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Show TheSalt LakeTribune MOVIES * COMICS « TV THURSDAY, NOVEMBER17, 1994 SCIENCE& MEDICINE \ as é itt SCIENCE UPDATES HEALTH UPDATES MARS DUST STORM A dust storm swept across Mars this year, raising the atmospheric temperatures on the planet up to 100 degrees, according to a University of Colorado researcher. REJUVENATING THE MIND A new drug may one day ease the normalaging process. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago gave the drug nimodipine to elderly people whose ability to learn had deteriorated. When given tests to measure learning, they performedas well as young adults. Thedrug, currently used to repair brain injuries, also could be enlisted to fight Alzheimer’s disease. Oo CHILD HEALTH DETERIORATES Todd Clancy said radio telescopes in Ar- izona andSpainindicate that the temperature increase on Mars between January and July was causedby tiny dustparticles suspendedabove the surface absorbingincomingsunlightand significantly warming the planet’s entire atmosphere. Mars,which travels aroundthe sun once every 687 days, undergoes extreme temperature swings, with surface temperatures varying from minus 220 Fahrenheit at the poles at night to a balmy 68 degrees at midday in the equatorial regions when Manychildren are growing fatter, and their health could be suffering. A study presented Monday to an American Heart Association meeting in Dallas tracked a group of children from 1984to 1992. During that time, they gained more weight, were bigger around and had highercholesterol and triglyceride levels than kidsfollowed from 1973 to 1981. a the planet is at its closest point to the sun, hesaid. The storm apparently calmed by late August and early Septemberand the Martian atmosphere returned to the cold, clear conditions observed in January, Clancysaid. oO THE BEAUTY OF SYMMETRY Whydopeople andanimals find symmetry so appealing? It may result from the way their brains are set up to recognize objects, a new study suggests. Researchers used a computer simulation of a visual recognition system and tested its ability to recognize patterns. They found evidence that a yen for symmetry developsasa side effect of a need to recognize patterns regardless of their position or orientation in a scene. That may have led to the humanprefer- DRUGSVS. ANGIOPLASTY For some heart patients, drugs may work as well as angioplasty. Researchers studied 328 people with one or two blockedarteries. Half weregiven drugs; half angioplasty, in which a bal- Lynn R. Johnson/The Salt Lake Tribune Chris Johnson showsimageofthe brain. Red showselectrical activity responsible for epileptic seizures. Supercomputers Li | ence for symmetry in artwork and other contexts, Mangus Enquistof the University of Stockholm and Anthony Arak of Archway Engineering (UK)Ltd. in Elland, England,write in the Nov. 10 issue of the journal Nature. Oo RAREBIRTH A lesser-flamingo chick was hatched at the Baltimore Zoo, emerging on a mud nest in the basement of the zoo’s Hippo House. It was an eventthat has taken place only once before at a wildlife park in North America. The chick was welcomedinto the world last month by its parents and 30 other adult birds in the zoo flock. The birds — native to the lagoonsandlakes of southern and eastern Africa, Madagascar and northwest India — are accustomed to warm weather and are kept indoors during cold weather. The lesser flamingo isn’t endangeredin the wild, but it is exhibited less often in North American zoos than the more weather-resistant and taller Caribbean type. The captive breeding of the lesser flamingo has becomeincreasingly important because of trade restrictions on African birds, z00officials said. —Thea iated Press =| heart look like colorful wires looping throughthetorso. “I was blown away when I saw the computer visualizations,” said Larry Smarr,director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.“You cansee how electrical forces pervade the chest cavity” U. Professor Will Sing Technology’s Praises At Conference Today By LeeSiegel THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Sophisticated computers will becomeincreasingly important in medicine, helping doctors to perform surgery more precisely, predict the spread of infections and improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. “We'regoing to put the powerof the computer in physicians’ hands,” said Chris Johnson, associate chairman of computer science at the University of Utah. ‘‘The use of computers in medicine has tremendouspotential.” Johnson will present that message today in Washington, D.C., during Supercomputing 94, the nation’s major annualconferenceonthe use of highperformance computers. Hewasinvited to deliver one of the main speechesat the meeting because “the work he’s doing is very impor- tant,” said conference chairman Gary Johnson, computational-sciences directorat Virginia’s George Mason University. “It’s timely, state-of-the-art work. It’s a good example of how people can use computers to makelife better.” Chris Johnson and colleagues have been developing software so computer screens can display detailed, three-dimensional moving pictures of the humanbrain and heart showingelectrical activity within those vital organs and in the surrounding skull and torso. The high-tech computer graphics are constructed from two-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pictures of the brain and heart, plus electrical-activity measurements:electroencephalograms of the brain and electrocardiograms of