HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rg@msel.unh.edu (Roger Gonzalez)
Subject: Re: Eye strain among programmers
Organization: UNH Marine Systems Engineering Lab
	<LAUB.92Aug25194952@laub.Software.Mitel.COM>
	<1992Aug29.055434.7834@leela.cs.orst.edu>
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 20:16:06 GMT

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Nelson <nelsonm@leela.cs.orst.edu> writes:

Michael> I think my pen test may provide insight.  Try wave a pen or similar
Michael> item in from of the minitor.  In many cases I notce that there is
Michael> a definite strobe affect.  My dad also noticed that the early mac
Michael> screen sometimes appeared to flicker when seen through peripheral
Michael> vision (better at detecting motion).  

In my peripheral vision, I can see the flicker on the color monitor of my Sparc
on any all-white windows.  

Michael> I believe the problem may have a lot to do with the screen refresh
Michael> rate, and the flourescent lights mixing and producing a low frequency
Michael> (10hz?) light fluctiation that is detectable enough to cause strain.
Michael> Of course I could be wrong.

I think I already posted this theory :-)

Michael> PS. Anyone bothered by the high pitched wines that many manitors seem
Michael> to produce.  

I prefer my wines not to have any pitch.  :-)

Actually, yes, monitor whine really bothers me.  Gives me just as bad a headache.

-Roger

--
artificial flowers        pieces of plastic and metal, crudely fashioned to 
                          bear a limited, superficial resemblance to real
                          flowers, but with no credible attempt to match their
                          internal complexity in terms of form, function, or
                          behavior

artificial intelligence   really smart computers

Roger Gonzalez   -  rg@msel.unh.edu
Denning Mobile Robotics, Wilmington MA
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Hiccups
Date: 2 Sep 92 13:48:57 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Sep1.131820.8896@csc.ti.com> alanj@dadd.ti.com writes:
>
>1.  Drinking fluids is a known way to end hiccups.  This could be because the
>    fluids loosen any obstructions in the esophagus, resolving the need for the
>    hiccups.
>
>2.  Holding your breath is a known way to end hiccups, although for me it 
>    works only when I do this with a chest full of air.  Could it be that 
>    this action tends to open up the esophagus?
>

Both of these actions (swallowing and breath holding) increase vagal
tone which is probably responsible for suppressing the hiccup reflex.

It is food stuck in the trachea, not the esophagus, that is a threat
and it would be handy to have a reflex other than cough, which requires
inspiration first.  But hiccup doesn't seem to occur in these situations.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Moderation (was: UGH. (Was B12
Date: 28 Aug 92 23:39:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Aug28.233944.26347
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

In article <1992Aug28.221506.18452@news.Hawaii.Edu> lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady) writes:
>What especially annoys me is the catch 22 argument that a particular
>approach can't be any good because it's not supported by good empirical
>studies.

Snort.  Just keep repeating that to yourself.  You've already
made up your mind that that's the situation.  Why bother reading
for content?

>Steve Dyer and Gordon Banks have now both agreed with me that
>for practical purposes it's simply infeasible for alternative
>practitioners to carry out studies that will be accepted by the
>scientific community.

Wrong.  Steve Dyer hasn't agreed to anything of the sort.
I'll let Gordon speak for himself, though I read nothing
from him which could possible be interpreted as such.
Have you ever noticed that this is one particular form of
argument that these people use?  "My opponent agrees with me
that..." when it's a ridiculous misreading or misunderstanding
of what was actually said.  And then they whine that they aren't
treated with respect.

>And the medical establishment says it's not
>willing to do such studies because the therapies are worthless, and it
>knows the therapies are worthless because there are no studies.  

Wrong.  How do you expect to be taken seriously at _all_ when you
spout such nonsense?  There must be some subtlety in what I said
that went sailing far, far over your head.

>I've also realized that the term "alternative" therapy is perhaps not
>totally felicitous because it suggests something to be used *instead of.*
>"Supplemental" therapy would agree more with the way I think of these
>approaches, but somehow that term doesn't seem to quite work either. 

