Medicine and its related products and regulations

There are apparently two types of diabetes, which act differently.
People call them "Adult Onset Diabetes" and "Juvenile Onset Diabetes".
These are also sub-titled "non-insulin dependent" and "Insulin dependent"
respectively.  Now my question.  My father is a diabetic.  His diabetes
was first diagnosed when he was in his mid forties.  This would seem
to be adult onset.  But he is very much insulin dependent.  Is this a
contradiction or are the common labels wrong?  Also, depending on which
he has, what are chances that my brothers and I will get diabetes?  

–
 Anita Cochran  uucp:  {noao, ut-sally, ut-emx}!utastro!anita
                arpa:  an…@astro.as.utexas.edu  
                snail: Astronomy Dept., The Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712
                at&t:  (512) 471-1471

In article <2…@intek01.UUCP> m…@intek01.UUCP (Mark McWiggins) writes:
>da…@cbnewse.ATT.COM (Dan Jacobson) writes:
>>the big payback?  I’ve also heard dentures are for those who didn’t see
>>their dentist regularly, and, uh, 3rd world types.  (My toothly status:
>>lots of fillings, brush after every meal, toothpick fan (not floss),
>>dentist said I have that peridontal disease that most people have,
>>seriously vegetarian.) Please post.

Well, I’m, uh, a 3rd world type (Indian). My toothly status: No cavities
(no fillings), brush every morning (now every night as well, but didn’t
do so for most of my life), no floss, mostly vegetarian.

My explanation for my not having cavities yet (inspite of only 1 brushing
per day) is my not eating much of chocolates, etc. or maybe it is just luck.

Anyway, what exactly is "peridontal disease"?

My teeth are packed fairly tightly. I’m afraid that if I start flossing,
then I will create some opening between teeth where there was none. Any
opening between teeth means more chance of food getting stuck there ie;
more chance of cavities. Is this a silly fear?

I also have another fear about dental cleaning. I’ve had ONLY ONE cleaning
in my life so far (ie; after coming to USA). But as I said before, I have
clean teeth, no cavities etc. The fear I have is that cleaning every 6
months (as dentists here suggest) may damage the tooth enamel. I also had
another silly feeling after the cleaning. It seemed to me that my teeth
had become "larger" ie; more of the portion of teeth, normally buried in
the gums, was exposed by the scraping action. If this happens in every
cleaning, then more and more of my "submerged" part of teeth will come
"overground" and the support provided by that submerged part will
gradually reduce. So, now I’m thinking of getting my teeth cleaned only
once in 2-3 years.

I’ll appreciate comments.

>Mark McWiggins                      Integration Technologies, Inc. (Intek)

Sumitro

Does anyone know anything about a calcium-blocker that was supposedly banned
in the US by the FDA about 5 years ago?  Does anyone know why?  Some
researcher/scientist named Hans Nieper at Silbersee Hospital in Hannover,
West Germany apparently uses it for a number of seemingly unrelated ailments.
Anybody ever hear of him?

<<<<<<<<<
Heard on the Am this morning of a new study showing that the
floridation used in our drinking can cause bone marrow cancer
in lab mice. My first reaction was that the FDA would ban it and
we would see dentistry go back to the middle ages. But with the
support behind floridation I don’t think they could do it.

This study now give us an chance to see if cancer in lab mice
induced by megadoses of a product can actually predict cancer
in humans under typical exposures. With some areas having 40 years
of exposure to floridation we should be able to find a correlation
to actual cancer cases. If not there might be a lot of lab mice
out of work.

John Eaton
!hpvcfs1!johne

Can anyone tell me about carpal tunnel syndrome?  I know it’s been
discussed here before, but since it didn’t affect me at the time,
I didn’t pay too much attention.

E-mail me symptoms and treatment, if you’d be so kind.

My symptoms: twitching thumb, numbness, pain in wrist where thumb
meets the joint.  I do type as well as write for most of the day
(while sitting on my butt, UGH!).  Condition seems worst at night–
kept me up for hours last night and actually woke up from the thumb
movement the day before.