the heart. Red, green and bluecolors representdifferent voltages inside the organs, while electric fields emanating from the and the skull. Others have used computersto convert MRIorother images into 3-D pictures of the body, but Johnson ‘ is actually simulating how electricity interacts with the chemical and physical parts of your body,” Smarr said. Johnson said computerized, 3-D brain images — linked to sensors on surgical instruments — will help doctors rehearseoperations and precisely guide their motions as they perform surgery to remove tumorsor destroy abnormalbrain cells responsible for someepileptic seizures. “They'll be able to see, by looking at the computer, where they are in that loon is used to open blockages. Five years later, 28 angioplasty patients and 30 drug patients needed heart-bypass surgery, says Dr. D.C. Booth of the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Conn. o DRUG HELPS HEART A common blood-pressure drug may dramatically reduce deaths and complications from heart attacks, research suggests. A study presented Monday to an American Heart Association meeting in Dallas shows conventional therapy, when combined with the drug zofenopril calcium, lowers congestive heart failure rates by 37% and sudden cardiac deaths by 52%. a SMOKE AND YOUNG HEARTS Secondhand smoke may changecholes- terol levels in children. A study by Dr. Ellis Neufeld, of Children’s Hospital in Boston, shows children living in homes with smokers havelowerlevels of good cholesterol than children wholive in homes with nonsmokers. That suggests secondhand smoke mayraise a child’s risk of develop- ing heart disease. person’s brain,” he said. “The goal is o to minimize the damage you're causing DAY OF STRESS A survey for United HealthCare Corp. by putting instrumentsinto the brain.” The source of abnormalelectrical activity involved in epilepsy is displayed in bright red on the computer image of the brain. Perhaps within a year, surgeonsatthe U.will use a series of such pictures during an operation on an epilepsy patient, letting @ See SUPERCOMPUTERS, C-4 finds working Americans confirm Monday is the pits. Morethan a quarterof the people surveyed said Mondayis the night of the week they feel mosttired and stressed out. After Monday, Friday was deemed second-most stressful, and Tuesdaywasthe least stress- ful workday. Saturdaywastheleaststressful day of the week. — Gannett News Service NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Whereis the Donut Hole? Quitier gan, China, werged in the DonutHole in the id-1980s, with disastrous results. / Most ofthe Bering Sea lies within the 200-mile (322-kilometer) exclusive »economic zones claimed by the United States and Russia. Under the Law of the Sea Convention, countries are | entitled to the marine resources from, CDC’s Point Man on Smoking Understands Struggle to Quit By A.J. Hostetler ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — Michael Eriksen, one of the nation’s most powerful anti-smokers, understands howdifficultit is to quit. Dreams of a long draw of nicotine still invade his sleep, 20 years after he Most a to some 300 species of fish. Alaska, or walleye, pollock, more than halfofall Beringbottom fish, were harvested there in the world’slargest single‘Species fishery. From peak ofnearly 1.5 million metric tons in 1989, the pollock catch plunged to Jess than 1 1,000 tons in the DonatHole in 1992.All six countries voluntaily agreed to a two-year moratoritimnon pollockfishing. Expiring at the end of 1994, the moratorium is expected to be extended until these, countries can sign an ~ + agreement on the 5 ne ES managementof took his last puff. “T'll always consider myself as someone who smoked and understand how important cigarettes are, the role they can play in yourlife,” said Erik- sen, whodirects the Office on Smoking and Health of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His office gives the Surgeon General and the Food and Drug Administration data to wage their fights against smoking. Recently, he advocated anti-tobaccolegislation and higher tobaccotaxes. Eriksen’s experience parallels that of many for- , mer smokers. He picked up smoking froma friend, felt the samepressure in reverse to quit, andfinally kicked the habit after a relative died of cancer. Perhaps in part because of his background, he encourageshis office to be understanding and supportive of the country’s 100 million current and former smokers,instead of trying to punish them Heacknowledgeshowdifficultit can be to recognize that the addiction kills more than 400,000 people a year. The push to make smokers pariahs only worsens @ See QUITTING,C-3 , TOMORROW'S DAYBREAK / HOME & FAMILY: SAME SEX PARENTING...WILD THINGS...MUSINGS WITH JUDY MAGID 1 a. a > t Tannen Maury/The Associated Press Federal anti-smokingofficial (and ex-smoker) MichaelEriksen holds son MichaelJr. Kiss That Habit Goodbye Today The American Cancer Society has dubbed today the day to “Kiss Your Butts Goodbye,” the theme of this year’s Great American Smokeout. Thedayis designated to encourage smokers to give up cigarettes for 24 hours “in the hope that they will quit for good.” Events include a special admission price for families at the 49th Street Galleria, 4998 S. 360 West, Murray, from 4 to 10 p.m. The CancerSociety will be on handto offer “survival kits” for those out to kick the habit. In Davis County, smokers who turn in their cigarettes at Subway Sandwich locations will receive a discount on food items. COMMENTS? DAYBREAK SECTION:(801) 237-2075 _ 7 |