Well, you get back to us when you think of a nice name.  And not before.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: ganek@apollo.hp.com (Dan Ganek)
Subject: Re: ******** MICROWAVE HAZARDS *******
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 17:09:46 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

In article <1992Sep01.173325.10220@disk.uucp> tony@disk.uucp (tony) writes:
>Daniel.Prince@p0.f129.n102.z1.fidonet.org (Daniel Prince) writes:
>
>>I remember reading that when the microwave ovens first came out, 
>>some restaurants would defeat the door interlocks, remove the 
>>doors and operate the ovens continuously.  The cooks would place 
>>plates of food in the ovens, and remove them while the oven was 
>>operating.  I understand that they had rather high rates of 
>>cataract formation.
>
>	I can't believe people could be so ignorant!  Do you have any more
>information on this?  I wonder if the restaurant owners got sued?  I sure
>hope so!!!  


Why not?? Whenever any new technology appears there are all kinds of
misuse due to "ignorance". It's not that people are stupid but simply
that the dangers aren't well known.  I can think of numerous examples.
It's only in the last 20 years or so that we have become aware of the 
fact the EVERYTHING has dangers if misused. Microwave ovens (Radaranges)
came into to vouge in the late 50's and early 60's.  The average cook
had no idea how it worked and thus what its dangers were. I worked at
a restaurant that had one, we didn't take the door off. But I can't
remember if it had warning labels or not - I suspect not.   

Some other technology that was misused:

1) Floroscopes in shoe stores - I remember how much fun it was
   as a kid to go buy shoes and seen the bones in your feet.

2) Radioactivity - At the turn of the century numerous scientist
   suffered the DEADLY effects of radioactivity.

3) The inventor of the betatron (I can't remeber his name
   but he was a famous Unv. of Ill prof.) got cataracts from
   looking directly at the beam within the betatron donut.
                                                 
/dan ganek
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Unorthodox treatments are *not* the problem  (was: ... name right!)
Date: 1 Sep 92 00:12:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Sep1.001232.674
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

In article <1992Aug31.225834.8407@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:
>Not at all. It IS being tested under controlled conditions, but not at
>Johns Hopkins. Nor will you find it published in JAMA, because those folks
>reject this stuff without even looking at it. So there is a bit of a
>catch-22 here.

Not as much as you would like to believe.  Surprisingly enough, JAMA is
only about 1 out of more than 10,000 medical periodicals, and is rarely
a journal of record.  What's more, you should see some of the crap which
gets published under the guise of "western medicine".  Of course, this
stuff will get picked apart, just as it should be.

In any case, I said that I'd be happy to take this discussion out of the
realm of handwaving and into some real examples.  If you send me a photocopy
of a research paper describing, I'll scan it in and reproduce it here.
Even a few references describing these controlled studies would be
interesting, if you don't want to go to the trouble of US mail.

	Steve Dyer / 27 Chauncy St. / Cambridge MA 02138

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
From: ark@alice.att.com (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: hole in colon
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:47:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: alice.23561
Reply-To: ark@alice.UUCP ()
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill NJ

In article <1992Aug26.153535.4686@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> dubin@spot.Colorado.EDU (DUBIN MARK W) writes:

> A friend of mine recently had surgery for what the doctor thought would be 
> appendicitis.  Instead, during the surgery it was discovered that he had
> "a hole in his colon."  This was fixed by removal of a number of inches
> of colon.

Does that mean he now has only a semicolon?

Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist.
-- 
				--Andrew Koenig
				  ark@europa.att.com
From: bwallet@apssgi.nswc.navy.mil (Brad Wallet)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Weight of the heart
Date: 26 Aug 92 16:01:12 GMT
Organization: Naval Surface Warfare Center

How much does the average adult male heart weigh?
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein)
Subject: Re: Unorthodox treatments are *not* the problem  (was: ... name right!)
Organization: Strawman Incorporated
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:58:34 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.195347.17495@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <1992Aug28.153940.1802@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:
>>Oriental herb medicine is an empirical science backed up
>>by thousands of years of clinical observation and practice. It has 
>>withstood the test of time and continues to be a strong vibrant and
>>coherent system despite continuous attacks by proponents of so-called
>>scientific medicine. 
>
>This can be reduced to a single sentence: we don't have to test it
>under controlled conditions because it's been in use for a long time.

