The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
April 7, 2016 | Issue 138 | Volume 106
Pitt develops CLINTON CAMPAIGNS AT CMU new epilepsy drug Annemarie Carr Staff Writer
Pitt researchers are developing a drug that may help people with epilepsy see fewer medication side effects, according to a recent report. Epilepsy researchers have spent the past two-and-a-half years redesigning Retigabine, a commonly prescribed epilepsy drug, to increase effectiveness and decrease side effects. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program funded the study, which researchers published March 22, in Molecular Pharmacology. The new drug could also help people with ringing in their ears, a condition known as tinnitus. The drug can treat both conditions, as they are caused by overexcitation of potassium channels in brain cells. Epilepsy is a condition where a patient experiences at least two seizures per year caused by unpredictable firing of nerve signals in the brain. According to the World Health Organization, about 50 million people have been diagnosed with epilepsy worldwide. This equates to roughly 1 percent of all people, according to Thanos Tzounopoulos, one of the researchers and associate professor of otolaryngology at Pitt’s School of Medicine. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, 3 million people in the United States have epilepsy and 150,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year. Most epileptics take seizure drugs that target sodium, potassium and chloride See Epilepsy on page 3
Mayor Bill Peduto (left), Hillary Clinton and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald at a campaign event at CMU Wednesday. John Hamilton STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Dale Shoemaker News Editor
After touring a robotics lab and meeting a grieving family, Hillary Clinton took the stage at Carnegie Mellon University to tell Pittsburgh voters that the future belonged to them. And as for herself, Clinton said she takes “a backseat to nobody.” At a campaign event at CMU that started at 6 p.m., Clinton’s sights were focused on the journey ahead — hers, Pittsburgh’s and that of the college students she spoke to at a campaign stop at CMU. “This election is about your futures,”
Clinton said. “I want us to believe that we can make the future.” In the Skibo Gymnasium, Clinton came out to chants of her name and outlined some of her plans to invest in infrastructure, fight climate change and make affordable education, from pre-kindergarten to college, more available to students. Behind her, the numbers 2016 and 45 — referencing the United States’ 45th presidential election — shone from the gymnasium’s scoreboard. Decked in Clinton’s campaign gear and CMU T-shirts, about 1,900 students and community members attended Clinton’s hourlong talk.
Clinton’s appearance at CMU was her first official stop in Pennsylvania this year, a state where she leads Sanders by more than 17 points, according to Real Clear Politics. The event also comes about two weeks after her campaign opened its first office in Pittsburgh, and exactly 20 days before Pennsylvania’s primary. Clinton was the third high-profile politician to visit Pittsburgh in the past week, following Sanders last week and Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday. Weaving together the economy, education, climate change and jabs at the RepubSee Clinton on page 2