HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tony@compunet.uucp (tony)
Subject: Can a person "sense" a cholesterol problem?
Summary: Can a person sense a cholesterol problem?
Keywords: cholesterol, lethargy, sense, diagnosis, question, help
Organization: CompuNet Systems, Louisville KY (502-231-5908 & 5910)
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 10:38:53 GMT

	I am wondering if a person can "sense" a cholesterol problem by the
way they feel?

	Over the past several months I have noticed that when I eat a high
fat meal: fatty meats and pizza with extra cheese or even barbequed ribs --
I notice on the morning after that I have a harder time waking up than usual.
My thoughts are often hard to collect.  I feel almost senile on such occasions.
Up until six months or so ago I could eat these "toxic" meals with no after-
effects, but not anymore.  I am 42 years old.  Heart disease runs in the
family.  My dad died of an MI at age 47.  My blood pressure is in the high
normal range 148/??? (I forgot what the second number was).  When I wake up
feeling awful like that, time and a healthy diet usually does the trick.  A
tablespoon of minced garlic (don't laugh :) ) and two aspirins seems to help
too.
	Is there any way my "clouded" mental processes could be caused by
higher-than-usual cholesterol in my blood on such occasions?  Any advice
would be appreciated.

					- Tony Safina

	compunet!tony@uunet!uu!net  _or_  ap199@cleveland.freenet.edu

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: hankin@sauron.osf.org (Scott Hankin)
Subject: Re: Heating milk in microwave for babies??
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date:  8 Jan 93 16:27:03 GMT

mjk@icf.hrb.com (Michael J. Kelley) writes:

>My wife fell asleep one night while heating a bottle of milk in a soup pan. 
>She set of the smoke detector once the bottle started to burn. She now wants 
>to heat the bottle of milk in the microwave. Is it safe to do this???  

    If a certain amount of caution is taken, yes.  We heat Ian's bottle (one
    of those Playtex bag types) from the refridgerator to room temperature
    in about 45 seconds at 50% heat.  We shake it after heating to insure
    even heat distribution, but the hottest it gets is barely lukewarm.

    Microwave ovens vary in power and control (my mom's is either on or off
    - no heat control is possible) but experiment first and your baby won't
    suffer.  The first time I tried it, I washed my hands thoroughly, then
    tried 20 seconds.  My finger told me it was still cold, so I added 10
    seconds until it was about right.

    It IS easier to screw up if you make a mistake.  45 seconds on full
    power produces very different results.  Check the first few times, and
    it will become second nature.

- Scott
-- 
Scott Hankin (hankin@osf.org)
Open Software Foundation
11 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
Newsgroups: sci.med,soc.motss
From: manz@ee.ualberta.ca (Brett {Druid Queen} Manz)
Subject: Re: Baby with no father
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 05:17:50 GMT

In <1ieua7INNfoi@transfer.stratus.com> pfieland@citron.sw.stratus.com (Peggy Fieland) writes:

>A group of us were shooting the breeze over coffee last night when
>two of the women announced they were planning to have a baby next
>year.  After the usual good wishes, someone mentioned she had
>heard that a clinic in Australia was combining two (human) eggs
>in vitro using the enzyme hyaluronidase, enabling two women to
>have a baby together, ie, two mothers and no father.

>Is this true or only a rumor?  Any and all details will be gratefully
>appreciated.

>Peggy

Zygote fusion is, at least theoretically, possible.  I don't beleive
that it has ever been done with human zygotes, but it may have been
done with some `lower' life forms (I cannot corroborate this.)

I haven't sufficient background in biology or genetics to confirm
what enzymes, protiens or amino acids may be necessary for such
a fusion.

One intersting note about zygote fusion : the product would in all
cases be female (or at least XX genetically) as the human zygote
only carries the X chromosome.
-- 
---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 My opinions are my own.         |  You can't be proud of who you are
 The truth belongs to everyone.  |  if you're ashamed of what you are.
   I can't even *think straight! |    Cruise Men, Not Missiles! - anon
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.skeptic
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Subject: Re: Characterization of quack theories
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 01:32:15 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.


