OCR Text |
Show ' - - , : : Medics Continue Intensive Study Of New Drugs-Cortisone, ACTH By Frank Carry ' Associated Press Science Keporter WASHINGTON. nept T W In null town Mar Rochester, Minn., a 13-year-old high school Ctrl wu preparinf for a speech contact, 8he hadn't fan well far aaveral week. Now, at tha and of a day preparing for tha con tut, aha fait (Sieend af a Saris of ArtlcJee) ' dramatic promlaa at Maya In re-Having re-Having tha pain and other cymp-toma cymp-toma of rhaumatold arthrltia Tha other aubatanca la called ACTH. On tha day after treatment waa begun lata laat March " come Improvement Im-provement waa noted. A day and a half later tha high fever had disappeared. Tha heart rata had decreased considerably, Tha girl could move feet, ankles and kneaa without pain, and by evening other affected joints were free of symptoms. tha hope that tha muscle and valves of tha heart may respond in Ilka manner to cortisone when used in rheumatic fever. Escjiilraessala Differ Cortisone waa administered to tha three rheumatic fever patients for certala period and then discontinued dis-continued when symptoms disappeared. disap-peared. With rhaumatold arthritis It appears that It must be given aontinuouarv. Preliminary reports from Maya and elsewhere also Indicate that ACT H related to cortisone but entirely different In Ita makeup- offers aromlss acainst rheumatle mora tired than usual Next morn Ing she couldn't get out of bed. Six . - ached all over. Her temperatun .' reached 101 A Her doctor had tried ulfa drugs and aspirin, without ' apparent effect She waa taken to the May clinic at Rochester. Diagnosis; Acuta rheumatic fever, fe-ver, t Maacuuur lajectieae Mays doctors started giving her I muscular Injection of a still-experimental aubatanca called "eom-; "eom-; pound F now known as cortl-: cortl-: aone. Thla was on of two new sub-! sub-! taco already employed with ' H aa ted to Get Tp Next ' morning the girl's only I complaint waa that the doctors wouldn't allow her to get up I But some of the signs of rbra-1 rbra-1 mstic fever atill remained and the doctor kept the patient on dally Injections of eortiaoa mors than a month. At that time, and several weeks later when tha doctor described her case in technical report, the girl waa "symptom -free." But these two big questions remain re-main In bar ansa, aa they da la two other treated ky the researchers re-searchers with cortisone: 1. Was tha apparent latorery due to cortisone, or waa It spontaneous, sponta-neous, aa sometimes secure ? " 2. Will cortisone prevent Cfevee lessen, the damage to tha heart that can follow rheumatle fever T Pastor Aettoa I Tha Mayo doctor raised those questions In their report, but they also said this: i 1. Some eg the favorable affect Bated were achieved faster than with drugs of the salicylate class -, Including aspirin. Tha salicylates , have hitherto been medicine' bast bet In rheumatle fever. I Soma ether benefit generally set claimed for the salicylates were noted. 1 The helpful effect which eorti-i eorti-i sen ha upon the muscle and car-tain car-tain tissues af patient afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis after fever. Some scientists point out that cortisone and ACTH Involve man' glandular system. And they say the way may now be opened to learning mora about how maa can be protected from "poisons" possibly generated within his own body without tha Invasion of germ. Giaad Eater PVtor - It la known that dtabetee I associated asso-ciated with a glandular abnormality. abnormal-ity. It I known, too, that gigantism, gigan-tism, and dwa rf lsna . result. Xrom . euch abnormalities. And tha mysterious mys-terious "change of Ufa" la woman and man at middle-age with Ita attendant mental stress Is linked with gland. Perhaps, some scientists aay, cortisone and ACTH will prove to ba tha key to a bettor understanding under-standing of the whole prsrsssis 'of growth and degeneration. Tor the present at least, the meager supplies ef ortiaona and ACTH are earmarked for research re-search and application under rigidly rig-idly controlled condition. Scientists must urreatlgat them thoroughly to bisura their aafe and effective use befor they can he released for general use by doctor. I |