HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fzjaffe@othello.ucdavis.edu (Rory Jaffe)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: On pre-scientific traditions of medicine (was: Use of term
Date: 23 Aug 92 02:13:30 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: University of California, Davis

In article <1992Aug22.212704.2936@news.Hawaii.Edu> lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady) writes:
>In article <1992Aug21.142600.7122@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug21.104014.3239@news.Hawaii.Edu> 
>                              lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady) writes:
>>> [It would be great is there was solid research proving that] 
>>>therapies such as homeopathy and chiropracty don't work.
>>
>>That's the null hypothesis.  Research provides evidence (or not)
>>that a therapy DOES work.  
>
>The old "You can't prove a negative" platitude.  In fact, for practical
>purposes one can.  If a reasonable study is done and the claimed benefit
>does not show up at the 95% confidence level, as far as I personally am
>concerned that's good enough to convince me that the therapy in question
>is not worth my investing time and money in.  
NO NO NO NO NO!  (Where is a statistician when you need one? :-) )
The typical quoted confidence level is aimed at only one type of
error--detected a difference when there really is none in the overall
population.  Thus exceeding the confidence limit says that the
investigator is more than 95% sure that the difference he/she found
wasn't random.  Not exceeding 95% does not indicate that there is no
true difference in the overall population--that is a different type of
error("beta error").  Typically, a study should show no clinically
important difference at >80%certainty to say that there is no effect.  I
rarely see this statistic in negative studies, although it is important
for proving equivalence.  One reason this statistic is rarely seen is
that a study typically has to be pretty big to have a decent chance to
exceed this 80% figure.
Xref: sparky sci.med:15763 misc.kids:21092
From: salvaggi@sunshine.Kodak.COM (Nanette Salvaggio)
Newsgroups: sci.med,misc.kids
Subject: Re: Hepatitis vaccine
Date: 14 Aug 92 12:47:27 GMT
Organization: Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, NY

In article <22830@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM>, smergen@luna.dpl.scg.hac.com (Sandra Mergen) writes:
|> 
|> mbb@soac.bellcore.com writes:
|> >Does anyone know anything about a vaccine for hepatitis C?
|> >My doctor said it is new and my 1 yr old should get it.
|> >The baby books I have do not mention this vaccine.
|> 
|>   Brian writes:
|>   >Are you sure you are not talking about the Hemophilus   
|>   >Influenza Vaccine?  I don't think an HCV vaccine is 
|>   >even on the horizon.
|> 
|> Parents Magazine wrote an article about the new hepatitis
|> vaccine that is available.  I called my pediatrician and she
|> said that the vaccine is available now.  Her practice is now
|> giving it to newborns on their 2 week checkup.  There is a
|> total of 3 vaccines for this.  She said that she isn't sending
|> out a notice to other parents yet, because she isn't ready
|> for the deluge of parents bringing their children in for the
|> vaccines yet.  She told me that parents can request the
|> vaccine and it will be given then.  I'm going to wait for
|> my child's well check up and then get the first of the 3 
|> shots.
|> 
|> My pediatrician said that she will send out a notice soon
|> though.
|> 
|> It is good to get immunized against this disease.  Ask your
|> pediatrician.
|> 
|> Sandy
|> 


On the other hand,

My pediatrician feels that this vaccine has not sufficiently been tested
on small children and will not give even give it to his own kids.  He 
has never had a child that lives a healthy CLEAN life style come
down with hepatitis, so therefore feels that until further testing
is performed that it is not worth the risk.  Just thought an opposing
opinion might be useful.

