European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday August 16, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 5 study finds nicotine May impair brain cells Salt Lake City a new re search indicates that nicotine impairs rather than stimulates brain cells contrary to earlier belief and May explain the drug s calming i text a pharmacologist reported monday. Linda Wong of the University of Texas Galveston said that nicotine a substance found in tobacco suppresses rat brain cells that control Basic Behaviours such As learning memory and Emo Tion. Wong s conclusions presented at the 40th annual meeting of the american society for pharmacology and experimental therapeutics contradict the traditional belief that nicotine stimulates brain cells. Scientists have believed for years that the drug excites some neurons which in turn inhibit other brain functions to in Duce a calming effect on smokers. Neu Rons Are nerve cells. Wong said her studies on rats suggest that nicotine directly reduces Neuron activity in people. Being As it is an inhibiting response it May be implicated in anxiety  she said. Wong who is to receive her doctorate in september said her findings were based on a two year study in which Nic Otine was applied to tissue removed from the brains of rats. She said the tissue was from a Small area at the base of the brain that integrates learning memory and emotions. The nicotine either was applied directly or included in a simulated spinal fluid absorbed by the tissue. Wong said she and her supervisor pharmacology professor Joel p. Gallagher originally sought to learn the mechanisms controlling a Neuron receptor linked to Thecla rhythm an electrical cur rent produced by the brain. It was by Chance they noticed that nicotine re strained neural activity. Few problems marred Columbia s clean flight Edwards fab Calif. A co Lumbia sustained Only slight damage to us heat shield tiles during its first flight in 3 a years and  Only minor equip ment problems during the secret military Mission Nasa said monday. A steering thruster failed and the i Tot s scat suddenly jerked slightly Back Ward during launch. None of the prob lems however is considered serious a National aeronautics and space administration spokeswoman said. Columbia looks absolutely Beautiful after its five Day one hour classified Mission said Ann Montgomery in charge of processing the shuttle. Columbia landed at this Mojave de Sert base Early sunday after its Mission to deploy a satellite which experts have said is a modified Kh-12 spy satellite designed to photograph military targets. The astronauts also reportedly per formed experiments related to the so called Star wars anti missile defense shield system. It was a very clean flight so we did t have a Lut of problems Mont Gomery said. She said Columbia probably will leave Here saturday for a two Day piggyback flight Back to Cape canaveral ha., atop a modified Boeing 747. When Columbia was launched from Florida last tuesday Pilot Richard Rich Ards scat jerked backward about one Inch but the malfunction caused no problems. Montgomery said. It was exciting when it happened but Richards used a motor control to move the scat Forward to its Normal Posi Tion and it stayed she added. The shuttle s commander and Pilot actually do very Little during the space Craft s liftoff which is almost entirely Sands of time controlled by computers. A Leaky in flight steering thruster will need replacing but Columbia s Crew shut it Down during the flight and used other thrusters Montgomery said. Only three of the shuttle s roughly 30.000 heat shielding tiles were damaged enough to require replacement based on initial inspection she said. Two of the tiles Are on the Bottom of the orbiter and May have been gouged when yet unidentified debris fell from the shuttle when it was launched she added. The third damaged tile which was chipped is located on the main land ing gear door. Montgomery said workers will exam Ine about 20 other minor potential prob lems that developed just before or during Columbia s flight including some instrument glitches and failure of a thruster Heater and a nozzle that dumps water from the orbiter. Columbia s brakes and Landing gear were in such Good shape that they did need to be removed before the shuttle was towed Oil the hard Clay runway on which it landed Only the second time that  happened she said. Montgomery said she did t know Why Columbia appeared dirty but indicated the discoloration were heat streaks caused during re entry. Columbia is scheduled to be launched again dec. 18 to deploy a Navy communications satellite and retrieve a bus sized scientific satellite that will fall to Earth within several months if not plucked from its decaying orbit. The next shuttle flight with Atlantis carrying the Galileo space probe int Earth orbit so it can be launched on a six year voyage to Jupiter is schedule for oct. 12. It was startling and surprising and we pursued it with All  she  really triggered our  they found that nicotine makes i More difficult for neurons to fire signals to other neurons because the drug causes the affected Neuron to release potassium which plans a critical role in the trans Mission of nervous impulses. Wong declined to say that she was cer Tain the same effect would be duplicated in people who consume nicotine but said that appeared to be the Case. The rat is so Well used As a Model system it May Well provide a Good Model for human cell response she said. In the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Aug. 16, 1949 final results from West Germany s 242 voting districts showed that the Christian democrats  Defeated the social democrats by a narrow margin in Germany s first free election since 1933. 30 years ago today. Aug. 16, 1959 in a television broadcast from Havana cuban Leader Fidel Castro accused the United Stales of supporting counter revolutionaries attempting to overthrow him 20 years ago . 16, 1969 British troops moved into Belfast and threw up a barricade Between Catholic and protestant communities As tension mounted toward a political confrontation Between Britain and Ireland. 10 years ago today. Aug. 16, 1979 Andrew Young resigned As ambassador to the United nations saying criticism of a meeting he  with a palestinian liberation organization official in new York made it difficult to do his Job. Recalling the end John Vollinger stands solemnly during ceremonies held monday in Simsbury conn., to Mark the 44lh anniversary of the surrender of Japan and end of world War ii. A Olllnger a former Marine served in the Pacific theater. Assailant kills woman after Maine abduction Gardiner Maine a an armed assailant beat and handcuffed a Man monday and abducted his wife and two Young children who police later found in a wooded area huddled next to their dead mothers body. A 21-year-old Man was arrested on charges of murder and kidnapping at about 5 45 p.m., after he  turned himself in for questioning at a police station about 110 Miles North of Augusta state police spokesman Randy Nichols said. Byron Raines of Gardiner who was employed by an electrical contractor in the Augusta area was being held in the Kunne acc county jail while awaiting arraign ment on tuesday or wednesday Nichols said. Authorities said family members identified the dead woman As Peg Shaw 35, who  been reported abducted Early that morning. By Early afternoon police  put out an All Points bulletin for Raines. Nichols re fused to say whether there was any Evi Dence putting him in the Shaw Home in this Augusta suburb. Nichols identified the father who was struck on the head As John Shaw and the children As his son Sam 3, and daughter Julia i the children were reunited with their father police said