HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: FAQ Files: How To Change, Revise, Update or Dissent
From: RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg)
Date: 6 Jan 93 08:32:54 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Philosophy Dept., Wesleyan University
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20Lines: 40

*pre-release final draft*

HOW TO ADD/CORRECT/DELETE THINGS FROM SCI.MED FAQ FILES

    A. During Initial FAQ Development (1992-93)
	1. volunteer writes info.	
	2. circulate to other members of FAQ working group.	
	3. attempt to arrive at consensus among the 15-20 in working group.	
	4. if no consensus possible, "dissenting opinion" could be 
	   written & included in FAQ file, signed by contributor(s).	
	5. post draft to sci.med for general discussion.
        6. revise/rewrite if necessary before release.
    B. After Initial FAQ Development Completed & Working Group Disbanded	
	1. additions, revisions, dissenting opinions re. current FAQ Files
		a) write dissenting opinion or proposed addition/update
		b) get at least 5 regular readers of sci.med to 
		   sign the dissenting opinion or addition/update
		c) submit new info, signed by at least 5
		   folks, to current  FAQ maintainer. FAQ maintainer 
		   may (at his or her discretion) include the new 
		   info in the next edition of the FAQ file, signed 
		   by those who have asked to include it, OR may revise
		   the file in any way he or she sees fit, in light of the
		   new information. He or she may also decide not to 
		   change the file in light of the new info, but if this is
		   the decision, then s/he owes it to the contributors
		   and/or signatories to explain the reason for this decision.
		d) if sci.med as-a-whole doesn't like how the FAQ maintainer
		   is exercising his or her discretion in these matters,
		   it should recruit someone else to do the job, in whom
		   it has more confidence.
	2. Current FAQ maintainer (send questions, comments, dissenting 
		opinions, additions, suggestions, but no flames...):
		   
                   RGINZBERG@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU


------------------------
Ruth Ginzberg <rginzberg@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA
From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Temporary loss of gripping force -- a known symptom?
Date: 12 Jan 93 00:26:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: shelley.1it389INNdbq
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: milton.u.washington.edu

In article <1993Jan9.143359.12766@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE> schoett@informatik.tu-muenchen.de (Oliver Schoett) writes:
>A friend of mine reports a strange symptom that she has had all her
>life and that she seems to have in common with her mother: several
>times during a day, she loses the ability to exert gripping force with
>her hands for ten to twenty minutes.  This often happens immediately
>after waking up or after intense laughing (honest!), but also without
>discernible trigger.  The gripping force in the hands may be lost
>almost completely (after waking up) or only to some degree (during the
>day).  Dexterity of the hands seems not to be affected.  The symptom
>disappears gradually.
>
>As she has had this syptom all her life, she has accustomed to it and
>never consulted a doctor about it, 


Ditto.  Actually, I can remember when I first experienced this.  I 
was in my classroom in the second or third grade, and suddenly I was 
unable to grip my pencil firmly enough to write.  It happens *very* 
infrequently, but it's disconcerting when it does happen.  

--Barbara
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: haas@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (zygmunt.haas)
Subject: Hepatitis tests
Organization: AT&T
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 16:51:59 GMT
Followup-To: haas@vax135.att.com

My friend without network access requested me to ask the following:

----- Begin Included Message -----

1. What do the following tests measure:

	a. Hepatitis B E Antigen
	b. Hepatitis B E Antibody
	c. Hepatitis A Antibody, Total
	d. Hepatitis A Virus AB, IGM
	e. Hepatitis B Core AB, Total
	f. Hepatitis B Core AB-IGM
	g. Hepatitis B Surface Antigen
	h. Hepatitis C (Anti-HCV) (2nd gen)
	
2. What is the significance of test (a) being positive while all the
other being negative?


Marc Karliner
==-=-=-=-=--=-


----- End Included Message -----
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: eepee@polaris.utu.fi (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki)
Subject: Re: Baby with no father
Organization: University of Turku, Finland
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 15:06:06 GMT

In article <688.UUL1.3#5131@mvac23.UUCP> thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) writes:
>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.
>
>At least we know the outcome: a girl.
>

I wouldn't bet on it. 10 to 1 we won't live to see it work.