Nanette   (Mom to Philip)
salvaggi@alnitak.kodak.com
Newsgroups: sci.med,rec.food.cooking,rec.food.veg
From: mazur@inmet.camb.inmet.com (Beth Mazur)
Subject: Re: Nutritional information
Organization: Intermetrics Inc, Cambridge MA
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 14:48:55 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.051147.9970@athena.mit.edu> cansoori@athena.mit.edu (Christina Ansoorian) writes:
>me: (asking about what he's been eating lately)
>him: more fruits and veggies, esp. avocados
>me: don't you know that avocados are absolutely loaded with fat?
>him: (he really didn't know) But they're natural, so it must
>      be good for you, right?
>me: well, aresenic is natural.
>him: it is?

Nobody got fat from eating too many avocados...better the avocado than
the Snickers bar :-).

Two good choices for introductory texts are Covert Bailey's "The New
Fit or Fat" and Jane Brody's "The Good Food Book." 

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
From: jean@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Jean Jasinski)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 17:17:00 GMT
Subject: Re: How does HEET work ?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: sci.med

I dont' remember your name from your posting so I'll have to leave
this message salutationless.

Things like HEET and Ben-Gay really do not work on muscles.  They
are a counter-irritant which means that they try to overload your
nerves with other sensations (like heat) so that they cannot transmit
the muscle pain.  It doesn't heat up the muscle like a heating pad
does; the heat doesn't penetrate that deeply.  It's the same principle
used in TENS treatments--overload the nerves with a less unpleasant,
more tolerable sensation.

Jean Jasinski
From: caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: what causes leg cramps ?
Date: 18 Aug 92 07:12:22 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: Omen Technology INC, Portland Rain Forest

In article <1992Aug17.221838.12243@news.Hawaii.Edu> lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady) writes:
>In article <92226.40447.6310550@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM> 6310550@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM writes:
>>Does anybody know what causes leg (calf & foot) cramps ?  For the
>>past 5-6 nights I've been woken up by leg cramps.  The only thing
>>that stops them is to stand up.  I recently started on Weight Watchers
>>(trying level 2)... Could the diet have something to do with it ?
>>Any insights will be greatly appreciated.

I've had "Charlie Horses" every now and then since grade school.
I discovered that violently shaking the affected leg gives
prompt relief more often than not.

Weight loss diets have a number of untoward side effects which vary
with the individual's biology, but I don't recall reading of any
link between dieting and leg cramps.

Your mileage may vary.

-- 
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX          ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf 
Author of YMODEM, ZMODEM, Professional-YAM, ZCOMM, and DSZ
  Omen Technology Inc    "The High Reliability Software"
17505-V NW Sauvie IS RD   Portland OR 97231   503-621-3406
From: jeffs@nmdoc1.sr.hp.com (Jeff Silva)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 23:30:27 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation
Organization: HP Santa Rosa Site (NMD MTA MWTD)
Newsgroups: sci.med

/ nmdoc1:sci.med / jean@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Jean Jasinski) /  3:57 pm  Aug 12, 1992 /
Osteogenesis Imperfecta is also known as brittle bone disease, although
disorder would be a more correct term than disease.  

The hallmark features of OI are fractures without significant trauma, 
blue sclera (whites of eyes), loose joints and ligaments, triangular shaped face,
sometimes there is growth impairment (dwarfism) and/or bowing of the long bones, 
a high-pitched voice, easy bruising, sweating.

The biggest social problem with OI is that it is often mistaken for child abuse
(as it was in our case when our daughter fractured her second tibia by her first 
birthday).  The medical problems can be numerous and vary greatly in their
severity.

OI is a genetic condition although it is often the result of a new genetic mutation.

Medical personnel:  if you see children exhibiting these symptoms, please consider
OI as a possible cause.  If you see infants who are born with fractures or show
healing fractures that were suffered in utero, please consider OI.

There is a diagnostic test which is 90-95% accurate.  It involves a punch biopsy
and culturing the fibroblasts to see what the resultant collagen looks like.  OI
is caused by an insufficient amount of normal collagen, or a normal amount of 
defective collagen.  OI can be detected in-utero by either amnio or CVS or by
looking for fractured femurs, but the severity of the disorder cannot be predicted.

