*** News You Can Use! -- 11 July 1996 ***
More than 60 million Americans suffer from the occasional release of stomach acids that causes heartburn. A new study by the New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center, surveying 2,000 who reported having heartburn in the previous 6 months, suggests that a stressful lifestyle may be a root cause. Those surveyed listed worry, working long hours, spending less than two hours per day relaxing, drinking too much caffeine, eating out too often, eating too fast, or skipping meals as possible causes for their heartburn. Other possible causes are smoking, obesity, and sleeping or exercising on a full stomach.(Associated Press, 9 July 1996; Broadcast News, 10 July)
One hundred employees of the Cleveland Clinic took part in an experiment to test a common cold remedy. Their were given either "Cold-eeze," lemon-flavored zinc gluconate lozenges marketed by Quigley Corporation, or a placebo lozenge. The median time for all symptoms to disappear was 7.6 days in the placebo group, and 4.4 days in the zinc group. So those who took the "Cold-eeze" got over their symptoms about three days sooner, but they also experienced more side effects, such as mausea, mouth irritation, and a bad after taste. (Associated Press, 10 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
There is still debate about global warming, as some say there is no evidence of climate change being caused by humans. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization has published a report stating that *if* global warming is occuring, as many as 80 million people could contract malaria. That would be the inevitable result if worldwide climate changes push once-tropical diseases into more temperate regions. Malaria already strikes at least 300 million people annually, and between 1.5 million and 2.7 million die from it each year. The WHO report also warns that developing countries will suffer the most, since better health systems will protect more people in the developed countries.
Also this week, two British scientists have unveiled their new tool for fighting malaria -- mosquitoes. They received a patent last year to use genetic engineering to breed a mosquito with an altered salivary gland, one that would transmit an infection-fighting protein. They have yet to try their theory out in a live mosquito.
Finally, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine finds that a drug derived from an old Chinese herbal remedy is an effective weapon against severe malaria. Researchers say artemether appears to be as effective as quinine in preventing deaths by malaria. That's significant, because the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria is growing resistant to quinine. (Associated Press, 9 July 1996, 10 July)
From time to time, we just have to pass along the more eye-catching news, even though it's fairly outrageous. For instance, Australian scientists say cuddling cats in childhood may lead to arthritis in later years. The study was published in "Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism" and in New Scientist magazine. The researchers say those who suffer from arthritis are more than twice as likely as non-victims to have had close contact with cats in early life, generally from ages 10 to 15. The report says pets may harbor micro-organisms that can trigger the body's immune system into attacking joints, ultimately leading to arthritis. On the other hand, an expert from Westminster Hospital says the whole idea is far-fetched. A note on this study appeared in U.S. News & World Report.
Here's a more hopeful story -- In Florida, a dermatologist named Armand Cognetta Jr. read a letter to a medical journal about a dog that kept pawing at a mole on its owner's leg. The mole turned out to be cancerous. Dr. Cognetta reasoned that their acute sense of smell might have alerted this smart dog to the cancer. The dermatologist then trained a former bomb-sniffing to recognize melanoma. This dog had an extreme accuracy rate sniffing out skin cancer, even through bandages. (Associated Press, 12 June 1996)
The International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has been hearing stories of hope and despair from all over the globe. On Tuesday, 9 July, a debate emerged over the need to immediately test possible AIDS vaccines. Dr. John Moore from the Diamond AIDS Research Center called for more research before large-scale trials. He argued that researchers can't rely on luck when dealing with the unusually difficult H-I-V virus.
But Dr. Edward Mbidde from the Uganda Cancer Institute took the opposite view, calling for quick trials of vaccines. He argued that while a full understanding of the tricky virus may be years away, millions of people in the developing world are dying of AIDS. And while progress has been made on drug therapies that control the disease, their cost is prohibitive to poorer countries, so a vaccine is their only hope. Dr. Mbidde said people in the developing world would be willing to be the first recipients of H-I-V vaccines, so that more people may be saved, sooner. (Broadcast News, 9 July 1996)
A disturbing finding -- and a common-sense solution.
A team of researchers in the San Francisco area found that when elderly people were found helpless in their homes by paramedics, those seniors usually never recovered enough to live again on their own. The results, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, reviewed 400 cases over a two-month period. One-quarter of the elderly involved were found dead. Another 5% died in the hospital. Of those who survived, two-thirds wound up living in nursing homes or skilled-nursing units. While many were victims of heart disease or strokes, still other died from dehydration, exposure or infections. The doctors' simple recommendation: arrange to have someone look in on elderly acquintances regularly. (Associated Press, 26 June 1996)
The Environmental Protection Agency has expanded reporting requirements for polluters. For the first time, electric utilities, incinerator operators, recyclers and some mining companies will have to disclose the toxic materials they're releasing into the environment. The requirements become final later this year, but it will still be several more years before the first reports will be available.
The EPA also announced that in 1994, manufacturers who already track their pollutants reported an 8.6% decline in toxic releases into the air, water, and ground. (Associated Press, 26 June 1996)
Scientists at Synaptic Pharmaceutical have made a finding that may lead to an anti-obesity drug. A natural substance called neuropeptide Y -- or NPY -- delivers the message, "It's time to eat." Past experiments have established that when when NPY is injected into the brains of rats, they greatly overeat. But NPY must bind with a particular protein structure to deliver its message. And scientists say they've found that so-called feeding receptor. Synaptic Pharmaceutical hopes to begin studying promising receptor blockers in people, but it will be at least two years from now. (Associated Press, 10 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
STB's News You Can Use! edited and written by --
Tom Connolly, for Infant Moose Web Page Creations.
Past newsletters: 3 July 1996 | 26 June 1996 | 20 June 1996 | 12 June 1996 | 6 June 1996 | 31 May 1996 | 25 May 1996 | 16 May 1996 | 9 May 1996
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