Not at all. It IS being tested under controlled conditions, but not at
Johns Hopkins. Nor will you find it published in JAMA, because those folks
reject this stuff without even looking at it. So there is a bit of a
catch-22 here.
-- 
******************************************************************************
Robert Greenstein           What the fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking
green@island.com            that by his laughter he shows superiority instead
                            of latent idiocy - M. Corelli
From: nate@ghidrah.Central.Sun.COM (Nate McConnell FE/SSE Grand Rapids, MI)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Zoloft?
Date: 26 Aug 92 07:24:48 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: nate@ghidrah.Central.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: ghidrah.central.sun.com


Is this a placebo?

thanks,
Cindy
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 11:35:30 EDT
From: <TJ7@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Need info on Lymphedema

I am interested in current information on the treatment of lymphedema (swelling
of a limb due to poor lymphatic circulation).  When I was diagnosed with this
condition seven years ago, the only methods of treatment seemed to be to treat
the symptoms and not the problem.  Also, none of the doctors in my area are
well informed about this condition.  Since some time has passed, I want to find
 out if any new work has been done in this area.  If anyone has suggestions on
a good source to investigate or has specific information, I would appreciate
it.  Thanks in advance.

                                                  Lisa Meyer
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: moderate sci.med??? alternative suggestion
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 22:33:29 GMT

The answer to this is for people who are annoyed with volume,
repetition or the need to page past people they dislike, to have their
sysadmins install a "threaded news reader" like "nn" or "trn".  With
these programs, an entire thread is presented as a unit, and may be
read completely, partially or skipped.  You can also see who has
written the article to decide if you want to read it.

End of problem.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: kpc@pluto.arc.nasa.gov (k p c)
Subject: wisdom teeth removal
Originator: kpc@zog.arc.nasa.gov
Reply-To: kpc@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center AI Research Branch (Sterling).
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 01:29:35 GMT

does anybody have any wisdom to offer to a 27 year old who has to have
all 4 wisdom teeth removed?

ideas, comments, warnings or bay area oral surgeon
recommendations/disrecommendations would be great.

(it's actually a suggestion, by a dentist who noticed 3 cavities, to
have all 4 teeth removed by an oral surgeon.)
--
i'm open to comparing research career notes with other young cogsci people.
-- 
i'm open to comparing research career notes with other young cogsci people.
From: dfield@zeus.calpoly.edu (Daniel R. Field)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Are those circles PERMANENT?
Date: 26 Aug 92 01:49:47 GMT
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

In article <1992Aug24.204329.6943@cbfsb.cb.att.com> kja@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (krista.j.anderson) writes:
>In article <1992Aug24.111143.2109@vax1.mankato.msus.edu>, abh@vax1.mankato.msus.edu writes:
>> I have dark rings around my eyes....Please help. Thanks in advance.
>
>I'd always thought I had them because I'd lost sleep as a child,


     Do the dark circles around eyes caused by lack of sleep remain after
one becomes well rested?  Is there any "buildup" of this condition, and
is anything permanent?
     I can see it now: "Sir, you look like you need some sleep!" -- "No,
those are just old sleep deprivation scars from my college days..."


>but read recently that they can be due to chronic congestion in the
>maxillary sinuses behind the cheekbones.  The books call them
>allergic shiners.  I don't know if there are other causes in
>addition to loss of sleep and allergies nor how to get rid of them.


                          -Dan Field
                           dfield@nike.calpoly.edu
-- 

                                -Daniel R. Field
                                 dfield@nike.calpoly.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: STU@mwvm.mitre.org
Subject: SDI and Breast Feeding
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean VA 22102
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 21:31:38 GMT

I tried to reply to the mother with the SDI child who was unable to express -
but it bounced so .  . .
 
You might contact the LaLache League.  Their number is generally available
from OBs and Peds - and most every hospital.  They may be able to help you
with the inability to express, arrange donations of mother's milk, provide
support to your X to teach him specialized care for your SDI son, and
comfort you when you just need someone to talk with.
 
LLI services are free, generally capable and supported/reviewed by medical
"experts" so their advice is usually conservative - and sometimes extremely
valuable.
 
Good luck with your son - I'm sure everyone on the net feels for you and
the proplems you are facing.   /Stu
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: anti-nausea treatment
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 05:06:07 GMT

In article <10091@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> cathye@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>Do the other antiemetics mentioned (prochlorperazine, chlorpromazine,
>haloperidol, droperidol) have more side effects than Reglan? 
>Are they widely used (or only for cancer (chemotherapy patients)) ? 
>What are the side effects ? Are they usually effective ? 