The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation has a medical advisory board that can assist
you in making diagnoses from X-rays (sometimes), family history, and symptoms.
(The skin biopsy diagnostic test takes several weeks and is expensive.)  

Sermon over,
Jean Jasinski
----------
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: How does Metastasis work?
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:55:35 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Aug17.175025.26153@engage.pko.dec.com> lunger@helix.enet.dec.com (Dave Lunger) writes:
>
>I understand that the blood/brain barrier is a major impediment to
>chemotherapy drugs being effective in brain cancers. Why doesn't
>this barrier (or does it?) prevent metastasis of Lung and/or Breast
>tumors (which can often find themselves in the brain) from entering
>the brain?
>
The metastatic tumors of the brain are on the blood side of the
blood-brain barrier, usually.  The blood brain barrier is only
intact in cases of primary brain neoplasms, such as astrocytomas,
a tumor of astrocytes, which are the cells that provide the blood-brain
barrier.  Even then, when they become very anaplastic, the bb barrier
breaks down in the neighborhood of these tumors.  Chemo may be
quite effective for brain metastases.  If the metastases get into
the spinal fluid itself, as free growing cells, as in carcinomatous
meningitis, then they are on the brain side of the bb barrier and
it is necessary to deliver the chemotherapy into the cerebrospinal
fluid, using a device such as the omaya reservoir or by intrathecal
injections of the chemotherapeutic agent.  Some times of tumor
cells do manage to squeeze through into the csf.  



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Beta blockers & Olympics
From: Daniel.Prince@p0.f129.n102.z1.fidonet.org (Daniel Prince)
Date: 14 Aug 92 12:16:07 GMT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:102/129.0 - One World, Redondo Beach CA

To: CSMSCST@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Chris Thomas)
 
 CT> During the Olympics coverage, in connection with the sprinter
 CT> who has Graves disease, it was mentioned that beta blockers
 CT> are on the list of banned drugs.  Given what I know about beta
 CT> blockage, namely suppression of heart rate increase under
 CT> stress (such as exercise), it is difficult for me to see how a
 CT> beta blocker could be used as a performance enhancing aid.  It
 CT> seems to me the *last* thing an athlete would want would be an
 CT> artificial cap on his/her heart rate, which would limit oxygen
 CT> supply to muscles and hence limit performance.
 CT> 
 CT> Does anybody know why beta blockers are on the banned list?

I too think a beta blocker would hurt performance in most sports 
but it could help in things like archery, pistol and rifle 
competition and maybe even in diving and dressage.

... My cat walks all over me!

 

--  
Internet: Daniel.Prince@p0.f129.n102.z1.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: jcp@islay.dco.dec.com (Jolly C. Pancakes)
Subject: Re: Smartdrugs
Organization: Electric Otter Eel Emporium
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 20:01:35 GMT

In article <36921@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> tcederqu@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Trevor Cederquist) writes:
>Tony Schliesser writes:
>	TS, I question the depth of your knowledge on nootropics
>	and believe your posting with a "School of Pharmacy" 
>	.sig file to be unethical.


	What's unethical about it? Most people on the net have that
access as a result of their employment or their enrollment at a
particular school. That association is usually revealed in their message
headers, and many people also include that information in their
.signature. Are you saying that people with bona fide affiliations with
medical schools, pharmacy schools, and hospitals should NOT post to the
main medical news group on the Internet? What a fine kettle of fish that
would be!



-- 

------------
jcpatilla					jcp@islay.dco.dec.com
From: fzjaffe@othello.ucdavis.edu (Rory Jaffe)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: hydrocele
Date: 23 Aug 92 02:04:58 GMT
Organization: University of California, Davis

In article <57440002@hpscit.sc.hp.com> gw@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Gordon Wilson) writes:
>
>  My urologist told me that the only surgical solution for
>a hydrocele (spelling?) is ambulatory sugery with general
>anesthetic. 
>[...]
>It seems that a local anesthetic would be sufficient.
>Afterall, women have babies, men are circumscribed without
>a general anesthetic.  Is there any other long term solution
>other than surgery with a general anesthetic?

spinal or epidural anesthesia should be reasonable choices if you have
the operation
From: jean@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Jean Jasinski)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 22:57:30 GMT
Subject: Re: Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: sci.med

Osteogenesis Imperfecta is also known as brittle bone disease, although
disorder would be a more correct term than disease.  