/ep

Xref: sparky sci.med:23394 talk.politics.medicine:465
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.medicine
Subject: Re: Reliability in medicine and engineering  (was: ... incomes)
Date: 4 Jan 93 16:07:35 GMT
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Followup-To: sci.med
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <BzroxD.IJ3@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>
>We need thinkers, and unfortunately the great bulk of today's physicians
>already have it knocked out of them.  Now Mr. (Dr.?) Nye's proposal would
>tell physicians that if they go by the book and refuse to think that they
>are safe, but they are at risk if they deviate from it.  But we have had

This is not Dr. Nye's proposal, Herman, but that of agencies of the
US Government.  I think the day of cookbook medicine is coming,
thanks to the lawyers and bureaucrats.



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Robert.Ira.Lewy.MD@f9453.n106.z1.fidonet.org (Robert Ira Lewy MD)
Sender: Usenet@f-454.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: What's Lorazepam
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 11:33:06 -0600

I agree that Lorazepam is not truly addictive, though patients have a rough
couple of days ( and sleepless nights) when they
stop abruptly. It can, however, cause depression, memeory loss, and other
neurological problems. Xanax is preferable
for the same situation
.
Good Luck

Newsgroups: sci.med,alt.drugs
From: muttiah@thistle.ecn.purdue.edu (Ranjan S Muttiah)
Subject: Benzalkonium chloride + Thimerosal
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 01:49:04 GMT

Would a mixture of NACL dissolved in water, Benzalkonium chloride,
and 0.001 % Thimerosal as preservative cause any addiction when
sprayed into the nasal passage at irregular intervals ? [mostly twice
a day].

Please email.  Thanks.
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 03:46:38 CST
From: <U14663@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Colds & toothbrushes
Distribution: world

In article <1992Dec29.084958.557@news.wesleyan.edu>,
RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg) says:
>
>Well, since nearly everyone in my family had colds during the holidays  :^(
>we had the following discussion endlessly:
>
>Should one discard one's old toothbrush upon contracting a cold in order to
>avoid reinfecting oneself?
>
>"Pro-" faction:  The toothbrush is a repository for germs and mouth flora; it
>is never sterilized;  thus it is a likely source of reinfection & (especially
>when ill) it should be thrown out & a new one obtained immediately.
>Continuing
>to use the same toothbrush is like eating over & over again with the same
>unwashed silverware. (yuk)
>
>"Con-" faction:  Unless you share your toothbrush (yech), the only bugs on it
>are the ones already in/on your own body, to which you either (a) already
>have,
>or (b) are in the process of developing, immunity.  Besides that, you can't
>"reinfect" yourself with your own cold virus, because the very thing that is
>making it go away is the fact that your body is developing antibodies to it.
>You won't catch the same virus again unless your immune system is compromised,
>though you might catch one of the other cold viruses, to which you have not
>developed antibodies.  But you won't very likely get this from your own
>toothbrush; you'll get it from airborne droplets or skin contact with someone
>else who already has it. (My view; I was in the minority.)
>
>Anyone else spend the holidays debating this?  What's the right answer?
>
>------------------------
>Ruth Ginzberg <rginzberg@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
>Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA
Didn't spend the holidays debating this but would agree with you.  The
problem I see in regard to toothbrush disease transmission is if you
"hang" your toothbrush along with other family members such that fluids
from the infected one can contaminate the other ones.   Then the rest of
the family can get infected.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|Richard A. Murphy          U14663@UICVM.BITNET                   |
|University of Illinois                                           |
|  at Chicago                                                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
From: dcrosgr@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Breast Implant Info Needed
Date: 4 Jan 93 23:36:03 EST
Organization: University of Toledo, Computer Services

HELP!

