Tom Byrne '55, chairman of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, is set to retire. He will also retire as general manager of the Hanover Improvement Society, the non-profit organization that owns the Nugget Theater, Storrs Pond Recreation Area and James Campion Ice Rink. Byrne, who has been at the center of downtown development and planning in Hanover, will be succeeded by the current vice chairman of the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce, Doug Wise '59. Matt Marshall, former general manager of the Hanover Inn, will become general manager of the Hanover Improvement Society.
Nestin, a protein often correlated with nervous system development, is a practical marker for a particularly dangerous form of breast cancer, according to an article published by Dartmouth Medical School researchers in the Jan. 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research. Basal epithelial breast cancer, which accounts for less than 37 percent of all breast cancers, is disproportionately more fatal because of high relapse rates and emergence of the cancer at a relatively young age. The discovery of this marker lets clinicians sooner differentiate this cancer subtype from other forms of the disease, allowing for the appropriate therapy to be prescribed and for recurrence to be monitored more precisely. "Currently, there is no direct means of determining if a breast cancer is a basal epithelial tumor -- doctors only know for certain once the other forms of breast cancer are ruled out," said James DiRenzo in a American Association for Cancer Research press release. DiRenzo is a professor of pharmacology of toxicology and scientific co-director of the Breast Clinical Oncology Program at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. "This type of breast cancer is generally difficult to manage, but several important studies have shown that it is more likely than other breast cancer subtypes to respond to certain types of therapy, which highlights the need for a definitive diagnostic marker."
Democrats in the House of Representatives plan to act on a campaign promise this week by halving student loan interest rates. This initiative, priced at about $6 billion, represents a direct response to the $12 billion cut from student loan programs during the last session of Congress. The cuts, however, only pertain to need-based and subsidized loans. While many in Congress hailed the legislation as another step toward providing equal access to higher education, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings expressed a wish that Congress focus instead on providing more funding for Pell grants, according to the Associated Press. Pell grants are need-based and do not need to be repaid.
