HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Doctor's hours
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:05:55 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Sep8.140132.6109@midway.uchicago.edu> scb1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:

>
>Perhaps you should look up the Libby Zion case, and the subsequent legislation
>in New York that restricts interns and residents to a maximum of 80 hours per
>week.  Having spent 36 hours awake working in the hospital, I can say (at least

The Libby Zion case was a excellent example of how the media can
be used by a powerful person (the father of the girl who died
was an NY Times editor) to make their case to the public.  The
facts in the case bear little resemblence to what the public thinks.
In the subsequent trial, they were unable to show that there was
any negligence attributable to residents being on call too many
hours.  I think that such mistakes are made, but they weren't
in the Libby Zion case.  

>surprises me that interns and residents in the U.S. don't stand up for them-
>selves more - comments, anyone?)
>

The alternative would be doing an extra year of residency.
Most people would rather put in the hours and finish a year
early so they can start paying off those killer debts almost
everyone has from medical school.  What would you choose to
do?



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: mdkline@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Mark D. Kline)
Subject: Re: "Anti-psychiatry": Cool the flames  ...was: Re: Xanax
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:13:56 EDT

In article <1992Sep2.004225.12261@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
>Re the "anti-psychiatry" debate that seems to be heating up here, a few
>observations:
>
>(1) Granted that there are people whose anxiety is due to a brain chemistry
>imbalance -- there are _also_ people whose anxiety is due to bad habits,
>or an adverse environment, or who unreasonably want to be free of the stress
>of ordinary living.
>
>The problem is how to distinguish them.  At best it is done indirectly.
>Unlike insulin for diabetics, we have no chemical tests to show whether
>a person needs long-term tranquilizer therapy.
     [ stuff deleted ]
>(2) The original posting about Xanax raised a women's rights issue, too.
>The poster remarked on "all the young women I know being on Xanax" or words
>to that effect.  Haven't there been studies that show that tranquilizers
>are more likely to be overprescribed to women than to men?  
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Anxiety and mood disorders afflict women more often than men.
Women are treated much more often than men, even more than the
female predominance in illness prevalence.  That means that 
women are more likely to need, and even more likely to get,
psychopharmacologic treatment.  

Badly practiced medicine afflicts men & women equally, imho.
But that's another issue.

--
================================================================= 
mark kline                              mdkline@rodan.acs.syr.edu
suny health science center, syracuse    voice: (315) 422-1050
================ courtesy of syracuse university ================
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Politics and sci.med (was: unc health care study)
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:10:32 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

>>As a relative newcomer here, I found a reasonable message of mine
>>flamed by Gordon Banks. Now I see that in response to another's
>>temperately phrased message he uses language like "soapbox" and "this
>>crap"?
>>

I'm not sure what reasonable message you posted (the 15min phobia
cure?) that I "flamed".  You probably don't know what a flame
is.  Temperately phrased message?  He said "get off your butt
and get me a medical politics newsgroup."  That is temperately
phrased?  And you are calling me arrogant?  

>>Is he:
>>a)unable to control his id?

Psychoanalytic nonsense.

>>b)a juvenile (of whatever age)?
>>c)arrogant?
>>d)inappropriately combative?
>>e)in need of therapy?
>>f)something I've omitted from this list?

I admit to being combative, but I perceive such is needed
sometimes to counter the drivel that gets posted by some
people around here.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: The null hypothesis
Date: 14 Sep 92 13:55:21 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department

In article <BuJ503.6DA@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:

			.........................

It is unusual to be replying to one's own article, but the enclosed email
message I received (I suspect that the author would not mind his name
being used, but nettiquette proscribes it) suggests that I do so.

>Whether a treatment should or should not be used depends on the truth, and
>not on statistical significance levels.  One does not have the truth, so 
>that calculations based on data must be used.  But these calculations are
>not the customary calculations to accept or reject the null hypothesis, 
>and these calculations, to be appropriate, should consider not only the
>probabilities but the consequences.

--I like your answer, but I suspect that new readers may not understand
--the notion of "consequences".

There is nothing new or unusual about consequences, and they have been used
in medical decisions for some time.  Basically, one has lots of possible
situations and actions, and each action, in a given situation, is going
to have a probability distribution of outcomes, or consequences.  Now the
choice of treatment should take into account the prior information about
the chances of the various situations, and the information about the 
distribution of consequences and their seriousness.

As an example, a one dollar treatment for a serious disease which occurs once
in a a thousand patients with a given set of symptoms is clearly called for,
if it has no serious side effects, but a one million dollar treatment for a
disease occurring 99% of the time, and which only causes minor alleviation of
the symptoms, is not called for.

