HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: mental abuse
From: RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg)
Date: 20 Nov 92 15:42:36 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Philosophy Dept., Wesleyan University
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20In-Reply-To: draper@gnd1.wtp.gtefsd.com's message of Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:17:31 GMTLines: 25

In <1992Nov19.221955.2394@europa.asd.contel.com> draper@gnd1.wtp.gtefsd.com writes:

> Does anyone know if there is a group that talks about mental health issues?
> Or a community group in Northern Virginia that I could go to?  I'm in an
> emotionally abusive relationship and need help to gain the strength to get
> out of it.

1. Contact your local battered women's (or domestic violence) shelter.  Folks
who deal with victims of domestic violence are well aware that emotional abuse
can be every bit as dangerous and disabling as physical abuse.

2. Make an appointment with your *physician* and tell him or her frankly what
sort of problem you are experiencing & that you need a local referral to
someone who can help. <*ATTENTION: DOCS-ON-LINE:  Do YOU know where you'd refer
a patient of yours making such a request?  I hope so... :-)*>

3. Seek assistance from a local mental health facility, especially one which
has multiple different kinds of mental health practitioners available to work
together (i.e., psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, etc.).

GOOD LUCK!

------------------------
Ruth Ginzberg <rginzberg@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Contact lenses and blood vessels in the eye!?
Date: 15 Nov 92 15:56:55 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1992Nov13.182426.911@kestrel.edu> king@reasoning.com (Dick King) writes:

>In the rain, i was faced with the choice of doffing my glasses and having
>20/400 vision for the whole ride home, or keeping them on and having my vision
>deteriorate from 20/20 to perhaps 20/800 or worse on the way home as the
>glasses covered with water.

Contact lenses are not the only solution here. The use of a helmet
with a face shield will make sure that the rain drops occurs only on
the outside of the screen. The use of an anti-wetting agent such as
Rain-X will ensure that water is kept to small beads which quickly
fall off. And the use of either a handy chamois leather, or the old
biker's trick of chamois patches sewn to the back of the first finger
of the gloves (you can buy gloves like this), can wipe them clean very
quickly.

I don't mention goggles because when cycling in cold rain there is the
fogging problem; a simple visor avoids this.

By far the best solution to this problem, the rotate-in-the-wind
turbovisor, is alas no longer made. It worked amazingly well, but
wearing a spinning visor was too much for the very fashion-conscious
cycling world :-)
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington)
Subject: Re: Hippocratic Oath
Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 17:22:54 GMT

In article <lh20ecINNj8m@peaches.cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:
>
>You might convince me if the surgery in the circumstances
>described was needed to save the patient's life and if it was
>still the case that the surgeon concerned was a reasonable person
>to perform it.  Nothing in the original post suggested the
>*reasons* the surgeon backed out.  HIV infection *is* a medical
>complication.  Too often, people entering these discussion write
>as if it should be treated otherwise.

Extremely good point.  If I remember right, the surgery was elective.
HIV infection makes it riskier than it would otherwise be.  It's quite
possible that on balance, with HIV infection factored in, the benefits
no longer outweighed the risks.


-- 
:-  Michael A. Covington     internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu 
:-  Artificial Intelligence Programs       phone 706 542-0358
:-  The University of Georgia                fax 706 542-0349
:-  Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A.     amateur radio N4TMI
From: eang42@castle.ed.ac.uk (L Bootland)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Contact lenses and blood vessels in the eye!?
Date: 16 Nov 92 17:53:13 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

Glasses also have other disadvantages. I started wearing contact lenses
because I was doing a lot of microscope work. I couldn't wear my glasses
comfortably for the hours of work I was doing (Apart from anything else
I kept scratching the lens), but couldn't see to draw without them.
Contact lenses seemed the obvious solution.  

Contacts are also safer in lab situations where you can wear standard
goggles over your lenses, but rarely over glasses. The cost of
prescription goggles is exorbitant. I bake a lot, and don't burn
myself as often when wearing contacts, because they dont steam up. Also
I get better correction with contacts than I ever did with lenses,
particularly at night.


