Lexicographer review — Page 35 of 37 S5

But he did not know which gene or genes had disappeared .

Then , a scientific team led by molecular geneticist Webster Cavenee , then at the University of Utah , found the answer .

The team used a battery of the newly developed “ gene probes , “ snippets of genetic material that can track a gene 's presence in a cell .

By analyzing cells extracted from eye tumors , they found defects in the second copy of chromosome 13 in the exact area as in the first copy of the chromosome .

The finding riveted medicine .

The p53 gene has just been implicated in lung cancer .

In a report out last week , John Minna and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute say that about half the cells taken from lung cancer tissue they tested are missing this gene .

There also are reports from several labs , as yet unpublished , of missing p53 genes in tissue taken from kidney , brain and skin cancers .

At the same time , the Johns Hopkins team and others are rushing to pinpoint other tumor-suppressor genes .

Dr. Vogelstein hopes soon to isolate one on chromosome 18 , also involved in colon cancer .

But our education proceeded at the hands of those others , who were merely competent and conscientious .

In this sense , a teacher can be compared to one 's family doctor .

If he were brilliant , he probably would not be a family doctor in the first place .

If he is competent and conscientious , he serves us well .

Our teachers are not an important factor in our educational crisis .

Our teachers are not an important factor in our educational crisis .

Whether they are or are not underpaid is a problem of equity ; it is not an educational problem .

It is silly libel on our teachers to think they would educate our children better if only they got a few thousand dollars a year more .

It is the kind of libel the teachers ' unions do not mind spreading , for their own narrow purposes .

It is also the kind of libel politicians find useful , since it helps them strike a friendly posture on behalf of an important constituency .

Actually , he regretted having opened his mouth when the truck came to a stop and the angry driver jumped down from the cab and walked back toward them .

By then , the stranger was thanking Haney profusely and had one arm around his shoulders as if he were an old friend .

So the driver started to curse at both of them as if they had been in a plot together to ruin his safe-driving record .

Then the man he saved turned and looked squarely into the truck driver 's face , without saying a word .

Very suddenly , the driver stopped swearing at them , turned on his heel and went back to his truck .

Phil usually went alone and kept to himself , sitting in a corner and passing the time by nursing his favorite grudges .

But he decided he would n't mind company in return for free drinks , even though he made good money at his job .

Phil was like that .

Now he wondered if it was worth it , having a screwball for company .

He really did n't take the offer seriously , but he began to feel uneasy .

He had apparently been alone .

Nobody witnessed the fall -- just the sickening impact when his body smashed on the pavement just outside the basement delivery entrance .

Haney hoped that nobody noticed his sudden pallor , as he felt the blood drain from his cheeks .

He muttered something about how terrible it was , and walked with deliberate slowness to the elevator .

Once inside his apartment , he poured a drink with trembling hands and flopped limply in a chair .

He was enjoying the weekly ritual of washing down his pet grievance with bourbon slightly moistened with water .

This favorite grievance was not the landlord .

He had already quite forgotten about him .

In fact , he had only mentioned him on the spur of the moment .

His real grievance was Lolly .

In races for the White House , a voter 's incentive , at the margin , is to lean Republican .

Although a GOP president may limit local benefits to the voter 's particular district/state , such a president is also likely to be more effective at preventing other districts/states and their legislators from bringing home the local benefits .

The individual voter 's standing consequently will be enhanced through lower taxes .

While this theory is exceedingly simple , it appears to explain several things .

First , why ticket splitting has increased and taken the peculiar pattern that it has over the past half century : Prior to the election of Franklin Roosevelt as president and the advent of the New Deal , government occupied a much smaller role in society and the prisoner 's dilemma problem confronting voters in races for Congress was considerably less severe .

Potential candidates may be discouraged from running less by the congressional salary than by the prospect of defeat at the hands of a Democratic opponent .

To the extent that potential Republican candidates and their financial backers realize that the congressional prisoner 's dilemma game works to their disadvantage , the Republican Party will be hindered in its attempts to field a competitive slate of congressional candidates .

Fifth , the theory may provide at least a partial reason for why ticket splitting has been particularly pronounced in the South .

To the extent that Democratic legislators from the South have held a disproportionate share of power in Congress since 1932 and have been able to translate such clout into relatively more local benefits for their respective constituencies , voters in the South have had an especially strong incentive to keep such Democrats in office .

Finally , the theory suggests why Republicans generally have fared better in Senate races than in campaigns for the House .