I S S A N D OX F O R D S I N C E 1 9 1 1
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Rebels down Louisville Saturday 5-2
Students protest campus screening of ‘American Sniper’ LOGAN KIRKLAND & LANA FERGUSON
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More than 30 students attended a protest concering the Student Activities Association’s screening of “American Sniper” Sunday night at the Turner Center. “The whole point of this is starting a dialogue and anyone that wants to do that, is happy to join in,” said Scott Schroder, a junior political science major who participated in the protest. Schroder said the dialogue centers around the perceptions of xenophobia present in the Academy Award-winning “American Sniper.” Though only five students students who felt the movie was particularly provoking were in attendance, nearly 30 of those who did not came to voice their opinions. Sydney Marie Heart, a sophomore criminal justice and chemical engineering major, said she came to voice her opinion against the protesters because some of the signs and what was being said were anti-American. “One of their signs caught my eye and I felt like this was a very specific argument where people who are from the front look anti-American or anti-government or anti-military,” Heart said “They need to be reminded that they have that right because of the sacrifices that peo-
PHOTOS BY: LOGAN KIRKLAND
Students gathered outside of the Turner Center to discuss the screening of the controversial, award-wining film, ‘American Sniper.’ Five students gathered to protest its showing and nearly 30 came to watch and speak in favor of the movie and its screening. ple have made.” Heart said she hopes people appreciate that we get to live in a place where everyone is entitled to their right to protest. She thinks that protesting should be used sparingly and should be used in a way that doesn’t oppress other people or inten-
tionally antagonize people. “I do appreciate the fact that we live in a world and a country where it’s okay for people to speak their minds even if I do disagree with it,” Heart said. Anna Lee Phillips, director of the Student Activities Association, said having a protest
against a movie the are screening is healthy for the students on this campus. “At the end of the day it’s kind of a beautiful thing because college campuses are usually catalyst for social discussion and there’s not a lot of times in our lives where we’re in a place
with this many individuals of this many backgrounds,” Phillips said. The Student Activities Association is hosting an open forum discussion on the subject Wednesday at noon in the ballroom in the Student Union.
The Consortium combines data from studies based in Iceland, the Netherlands and the United States. Dr. Tom Mosley, director of the Mental Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia Research Center and senior scientist on the study, explained the nature of genetics research and the complexities involved. “There are some genes that have large effects,” Mosley said. “With most chronic diseases, like Alzheimer’s or arthritis, what we’re finding is that a number of places along the genome have smaller effects.” The strongest genetic associations the study identified with information processing were found in a protein-coding DNA gene called Syncam2, also known
as CADM 2. Of the various metrics used by researchers, a test of information processing speed produced the greatest genetic association. The UMMC’s Memory Impairment Neurodegenerative Dementia Center is a national leader in Alzheimer’s research, funded by a $26 million grant from the National Institute of Health. UMMC Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Richard Summers commented on the impact researchers at the MIND Center and throughout the medical center have on medical literature. “We have researchers here with tremendous talent that are very capable of leading national and international projects like this,” Summers said. “Tom Mosley is one of those and we’re glad
to see him move that forward.” Senior psychology major Meredith Blackwell commented on the significance and complexity of Alzheimer’s disease research. “Genetics research and research into behavioral causes are pivotal to better understanding cognitive diseases, so this is very exciting, but there are many steps remaining,” Blackwell said. “Between genes, neuronal functions and cognitive processes, as well as biological and environmental underpinnings, large amounts of collaborative research will be needed before a thorough understanding of that process can be reached.” According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, Alzheimer’s disease is the nation’s sixth lead-
ing cause of death, with 44.3 percent of hospice patients and 48.5 percent of nursing home residents were diagnosed with the disease. “My grandmother had Alzheimer’s for over fifteen years,” Blackwell said. “Diseases which involve cognitive decline like Alzheimer’s are terrifying and devastating experiences for both the patient and close family.” Important steps to follow up on this research include replication of results and identifying the functions of genes marked as important in cognitive processing. “There are certain areas of the genome that we have no idea what they do,” Mosley said. “As one of my colleagues says it, it’s like seeing a light on a distant shore.”
Medical center participates in international genetics study DREW JANSEN
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Researchers from the University of Mississippi Medical Center recently participated in a study that identified a gene connected to healthy information processing. The study, published Tuesday in “Molecular Psychiatry,” is the largest existing study to provide a link between a particular genetic variant and information processing speed, according to Marc Rolph UMMC representative. The Cohorts for Healthy Aging Research and Genomic Epidemiology Consortium organized the study and its data on genetic and cognitive functioning in more than 30,000 adults in 12 countries.