-- 
============================================================================
These are my opinions, not            L. Bootland    eang42@castle.ed.ac.uk
those of the university.              University of Edinburgh, Genetics.
From: jdevlin@pollux.usc.edu (Joseph T. Devlin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Alzheimer's Disease
Date: 22 Nov 1992 15:29:53 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: pollux.usc.edu
Keywords: verbs, semantics, alzheimers

Hello all,
  I've been looking into the literature on Alzheimer's
disease to see what is known about the affect of the
disease on verb semantics and lexical access.  While
there is a substantial body of information on noun and
object degradation in AD, I have found only a single
reference which even examined verbs - action verbs only
in this case.
  Martin and Fedio (1983) reported that AD patients were
as capable of naming simple action verbs as their normal
counterparts from line drawings.  Contrasted with object
naming, which AD patients do fairly poorly at, this was
perhaps surprising.  On the other hand this was only
a small part of a larger experiment and it was not treated
in any detail.
  If anyone knows of references or informatoin related to
this I would appreciate hearing from you.
  Thank you all for your help.

                                                - Joe

*************************************************************************
Joseph Devlin                      * email: jdevlin@pollux.usc.edu
University of Southern California  *
Department of Computer Science     * "The axon doesn't think.
Los Angeles, CA 90089              *  It just ax."  George Bishop
*************************************************************************

%A Martin and Fedio
%T <I can't find the name of the paper right now>
%S Brain and Language (1983) 19: 124-141.
From: jwest@BBN.COM (Jayne K. West)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Star Trek Makes Me Sick
Date: 23 Nov 92 17:12:35 GMT
Reply-To: jwest@BBN.COM (Jayne K. West)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com


Yesterday I went to the Science Museum (Boston) to take in the Star
Trek exhibit.  On the way into the exhibit I looked through a rotating
disk at an exhibit by Polaroid, a kind of huge kaleidoscope.  At the
Star Trek exhibit I looked at the various whirling, swirling, and
light flashing exhibits.  I got very nauseous.  I had to leave, and I
had the dry heaves. I spent the rest of the day in a dark quiet room
waiting for the nausea to abate.

What can I do about this in the future?  Obviously, I can avoid
staring at spinning objects, but is there any kind of medication I can
take before going into nauseating circumstances?  I know that people
use scopolomine before water trips?  Would it be useful in my case?
And what about when I am nauseous from looking at spinning?  What can
I take for that after the fact?

I'm prone to motion sickness, but I thought that had to do with the
inner ear.  Is this visually caused nausea related/the same?

Thanks,

Jayne
From: sjha+@cs.cmu.edu (Somesh Jha)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Persistent mild headaches (reasons)
Date: 23 Nov 92 15:55:03 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon


Hi folks:

My wife says she has mild headache during the day.
She has had it for around a week. She went to the
doctor and they did not find anything wrong with her.
The headache is quite mild and does not affect her
too much. Any reasons? 

Thanks

Somesh
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Subject: Re: Toothbrush sterilizers any good?
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 07:22:53 GMT

David Nye writes:
>Sue Miller writes:
>>Michael Covington writes:
>>>
>>>Hmmm... if toothbrushes need sterilizing, why not dunk 'em in rubbing
>>>alcohol?  
>>>
>> Hmm.  How about whiskey or gin?  Be a bit more tasty than isopropyl
>> I would think.  :-)
>
>How about EverClear, the backpacker's favorite?  Basically pure grain alcohol
>with a little mint extract thrown in.  There might not be quite enough alcohol
>in whisky or gin to kill everything.  Would go better with toothpaste, too...
>

You know, just days ago I wasn't even concerned about germs on my
toothbrush.  Now I find myself concerned about whether my choice of 
disinfectant will clash with my toothpaste.  I also worry about whether
I will in fact remember to brush after the sterilization process...

sue
From: epstein@rene.ma.utexas.edu (Paul Epstein)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: counseling
Date: 16 Nov 92 05:15:56 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: University of Texas at Austin Mathematics

It is an obvious fact that far more people get counseling in the U.S than
anywhere else.
 The following are plausible explanations.