The hallmark features of OI are fractures without significant trauma, 
blue sclera (whites of eyes), loose joints and ligaments, triangular shaped face,
sometimes there is growth impairment (dwarfism) and/or bowing of the long bones, 
a high-pitched voice, easy bruising, sweating.

The biggest social problem with OI is that it is often mistaken for child abuse
(as it was in our case when our daughter fractured her second tibia by her first 
birthday).  The medical problems can be numerous and vary greatly in their
severity.

OI is a genetic condition although it is often the result of a new genetic mutation.

Medical personnel:  if you see children exhibiting these symptoms, please consider
OI as a possible cause.  If you see infants who are born with fractures or show
healing fractures that were suffered in utero, please consider OI.

There is a diagnostic test which is 90-95% accurate.  It involves a punch biopsy
and culturing the fibroblasts to see what the resultant collagen looks like.  OI
is caused by an insufficient amount of normal collagen, or a normal amount of 
defective collagen.  OI can be detected in-utero by either amnio or CVS or by
looking for fractured femurs, but the severity of the disorder cannot be predicted.

The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation has a medical advisory board that can assist
you in making diagnoses from X-rays (sometimes), family history, and symptoms.
(The skin biopsy diagnostic test takes several weeks and is expensive.)  

Sermon over,
Jean Jasinski
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Finding blocked arteries in the heart
Date: 18 Aug 92 13:53:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: pitt.16097
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Aug17.184741.15102@cbfsb.cb.att.com> vinlai@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (vincent.lai) writes:
>
>Should the search for such a blockage stop at the end of the treadmill
>test, or should this test as well as another both be conducted?
>

This depends entirely on the individual history. The standard treadmill
test is helpful in many cases, but a negative treadmill is not always
that helpful, particularly if the story strongly suggests angina.
A "stress thallium" is another type of treadmill test which combines
exercise with a functional study of the heart using thallium. This
has some advantages, even over catheterization, in that it shows
when and where the ischemia (lack of blood flow/oxygen) is occurring.
A catheterization shows the anatomy (blockage) very well - however,
blockage by itself does not equal ischemia, so that a catheterization
does not tell you a lot of functional information. The catheterization
is mainly of value if surgery or angioplasty is being contemplated.
Also, there are people with normal coronary arteries who have
ischemia on the basis of vasospasm, and these people will have
normal catheterizations. Usually, however, the dichotomy between
fixed blockages and vasospasm is not clear, and people may have
spasm on top of fixed lesions - this is another reason why the
stress thallium may give more useful information than the
catheterization, particularly with marginal blockages.


Now there is even something else - vascular ultrasound, which is
so new I don't even know very much about it!

 -Ken Mitchum MD
 km@cs.pitt.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: How does Metastasis work?
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Date: 18 Aug 92 13:43:30 GMT
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Aug17.175025.26153@engage.pko.dec.com> lunger@helix.enet.dec.com (Dave Lunger) writes:
>
>Someone in my family has been diagnosed with *both* breast cancer
>and lung cancer. Evidently, its unusual to have two completely
>separate primary cancer sites. Of course, there may still be some
>possibility the lung cancer is a metastasis of the breast.

Unfortunately, it is not at all unusual to have two primary cancers.
One of the problems in treating cancer is that people with one tumor
have more likelihood of having a second primary at some point, i.e.
people who tend to get cancer tend to get cancer, so that more than
one primary lesion is not unusual. Without biopsy (and possibly even
with biopsy) it may be difficult to tell if the lesions are the same
or not.


