Pittsburg State University - Kanza Yearbook (Pittsburg, KS)

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“We’ve gone all the way from giving the material to the students to stealing from them,” said Duffy. After investigating the costs, it was found that each student who bought the Applied Grammar manual could receive a 76 cent refund because the manuals were not shrink wrapped. According to Overman, the bookstore is blamed for books that come in late when actually it is often the fault of the instructor because they don’t turn in their orders soon enough. “We also have problems with estimations. We have $8,848 tied up in books that are setting on the shelves because the psychology department ordered more books than they have students enrolled. At 15 per cent interest that costs the bookstore a lot of money,” he said. Overman also said that students get upset because they don’t understand the bookstore’s policy for buying back used books. According to Verlen Kresin, director of the University bookstore, a student is paid half of the list price of a book when it is returned for re-sale. The book is marked up 25 per cent above the buy-back price for re-sale as a used book. This pricing policy continues until the book has been resold three times; at that time the book remains at the last used book sale price. Kresin said that the bookstore actually makes more money on used books and would prefer to sell them rather than new ones and does make them readily available. Overman said that the only reason the bookstore won’t buy back a book if it is still being used by the in- structor is if the bookstore already has the number of books the in- structor has said he will need the following semester. Although it may seem to students that the bookstore is making a killing, in actuality they are not. Books are susceptible to inflation too.— by Janet Stites AT THE BOOK RETURN TABLE, Jeff Cook waits while Verlen Kresin checks the master ' A to see if his books can be bought back.— photo by Kyle Cleveland WAITING IN LONG LINES, students usually wait for hours to sell back books. Con- sequently, they will receive half the price they paid or find the book won’t be bought back at all. —photo by Kyle Cleveland

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The toxic threat remains The Toxic Shock Syndrome has recently exploded in the eyes of the American public as a threat to life. In the past year, the medical world has shed a little more light on Toxic Shock, a disease now believed to be at least partially caused by the use of tampons. According to Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a professional medical journal, symptoms of the disease are characterized by a very brief illness consisting of high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, irritability, confusion, sore throat, abdominal tenderness, a decrease in blood pressure, skin rash and intravascular blood clotting. According to an article in the Sunday, Jan. 11 issue of The Kansas City Star, Dr. Roy Garrison, a Kansas City pediatrician, was the first to link the disease to the use of Rely tam- pons, several months before it gained national publicity. After submitting his findings to the United States Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, and after the center completed compiling the needed data to support Dr. Garrison's theory, they announced on Sept. 17, 1980, that more than 70 percent of syndrome victims were users of Rely. However, Dr. Garrison's theory was questionable because it was found that TSS had affected some men also. Dr. Garrison then shared his curiosity of the disease with Dr. Damon Mountford, a Kansas City family practitioner that had treated a 15-year-old girl from Kansas City for the syndrome who had almost died. The girl had returned home from a party early in March, 1980, thinking she had the flu. Within three days she was admitted to the intensive care unit at Kansas City’s Baptist Memorial Hospital with extensive dehydration, extremely low blood pressure and a temperature that had soared to 106.4. The girl spent six out of 10 days in the hospital in intensive care suf- Artwork provided by Rosemary Hessman fering from various hallucinations, chills and a skin disorder that caused “hunks of flesh to fall from her fingers and toes. Physicians administered a drug called Dopamine in order to bring her blood pressure to a level high enough to move the blood around in her body and keep her alive. According to physicians, she recovered as suddenly as she became ill. In the weeks following, her vision was blurred and nine months later she was weaker and tired more easily. Dr. Mountford had diagnosed her condition as a toxic shock, which can result from various bacteria or viruses. Her mother said that she was not convinced that tampons were the cause of what had happened to her daughter. She was using Playtex at the time her illness occurred and continues to use tampons but has switched brands. According to the article, among Toxic Shock victims who used only one tampon brand, 19 percent used Playtex compared with 71 percent who used Rely. However, in another group of women who did not have toxic shock syndrome, 25 percent use Playtex and 26 percent used Rely. In the Pittsburg area, one case was reported last year in which the vic- tim’s symptoms were similar to those of TSS. However, after she was sent to Kansas City for further examination, it was found that her illness was due to a pleural pneumonia-like organism and was more respiratory-oriented than TSS, according to Kathy Nucifora, one of Mt. Carmel's medical technologists. Due to the fact that the company distributing Rely tampons re-called the product from business shelves, Burton Crowell, manager of Crowell Drug, said that his store's sales in all brands of tampons had decreased. “There has definitely been a noticeable decrease in our tampon sales, and I’m sure it’s because of doubts women have about Toxic Shock. Needless to say, our feminine napkin sales have increased, said Crowell. “Our tampon sales have decreased on all of our brands and we're selling more of the feminine napkins, said Robert Cook, Wal-Mart manager. According to Andrew Bailey, manager of Scotties, he hasn't noticed a change in sales. “We took Rely off the shelf when the brand was re-called but there hasn’t been any drop in the sale of our other brands. However, our feminine napkin sales have risen, said Bailey. Verlen Kresin, Pittsburg State University Bookstore manager, said, We took Rely off the shelves after the re-call but there’s been no significant drop in the sales of our other brands but, we don’t really sell that many either because they’re really more of a ‘convenient’ item here. Girls will, more than likely, buy them at drugstores where they are less expensive unless they just happen to be here, said Kresin. In a bulletin published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in November, 1980, the college recommends that, in general, women need not stop using tampons; however, it would be prudent, at present, to discontinue the use of the newly-developed super- absorbent tampons until more conclusive scientific research has been conducted. To reduce the possible risk of tampon use even further, the college advises women to alternate tampons with feminine napkins, and if, while using tampons, a women experiences such symptoms as high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or a sunburn-like rash, she should discontinue using tampons and consult a physician immediately. The threat that TSS has presented has definitely influenced many of the younger girls at PSU in their decision of whether to continue using tam- pons. “I never really used Rely, but I did use tampons until I found out about Toxic Shock. Now I don't use them anymore, said Lori Mendenhall, Pittsburg freshman. “I used only Rely until everything came up about Toxic Shock. Now I don’t use any tampon brand, said Lisa Miller, Pittsburg sophomore. Susie Cope, Pittsburg freshman, and Connie Rentz, Paola senior, said that they didn't ever use Rely, but were tampon users. Neither has discontinued doing so since no definite information is available as to whether or not tampons are the cause of TSS. Although scientists and physicians have discovered substantial evidence to support the cause of TSS in theory, the disease has not yet been com- pletely conquered and its threat remains. —by Jacque Porter Toxic Shock—21