1. The "counselling industry" cons people into seeking counselling who don't
benefit from it.

2. A greater proportion of people in the U.S are mentally disturbed than in
other industrialized countries.

3. Other countries have fewer resources in this regard and can't cater for
people who need this valuable service.

Does anybody have any comments on these explanations or any other theories?
  I am from the U.K and when I came to U.T Austin, I was very surprised to
find it extremely common for mathematics graduates to have received, or
be receiving professional counselling .

Please reply by personal mail.

Paul Epstein
From: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Lyme Vaccine Begins Phase I Trials
Date: 16 Nov 92 20:21:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: pitt.17483
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <1992Nov9.014815.6935@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> mcg2@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Marc Gabriel) writes:
|
|Sigal has absolutely no credibility with Lyme folks.  Many believe that he is
|in bed with the insurance companies, telling them what they want to hear
                                                   ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^
This is a curious criticism coming from the "Lyme folks", many who
seem to only accept what they want to hear. Depends on whose ox
is being gored?

 -km
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo)
Subject: Re: Smallpox transmission, Syphilis Origin
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:23:44 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In article <1992Nov18.220449.1@cubldr.colorado.edu> parson_r@cubldr.colorado.edu (Robert Parson) writes:
>
>2. Has any consensus been reached about whether syphilis originated in
> the New World? Those same encyclopedias were noncommittal on this.
>
According to the history books that I read, syphilis was contracted
by Spanish conquistators while conquering the New World.  The
Spanish conquistators brought smallpox to the natives of the New World.
Smallpox had a devastating effect on the natives.

The Spanish also brought back tomatoes to Europe.  The Italian word for
the tomato is 'pomadoro' (which means 'golden apple')
A good book on this subject is "The seeds of change".  I believe that
there is also an exhibition on this topic at the Smithsonian Institute.


-- 
 Ralph Yozzo (yozzo@watson.ibm.com)  
 From the beautiful and historic Mid-Hudson Valley area of NY state
From: rind@binoc.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Steroids for Cancer Patients?
Date: 19 Nov 92 19:37:16 GMT
Organization: Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Mass., USA

In article <Bxz3nn.Ep3@queernet.org> max@queernet.org (Max J. Rochlin) writes:
>Well, steroids are immuno-supressive.  This means that the possibility
>of getting sick is greater.  Other side effects include weight gain,
>short temper, just to name a few.  It's also been suggested that steroids
>we a major contributing factor to the brain cancer and subsequent death
>of L. Alzado (sp?) the ex-football player.

This is the confusion between different classes of steroids sprouting
up again.  The steroids that the original poster was asking about
were corticosteroids (like prednisone or hydrocortisone).  In that
case the steroids were presumably being used to decrease swelling
around a tumor that was impinging on the spinal cord.  Such steroids
can indeed suppress the immune system and can have a number of
serious short and long term side-effects.

Anabolic steroids (like testosterone) are the ones used by athletes
(such as Lyle Alzado) to try to increase muscle mass/strength.  They
are the ones that people discuss as causing increased aggression
(corticosteroids can make people euphoric and rarely psychotic, but
I doubt that's what Mr. Rochlin was thinking of).  Although Lyle
Alzado apparently believed that anabolic steroids caused his brain
tumor, I don't know of any evidence suggesting such an association.
-- 
David Rind
rind@binoc.bih.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: bsimon@elvis.stsci.edu (Bernie Simon)
Subject: Re: Summary of evidence for homeopathy
Organization: None. This saves me from writing a disclaimer.
	<dank.721767362@blacks.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:17:12 GMT

