El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 37

nnun nnri if VI rn El Paso TimesQ Friday Jan. 29, 1993 Assistant Living Editor Susan Patten, 546-6100 Section 2E Columns 3E Television 3E Vamos 8E Money i i i nn terra Unable to accept doctors' grim prognoses about their son's illness, a courageous couple broke new ground with their research. Learn more about teen violence Date rape and dating violence teens know it's not just an adult phenomenon. Members of the El Paso Times Teen Panel tell us date battering and date rape violence by teens against teens in relationships is not uncommon. To explore the issue, we've invited the El Paso Shelter for Battered Women to moderate the next Teen Panel meeting.

All teens are welcome. We want to hear your thoughts, your observations. And teens will come away with a better understanding of the issue and tips on how to protect themselves. Please join us. Who: Teen agers.

13 When: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8. IB Where: El Paso Times Community Room, 300 N. Campbell.

How much: Free. Information and HSVP: 546-6153. Review: 'Lorenzo's Oil' gets 3 stars El Tiempo Susan Sarandon: A substantial role for this Hollywood star El Tiempo i8 is 'f' -Jr" Gannett News Service Lorenzo Odone was only 5 years old when his parents began to worry about mood swings that sometimes interrupted his usually buoyant personality. By the time Lorenzo was diagnosed as having adrenoleuko-dystrophy (ALD), a rare disease, he was losing his power of speech and hearing. He was eventually to become almost totally paralyzed.

In the film "Lorenzo's Oil," his parents were distraught but never dispairing. They decided to fight back. "Let's go after it," they said. Never mind that they knew next to nothing about medicine and that every medical authority considered the disease incurable. 1dJ a feverish study of technical journals, although they had no background in science.

Eventually Augusto discovered studies that indicated certain long chain fatty acids present in many foods seemed to be destroying the myelin in susceptible people. Most research was directed at reversing the destruction. Why not, he reasoned, try keeping the offending acids out of the body to begin with? mm LI i ne uclones 1 I iff f. lit, Jf 1 on their own organized a meeting of ex perts from around the world who were working on ALD prob lems. Previously, there had been almost no collaboration.

Eventually it was learned that rapeseed oil seemed to slow progress of the disease when administered as a salad dressing. But there were still some of the Blip But Odones are not ordinary people. A i tensely intellectual couple, they both had earned Ful-bright scholarships. Augusto Odone, an Italian, would go on to become a high-level economist with the World Bank; Michae-la Odone, an American of Irish ancestry, is a respected linguist. 'Lorenzo's Oil' is not based on our v.

New Pirate Video episode on tonight A new episode of Pirate Video. Kl' Paso's cable access comedy show, will air at 10:30 p.m. tonight on cable Channel 15. Parodies include Amy Fisher's release from prison, the Suicide hot line. Drunk Dudes at Ski Apache and much more.

The new episode also will be broadcast at 10:30 p.m. Feb. 5 and Feb. 12. Celebrate Literacy has awards dinner J.

David Cooper of Muncie, professor of education at Ball State University, will be the speaker at the Celebrate Literacy awards dinner sponsored by the El Paso Council of the International Reading Association. The event will be at fi p.m. at the Marriott. Individuals and organizations who have contributed to literacy will be recognized. Cost: $15.

Information, reservations: due today, 591-6956. Nick Nolte, left, Zack O'Malley and Susan Sarandon star in "Lorenzo's Oil." The story is based on a real couple who battled the medical community to save the life of their son. Debra Gortler Gannett News Service Michaela, left, and Augusto Odone at their home. 'Lorenzo's Oil' not a miracle cure for brain tissue disease, doctor says "It is our story. story, he says.

"There Is a very plausible rationale for testing It. The general conclusion, both here and in Italy, Is that Lorenzo Oil does not alter the course of the disease." Dr. Hugo Moser in brain tissue. The excess fat seems to trigger an immune reaction, including inflammation, Moser said. The immune system then attacks a fatty insulation layer, the myelin sheath, that surrounds nerve fibers.

As myelin disappears, the nerve cells lose their ability to communicate, leading to what seems to be severe mental retardation and eventually death. Similar "demyelin-ation," as it is called, is seen in multiple sclerosis, although MS strikes later in life. Lorenzo's Oil dramatically reduces the amount of very-long-chain fatty acids in patients' blood. But Moser says that tests over the past three years in 220 boys suffering symptoms of ALD showed no real improvement in their suspect fatty acids present. The oil would have to be chemically altered to eliminate them all.

After a worldwide search, a British firm was found that had produced a limited amount of the product. Enough was manufactured for clinical tests, which resulted in dramatic halting of the disease's progress. It has been used with considerable success on children whose symptoms were detected early. It was too late to help Lorenzo much, although it did keep him alive and he is showing minor improvement. Lorenzo is now 12 years old.

"He can now move his head from side to side and roll his body over," Michaela Odone says. "I think he is fully cognitive and I talk with him all the time. I have told him of the disease and of my role in it. I was afraid some other person might tell him in a less friendly way. He will see 'Lorenzo's in a heavily edited version." Newsday Despite its drama, "Lorenzo's Oil" may be a case of art being sunnier than life.

