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To Vaccinate or Not? Sorting Out the Confusion Over Meningitis Shots
By DEBORAH FRANKLIN, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
With summer closing in fast, Julie Kern was eager to squeeze in a routine medical checkup for her 12-year-old daughter before she headed off to camp in Massachusetts.
But then the pediatrician surprised Ms. Kern. "The doctor said that if my daughter was planning to attend sleep-away camp, it was 'mandated by law' - those were the words she used - that she receive a meningitis vaccine," said Ms. Kern, who lives in New York.
The doctor was wrong. There are no regulations - local, state or federal - that require campers to be vaccinated against meningococcal bacteria, a source of rare but fierce blood and spinal infections that can maim or kill previously healthy people within hours.
( Read More )
You Call It Music. They Call It an Air Raid.
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Songs can have a powerful effect on people. Play "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" to many baby boomers, for example, and chances are they'll run off, hands over their ears.
Songs can have a powerful effect among birds, too. Consider the black-capped chickadee. When it sings its "chick-a-dee" song, its flock mates come running. The song is a warning that a hawk, owl or other predator is perched nearby, and the other chickadees arrive to harass the enemy until it leaves.
Researchers from the University of Montana have discovered that this warning call is a coded signal. By varying the call, a bird communicates to other birds the size of the predator, and thus the scope of the danger.
( Read More )
A Military Hospital May Itself Become a Casualty
By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D., The New York Times, June 28, 2005
Since it opened its doors on May 1, 1909, Walter Reed Hospital in Washington has been a healing destination for hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, several presidents and luminaries like Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, Gen. George C. Marshall, King Hussein of Jordan and the exiled shah of Iran. But last month, Walter Reed became a casualty of the Pentagon's plan to shut, reduce or reorganize military facilities in all 50 states.
If Congress accepts the recommendation to close the medical center, most of its 113-acre campus will be razed. Some have suggested preserving the complex's most historic buildings for a national health museum. Local officials hope the land will be deeded to the city for development.
To replace what is demolished, the Defense Department proposes building a 300-bed hospital, combining the Army and Navy medical corps, on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The new facility is to be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Outpatient clinics and some other services would be moved to Virginia.
For many, the loss will provoke feelings of nostalgia. Over the last 96 years, countless stories of crisis, caring, triumph and grief have unfolded on its wards.
( Read More )
The Claim: Never Swim After Eating
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
THE FACTS Think of all the hours Americans will spend beside pools and lingering on beaches this summer, counting the minutes since their last meal to avoid violating a fundamental rule of swimming: never get into the water on a full stomach.
The only problem, according to experts, is that the warning is yet another old wives' tale that should be laid to rest. The theory is that the process of digestion increases blood flow to the stomach - away from the muscles needed for swimming - and leads to cramps, which increase the risk of drowning.
( Read More )
Longevity: Bonds of Friendship, Not Family, May Add Years
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
Older people who have close friends and confidants live longer than those who don't, an Australian study suggests. Having close family ties, on the other hand, has no discernible effect on survival.
( Read More )
By DEBORAH FRANKLIN, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
With summer closing in fast, Julie Kern was eager to squeeze in a routine medical checkup for her 12-year-old daughter before she headed off to camp in Massachusetts.
But then the pediatrician surprised Ms. Kern. "The doctor said that if my daughter was planning to attend sleep-away camp, it was 'mandated by law' - those were the words she used - that she receive a meningitis vaccine," said Ms. Kern, who lives in New York.
The doctor was wrong. There are no regulations - local, state or federal - that require campers to be vaccinated against meningococcal bacteria, a source of rare but fierce blood and spinal infections that can maim or kill previously healthy people within hours.
( Read More )
You Call It Music. They Call It an Air Raid.
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Songs can have a powerful effect on people. Play "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" to many baby boomers, for example, and chances are they'll run off, hands over their ears.
Songs can have a powerful effect among birds, too. Consider the black-capped chickadee. When it sings its "chick-a-dee" song, its flock mates come running. The song is a warning that a hawk, owl or other predator is perched nearby, and the other chickadees arrive to harass the enemy until it leaves.
Researchers from the University of Montana have discovered that this warning call is a coded signal. By varying the call, a bird communicates to other birds the size of the predator, and thus the scope of the danger.
( Read More )
A Military Hospital May Itself Become a Casualty
By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D., The New York Times, June 28, 2005
Since it opened its doors on May 1, 1909, Walter Reed Hospital in Washington has been a healing destination for hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, several presidents and luminaries like Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, Gen. George C. Marshall, King Hussein of Jordan and the exiled shah of Iran. But last month, Walter Reed became a casualty of the Pentagon's plan to shut, reduce or reorganize military facilities in all 50 states.
If Congress accepts the recommendation to close the medical center, most of its 113-acre campus will be razed. Some have suggested preserving the complex's most historic buildings for a national health museum. Local officials hope the land will be deeded to the city for development.
To replace what is demolished, the Defense Department proposes building a 300-bed hospital, combining the Army and Navy medical corps, on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The new facility is to be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Outpatient clinics and some other services would be moved to Virginia.
For many, the loss will provoke feelings of nostalgia. Over the last 96 years, countless stories of crisis, caring, triumph and grief have unfolded on its wards.
( Read More )
The Claim: Never Swim After Eating
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
THE FACTS Think of all the hours Americans will spend beside pools and lingering on beaches this summer, counting the minutes since their last meal to avoid violating a fundamental rule of swimming: never get into the water on a full stomach.
The only problem, according to experts, is that the warning is yet another old wives' tale that should be laid to rest. The theory is that the process of digestion increases blood flow to the stomach - away from the muscles needed for swimming - and leads to cramps, which increase the risk of drowning.
( Read More )
Longevity: Bonds of Friendship, Not Family, May Add Years
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, June 28, 2005
Older people who have close friends and confidants live longer than those who don't, an Australian study suggests. Having close family ties, on the other hand, has no discernible effect on survival.
( Read More )
