chool's out for summer!" Or was it? While many Ripon College students scrambled home after completing their finals in the spring, a handful of students elected to remain on campus this summer. Thanks to a variety of scholar- ships and grants through both the College and other funding sources, students were given the opportuni- ty to stay in the area and participate in a wide range of projects. This year, 15 students spent the summer months doing everything from conducting research on ro- tifers to teaching English to families in the commu- nity. According to senior Parissa DJangi of Glen Ellyn, Ill., who remained on campus to conduct a local history project, students should take advantage of the research opportunities the College offers. "I am grateful I had the fortuity to stay on cam- pus and continue learning through my research," says DJangi. "Constantly expanding my knowledge and preparing myself for the future — that's a pretty productive way to spend my summer."

The development of metastatic cancer involves a series of mutagenic events. Compounds in blackberries effectively block mutagenesis by metabolically activated carcinogens and can serve as effective anticancer agents. We have compared the effects of 8 different varieties of blackberry on UV-C–induced mutagenesis in Salmonella typhimurium TA100. The 8 varieties were cultivated under identical conditions and harvested as ripe berries. Two varieties had no effect on UV-C–induced mutagenesis. Two showed significant suppression of mutagenesis. The other 4 had intermediate effects. Berry extracts were added only after irradiation of the cells was complete. The results imply that some varieties of blackberries contain substances that might inhibit error-prone DNA repair.

A baseline for exposure to organochlorine and metal contaminants has been established for mothers and newborns in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut areas of Arctic Canada. Maternal and umbilical cord blood plasma organochlorine levels are described for Inuit, Dene, Métis, Caucasian and Other non-Aboriginal participants. Overall, 523 women volunteered to participate by giving their written informed consent between May 1994 and June 1999, resulting in the collection of 386 maternal blood samples, 407 cord blood samples and 351 maternal/cord pairs. Nearly half of all the participants regularly smoked cigarettes, including 77% of the Inuit participants. Maternal and cord results are presented for PCBs (as Aroclor 1260 and 14 congeners) and organochlorine pesticides, including p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), cis and trans nonachlor, heptachlor epoxide, oxychlordane, mirex, dieldrin and toxaphene. Maternal PCB levels (as Aroclor 1260) averaged 4.42 (±9.03) μg/l in Inuit, which was 3.3 times higher than those found in Dene/Métis, and 3.4 times higher than levels in Caucasians. Mean DDE levels were 2.8 times higher in the Other non-Aboriginal group (Chinese, Filipino, East Indian and multiple ethnicity) than in the Inuit group, at 3.99 μg/l and 1.42 μg/l, respectively. Cord blood PCB levels (as Aroclor 1260) averaged 1.16 (±2.42) μg/l for Inuit participants, which was 3.3–4 fold higher than the other ethnic groups. PCBs, p,p′-DDE and hexachlorobenzene were detected in all maternal samples, and p,p′-DDE was detected in all cord samples. Regression coefficients for maternal/cord pairs are presented for selected organochlorines. Other results from this study, including maternal and cord metals data, will be presented elsewhere.

Escalating national interest in the coastal ocean underscores the need for high-quality surface current data that can improve our understanding of surface circulation and its impact on societal and environmental issues related to coastal pollution, beach restoration, oil spill mitigation, and coastal air-sea interaction. Coastal regimes exposed to strong ocean currents,surface waves, and winds during storm conditions may frequently require beach renourishment to restore valuable beaches that are key to local economies. Maintaining water quality is a problem, too, particularly where shipping dominates the traffic in and out of harbors. These environmental issues are increasingly difficult to manage due to evolving oceanic and atmospheric conditions. Inferring evolving spatial patterns of the coastal ocean current fields from single-point measurements such as moorings or drifters that propagate away from divergent flow regimes is difficult at best. The Doppler radar technique is one approach that effectively measures the evolution of surface current fields in near-real time.

: The goal of the study is to understand the role of small-scale physical processes in the coastal ocean through observations of the four-dimensional current variability. The approach combines the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technology with the UM/RSMAS Ocean Surface Current Radar (OSCR). The engineering part of the research seeks to develop, integrate and test instrumentation designed to measure subsurface current structure from AUVs. The scientific hypothesis is that subsurface and surface currents are dynamically linked through the internal wave continuum such that the four-dimensional physical environment can be constructed over a limited domain.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) results in the accumulation of mature immunologically defective lymphocytes in GO phase. Lymphocytes from CLL patients were exposed to UVC radiation to determine whether these cells are capable of undergoing apoptosis, as a response to DNA damage. Lymphocytes from CLL patients were found to be readily killed by ultraviolet light-C (UVC) radiation. Cells from healthy donors were minimally affected by doses of UVC ten times higher then those which caused dramatic drops in the metabolism of CLL cells. At four hours after irradiation, the reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) had dropped by 50% for CLL cells exposed to a dose of 10 J/m2. In contrast, there was no significant drop for healthy cells exposed to 100 J/m2. Cell death was measured by trypan blue staining, flow cytometry of Annexin V-PI stained cells, and Wright staining. By 24 hours after irradiation, significant amounts of cell death were observed in CLL cells at doses which had no significant effects on viability of healthy lymphocytes. The extreme sensitivity of CLL lymphocytes to UVC indicates that phototherapy should be explored as a potential treatment for this neoplasm.