Notice that these results indicate that probabilities alone are not the answer,
and the "standard" statistical procedures used for hypothesis testing consider
nothing else.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!pop.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
From: jac1@ra.msstate.edu (Jennifer Cox)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Malignant Cells in Urine
Date: 16 Sep 92 03:34:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Mississippi State University


My dad has been having urinary tract problems for about the last 6 months.
The doctor put him on antibiotics and they helped untill he was taken off
of them.  He was having extreme diffuculty with terribly painful urination.
They cultured his urine for everything under the sun and nothing showed up.
The urologist finially suggested a cystoscopy (after 6 months).  They did
the cystoscopy and found what the doctor called some red "hot spots."  He
said they were probably some sort of bacterial infection.  He told dad
to come back in a week for an extensive urinalysis.  They tried culturing
it and got nothing and the other day mom said they found some malignant looking
cells (she didn't tell me at the time).  The did a biopsy of the bladder
last friday.  Mom called yesterday and said of the 6 tissue samples they
took only one showed any type of abnormality and the pathologist didn't
have a clue what it was.  He did say that the epithilium looked to be 
sloughing off in a big way.

1.)  Could this really be cancer and just playing hell to detect?

2.)  What could cause the epithilium to slough off so strangly.

3.)  Why would the doctor tell my parents he was 99% sure that dad had bladder
     cancer if he hadn't done a biopsy?

I wish I knew a urologist I could ask around here.  I hate being kept
in the dark by my parents and no one giving a straight answer.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Jennifer
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: tiger lily
Date: 15 Sep 92 13:34:25 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <LAUB.92Sep12152609@laub.Software.Mitel.COM>, laub@Software.Mitel.COM (Boniface Lau) writes:
> 
> Tiger Lily is also known as Day Lily.

Oops, no, not really.  Tiger lily is _Lilium tigrinum_; daylilies are
members of the genus _Hemerocallis_.  Common day lily around here is
_H. fulva_.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
From: zorrilla@cattell.psych.upenn.edu (Eric Zorrilla)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Xanax
Date: 11 Sep 92 22:58:57 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

David writes

>Eric Zorilla
      ^^^^^^^

It's Zorrilla  :-)


>Zorilla rejects the need for a credible theoretical underpinning as an
>ancillary requirement. I don't agree. Without such a basis, one is
>simply kicking the TV set to fix it, and may get lucky, or may damage
>it further.  Moreover, one is blind with respect to refining and
>focussing one's therapeutic techniques. Sounds like an argument for
>random drugging or lobotomizing patients.

Not at all.  If we're talking about criteria a therapy must pass if it is
to be clinically used, who gives a damn if we understand how it works as
long as we empirically know who it potentially hurts and who it potentially
helps.  Of course we should ultimately be concerned with WHY it works, but
that's a given and doesn't have anything to do with therapeutic effectiveness
in itself.

>Finally, he disputes the efficacy of NLP.

I said that I was unaware of any compelling evidence that it works (either
in the research literature or, preferably, presented on sci.med or sci.
psychology)  ;)

[--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------]
| Eric Zorrilla - Dept. of Psychology  | zorrilla@cattell.psych.upenn.edu     |
| University of Pennsylvania           | 3815 Walnut, Philadelphia, PA 19104  |
[--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------]
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: nutrasweet or saccharin?
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 03:05:56 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.011329.22901@u.washington.edu> wendy@milton.u.washington.edu (Wendy Grant) writes:
>Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Yep.

>But I just heard that the fountain version of d.c. has saccharin (sp?)
>and not nutrasweet! Does anyone know if this is true? And if it really
>is saccharin, how 'bad' is it that I've been drinking one med. diet coke
>a day?

There isn't any evidence that ingesting foods containing saccharin at the
levels you're talking about is harmful to the fetus.

>I realize I can't do anything about it now (except not drinking
>any more of them) but what risk have I exposed my son to? 

Well, I'm sure excessive anxiety during pregnancy isn't too good
for the kid.  Take a load off your mind and ferget about it.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
From: kja@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (krista.j.anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: FDA/ Amino Acids/ Smart Drugs
Summary: calories in amino acids?
Keywords: amino acids   FDA   alternative approaches
Date: 14 Sep 92 17:21:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

Just out of curiosity, do amino acids contribute calories to the
diet the way protein does?

I know the liver gets the amino acids which were broken down from
proteins from the blood coming from the intestines and it can then
convert them into various things, so I guess the calories would be
equivalent to protein?
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato)
Subject: Blood recall on FDA BBS 
Reply-To: liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato)
Organization: Novell/Desktop Systems Group, Monterey Development Center
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 20:56:08 GMT

jgnassi@athena.mit.edu (John Angelo Gnassi) writes:

>	A wide range of FDA information is now available free of
>charge through the agency's Electronic Bulletin Board Service.  The
>system can be reached by calling 800-222-0185 (except in Maryland use
>301-227-6849 or -6857).
>...

