The Pitt News
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The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | february 15, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 123
Blood test furthers Alzheimer’s research
PETAL PICKER
Alexis Carter Staff Writer
With a new blood test, Pitt researchers are hoping to determine whether the content of someone’s blood could indicate if their learning and memory abilities are in danger of diminishing. In a recent study, Pitt researchers Oscar Lopez and James Becker — in collaboration with researchers from the University of Chile — found higher ratios of abnormal tau levels in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s compared to the control group. Tau is a protein that keeps the brain’s nerve cells healthy. The proteins bind to microtubules — tube-shaped structures that shuttle nutrients from one end of the brain nerve cells to the other — and allow them to communicate with one another. In Alzheimer’s disease — which slowly destroys memory, thinking and the ability to perform simple daily tasks — abnormal tau proteins detach from the tube-like structures found inside the cell. The abnormal tau proteins become tangled, meaning nutrients cannot move among pathways between the brain and the body, and communication among surrounding nerve cells is severed. These higher ratios are associated with lower brain volume in areas important for learning and memory. A blood test that can detect the ratio of tau in the blood stream
Students create flower arrangements for Valentine’s Day during an event hosted by Pitt Program Council. Donny Falk STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Grad student employees sign union cards Nolan Roosa
conference. At the same time, Pitt faculty members announced their own union campaign. Since then, organizers estimate they have After a year and a half of campaigning and gained a broad enough support base to begin colplanning, the Graduate Student Organizing lecting union cards to gauge interest for a union Committee is now one step closer to forming a among graduate student employees. They began union for graduate student employees at Pitt. collecting cards on Saturday at a rally and press The unionization effort has been in the works conference. According to Sarah Hakimzadeh, an since October 2015 when the committee voted to organizer with the committee, about 100 people affiliate with the United Steelworkers, a national attended the event, but she could not disclose how industrial union that has helped other Pittsburgh many people or who has signed cards. schools, such as Point Park University and Rob“The press conference on Saturday was a big ert Morris University, to successfully unionize. success,” Hakimzadeh said. “Overall, it was a reAt Pitt, the Committee officially announced their ally positive and energetic atmosphere, and evSee Study on page 2 campaign to unionize in January 2016 at a press Staff Writer
eryone left excited to do the work that’s ahead.” If more than 30 percent of graduate student employees sign cards of interest, USW will apply to hold an election at Pitt through the Pennsylvania Labor Board. In order to form a union and the right to collectively bargain for a labor contract with the University, a simple majority of those eligible must vote in favor of the union. There is no time constraint on reaching 30 percent support. At Pitt, 5,281 faculty members and about 3,000 graduate student employees are eligible to sign interest cards, though the Pennsylvania Labor Board will decide who is eligible to vote in a See Union on page 3