>However, in my readings, I've become curious about some of the details
>about metastasis not covered that perhaps someone could answer here.
>
>What might you guess were the relative occurrence of metastases occurring
>thru the bloodstream as opposed to the lymphatic system in lung cancer?
>in breast cancer? Is the lymphatic route more common? how much?
>Are there other pathways for metastasis other than blood and lymph?

It has been a long time since I looked at number on this, and it
varies with tumor types (i.e. there are several different types of
lung cancer and they metastasize in different ways). Most tumors
can metastasize in both ways - distant metastases are usually
from hematogenous spread, while local metastases and tumor extension
can be direct or lymphatic. Breast can certainly metastasize both
ways. 

>I understand that the blood/brain barrier is a major impediment to
>chemotherapy drugs being effective in brain cancers. Why doesn't
>this barrier (or does it?) prevent metastasis of Lung and/or Breast
>tumors (which can often find themselves in the brain) from entering
>the brain?

The blood/brain barrier is effectively a chemical barrier. The basic
reason that tumors can metastasize, even to the brain, is that they
do not obey the same laws that govern other cells - if a few normal
lung cells ended up in the brain, they would not set up shop and
destroy the brain, but would be gotten rid of. Tumor cells divide
and set up shop without regard for the usual chemical and physical
checks that keep normal cells normal. 

Sorry if this sounds too low level, but the real mechanisms involved
in tumor defense, etc. are quite complicated. Those of use who are
not experts in the area like to think of them in simple terms we
can understand.

 -Ken Mitchum MD
 km@cs.pitte.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: kpc@pluto.arc.nasa.gov (k p c)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Don't moderate sci.med
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:10:18 GMT
Reply-To: kpc@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center AI Research Branch (Sterling).

i also disagree that sci.med should be moderated.  at the very worst,
we might stand to have one moderated group and one unmoderated, but
the unmoderated group has benefits imho.

wrt volume, i think this is a deficiency of our mail readers as much
as anything else.  i suggest splitting the group.  here are 3 ways to
split it up:

        sci.med.orthodox        (steve dyer's noncritical articles go here)
        sci.med.non-orthodox    (crystals etc. go here; flaming discouraged!)

        sci.med.politics        (or sci.med.meta; for discussing hmos etc.)
        sci.med.non-politics    (medicine)

        sci.med.psych           (for discussing prozac, tricyclics, etc.)
        sci.med.non-psych       (for discussing broken legs etc.)

(note that really these are orthogonal splits; newsreaders might best
allow for them all, and help users post and read from a cell in this
8-cell topic space, or at the very least let users define their own
virtual newsgroups.  any newsreader hackers listening?)
--
i'm open to comparing research career notes with other young cogsci people.
From: cindy@berkp.uadv.uci.edu (Cindy Windham)
Subject: Typing injury?  Arthritis in finger
Newsgroups: sci.med
Organization: University Advancement, University of Calif., Irvine
Distribution: us
Date: 19 Aug 92 19:48:24 GMT

I have "considerable degeneration" in the first joint of my ring finger on 
my left hand.  When an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California, 
Irvine Medical Center looked at my x-rays, he asked if I had jammed the 
finger in some way, or had an accident.  When I said, "no, but I'm a 
computer programmer and I type all day", he replied, "it's highly unlikely 
that your work caused this kind of arthritis in your finger.  It is the kind 
of arthritis that we see in an elderly person.  Wear-and-tear arthritis."
I am thirty-five years old.  My sister is forty-two, also a computer 
programmer, and she is starting to experience pain in both of her ring 
fingers, in the same joint (the one closest to the fingernail).  Has anyone 
experienced or heard of this kind of arthritis as a result of repetitive 
stress?  What, if anything, can be done about it?  

- Cindy W.  
Xref: sparky sci.med:15861 misc.kids:21178