- On September 26th at 5:10 p.m., a security supervisor on mobile patrol witnessed a vehicle exit a parking lot and hit a bicyclist coming through the causeway between Goodwin Hall and Walter Light Hall. The Queen’s Security Website reports that the bicycle was nearly destroyed in the accident but the student rider suffered only a small cut to his hand. The driver, a Queen’s staff member, offered to pay for the damaged bike.
- In a collaborative scheme to benefit the United Way of Kingston, Queen’s Principal Bill Leggett and interim President of St. Lawrence College Charles Lebarge have agreed to a $100 bet over which school can achieve the biggest increase in participation in this year’s campaign to benefit the charity. The victor will contribute the winnings to the United Way on top of their regular gift and comply with the additional duty of wearing the other school’s tie for a day. Queen’s campaign for the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington United Way officially kicked off on Monday and the giant United Way thermometer has once again been erected at the corner of Union Street and University Avenue to display the community’s fundraising progress. “The United Way plays such an important role in our community,” says Principal Leggett. “Support from the Queen’s community, as the largest single contributor to the campaign, is vital to its success. I hope that everyone at Queen’s will consider offering their support.”
- A Queen’s University researcher has found that a bacterial infection associated with the common cold may play a role in triggering cardiovascular disease.
Until now, most researchers have been unable to show that this organism, chlamydia pneumonie, is present in their patients in a “viable, live” form.
Marnie Fiebig, a Queen’s masters student with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, along with Drs. Peter Brown and Perin Sankar, has developed a procedure which demonstrates that the bacterium is in fact present in a “live state” in more than 90 per cent of the 47 patients (aged 50 to 75 years) studies with two types of cardiovascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and carotid endarterectomy).
Chlamydia pneumonie was found to be present in both the patient’s diseased tissue and blood cells. Similarly, 64 per cent of a control group of 50 healthy age-matched individuals also tested positive for the bacterium in their blood cells.
Fiebig says the researchers results “open the door for a relatively non invasive, simple blood test to determine whether an individual who carries the bacterium is at an increased risk for developing atherosclerotic vascular disease.” Fiebig also said the blood test could also be used to monitor patients participating in antibiotic trials to assess the success or failure of the treatment.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.