>>In much the same way as we hear more about cholesterol nowadays than we do 
>>about the use of leeches for bloodletting.
>And, incidentally, leeches are used nowadays, quite successfully (so are
>maggots) for specific purposes.  Not to say I buy into bloodletting.

Yes, leeches are used today, but for a quite specific purpose which has
nothing at all to do with their historic use: namely, to drain blood from
re-attached extremities until circulation is re-established. Hardly 
relevant to their traditional use of attempting to reduce fever, is it?
Maggots have
been used to clean wounds of gangrene; what traditional or alternative
medicine use do you know of? 

Don't try to give a cachet of respectability to traditional methods when
they don't deserve them.
From: U15231@uicvm.uic.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: USMLE ftp site
Date: 11 Jan 93 23:06:07 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago


 Is there any ftp site with USMLE/NBME/FMGEMS test questions?


Zlatko Sijercic
Xref: sparky sci.med:23794 sci.philosophy.tech:4746
From: john.greze@execnet.com (john greze)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: cold probe - liver cancer
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:00:37 GMT
Reply-To: "john greze" <john.greze@execnet.com>
Distribution: sci
Organization: Executive Networks Information

A friend of mine has a tumor on his liver and is currently undergoing
chemo.  He heard somewhere that  cold  would help as therapy or a cure
-- such as a  'cold probe' on the tumor as a way to kill it.  Is this a
possibility? Is there work being done with this idea?
Thanks

John.Greze@execnet.com
--
Executive Network Information System  (914) 667-4567
International ILink Host
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: saslny@bedbug.unx.sas.com (Lisa Nation)
Subject: Drug effects on the body
Originator: saslny@bedbug.unx.sas.com
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:01:28 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


For the past few years I've been frequently seeing the 'this is your
brain on drugs' commercial.  By choice, I have never been a drug user,
except for an occasional beer.  These commercials have motivated
me to learn more about them than just 'they're bad for you'.   What I 
want to know is what do these drugs actually do to the body?  I'm 
curious about the ones I hear of most frequently.   Marajuana, cocaine, 
lsd, and heroine.  In layman's terms, can anyone tell me the 
psychological and physical effects, both long and short term?  If not 
that, just cite me a good source of information that would be geared 
towards someone without a medical background.

Thanks
  


  
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: mazur@bluefin.camb.inmet.com (Beth Mazur)
Subject: Re: Adiposity 101
Organization: Intermetrics, Inc.
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 20:14:06 GMT

In article <@speedy.aero.org> nadel@attatash.aero.org (Miriam Nadel) writes:
>It is my reading of Gordon's statements that he doesn't believe (1) is
>possible.  The point I was making is that there have been controlled
>studies in which at least some of the subjects failed to lose weight
>or even gained weight while consuming low numbers of calories.  I looked
>up the numbers and the study involved 29 women.  10 of them failed to lose
>weight on a 1500 calorie diet and 1 gained.  (I remembered it wrong above)

Out of curiosity, how heavy were these women, and how long were they on
the diet?

Beth Mazur                   "...life is more than a vision.  The sweetest
mazur@inmet.inmet.com         part is acting after making a decision."
...!uunet!inmet!mazur                                  -- The Indigo Girls
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: jgnassi@athena.mit.edu (John Angelo Gnassi)
Subject: Re: What is a Physcian Assistant?
Keywords: physicians' assistant
Organization: Massachusetts General Hospital - Lab of Computer Science
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 15:10:56 GMT

Physician Assistant training is available at state run schools
in New Jersey.  However, although the state subsidizes the training,
New Jersey law prohibits them from practicing in the state, so
they mostly cross the border into Pennsylvania.  Go figure.

