hembrinagin loss, and fever. Earlier workers have attempted to circum vent these disadvantages by coat ing the charcoal with such sub stances as collodion and bovine al bumen phoslink with glutaraldehyde. Goulding selected an acrylic hydrogel preparation developed spe cifically for the purpose by Smith & Nephew Research in Harlow, Essex, some 20 miles north of Lon don. The nature of the hydrogel is still under wraps but the coating doesn't seriously reduce the char coal's adsorptive capability. The Guy's Hospital team, which includes Dr. J. A. Vale, Dr. A. J. Rees, and Dr. B. Widdop, uses co conut shell charcoal with a mesh size of five to 10 units, which is thoroughly washed and dried. It is treated with the acrylic hydrogel that forms a coating 5 microns thick on the particles. The charcoal is packed into a column fitted at ei ther end with 600-mesh screens. In addition to the column, the hemoperfusion circuit includes a blood pressure monitor, pump, and bub ble trap. The rate at which hemoperfusion removes the toxins from the blood is much more rapid than is the case for alternate blood-cleansing meth ods. For example, a long-lasting barbiturate was removed at the rate of 120 ml per minute in con trast to 10 ml per minute with peri toneal dialysis, 17 ml per minute with forced alkaline diuresis, and 60 ml per minute with hemodialy sis. In the case of glutethimide poi soning, the hemoperfusion clear ance rate is 125 ml per minute, compared to 10 ml per minute both for forced diuresis and peritoneal dialysis, and 40 ml per minute for hemodialysis. To date, 13 patients who had taken overdoses of barbiturates and glutethimide have been treated at Guy's Hospital. All recovered ex cept for two, who had already un dergone cardiorespiratory arrest be fore perfusion. D
cells to a point where they accumu late on top of each other. Speaking to a staff meeting at the Washington (D.C.) Hospital Center, Dr. John A. Parrish last week detailed a procedure that em ploys the drug methoxsalen orally in concert with ultraviolet light ir radiation that has been successful in 98 of 100 patients tested. Methoxsalen (6-hydroxy-7 methoxy-5-benzofuranacrylic acid δ-lactone) is not a new drug; it has been around for more than 60 years. Parrish calls the method photochemotherapy, but stresses that it is not a cure for the largely intrac table disease, only a treatment. In the recent study, patients received three treatments per week, up to 18 in all, until their skin cleared. Once the patient's skin has cleared, maintenance treatments are per formed weekly. The researchers hope to reduce maintenance treat ment schedules to once every two weeks, and eventually monthly. Next will be an expanded study using a total of 1000 patients at 10 university hospitals. Until these trials are completed, Parrish warns, individual physicians shouldn't at tempt the treatment with their pa tients, because side effects such as blistering and itching have oc curred in some cases. D
NSF analyzes federal aid for graduates It's no secret that the federal gov ernment has been cutting back its support for graduate science and engineering education. Indeed, that's been a keystone of federal policy for assuring some kind of a
Federal aid goes to sharply fewer science grad students
Psoriasis responds to drug/UV treatment An effective treatment for psoria sis, a disease probably as old as the human species itself, may be in the offing, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Often chronic, the disease afflicts some 2 million to 8 million people in the U.S. Psoriasis is char acterized by red blotches on the skin caused by overgrowth of skin 6
C&EN Jan. 13, 1975
a Graduate science students. Source: National Science Foundation
reasonable balance on the supply side of the supply-demand for sci entists and engineers—a policy that's been a hit or miss proposition at best. Recently, National Science Foundation analysts have taken a fresh look at some of the results of that policy and have come up with some rather sobering statistics. A sampling: Between 1967 and 1973 the number of graduate science students on federally supported fellowships and traineeships fell 50%. Full-time graduate students receiving federal support at insti tutions granting science Ph.D.'s declined 13.2% between 1972 and 1973, following a 9.5% decline between 1971 and 1972. And NSF says that by 1973, federal support went to only 27% of the 164,300 full-time students enrolled in graduate science programs, down sharply from the 42% share sup ported in 1967. Between 1967 and 1973 graduate science and engi neering enrollment fell 5%. To take up some of the slack in federal funding, NSF notes there was more self-support by students. And the institutions themselves, along with state and local govern ments, stepped up their financial assistance by providing funds to 42% of all full-time students enrolled in 1973, compared with 34% in 1967. Meantime, the federal budget for academic R&D increased 2.4% per year in constant (1967) dollars between 1967 and 1973. Even so, over these years the number of re search assistants receiving federal support under academic R&D fell 9% and the number of fellowstrainees receiving federal support fell to 21% of the 1967 level. In contrast, the number of post doctoral employed at science Ph.D. institutions increased 29% between 1967 and 1972. But in 1972 and 1973, postdoctoral employment de creased 6%. Finally, the NSF analysts have taken a look at the impact of shifts in federal funding patterns on "in stitutions of acknowledged excel lence." NSF says that a study by Dr. David Breneman, staff director of the National Board on Graduate Education, shows that the "highest ranking institutions either main tained or increased their share of full-time enrollment from 1967 to 1972." Federally supported stu dents in all areas except economics were attracted increasingly to the high-ranking schools, NSF says, adding that the proportion of graduate students in the leading science departments has remained relatively stable and has actually grown in some fields. D
