THE BATTALION Page !
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1980
science
New kidney dialysis system frees
failure victims from large machine
Workers demand
voice in decisions
United Press International
I; “I feel free as a bird,” Earl New
comb, 49, of Austin, Texas, said.
I “And I feel terrific.”
|§ That’s saying something. A little
over a year ago Newcomb received a
medical death sentence. Both kid
neys of the aircraft maintenance man
stopped working.
His body couldn’t eliminate poiso
nous wastes and excess fluids. He
as throwing up.
How Newcomb got from that
point to feeling “free as a bird” and
jterrific”is one of science s marve
lous feats.
I You might guess that Newcomb
was saved by joining nearly 50,000
, pthers in America who survive kid
ney failure by having their blood
cleansed four hours a day, every
other day — while they are attached
to an artificial kidney machine.
|. Wrong.
It so happens that Dr. Jack Mon-
crief, Newcomb’s physician, is co
inventor of another way to help pa
tients whose kidneys have shut
down. It is called — are you ready?
— continuous ambulatory peritoneal
dialysis. CAPD, for short.
Moncrief gave Newcomb a choice:
standard hemodialysis via a station
ary artificial kidney or a chance to be
one of the first three patients using
CAPD — a revolutionary, portable,
self-care treatment system for kid
ney failure.
Newcomb said he didn’t need to
be talked into CAPD. It sounded
that good. Besides, he had confi
dence in Moncrief, a nephrologist —
kidney specialist — who also is co
director of the Hemodialysis and
Transplant Unit at Austin Diagnostic
Clinic.
First the doctor implanted a flexi
ble tube in Newcomb’s abdominal
cavity.
A flexible plastic bag of dialysis
solution is attached to the catheter
sticking out of his abdomen. The bag
with about two quarts of the special
solution is raised to shoulder level
and by gravity the stuff drains into
his abdomen.
“It takes about 10 minutes,” New
comb said.
The empty bag, without being de
tached from the catheter, is rolled up
and tucked under his shirt or trous
ers — or trunks, when he’s swim
ming.
About six hours later, Newcomb
unrolls the plastic bag, lowers it to
the floor, sits down and, once more,
gravity makes the solution drain out.
Now, it’s full of toxins washed out
of his blood.
He detaches the bag from the
catheter and flushes the contents
down the John.
Then, he attaches another bag of
solution, raised shoulder high, and
lets it drain into the abdominal cav
ity, starting a new link in the con
tinuous process.
“That’s all there is to it,” he said.
Four times a day he spends 10
minutes repeating the process.
He said supplies are easy to carry
and the procedure can be performed
almost anywhere there’s privacy —
whether at home, or in an office or a
rest room or locker room.”
The big thing to Newcomb, he
kept repeating, is being free.
“I can travel anywhere and I don’t
need to be on a special diet, the way
it is when you are on the artificial
kidney.’’
He said those on the kidney
machine can only have a pint-and-a-
half of fluid a day and must restrict
salt and cannot eat bananas and must
follow strict rules on protein.
There are now about 600 patients
on CAPD and they are doing most
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United Press International
- WASHINGTON — A govern
ment-sponsored study has con
cluded that smoke detectors contain
ing a tiny amount of radioactive
material do not pose ahealth hazard
when compared to the thousands of
lives they can save.
|s The report also says a recently in
troduced type of smoke detector may
be the best bet for the consumer. It
Combines an ionization device and a
photoelectric cell at a price of about
$30.
| Smoke detectors come in two
basic types. Photoelectric units use a
beam of light. Ionization chamber
models — by far the most widely sold
— use a speck of radioactive Amer-
icium 241 to “read” smoke particles
in the air.
Tests have proven photoelectric
units are quicker to read smoldering
or slow-burning fires, while ioniza
tion devices sound the alarm quicker
in fast-burning fires.
The report done for the U.S. Nuc
lear Regulatory Commission by Sci
ence Applications Inc., La Jolla,
Calif., follows several years of debate
on the advisability of exposing con
sumers to in-home radioactivity with
ionization chamber detectors.
The study found 14 million such
detectors — enough to protect the
homes of 21 million persons —
would create a risk of only .1 fatal
cancer.
“The normally occuring cancer
mortality rate for the total population
of the United States is about 370,000
per year or about 35,000 per year for
a grout of 21 million people,” the
study said. It added that a compari
son of the figures shows there is a
“relatively small risk” involved in
ionization chamber devices.
The report also says consumers
can now find bargains in smoke de
tectors. The average cost of units was
about $125 each in 1972. Thanks to
competition and technology, the av
erage price today for an ionization
detector is $12, the report said, and
some units are less than $7.
The study found the average price
of a photoelectric detector to be $20
and a combination unit $30.
Th study said the combination or
“photo-ion” unit “definitely offers
the greatest protection from fires to a
consumers because it utilizes the
sensitivities of both types of detec
tors.”
The report also found that advanc
ing technology will bring changes in
what consumers can buy.
Strep vaccine
questioned
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Three Uni
versity of Tennessee researchers re
port progress in the effort to develop
a vaccine against the streptococcal
■bacteria that cause rheumatic fever
and rheumatic heart disease.
The question now, they say, is
whether such a vaccine is needed in
these days of effective strep-killing
antibiotics, and if so, where?
Rheumatic fever is almost always
the result of a streptococcal infection
of the throat although the Tennessee
researchers say most people who get
strep throat would not develop
rheumatic fever even without treat
ment. But many who get rheumatic
fever develop rheumatic heart dis
ease.
The most common result of
rheumatic fever is damage to the
heart valves; in some cases the heart
[muscle itself may be weakened.
’ As late as the 1940s, rheumatic
theart disease was the leading cause
■of death among school age children.
‘During World War II, tens of
[thousands of young men crowded
together in training camps and
;troopships developed strep throat
and many died or were permanently
injured by resulting heart disease.
Then came penicillin. The strep
tococcal bacteria happened to parti
cularly vulnerable to the new “mira
cle drug.”
Thanks to penicillin and other
antibiotics, rheumatic fever is now a
rare disease in the United States
although it continues to crop up in
areas of poverty.
Unfortunately, said Drs. Edwin
Beachey, Gene Stollerman and Alan
Bisno, the situation is different in
many underdeveloped countries
“whose society can best be described
as pockets of affluence amid general
poverty.”
And they said it cannot be
assumed that rheumtic fever will
continue to be a minor problem in
the United States because the strep
organisms that cause the disease
might someday become resistant to
antibiotics.
They said the main obstacle that
now stands hinders development of a
practicable human vaccine is identi
fication of the strains of streptococcal
organisms that cause rheumatic
fever.
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anything — as Newcomb claimed.
Doctors implant the catheter off-
center, by the way, so it won’t inter
fere with sexual activity.
Authorities estimate from 10 to 30
percent of the nearly 50,000 patients
using artificial kidney machines —
on line since 1956 — will be able to
use the CAPD system.
More than freedom is involved.
There’s a dollar savings. Kidney
machine patient expenses come to
around $24,500 a year. The CAPD
system costs runs about $14,000 —
including supplies and fees for ser
vice from doctors and others.
Newcomb had to make some ad
justments in clothing to allow for the
slightly distended abdomen — with
its nearly two quarts of extra fluid,
the magic stuff that’s saving his life as
it washes his blood.
“I used to be a 30 inch waist,” he
said. “Now I wear a size 33 so things
aren’t crowded.”
Foot book
for joggers
United Press International
NEW YORK — For joggers, a
new booklet entilted “How to Keep
Your Jogging Feet in Sportshape
Condition” defines a variety of foot
ailments such as blisters, corns, cal
luses, bunions, arch trouble, Mor
ton’s foot, heel bruises, heel spurs,
achilles tendonitis, shin splints and
toe problems. The booklet, which
costs 50 cents, is written in coopera
tion with Dr. Louis Shure, member
of the American and Canadian
Academies of Podiatric Sports Medi
cine, and suggests treatment and
prevention of the various conditions.
(Available from Burlington Socks,
Dept. J., 1345 Ave. of Americas,
New York, N.Y. 10019).
United Press International
NEW YORK — The solution to
America’s falling productivity lies in
adapting to people’s changing atti
tudes, not in technology or govern
ment regulation, says headhunter-
consultant Bill Zinke.
Zinke runs a firm called Human
Resources, Inc. which with 20 major
corporations sponsored a survey by
Opinion Research Corp. on human
resources management in U.S. in
dustry.
The survey’s conclusions are
somewhat startling. The ideas and
attitudes of American workers from
bench hands to middle executives
have changed a lot and business
management is only now coming to
grips with the new workaday world.
“People’s commitment nowadays
is to themselves and to a full and
rounded personal life,” Zinke said.
“Their commitment to a job or to a
career definitely takes a subordinate
role, and managements will have to
adjust to this change if they want to
attract and retain qualified people.”
Indeed another study by the
American Management Association
concluded that the 1980s in all prob
ability “will become the decade of
the employee.”
A basic element in what Zinke
calls the “new work ethic” is that no
matter on what level he or she works,
Americans demand some voice in
the decision process and if they don’t
get it they will not be productioe.
The AMA study calls this “em
ployee alienation” a reflection ol
broader dissatisfaction with the qual
ity of social and economic life in gen
eral and with the performance and
leadership of most institutions in
particular.
The AMA study says while it is nc
longer true that a company is the
lengthened shadow of a single indi
vidual, top management does estab
lish the tone and style. Top manage
ment will have to lead “in a climate oi
openness, trust and participation ir
which the self-motivation of every
single member of the organization is
encouraged.”
Zinke said communication with
workers is the most important task
facing management.
It helps to make work more
varied. “General Motors accom
plished a miracle at a plant at Tarry-
town, N.Y., just by making assembly
line work more varied and meaning
ful,” he said. “Worker productivity
shot up.”
Dance
AUDITIONS
California Institute of the Arts announces auditions for
entrance to the School of Dance for Fall 1 980 Semester.
DALLAS: Sunday, February 24;
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Arts Magnet High School,
2501 Flora,
Dallas, Texas 75201
FACULTY:
Cnstyne Lawson. Dean
Larry Attaway
Rebecca Bobeie
Gloria Anne Bowen
Mia Siavenska
Nicholas Gunn
For appointment and additional information call
(805) 255-1050 ext. 185
CAL ifornia Institute of the ARTS.
A
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