The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-24
Medical. Care
.v LOGAN CLENDENING, M. D.

A mother rat who has been de-
prived of certain vitamins in her
diet does not seem to have much
connection with the cure of cases
of paralysis, but such association
has been made through recent re-
search.
Vitamin e, which is found in
most green vegetables, has been
known as the "sterility vitamin."
If removed from the diet of female
animals, they are unable to pro-
duce litters.
DR.. Herbert Evans, of the Uni.
versity of California, thought ii
might be interesting to take a
mother rat who had just been de-
livered of a litter, remove vitamin
E from her diet, hence from her
milk, and see what would happen
to the progeny. He vas expecting
some change in the reproductive
functions, but to his surprise he
found that most of the little rats
developed a peculiar form of para.
lysis before the tenth day of life.
When he added vitamin E to their
diet, the paralysis disappeared.
Tried 1t in Paralysis
A New York neurologist heard
him read a paper on this subject
and thought he would like to try
out the effect of vitamin E on
some cases of obscure paralysis.
The particular cases of paralysis
had to do with muscular atrophy.
One such case was that of amyo.
trophic lateral sclerosis of the spin.
al cord. With the use Of concentra.
ted vitamin E, this cas- was cur.
ed, the first time on record for
this disease.
London clinicians report that in
children with muscular atrophy re.
suits of treatment with vitamin E
were remarkable. Every patient
except one, which vas treated fo1
six weeks, improved.
The results have been compare.
BILE to the results obtained in per.
nicious anemia. Fifteen years age
this was considered an incurable
mslady, and nobody supposed that
the changes that had occurred in
the stomach and blood and bone
marrow were capable of assist.
anc by any form of medication.
But the use of liver extract has
shown that these grave anatomical
defects can actually be overcome.
Up to the present time it has
been supposed that any time a
nerve cell was destroyed or a mus.
Gle was destroyed, the outlook for
regeneration was hopeless. Wheth.
er the use of vitamin E in these
cases proves highly successful or
not, at any rate the demonstration
so far has changed the pessimistic
view of doctors concerning nerve
regeneration, and paralysis is a
combination of a change in a mus.
Gle and a nerve.
We are coming to believe that
it is impossible to say which is
more important. We do not know
literally where the nerve leaves
off and the muscle begins. 1t may
be that in many forms of paralysis
the muscle atrophy occurs f r S
and involves the nerve secondarily.
The new vitamin E appears tc
affect the muscle more than the
nerve cell, but it is unimportant
except as a theoretical discussion
The happy and encouraging thing
is that these cases which h a v {
heretofore seemed so hopeless
may possibly be helped.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
j. T. G.: please give me the
symptoms of colitis and a diet fol
it."
Answer-Colitis is an inflamma.
ton of the large intestine. How.
ever, it has come to meal tina
anyone who has an irritable color
or is "colon conscious" is labeled
with the diagnosis of 'colitis." The
diet should be mild and free from
rcughage. The principal treatment
in most cases, however, unless il
is a specific colitis such as amoe,
bic, is to encourage the patient to
forget his symptoms and eat ra
Their widely. A diet recommends,
soups-tomato, pea, celery, etc.
oatmeal and rice-these thorough
ly boiled for at least 2 hours il
order to break up ~cellulose husks-
served with cream and sugar;
eggs-soft boiled, poached, coddl
ed, scrambled; toast and toasted
crackers; potatoes-mashed a
baked; mashed peas; carrots
spinach; ice cream and ices; Gus
tards; tapioca; wine jelly;
pudding; orange juice. Avoid frie
foods, meat of all kinds, fruit, We
getables with a heavy residue, sa
lads, highly-spiced foods and but
ter.
G. O.:"What is the difference be
tween the staphylococcus germ
and the streptococcus germ
Answer-The difference betweel
the two germs, in the first place
is in their form; in the secon'
place, in their effect on the tissue
of the body. Both Of them are
small, round organisms. but tn
! n. grows in bunche