--
     John Angelo Gnassi                 Lab of Computer Science
   jgnassi@hstbme.mit.edu               Massachusetts General Hospital
     "Eternal Student"                  Boston, Massachusetts, USA
     "The Earth be spanned, connected by a Network" - Walt Whitman
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: hinz@picard.med.ge.com (David Hinz Mfg 4-6987 ~BHOSVWZ#097)
Subject: Re: Electrocardiogram question
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Magnetic Resonance
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 09:05:28 GMT

Mike - Medwid (amigan@cup.portal.com) wrote:
: A friend is concerned about an electorcardiogram results she received.  
: It had the notes "irregular rythm, sinus arrythmia", "non specific S & T
: changes" and "abnormal ECG". Numbers were:
: 
: Rt 74
: QRSD 69
: QT   349
: QTc  387
: 
: Axis
: QRS 83
: T   46
: Then it says to see an MD.  She is doing this next Friday (Kaiser)
: but she's concerned about the comments.  Some other background, she
: is very thin 97 lbs 5'6"..but eats regularly.  Any reassuraning comments?

This looks very much like a computer-analyzed ECG, and the phrasing looks
like it's from a Marquette Electronics Mac 12/15 ECG cart.  (I used to work
on them).  Generally, these devices are acting on a pattern recognition
scheme, and anything that isn't just right gets called "non-specific".

This could be caused by lots of things....muscle movement, electrode noise,
anything.  If the computer can't recognise it, it'll spit out whatever it
thinks is closest.  

The fact that it doesn't say anything SPECIFIC is wrong could be taken as
a good sign, but I'd be very reluctant to trust a computer diagnosis of  
anything, especially something as important as a potential cardiac concern.

Dave Hinz
hinzd@picard.med.ge.com

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein)
Subject: Re: Non-physician bashing
Organization: Strawman Incorporated
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 17:44:13 GMT

In article <17958@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>
>While I'm categorizing, here's another set:
>
>There is the quack MD who is a renegade.  He lacks critical thinking
>facilities or has a big enough ego to think that whatever therapy
>he comes up with must be super.

Actually the renegades are the few people who actually have critical
thinking skills. They're not caught up in groupthink. Many of them
do have big egos though.  But its usually the renegade who comes up
with the big breakthroughs. Everyone else suffers from giraffeophobia.
-- 
******************************************************************************
Robert Greenstein           What the fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking
green@srilanka.island.com   that by his laughter he shows superiority instead
                            of latent idiocy - M. Corelli
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Adiposity 101
Date: 6 Jan 93 14:47:05 GMT
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <1hva32INN46o@duca.hi.com> wright@duca.hi.com (David Wright) writes:
>In article <1992Dec31.001135.19087@henson.cc.wwu.edu> n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu (James Douglas Del-Vecchio) writes:
>>
>
><<mucho excision here>>
>
>>The few times I've tried to diet, the first thing I've noticed is
>>that my neck, legs, and arms seem to get thinner w no effect on my
>>sides or gut.  This activates my primal "Jesus, I'm a runt again!"
>>horror, and the whole thing gets called off.
>
>Quite possibly they really do get thinner.  Dieting without exercise
>can certainly cause you to lose lean mass.  Were you exercising while
>dieting, or just cutting back calories?
>

Probably you were doing what most males do, and that is losing
fat off arms, legs, and face, and preserving it, initially, on
the trunk.  Eventually, it all will go if you diet long enough,
but it is normal for fat to come off differentially.  Likely
your muscles still are smaller than you would like to believe,
underneath the limb fat.  The only solution to that would be
pumping iron, I'm afraid.  In the case of women, fat on the
hips is the hardest to lose.  In men, it's the love handles
on the back and sides.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "I have given you an argument; I am not obliged
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  to supply you with an understanding." -S.Johnson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nodrog@byron.u.washington.edu (Gordon Rubenfeld)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Hypothyroidism
Date: 11 Jan 1993 07:20:58 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: byron.u.washington.edu

Robert Greenstein says:
>Xiao Yao Wan is not specifically a medicine for hypothyroidism. It is
>an old and very effective formula for treating certain syndromes which
>according to traditional Chinese medical theory, may or may not include
>hypothyroidism. It would depend upon the set of signs and symptoms of
>the individual patient. However, given the traditional uses for this
>formula, I would be surprised if it successfully treated hypothyroidism
>if no other herbal medicine was also given. 
>
>Acupuncture can definitely be used to stimulate a low-acting thyroid,
             ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^
>as well as to treat hyperthyroidism, Hashimoto's, etc.