I was struck by the hundreds of units of recalled blood that was listed.
The recalls were from various locations and were HIV related.  The HIV
part is what is strange because it wasn't that the blood itself tested
positive but that it came from ...I forget the phrase, something like 
suspicious or high-risk sources.  Would not such information be discovered
BEFORE the units are distributed?  Am I misinterpreting extreme cautiousness
as sloppy record keeping?

--
Jimmy Liberato   liberato@dri.com
                 ...uunet!drivax!liberato
From: mlauer@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Mary E. Lauer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Cellulitis
Date: 9 Sep 92 17:21:23 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network


Hello.

I have had recurring bouts of cellulitis in my nose, mostly in the
right nostril, since Feb 1991. I am now able to quickly recognize the
symptoms and obtain antibiotics (usually amoxicillin, sometimes Keflex
(Keftabs?)) quickly enough so that it doesn't get very bad. The first
time I had it I didn't know what it was and my nose swelled up, etc,
so I am definitely doing my best to make sure that doesn't happen again!

My question is this: Am I fated to deal with this from now on?

It almost seems like whatever causes this infection is living on/in me,
and just waiting for the opportunity to resurface. :) For instance,
if I accidentally scratch my nostril with a fingernail (when washing my
face or applying makeup) it's enough to let the infection flare up
again. Is this unusual? Normal?

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this; post or email as you 
see fit.

Thanks,
Mary Lauer
(mlauer@ecn.purdue.edu in case it cut off my .sig. :)

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   Mary Lauer			|         Marra@PernMUSH
   mlauer@ecn.purdue.edu	|
   Aero/Astro Engineering	|      Instant gratification
From: artemis@netcom.com (Michelle Dick)
Subject: Re:  Good basic book on nutrition
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 08:37:56 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

In article <1992Sep10.063228.9438@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <BtwLHs.Dwq@apollo.hp.com> noelie@apollo.hp.com (Noelie Alito) writes:
>>    Try Jane Brody's _Nutrition Book_  (_Good Nutrition Book_?),
>
>You really can't do much better than her books.  I recommend all of 'em.

I agree that her book is the best comprehensive nutrition book for the
layperson currently on the market, but there were a few things in that
bothered me.

One was her statement that all diets should contain at least one
tablespoon of polyunsaturated fat.  If one follows the guidelines of
eating a diet with equal amounts of mono, poly, and saturated fat,
this would mean that all diets should contain at least 39 grams of fat
(26 grams if you eliminate all saturated fat).  Granted very very few
people would get this low, but some diets on the market today
recommend 10% of calories from fat, which wouldn't yield 1 tablespoon
of polyunsaturated fat unless the individual was consuming 2340
calories or more per day (3510 calories if saturated fat is also
consumed).  This would make these diets actually dangerous if 1
tablespoon was indeed the bodily requirement.

Another is her very strong bias against msg, saccharin, and aspartame.
She presents the anti case in some depth, but only comments on
dissenting opinions in a backhanded way.  E.g.: when commenting on
complaints about aspartame, she says "...the Council on Scientific
Affairs of the [AMA], *an organization not noted for aggressive action
to protect the public health*, has concluded that ' available evidence
suggests that consumption of aspartame by normal humans is safe and is
not associated with serious adverse health effects.'"  Also, in
discussing MSG she tells a long tale about Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
but fails to mention that no double blind study has been able to
support the complaints.

And one last dig at an otherwise great book: the index is horrid.  Try
looking up aspartame.

--
Michelle Dick
artemis@netcom.com
From: jensen@unlinfo.unl.edu (michael jensen)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: Red wine allergy
Date: 9 Sep 92 20:48:50 GMT
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln

woodgold@emr1.emr.ca (Cathy Woodgold) writes:

>jensen@unlinfo.unl.edu (michael jensen) writes:
>>C.A.Blunsdon@lut.ac.uk (CA Blunsdon)  writes:

>>>Anyone know the basis of an allergy to red wine, and what
>>>other 'foods' might be implicated? Thanks in advance.

>>...it feels like my brain is swelling like a dried-out sponge. 
>>Headache so bad I am nearly blinded. A logey feeling of stupidity and 
>>sloth, perhaps from the wicked pain. Red wine does it within half an 
>>hour, even with one glass; white takes a couple of glasses to bring it
>>on, but I get a reasonably irritating pain even with one glass of 
>>white. 
>>
>>...that red wine made my head ache.
>>
>I ask you to consider the possibility that what you are describing is
>not an allergy but a migraine headache.  Foods known to cause migraines
>include chocolate, cheese, red wine, and others.  Different foods
>affect different people.  Ask me if you want more information on
>migraines and how to treat them.  (I hope to do a posting on this
>sometime;  what newsgroup would be most appropriate?  only some of
>my treatments are nutritional.)  Of course, whether it's an allergy or
>a migraine is not so important to you;  you've found your treatment,
>which is to avoid wine.