I am a third year law student working on a seminar paper involving
purely elective cosmetic surgery, specifically as it applies to
devices implanted within the human body, and how strict liability should be
applied to the physicians who perform such procedures.

Yes, this is focusing on breast implants.

In Ohio, physicians, and other providers of professional services, are exempt 
by statute from strict liabilty, unlike other people who sell items. (If the 
jewler sold you a watch, strict liability woul apply if you were hurt by the
watch. If the doctor sells you implants, and puts 'em in you, he or she is not
held to strict liability.

While this may be a rational result for an experimental heart where someone
is going to die without it, I don't think the same protection should
be afforded people who are doing little more of a needed service than
yor local tatoo artist.

Please note, where the surgery and implants are to correct a situation caused
by injury or disease, or LEGITIMATE birth defect (small cups don't count), I
am arguing the law should remain the same.

However, what I need are hard citable statistics on breast implants, how many
such operations have been done, the reasons, the percentage of complications,
etc, etc...

PLEASE HELP!

If you have any information I might be able to use, please drop me a line.

Thanks,

Darrell M. Crosgrove
U. of Toledo College of Law

DCROSGR@UofT02.utoledo.edu


PS. My deadline is this Friday.
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Looking for info on abortifacents
From: RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg)
Date: 8 Jan 93 14:42:40 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Philosophy Dept., Wesleyan University
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20In-Reply-To: n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu's message of Fri, 8 Jan 1993 18:38:21 GMTLines: 29

In <1993Jan8.183821.9039@henson.cc.wwu.edu> n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu writes:
> dart@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Dartanyan) writes:
> >	I need any possible information about publicly available abortifacents
> >(miscarriage-inducing substances).  Both chemical and herbal substances are
> >of extreme interest at this point. ... This is a situation in which the
> >choice lies between the death of a fetus and the death of my wife.
 
> 	Did it ever occur to you that the situation might be important
> enough to merit going to a doctor?  Abortion is legal in the US you know,
> especialy if the situation is how you describe.

I might add that, contrary to what literary references & ethics texts might
lead one to believe, this sort of a medical situation (in which one must choose
between the life of the mother & the life of the fetus) is actually EXTREMELY
rare.  Furthermore, it does not arise in otherwise perfectly healthy women of
childbearing age (to the best of my knowledge).  If your wife is so ill that
pregnancy threatens her life, she should be under a doctor's care ANYWAY, for
her OWN sake.  Or (as sometimes happens) if she is in danger of being injured
or killed by someone *else* (because of her pregnancy), then the police should
be called in to the situation.

This does not sound, to me, like a situation in which you and your wife ought
to be messing around with do-it-yourself remedies, without advice, consultation 
(*in person; not on the NET*), & help of professionals whose experience with
such matters exceeds yours.  Sorry to be so blunt.

------------------------
Ruth Ginzberg <rginzberg@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA
From: wright@duca.hi.com (David Wright)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Deodorants Harmful?
Date: 6 Jan 93 18:01:54 GMT
Organization: Hitachi Computer Products, OSSD division
NNTP-Posting-Host: duca.hi.com

In article <726309761.AA00493@f-454.fidonet.org> Doug.Platt@f595.n106.z1.fidonet.org (Doug Platt) writes:
>This may not have direct bearing on the subject, but I cannot use any
>deodorant containing aluminum.  Most brands contain aluminum chlorhydrate.
>I've found VERY few brands that don't have some form of aluminum in them.
>If I use them, I start itching and break out in a red rash.

But are you sure it's the aluminum?  I tried several stick deodorants
and after a few days, each one would cause me to start itching (I'd
discontinue right away, so I can't say whether they'd give me a rash
or not). 

Then, because it was the cheapest thing on the shelf, I tried Brut,
whose active ingredient is also aluminum-based, but, for some reason,
the stuff does not make me itch.  I wonder if it's not the substrate,
rather than the aluminum (Brut is green; all the other brands I've
seen are white).