References, please, with pre and post accupuncture thyroid function tests.
 Clinical "diagnosis" and "response" won't cut it for a disease whose main
symptom may be construed to be fatigue.  Perhaps "can definitely" should
be used with more restraint.

nodrog@byron.u.washington.edu (Gordon Rubenfeld)


Newsgroups: sci.med
From: med50003@nusunix1.nus.sg (WANSAICHEONG KHIN-LIN)
Subject: Re: Lactose intolerance
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 04:21:03 GMT

Lactose intolerance is often caused by a lack of lactase in the small
intestine resulting in many symptoms that can be vague and non-specific.
There are usually two groups of people with this condition - the young
child who does not have enough of the enzyme and the older adult who
loses the ability to produce lactase either temporarily or permanently.

In asians, who seem to have the latter type more commonly, many adults
experience lower lactase productionas they age and have to reduce dairy
product consumption despite having been able to eat all type of cheese,
milk, etc in their younger days. In gastroenteritis, a temporary state
of lactose intolerance may exist as the lactase levels are decreased.
With recovery, this situation reverses.

It is not likely that dairy product consumption is tied to later
intolerance in life so I wouldn't stop children from eating dairy
products on those grounds. (There have been, at various points in times,
both pro and anti-milk crusades but that's for another line).

gervais
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: evidence for homeopathy - who pays?
Date: 5 Jan 93 15:53:34 GMT
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <1992Dec29.003713.8589@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:

>You are correct in your assertion that the Johns Hopkins model had to do
>with accreditation. I probably should have been clearer in my post. 
>However, loss of accreditation ultimately meant loss of funding. I also
>maintain that homeopathy schools were held to the Johns Hopkins standard.

Only in that Johns Hopkins was a scientific medical school.  As all
medical schools (and later osteopathy schools) became scientific,
non-scientific practices, such as homeopathy, became less influential.
The loss of funding was really loss of students.  Students sought
to attend the best medical schools, and fewer students were interested
in such things as homeopathy.  There was no outside superpower or
agency that closed homeopathy schools because they didn't conform
to Johns Hopkins.  All of them were for-profit business enterprises
and they failed for lack of business.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "I have given you an argument; I am not obliged
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  to supply you with an understanding." -S.Johnson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tarl@sw.stratus.com (Tarl Neustaedter)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Accutane
Date: 7 Jan 1993 19:44:55 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: coyoacan.sw.stratus.com

Has anyone done any studies on possible interaction between Accutane
and Norplant? It seems the major danger of accutane in women could be
offset by prescribing it only in conjuction with Norplant.
-- 
         Tarl Neustaedter	tarl@sw.stratus.com
         Marlboro, Mass.	Stratus Computer
Disclaimer: My employer is not responsible for my opinions.
From: rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Electrocardiogram question
Date: 6 Jan 93 14:34:49 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Mass., USA

In article <1993Jan5.204801.497@hpb.hwc.ca>
 pyan@ehd.hwc.ca (Just call me Ping...) writes:

>V1 with R/S > 1.5 plus right axe derivation, suggesting possible right 
>ventricle hypertropy.  It also picked up some leading P waves > 0.24mV 
>suggesting a right atrial enlargement.  I am just wondering how sensitive 
>these diagnosis are.  My X-ray didn't show any enlargement. 
>For related information, I am very underweighted, which implies that my 

In very thin individuals you can sometimes see quit high voltages
in the chest leads without any underlying cardiac abnormality.  Chest
X-ray is both non-sensitive and non-specific for cardiac disease.