Yes, I'd be interested, but I'm also interested in the differentiation
you're making between allergies and migraines. Isn't it likely, if 
something "causes" a migraine, that the migraine is an allergic 
reaction? I'm intrigued that there may be causally linked food 
migraines--is there a pattern? Do people who get chocolate migraines 
get, say, coffee migraines (caffeine), or cheese migraines also 
getting milk migraines (lactose, other milk products) or is it the 
bacteria that cheeses the dairy product that does it?

I'd say that anything food/nutrition/health related could be posted 
here and get an interested audience. My .02 on that query.

>Cathy Woodgold,  Ottawa, Ont., Canada
>woodgold@seismo.emr.ca  OR  woodgold@emr1.emr.ca
>There is so such a thing as a free lunch!
>(This posting is from me personally and does not represent
>the policy of any organization.)

Michael Jensen
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
From: mazur@inmet.camb.inmet.com (Beth Mazur)
Subject: Re: Info. on coronary heart disease and alcohol....
Organization: Intermetrics Inc, Cambridge MA
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:22:46 GMT

In article <1992Sep11.050937.513@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <1992Sep11.033156.8735@cc.umontreal.ca> cholette@JSP.UMontreal.CA (Cholette Martin) writes:
>> You see , I cannot drink any red wine as it aggravates my supraventricular
>> paroxystic tachycardia, but I do enjoy the occasional glass of beer or white
>> wine and I was wondering if I would benefit from the same risk reduction for
>
>I understand that some of the protective effect of alcohol actually comes
>from a compound called resveratrol, which is found only in the skins of
>grapes, and therefore only in red (not white) wine.

Resveratrol is also found in white wines that are grown in colder climates,
such as New York.  

Whether you should drink wine as a heart attack preventative is a question
for your doctor.

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.nutrition
From: kenl@origami.cc.bellcore.com (Ken Lehner)
Subject: Re: Diet Coke and Weight Loss (was Re: hypoglycemia)
Organization: Bellcore
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 19:45:23 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.182905.8536@spdcc.com>, dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
|> In article <1992Sep10.181000.6488@leland.Stanford.EDU> djconnel@leland.Stanford.EDU (Daniel Connelly) writes:
|> >Does diet coke actually help in weight loss?
|> 
|> I doubt it.
|> 
|> >Besides the uncertainties
|> >in the safety of consuming large amounts of Nutrisweet, I recall hearing of
|> >studies in which "diet" sweeteners stimulated a hunger response after which
|> >the individual ended up consuming more calories than if he had consumed
|> >a sugar-sweetened drink in the first place. 
|> 
|> I keep hearing this, but I've never seen a study which showed this
|> definitively.  I think it's prudent to be skeptical.

An interesting statistic I've heard is that the introduction and
widespread use of Nutrasweet has not reduced sugar consumption in this
country.  It may have been that it has not reduced the GROWTH of sugar
consumption!  The conclusion I've heard is that these products have not
replaced the sugar products, and are thus not sugar-substitutes but rather
other products to be consumed along with the sugar products.  Don't know
whether Nutrasweet causes a hunger response.

|> 
|> >I personally think herbal tea and plain water are better low-calorie choices.
|> >For sweet drinks juice and diluted juice drinks are better than coke, in my
|> >opinion.
|> 
|> 1/2 seltzer and 1/2 fruit juice is a nice low-cal drink.

   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ orange juice is a cheap alternative to Orangina.

|> But I'd rather die than drink plain water, and I get my

Boy, you must not do much heavy exercise.  There are times that plain
water tastes so good that I thought I HAD died and gone to heaven!
(Steve, you will recall that I'm the one who asked about glycerol and
sweating).

|> daily caffeine from Diet Pepsi.  On the other hand, I
|> make no health claims for my love of DP.
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
From: rons@hardy.u.washington.edu (Ronald Schoenberg)
Subject: iron
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 01:52:23 GMT

The NY Times had a front page story today (Sept 8) on a Finnish study
that showed that iron is strongly associated with heart attacks.  If
this is so, it would help to explain why heart attacks are rare among
pre-menopausal women, why red meat is a risk factor, and why aspirin
and some fish oils seem to protect against heart attacks.  They also
add that this could bring back blood letting (one way to reduce iron).
The study also found that while LDL "wasn't a statistically
significant risk factor...the risk from iron was greatest for men with
large amounts of LDL".  
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
From: C.A.Blunsdon@lut.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Allergic to read wine?
Reply-To: C.A.Blunsdon@lut.ac.uk (CA Blunsdon)
Organization: Loughborough University, UK.
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 08:30:29 GMT

Anyone know what might be the basis of an allergy to red wine, and
what other foods might cause similar reactions?

Thanks in advance.