For what it's worth,

  -- David Wright, Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc.
     wright@hicomb.hi.com
Xref: sparky sci.med:23480 misc.health.alternative:320
From: wright@duca.hi.com (David Wright)
Newsgroups: sci.med,misc.health.alternative
Subject: Re: Minoxidil and Hair loss
Date: 5 Jan 1993 14:43:19 -0000
Organization: Hitachi Computer Products, OSSD division
NNTP-Posting-Host: duca.hi.com

In article <1993Jan5.063745.5007@aristo.tau.ac.il> marsh@aristo.tau.ac.il (Marshall Rapaport) writes:
>Hi,
>  A little over a year ago a friend started using minoxidil (Rogaine) to
>prevent hair loss.  After she used it for close to a year, the treatment was
>stopped. Now my friend is complaining of great hair loss.  Will minoxidil
>cause hair loss if stopped and does this mean that it is a lifetime
>commitment (and a fortune of money)?  Are there any alternatives to this
>except for hair transplants?
>
>                       Thanks for any comments,
>                       email: marsh@aristo.tau.ac.il

I haven't heard that Upjohn ever finished the clinical trials to
determine whether Rogaine was of any use in preserving hair (as
opposed to growing it back, which it sometimes does).  My guess, and
it's just that, is that in your friend's case, the Rogaine was indeed
preserving hair, and once she stopped, she quickly lost all the hair
she would have lost (more slowly) over the previous year.  I've never
heard of Rogaine *causing* hair loss, but if you use it, regrow some
hair, and stop using it, they say that within a few months you'll lose
what you regrew.

Of course, this kind of thing is also seasonal, etc, so it's hard to
reach a really defensible conclusion.

As for alternatives, well, there's nothing I know of that is
guaranteed to work, other than transplants or a wig.  You can always
try, say, some of those ideas in Life Extension, e.g. PABA, cysteine,
polysorbate-80, etc, but it may be totally worthless.  In the
meantime, gentle scalp massaging and avoiding pulling on the hair are
about all there is to suggest.

(Though I read recently that a small drug company just got Upjohn to
fund more extensive clinical trials of a new hair regrower.)

  -- David Wright, Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc.
     wright@hicomb.hi.com
     Not an official Hitachi spokesperson.
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Dysautonomia questions
Keywords: panic disorder
Date: 11 Jan 93 17:18:20 GMT
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <1993Jan6.043223.27552@samba.oit.unc.edu> ruegg@med.unc.edu (Robert G. Ruegg) writes:
>I think that probably the most common condition that could be referred to
>as a dysautonomia is "Panic Disorder." Some think that this is a condition

Not in medical circles, I hope.  The connections between Panic disorders
and the autonomic nervous system are not worked out.  I would strongly
advise that "dysautonomia" be reserved for syndromes that traditionally
have been identified as those of the autonomic nervous system such
as Riley-Day, Shy-Drager, etc.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: cshort@nmsu.edu (MetaPope, Internet in a Day Tour.)
Subject: heart information needed
Organization: Computing Research Lab
Distribution: sci
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 22:11:30 GMT


hello, i need some information about both natural and artifical
hearts. the type of information i am interested in is:

this applies to both natural and artificial models.

weight
beats per minute
beats per lifetime
gallons pumped per lifetime
size

i am also looking for any information on the jarvik/jarvak(sp)
artifical heart.

thanks

c.
--
                                                                    |V
                                                                    |A
  |------------------------|                                        |T
  |agent orange health club|-------------------------------         |I
  |    lifetime member     |   cshort@crl.nmsu.edu is spamgod       |C
  |------P|-----                                                    |A
         O|      Silica Gell. Do Not Eat. Stays Crispy In Milk.   --|N ------|
         P|                               ----------------|vietnam theme park|
	 E|				                  |------------------|

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: drand@spinner.osf.org (Douglas S. Rand)
Subject: Re: Cellular telephones and brain tumors
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Distribution: usa
Date: 5 Jan 93 11:17:03

In article <3390@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> rlp@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Ralph L. Place) writes:

   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.