These are all broad questions which are hard to answer.  My list of
drugs was just a representative list of examples pulled out of the
air.  Haloperidol is an antipsychotic drug which, although it is a
potent antiemetic, is rarely used as such because of its propensity
to cause extrapyramidal side effects.  Droperidol is a drug related
to haloperidol which is usually used (if at all) as an adjunct to
general anesthesia, and can be used to reduce the incidence of post-
operative vomiting.  Chlorpromazine was the first phenothiazine used
as an antinauseant, even prior to its introduction as an antipsychotic
drug, but it would not generally be used for such conditions now.
Prochlorperazine is a popular, standard antiemetic in general use,
(i.e., not just for cancer chemo) although that may simply reflect
its marketing for this indication.  It also can cause extrapyramidal
side effects.  Reglan might be somewhat less likely to have side effects
than these others; it's hard to say.  What you can say is that none
of these are perfect or without side effects.

None of these classical antidopaminergic antiemetics are fully effective
against the severe nausea caused by certain potent anticancer drugs.
A new drug, ondansetron, which appears to block a new class of serotonin
receptor (5-HT-3), seems to be be quite effective in these situations.

>I would also be interested in knowing more about the following
>anti-nausea tablet. Meclozine hydrochloride (sold as Sea Legs 
>for travel sickness prevention in the U.K ) (each tablet 12.5 mg). 
>What are its possible side effects ? Is it used generally for nausea, or is
>it only effective for travel sickness ? 

In general, drugs which are effective against motion sickness such as
antihistamines like meclizine and diphenhydramine and anticholinergics
like scopolamine work to depress vestibular activity which can cause
nausea and vomiting.  These drugs are not general purpose antinauseants.
In the same way, antidopaminergic antinauseant drugs like any of those
mentioned in the first paragraph work poorly or not at all to suppress
motion sickness.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Teboroxime
Date: 28 Aug 92 23:51:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Aug28.235140.27204
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

In article <=rdn!-@lynx.unm.edu> mulberry@triton.unm.edu () writes:
>Can anyone recommend some good current literature discussing the
>pharmacology, kinetics, etc. of the drug Teboroxime (mfg by squibb)?

I'd go to a local library and do a MEDLINE search.  That's
probably your best bet.

(For the curious, it's an organo-metallic radiopharmaceutical,
a technetium-99 compound used in to look at myocardial perfusion.)
I really don't know very much about it.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: lung transplants
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:43:20 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Aug26.154300.210@news.wesleyan.edu> RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg) writes:

>
>1)If an organ donor was asthmatic & his/her lungs were transplanted, would the
>recipient then also develop asthma?
>
I wouldn't think so.  The problem isn't with the lungs but with
the immune system, more specifically the lymphocytes.  Any asthma
in the recipient probably wouldn't last very long, as soon all
the donor's lymphocytes would be dead and replaced by the recipients.
I don't think the mast cells alone can cause an asthma attack,
but I could be wrong.


>3)Is there a way that a transplant surgeon can tell when harvesting the organs
>for transplant whether the donor has some not-always-obvious condition like
>asthma?  (I guess the same might be asked about, say, corneas, kidneys, skin
>grafts, etc., but I can't think of what particular diseases might pose the same
>problems here as well as being potentially undetectable.)

Only by the medical history of the donor.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Subject: Re: On pre-scientific traditions of medicine (was: Use of term
From: hoyt@isus.UUCP (Hoyt A. Stearns jr.)
Date: 22 Aug 92 17:24:30 GMT
Followup-To: sci.med
Distribution: sci
Organization: International Society of Unified Science
Keywords: double blind?

In article <1992Aug21.104014.3239@news.Hawaii.Edu> lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady) writes:

>Rolfing is an alternative therapy which has not been approved by medical
>authority and whose effectiveness has not been shown by published controlled
>double-blind studies.  As I understand it, you and Gordon claim such
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>therapies should not be allowed.  Certainly Gordon has said that using
>any such therapy is crazy.  
>

Does that mean that there are two groups of people, neither of which can
tell if they've been Rolfed or not? :-)

I don't think there's been a double blind study on whether food is the number
one cure for hunger either.

-- 
Hoyt A. Stearns jr.|hoyt@          | International Society of Unified Science|
4131 E. Cannon Dr. |isus.tnet.com  | Advancing Dewey B. Larson's Reciprocal  |
Phoenix, AZ. 85028 |ncar!enuucp!   | System- a unified physical theory.      |
voice_602_996_1717 telesys!isus!hoyt The Universe in two postulates!_________|
Newsgroups: sci.med