I have no problems with conducting more clinical tests of homeopathy.
Neither does any other homeopath I know of.  However, I do object to
holding homeopathic medicines off the market until clinical trials are
conducted. Clinical trials take time and money. If you place the cost
of conducting these studies on the manufacturers of homeopathic
medicines, you are placing a substantial cost on them and at the same
time cutting off their only source of revenue. Also, since these
medicines are unpatentable, there is no way for the manufacturers who
conduct these studies to recover their costs. The effect of your
proposed change to the law would be to completely kill homeopathy in
the United States. I'd rather have unproven homeopathic medicines than
no medicines at all. Under current law, homeopathic manufacturers may
sell medicines and make claims consistent with the Homeopathic
Pharmacopeia of the United States (HPUS). Most of these medicines have
been used by homeopaths for over 100 years and proven their
effectiveness to their satisfaction, even if not to the readers of
sci.med. Homeopathic manufacturers so far have behaved pretty
responsibly with their claims, and as long as this continues, I see no
reason to change the status quo.

BTW I am a 38 year old male computer programmer.

--
Bernie Simon	(bsimon@stsci.edu)		O tempora! O mores!
From: philipm@papillon.ucsd.edu (The Philster)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: MY EYELID IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!
Date: 24 Nov 1992 01:40:54 GMT
Organization: DIP Laboratory, UCSD/SIO, La Jolla CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: papillon.ucsd.edu
Keywords: Help me



I think I saw a discussion about this earlier, so forgive me if I am
being redundant.
My right eyelid has been frequently experiencing involuntary spasms
for a duration of about 3-10 seconds about 2-3 times a day. It has become
more frequent over the last couple of months. Why only my right?

Here's some info...

I surf almost every day (possible salt/cold water effects?)
I have experimented with some marijuana in the past few months. (???)
My vision is normal.

You can send me a private reply if you wish...

philipm%papillon.ucsd.edu

Phil



Newsgroups: sci.med
From: mdiffin@crc.ac.uk (Dr. M.C. Diffin)
Subject: Re: Any information on Crohn's disease?
Organization: MRC Human Genome Resource Centre
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:19:10 GMT

ch>Hi, I've recently been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and I'd like to know
ch>more about it.
ch>
ch>More specifically, the effect of diet and the benefits of 5-ASA.
ch>
ch>I followed the diet in the book 'Food and the Gut Reaction' until I went to
ch>my first support group meeting, at which point the book was discredited to
ch>my satisfaction.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of any part of the GI
tract (ileocaecal region favoured) which has a tendency to recurrence. 
The bowel is thickened and narrowed; ulcers, fissures, fistulas or
abscesses may be seen, with inflammation through all layers of the
bowel.  Main presentation is diarrhoea, pain and anorexia with
(possibly) general malaise, lethargy and nausea and vomiting.  The
aetiology is obscure, although some of the systemic complications,
association with other autoimmune diseases, responsiveness to
immunosuppressives and the granulomatous lesions suggest an
immunological pathogenesis.  There is also some evidence for an
infectious agent, possibly a mycobacterium.

For acute attacks, corticosteroids are effective (30/60mg per day). 
These suppress inflammation but are unsuitable for maintenance because
of contraindications.  Sulphasalazine has been used for some time,
although it is less effective when the small intestine is affected. 
Sulphasalazine is sulphapyridine (only a carrier, although it has its own
side effects) azo-linked to 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) which is the
pharmacologically active moiety (may be cytoprotective or
immunosuppressive).  Dietary supplements are required with this drug
(esp. folate).  More recently olsalazine (two molecules of 5-ASA linked)
or mesalzine (5-ASA itself) have been used; these circumvent the
sulphapyridine side effects, but diarrhoea and salicylate
hypersensitivity may still be a problem.  Additionally, metronidazole
and co-trimoxazole may be effective, presumably because of their
antibacterial activity.

As for diet, an elemental diet or parenteral nutrition seems to induce
remission.  These put less stress on the bowel and also reduce antigen
load.  To my knowledge, most patients relapse at some time after they
start a normal diet, but one hardly wants to live on hospital fare forever. 
I should imagine support groups will have more dietary information.