Usual disclaimers,  I'm a lay person with a background in EE and
ham radio.

OK.  I'm going from memory here.  Cellular phones operate in the 
900 Mhz range.  This is borderline between UHF and microwaves,  I'd
probably claim it's still in the UHF range.  The power output is in
the several watt range.  This is pretty low power.  The antenna is
outside the vehicle,  usually at the rear, with the antenna as high
as possible.  This reduces exposure as well.

There are multitudes of people who have exposure to much higher power
output of RF in the military (radar and radio operators).  You would
expect that there are studies showing correlation there.  Also amateur
operators do operate in that range, but it isn't a popular band for
them.  There may also be some commercial traffic and government
traffic.

   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).

No.  The skin effect has to do with conductors.  The human body is not
that good a conductor at rf ranges.  Note that this is why meat
heats in microwave ovens.  If the skin effect applied,  the outside
would char and the inside would remain raw.  The brain isn't covered
by much that would stop rf (witness how nicely MRI machines work).

   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.

I don't know the literature.  There are defintely problems with
rf exposure,  e.g. cataracts from prolonged microwave exposure.
But I would expect that cancers would not show up
for much longer than cellular phones have existed,  and I would
also expect to have heard more in both my undergraduate EE 
education and in my hobby as a radio amateur.

--
Douglas S. Rand <drand@osf.org>		OSF/Motif Dev.
Snail:         11 Cambridge Center,  Cambridge,  MA  02142
Disclaimer:    I don't know if OSF agrees with me... let's vote on it.
Amateur Radio: KC1KJ
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.skeptic
From: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan)
Subject: Re: Characterization of quack theories
Organization: Scientific Computing Division/NCAR Boulder, CO
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:34:34 GMT

From article <1993Jan8.105257.12195@vms.eurokom.ie>, by mdebuitlear@vms.eurokom.ie:
> The fact is that millions of chinese people go into chinese clinics daily 
> suffering from a wide range of illnesses.  They are treated by acupuncture 
> and a few days later, they feel well again.

And, as in Western nations, if they had done nothing, they would also
have felt better in a few days. For the vast majority of patients, in
either culture, the physician can't really do anything for them. And for
most of those patients, they would feel better in a few days no matter
what they did.

This is a common theme among the couple of dozen of M.D.s I've known
over the past ten years or so, and is also widely held to be part of
the problem with containing medical costs. If folks would just stay
home, drink plenty of liquids, get some bed rest, watch a video or two,
and pet their cats, they would be just as well off than if they had
gone to the clinic and got a prescription.

This is not a placebo effect, it's just nature taking its course.

--
John Sloan              "Since I've given up hope,       +1 303 497 1243
NCAR/SCD                   I feel much better."      Fax +1 303 497 1137
Boulder CO 80307-3000 USA                           jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Subject: Re: drinking urine
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 18:21:02 GMT

In article <43044@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> wsun@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Fiberman) writes:
>Hello netter,
>
>I am a skinny guy trying to gain some weight.  A friend
>suggested that I drink a cup of my own urine every morning, the
>idea that most of the nutrients not absorbed by my intestine is
>in the urine.  Before I try this, I want to know if there are
>any health hazards, especially long term ones, from drinking
>urine.  I would appreciate any information.
>


1.  Urine comes from your kidneys, not your intestines.  Your kidneys
have the job of removing metabolic toxins and excess water from your
body.  Given this, urine doesn't sound like an ideal drink unless you
are interested in making more work for your kidneys.

2.  Most people who feel underweight would think about exercising
and eating a higher-calorie diet.  Why not try this first?  It is 
bound be quite a bit tastier.