The oil, a combination of olive and rapeseed oils now starring in a compelling new movie, has not yet been proven to help in the disastrous inherited illness called adrenoleuko-dystrophy, or ALD, the doctors studying it say. "There is a very plausible rationale for testing it," said Dr. Hugo Moser, the only U.S. doctor with permission to prescribe the but "the general conclusion, both here and in Italy, is that Lorenzo Oil does not alter the course of the disease." Moser, director of the Center for Research on Mental Re1 tardation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and professor The only dramatic license is taken when things inside our minds are being described. Those can't be photographed." The Odones soon discovered that there was very little research going on about ALD and most of that was basic and not practical.

To some extent, this was because the disease is quite rare at the time it was considered to be about one in 40,000 live births. Researchers knew that the disease caused a progressive destruction of myelin, the sheath around the core of certain nerves. Things seemed to be stalled there. A support group did exist, but it focused mostly on saving the marriages of ALD parents, easing the victims' last months, and funding research with blind faith in the doctors. "That just wasn't enough," Augusto says.

The couple began of neurology and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, says the film is "too optimistic." The gene that causes the illness, located on the chromosome, normally makes an enzyme that helps process very-long-chain fatty acids. In the illness, which strikes only males, the gene fails to make the enzyme, so fats accumulate lifelong learning classes start now "One Hundred Days with Bill Clinton," six sessions of discussion led by political scientist Howard Neighbor, and "Mexic.t Arts" by Jose Lizarriga, director of the Juarez Museum of Art, are among the new classes offered by the Center for Lifelong Learning at the University of Texas at El Paso. The center's spring semester begins Monday. Information: 747-6280, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

weekdays. Network launches new 24-hour Spanish music channel launched Sex responsibility class in February Enrollment is limited to 20 families for a two-session workshop on sexuality education and responsibility, open to parents and their pre-teen youngsters. "Communication and Responsibility" will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Peb. 23 and 25 at the Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso, 261 7 E.

Yandell. Cost: $5 per family. Reservations, information: 566-1613. Times staff reports "We have contracts we have to adhere to, and right now we're at channel capacity. We'll have to review the situation once the network starts and see what happens." Kim Curlin Paragon spokeswoman El Paso gets all-news CNN radio By Robert Nelson El Paso Times Continuous national and international radio news is now available in 1 Paso thanks to a format change at KFNA-1060 AM.

KFNA became a CNN radio affiliate Jan, 11, broadcasting news, eports, financial reports and human interest features from CNN Headline News. The new format includes two to three minutes of local news per hour and will soon include Texas State Network "We're not loaded up with talk programs and it's not said John Doran, the station's general manager. "It's for people who want news and information readily available." And for El Pasoans without cable television, it's the first opportunity for continuous news, Doran said. 'The majority of people in El Paso don't have cable," Doran said. "This is the first place they can tune in and get immediate information." CNN's total news format is becoming popular in radio markets throughout the country, Doran said.

Before KFNA's format change, "El Paso was the largest city without a CNN affiliate he said. The CNN Headline News half-hour includes about 10 minutes of international and national news, five minutes of business news, five minutes of sports and five minutes of features, Doran said. The tion is presently broadcasting from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. but will run 24-hour CNN news once the station receives FCC approval.

The KFNA previously was a Spanish-language music station. eral Spanish language channels from El Paso and Juarez, and some of them show Spanish mu sic videos. But there currently is no round the clock Spanish vid eo channel available. MTV will continue producing its syndicated MTV Internacion-al, a one-hour weekly show in English and Spanish. Host Daisy Fuentes also may anchor shows on MTV Latin America.

The Spanish-speaking U.S. market has been dominated by the Telemundo and Univision networks, which have programming more like traditional U.S. networks. MTV picked Miami as the headquarters for its new Spanish network because of its existing Hispanic television ties, said Sara Levinson. executive vice president of MTV Music Times staff, wire reports Latin music lovers who have been saying "Quiero mi MTV" "I want my MTV" had their wishes answered when the network announced it will launch a 24-hour Spanish music video channel in the fall.

The new service will be offered in the United States and Latin America, and will target 12- to 34-year-old Hispanics with a mix of Latin, international and American music videos, interviews, concerts and news, the network said Wednesday. MTV said it hopes to premiere in October with 3 million house holds. It already reaches 210 mil lion in 70 countries. A spokeswoman for Paragon Cable said it's too early to tell whether MTV Latin America will be added to El Paso's cable Correction system. "We have contracts we have to adhere to, and right now we're at channel capacity," Paragon spokeswoman Kim Curlin said.

"We'll have to review the situation once the network starts and see what happens," she said. Paragon currently carries sev Thursday's Living section included incorrect prices for deli trays. All El Paso Smith's sell trays serving six to nine people for $9.99 to trays serving 12 to 16 people are $19.99 to and trays serving 16 to 20 people are $29.99 to $39.99..