I have an appointment with my HMO doctor, but would like to know
more about this condition.
—
                        Susan S. (sus…@cfi.com)

                        Another Friend of Bill’s

Can anyone tell me what ‘cholestasis’ is and how it affects the development
of the foetus. Is there a greater risk of still birth if the mother has
this disorder ?

Thanks

Gita     hplabs!gita@hprmokg

I have some basic questions about weight. I am a thin person
(130 lbs, 5’11") but have the flab around the stomach that most
people have. Do you have any suggestions for my losing that flab
that you wouldn’t have for a heavier person?

I think the broader question I have is, what exactly are "fat"
and "muscle" and how are they related as far as positioning on
your body? Is there a layer of muscle then a layer of fat? ARe
the two substances merged? Are they two manifestations of the same
thing?
Doesn’t "muscle" sometimes look like "fat" and vice versa?

R. Chao

From the ‘Manchester Evening News’, 31.1.90

"A Polish mother, Halina Campbell, has launched an appeal to
help  her critically ill countrymen. Last December the young
mother, who has lived with her husband Edward in England for
the  past  eleven years, travelled out to Gdansk  in  Poland
where  her  brother’s 13-year-old son was  undergoing  brain
surgery.

However,  when hospital staff found that Halina, of 1 Copper
Beech  Close,  Northenden, Manchester, United  Kingdom,  had
previous medical training, they asked if she could help out.

She said: ‘Apparently in Poland they are critically short of
often   quite   basic   equipment  which   they   need   for
neurosurgery.  The head of the neurosurgery department  took
me  to  one side and actually drew up a list of things  they
would  love  to have but which are only obtainable from  the
West and because of currency exchange difficulties, there is
just no way that they can get them.’

Altogether  Halina,  who has a young son herself,  estimates
that around 30,000 pounds is needed to buy all the items.

Meanwhile,  her nephew, teenager Wlodek, is still critically
ill  in the hospital and may have to undergo further surgery
to  help his recovery. Halina added: ‘It’s not just for  one
of my relatives; there were people there of all ages, even a
little girl just six years old.’"

Having spoken to Halina, the items on her list are:

         Portable ECG (EKG) machine
         EME Transcranial Doppler TC2/64B
         Codman Fibro-optic microsystem 24-3005, 24-3006
         and cables with male fittings 24-3091, 24-3092.

Also  required are needles, syringes, catheters, nasogastric
tubes.

There’s  just a chance that some equipment is sat  gathering
dust  in  some clinic or hospital store. If so, and you  can
liberate it, there’s a good home awaiting it in Gdansk.

David McKendrick.

–  
Uucp: …{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!2!255!64!David.Mckendrick
Internet: David.Mckendr…@f64.n255.z2.fidonet.org

I am interested in obtaining more information on alveolar-arterial oxygen  
gradients in disease states.  

–  
Uucp: …{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!285!17.0!Patrick.Adams
Internet: Patrick.Ad…@p0.f17.n285.z1.fidonet.org

In a message to All <26 Jan 90 18:16:00> Mike Maas wrote:

 MM> As long as we’re going to get into this topic again does anyone have any
 MM> authoritative information about the harmful effects of living near high
 MM> tension lines?

Mike-

I’m no authority, but you might want to read _Currents of Death:  Power
Lines, Computer Terminals, and the Attempt to Cover Up Their Threat to
Your Health_, by Paul Brodeur.  Simon & Schuster $19.95.  Just recently
published and I’ve just seen a review in the Boston Computer Society’s
Monthly Update.
My personal (minimally informed) opinion is that there is some risk.
That the relative risk of ELF is unclear.  Smoking is probably a much
greater risk to life (something I do _not_ do) as is bicycling in
Philadelphia traffic (something I do).  The inverse-square law would hold
I think, so presumably doubling your distance from the source would
reduce your risk to one quarter the risk at the previous distance.
Regards,
Steven

SEEN-BY:

–  
Uucp: …{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!273!905.999!Steven.Davidson
Internet: Steven.David…@p999.f905.n273.z1.fidonet.org