>I do have a systolic murmur, 4 out of 0--6 scale (can be felt by putting 
>a hand over the left-center part of my chest.)  Although it is noisier 
>than an innocent murmer (which can normally go as high as 2--3), I also 
>guess that due to my specially thin chest wall, the murmur is exaggerated.
>My echocardiagraphy shows none or little abnormality, neither does X-ray.

A palpable murmur (thrill) is very unusual without some significant
underlying cardiac abnormality.  Echocardiography is generally a
very sensitive test if done by a competent technician with modern
equipment.

>Some doctors suggested cardiatric catheterization based on the murmur and the
>not so normal EKG,  while others looked at the other side of the story 
>suggesting no real heart problem.  I am just wondering about the necessity 
>of going through something invasive just for diagnostic purpose, which may 
>suggests a perfectly healthy heart, or something problematic but nothing 
>much can be done about it.

There's obviously no way to give you better information over the net
than you got from doctors who actually have seen you.  If you have
not been evaluated at a major medical center, you might want to get
seen at one.  They would certainly be able to perform state-of-the-art
echocardiography (which might include something called a bubble study).
If you've already had all this done, and people are still disagreeing
about the best course, you might try to seek out another opinion from
a well-respected cardiologist.

There would be no reason to perform catheterization just for diagnostic
purposes.  The conern would be that there could be something that
could be corrected if caught early but which could cause permanent
heart damage if left unrepaired (such as an atrial septal defect).
-- 
David Rind
rind@binoc.bih.harvard.edu
From: jmg20@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (  911  James Gouldsbury)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Morphine
Date: 5 Jan 93 21:17:12 GMT
Reply-To: jmg20@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com
Distribution: alt


    Does anyone know the effects of coming of Morphine if you were
    an addict of the drug and can it be administered by injection.
            Any info' would be appreciated,
            Thanks.
From: rlp@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Ralph L. Place)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Cellular telephones and brain tumors
Date: 5 Jan 93 14:21:42 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana

I heard yesterday on a radio newscast that someone in Florida was suing
a cellular telephone company for causing his wife's brain tumor.  He
claims that she held the phone and antenna close to her head and the rf
(the announcer called it 'microwave') radiation resulted in causing the
brain tumor.

Now it would seem that at rf frequencies, the radiation would be absorbed
within the outer layers of the skin (the familiar 'skin-effect', although
no pun is intended) and thus would be highly unlikely to be absorbed 
deeply enough to cause interior damage (even if the intensity was high
enough).

I guess what I am saying is that the connection between the rf emitted by
a cellular phone and a brain tumor is tenuous at best.

Has there been a study made of brain tumor incidence for the population as
a whole in the US as a function of time during the 20th century as we have
become inundated with rf from radio, TV, etc especially from the 1930s on?

Have there been any rat studies made on the effect of rf?

Just wondering.  (I wonder what caused brain tumors in the old days before
<name your favorite agent> was around to cause them?)  :-)

R. Place 
Dept of CS
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306

rlp@bsu-cs.bsu.edu

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: Ecxema
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 16:38:12 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.155501.14337@bcrka451.bnr.ca> seanna@bnr.ca (Seanna Watson) writes:
>I have used urea-based creams, and while these take longer to work than
>hydrocortisone, they seem to have a more lasting effect.  I would be 
>interested to know if there are adverse reactions from long term use
>of these.  (Aside from the fact that they sting when applied.)

I don't think there are any adverse reactions--urea is a humectant
(moisturizer) and a mild keratolytic (removes dead skin).

>Around here, excema is generally cured when spring comes, no matter
>what treatment is applied.  Fond hopes that the kids have outgrown it
>have so far been dashed each December.

Sounds more like really bad dry skin to me.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer