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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1980)
an THE BATTALION MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1980 Page 9 ~ 'dead'!' other science Zinc is snake venom’s poison 'niled Press InterniW ’ERBURY, Corai-| wants to sn’t seen him for tj d he doesn't even Scientists studying dangers rom diesel engine exhaust pc roster compiled ■p rVnartmpnt-lUK United Press International rican servicemenh® BALTIMORE - In 10 years, the n prisoners ofwari.fc vernm ^ t fi g ures ^ on f 0r ,^ 0 d still considered-? ever y j 1 ? ca r rs ° n the road w i n be lilies were toldtl»«**V wered b y fuel-savmg diesel en- J dead. ; challenges that locumented pro vas abandoned m re than 25 years >t three decades, hi That means air pollution will be gnificantly different chemically pm what we fane today, because esels emit 60 to 80 times more par- tnree aecaees, k rf ulate matter ~ soot — than g aso ' ,.,.ly battletofindt, l 11 ^ en ^ iaes - . i . . • calls it the“biKl An estimated 50 laboratories mntrv has eversenW 055 the nation are trying to deter- M«i Ren llrffine if the diesel emissions are mcr chief US ,M8/ardous and in particular, if they in Sn ,,,u fan cause cancer, or a congressiojf. Dr Terence Risby, associate pro- thr rase pssor ot environmental chemistry at thinkthere'sami J obns Hopkins School of re others besid-®y^ ene and Public Health, said 10 were alive in lt> I were left behind' dies of diesel exhaust with support from the Environmental Protection Agency. In their experiments, the diesel soot was collected on filters and sub jected to various chemical and biolo gical tests. The results so far have been contradictory. Compounds adhering to the sur face of the particles were extracted with an organic solvent, analyzed chemically, then evaluated in a bacterial test for evidence of a capa bility of causing genetic changes — an indication that a substance might be able to cause cancer. Risby said those compounds were, in fact, found to be positive — mean ing they could be a serious health hazard. But when the raw particulate mat ter was tested without extraction of surface compounds, no such biolo gical activity was seen. “This could mean that the active compounds, as they normally occur on the particles, are not readily freed to cause trouble and therefore do not represent a serious public health hazard,” Risby said at a recent semi nar on environmental health. He said the studies at Hopkins and Penn State have shown the com pounds produced by diesel engines are the result of the diesel combus tion process, not the type of fuel used. Diesel fuel is thought to contain more than 500 compounds, while the exhaust of diesels contains more than 10,000 different compounds. Risby said the problem with diesel emissions is that 95 percent of the particles are small enough to be in haled and deposited deep within the lungs, where they remain for long periods. Even if the particles themselves are not hazardous, Risby said they can pick up other compounds in the environment that might be. “It’s got to be a hazard,” he said. “Will it be a significant hazard? We don’t know the answer to that.” United Press International FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The venom of a rattlesnake inflicts dam age because it contains zinc which causes blood vessels to rupture, re searchers have determined. Dr. Anthony T. Tu, professor of biochemistry at Colorado State Uni versity, said his team of researchers have isolated five poisonous com pounds in rattlesnake venom which contain zinc. “The major health problems from rattlesnake bites are hemorrhaging and destruction of muscle tissue around the location of a bite,” Tu said. “The poison’s ability to trigger capillary cell damage and bleeding was stopped when we removed zinc from them.” Tu said the use of antivenoms in the United States reduced the num ber of deaths from rattlesnake bites from about 200 to 20 a year. He said his research could improve treat ments further and reduce the death rate even more. The professor, the author of a book on snake venoms, said the venom of western rattlesnakes usually does not kill adults because the snakes are too small to inject enough venom. However, rattlesnakes in Texas, Florida and other southern states are more dangerous because they are larger and inject more venom. Tu said a snake’s potential to kill depends on how poisonous its venom is and how much venom it injects. He said large snakes that inject neurotoxic venoms tend to be the most deadly. “Some of the most deadly snakes — cobras and kraits, for example — inject vemon that is neurotoxic, he said. “The venom essentially para lyzes, stopping heartbeat and respir ation.” Tu said the Arizona Mojave rattes- nake has neurotoxic venom and therefore is more dangerous than other western rattlers. iumwasaskinny,i) vho joined the Vov. 4, 1950, he» ■tion northeast i ea. The govemmat! tive finding of Jet: •mer P0W, Cedi' attle, Wash., sail! and Dumas wen: t, and held intlf a — Camp 5, nail i Korea. Prestons:: .vear under oatlW ias alive in that a present debate on the need for iesel emission standards “ranges pm those who claim there is no noblem to those who speak as bough serious hazards were poven. ” jin fact,” he said, “we are just be- ning to acquire the knowledge :ded for a sound judgment.” lisby and two colleagues at Penn ite are conducting a variety of stu- Heatstroke being fought United Press International LONDON — The next great pil grimage to the Moslem holy city of Mecca that coincides with the hot months comes in 1981. Scientists say heat prostration is likely to fell hun dreds of the estimated 2 million wor shippers expected there. Anticipating the 1981 Hajj will draw three times as many pilgrims as in 1961 — 1 million of them fore igners — Saudi Arabian authorities have taken early action to deal with the situation, including sponsoring research on the problems and con trol of heat stroke by two experts at ens implants improve sight United Press International J'CHICAGO — The operating said as he leftCJp™ at Chicago’s Grant Hospital .,„1, .,,,,1 f r;i ii 5 „j®ild have been a scene from science the oeonle bad i ti(,n movie - A green sheet covered - that him andtkef^y ^ itb onl y an e >; eba11 exposed. I in Camp 5wJ D , r - Andrew Lewicky was meticu lously removing a cataract from the official exchange J*. . i Septemberli| n S uausual - tided. Ilowed 1S als< )tunas said latement was idence needed J a hearing to itus — from mi •isoner of war, 8 denied. 9, began the sf! shortly after fc icr in 1950. Hebl If to it full timed jht eye of an elderly woman. No- The procedure that also becoming commen ce. The fogged lens was replaced a plastic implant. [Over 100,000 intraocular lenses re implanted in the United States St year. They offer an alternative to ick glasses which are far from ade- ate and to contact lenses which be difficult for elderly people to indie. jihad a devil of a time getting the ntact off my finger,” said Edward i , r I. 58, of Chicago, who had an ! 11 Itraocular lens implanted in his rS a f° .i Mht eye Aug. 5, 1978, because of my Summar) ^ inab iiity to wear a contact lens, s said Preston**!“0n Aug. 6, I could see. The girl itelligenceo i IU t b e bandage off and says, ‘can latriation thatj see w b a t Tm doing,’ and I said, dive but in pooryou’re holding up fingers.’ is the eighth wonder, ” laughs Rog. the Army no^Jbewicky said there is a 90 percent mistaken k t l ance tbeit a patient will have nor- “ named vision in the eye that accepts the also at 6amporrB raocu j ar j ens a lthough some peo- ugust 195 ' pj[ ( , sti j] need glasses after the opera- o used the s j n f or nearsightedness or farsight- name under" ^ Iiess BDr. Osvaldo Lopez says the type ieArmynowsa!!«j m p] an (. b e uses is determined he nce now tbal » e hand by the patient’s age and :ver a prisoner *>styl e . ic Dumas fami|jmi[) eS pit e their success, questions ; Roger, thU |itinue to be raised about the use of dished that WP ns implants. Bcause the effects of vas not Roger I implants beyond 20 years are the confusion jknown, a report from a National mnel records n institutes of Health panel of ophtha- las and Don inol 0 gj s t s j as t year recommended • destroyed in be implants generally be restricted ie National P 1 o elderly patients. Some eyes are better candidates n others for an implant operation ophthalmologists say there are ne people that should not have operation. These are patients h uncontrolled glaucoma, eye in- flamation, advanced diabetes, very nearsighted vision and retinal de tachments. The cataract and implant opera tion usually lasts about an hour and can be done under local anesthetic. The day after a normal operation, the eye is only slightly red and there is no indication the person had surgery. Lopez notes that no surgery is without risk although only a very small percentage of patients have se rious complications from implants such as bacterial infections and un controlled hemorrhaging, which can also occur after cataract extraction without implants. the School of Tropical Medicine. Professor J. S. Weiner of the En vironmental Physiology Unit and Dr. Mustafa Khogali induced a reasonable facsimile of the intense heat liable to be experienced in the crush around the tomb called the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, by having volunteers in plastic clothing exercise in a hot room until their temperatures reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit. When victims have a such a high temperature — and in heat stroke 107 F. is not uncommon — there must be rapid cooling or the chances of fatal stroke are as high as 80 per cent. This drastic cooling was the goal Weiner and Khogali have been seeking since 1978, according to the bulletin of the Medical Research Council. 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