Another option is surgery, though this is not indicated unless medical
treatment fails or severe complications (like toxic dilatation) appear. 
Many patients do have the surgery, but remission is almost inevitable.

The good news is that most such patients lead quite a normal life and do
not have a significantly higher mortality than the general population
(if memory serves, most of the mortality is a consequence of surgery)
-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
Michael Diffin
JANET: mdiffin@uk.ac.mrc-crc    PHONE: +44 (0)345 333111 Pager No. 0406653
INTERNET: mdiffin@mrc-crc.ac.uk, mcd12@phx.cam.ac.uk
From: anderson@cshl.org (John Anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: liposarcoma treatments
Date: 18 Nov 92 15:59:07 GMT
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

A friend of a friend had a liposarcoma that was treated surgically,
but she was given the impression that it will recur.  In preparation
for its recurrence, she would like to find out about any new
treatments that may be available.  Several of her friends believe they
saw something in the New York Times about a treatment involving
monoclonal antibodies to the tumor itself, but no one can remember the
details.  I would appreciate any information about this or any other
therapies.  Thanks for your help.
-- 
-------
John E. Anderson
W. M. Keck Structural Biology Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
From: mdiffin@crc.ac.uk (Dr. M.C. Diffin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Circumcisions (Are they ever performed on adults ?)
Date: 15 Nov 92 18:41:02 GMT
Organization: MRC Human Genome Resource Centre

>Greetings.  Could someone explain why circumcisions are preformed in the
>first place ?  Wouldn't it be just as effective to stretch the foreskin so
>it is loose enough to be fully retracted ?

Don't know about the second point.  Two major resaons for circumcision:

1. Cultural.  Some religions (eg Judiasm) insist on it.  In some places
it is routine by secular condition.

2. Infection.  Reasonably common in early childhood.
>
>Anyway, what options are available to adult men who were not circumsized at
>birth.  Are circumcisions ever performed on non-infants ?  Do devices exsist
>to expand the foreskin as an alternative ?
>
The procedure is simple and may be performed on adults under local
anaesthesia.
As an aside, penile cancer is almost unknown in the circumcised.

Michael.


-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
Michael Diffin
JANET: mdiffin@uk.ac.mrc-crc    PHONE: +44 (0)345 333111 Pager No. 0406653
INTERNET: mdiffin@mrc-crc.ac.uk
From: nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu (David Nye)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Deprenyl
Date: 18 Nov 92 20:56:55 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

In article <1992Nov18.181219.21367@spdcc.com>, dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:

> The evidence for the utility of tacrine in Alzheimer's is substantially
> less than selegiline in Parkinson's (however minor a therapeutic advance
> selegiline is), and tacrine tends to be hepatotoxic.  I got the impression
> that the manufacturers of tacrine were going to test, test, test until
> they were able to show even the most minor beneficial result.

There was just another study on tacrine in one of the main neurology
journals (I forget which one), suggesting definite but mild efficacy.
Side effects were also a big problem.  In contrast, there is not a
single study to my reading that proves that selegiline has anything
other than a weak symptomatic benefit.

David Nye
nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: bhjelle@carina.unm.edu ()
Subject: Re: What homing device does a virus use?
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:30:27 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1e8fusINNqmc@im4u.cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:
>-*----
>There are several viruses (some, but not all, strains of herpes,
>HPV, etc.) that cause sores or growths on the skin *around* the
>mouth or the skin *around* the genitalia, though not in the mouth
>itself or on the genitalia directly.  In the case of a virus that 
>directly infects the mouth or genitalia, I can understand the 
>specificity as a preference for tissue type.  But in the other
>case, how does a virus distinguish skin *around* the genitalia
>(for example) from skin around the belly button or around the ear?

It is quite possible that skin around the genitalia differs
from skin elsewhere in expression of a cell-surface HPV
receptor molecule, or in an intracellular factor needed for
HPV replication. However, there are a lot of other possible
explanations for the apparent tropism of some HPV types to
genital skin.

Brian



Newsgroups: sci.med