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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2000)
Is There Truth in Religion Like Truth in Mathematics and Science? Walter L. Bradley, Ph.D., RE. Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University It is widely believed today that all beliefs about religion and morals are subjective and personal. If this is so, then all beliefs about religion and morality are equally valid, and claims that ones beliefs are true and others beliefs are false results in the accusation of intolerance. But if all religious truth is subjective and personal, it is also trivial. Is it possible that religious and moral truth could be trans-cultural and objectively true, like truth in mathematics and science? And if so, how could we determine what religious truth claims actually are true? Rudder 301: Wednesday (not Tuesday) April 12 th @ 7:00 p.m. Christian Faculty Network @ TAMU Spring Lecture Series Science Page 8 THE BATTALION Tuesday. Ir, Doctors urge thyroid test! oc WASHINGTON (AP) — Feeling a little fatigued? A tad forgetful or de pressed? Put on a little weight lately? They sound like run-of-the-mill com plaints, particularly ifyou have a stress ful job or are hitting middle-age. But those also are some of the fre quently overlooked early symptoms of thyroid disease — and a new study esti mates 13 million Americans may be un diagnosed. That’s a slightly higher estimate than previously thought, and it comes as some specialists are urging that a simple $25 thyroid test become a routine part of many adults’ doctor visits even if they don't complain of symptoms. Why? Even mild thyroid problems might cause big consequences: Pregnant women with an underactive thyroid risk having children with lower IQs, and new research shows even a little hypothy roidism can raise cholesterol levels. Yet thyroid disease is easily treated if people know they have it. How to find out: the TSH blood test. “We have to get this message out," said Dr. E. Chester Ridgway, the Uni- versity of Colorado’s endocrinology chief. “We’ve been trying for many years to get primary-care physicians to use the TSH as a part of their screen ings,” but people don't realize “it’s a big problem.” The bow tie-shaped gland in the front of your neck, just below the Adam’s ap ple, causes an amazing variety of health problems because it produces hormones that regulate metabolism and stimulate almost every type of tissue in the body. For unknown reasons, it can become overactive and speed up certain body functions, or become underactive and slow body functions. Both cause a vari ety of symptoms once the disease ad vances enough, what doctors call “overt" thyroid disease. An underactive thyroid — hypothy roidism — is by far the most common problem. Symptoms are easily mistaken for other conditions: fatigue, weight gain as metabolism slows, depression, forget fulness, a hoarse voice, mood sw ings, in tolerance to cold. Symptoms of hyperthyroidism, an overactive gland, are usually more clear: The heart beats fast, sometimes irregu larly. Blood pressure rises. Patients sweat easily, feel nervous, sleep poorly. They lose weight without trying, be come depressed and confused, develop vision problems or bulging eyes. Either condition sometimes enlarges the thyroid, so the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recom mends checking your neck. But you don’t have to feel a bump in your neck to have a thyroid problem, stresses Dr. Terry Davies of New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, editor of the journal Thyroid and a proponent of better TSH testing. Overt thyroid disease raises people’s risk of heart disease, bone-thinning os teoporosis and infertility. The call for more testing comes amid concern that mild, even asymptomatic, thyroid failure could be risky. Ridgway wrote a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that gave TSH tests to 25,000 people attending health fairs in Colorado. Based on those results, he estimated some 13 million peo ple nationwide may have undiagnosed thyroid disease, mostlyh)^ jop i' WOI While thyroid failure went up ear i y t0 mainly a problem for olds A | onautics C o, symptoms often are coiit| era | xul t 2,3001 menopause — Ridgway fe over better wagi actually starts to rise in aplant is 30s, and that older men ^manufacturer o problems more often thansi®Loc kheed spoke I ndocrinologistslastyeartstfie people on 5 ing thyroid tests tbrpregnr employees who cause a mother’s underactivety It was uncle; impair fetal braindevelopraei;: would have on c estimated one in 50 womenk said this mornin roidism during pregnancy, many workers h In addition, endocrinoloei'S "We think l mothers suffering postpani- wlrk that is corr sion need testing to seeifthjKp^c're conduct is to blame. pemi what we Ridgway’s other finding:: work today, thyroid failure causedcholestfll Some | rising. That supports arecenlM pltit this morn: that concluded mild thyroids- walking the lint be associated with heart attai ; I compai A simple test to detect le\t |pr sales during roid stimulating hormone.' notably 80 pla the bloodstream diagnoses t; Emirates, 50 er ease. The same blood sampltj and 24 to I g\ p cholesterol or any other rot:: al other contrac test can be checked for TSH. W a\ and Chile. Thyroid gland process The thyroid is the body's regulator, producing hormones essential to the function of most tissues. Here is how the thyroid gland is triggered to release hormones. Brain Hypothala" oQ O Hypothalamus releases hormone that signals the pituitary gland. QThe pituitary gland makes a thyroid-stimulating hormone (THS). QTHS causes the thyroid gland to make hormones that regulate metabolism and organ function. PituitSf) gland Lockheed st at S21 a share tl York Stock Ext I No new tal Bie walkout, tin ■9-year-old pk in 1946 and 19 ftsling two wet I Pat Lane, p Hie Internation; ■sis, was on the Thyroid disease results when the gland becomes either underactive - producing too little hormone - or overactive, producing too much. Source Mayo Foundation tor Medical Fducation and Rasoarcti j0Uma 01“ dumpe L0SINDIC the dumping 3order in Soi Pablo Pine j fore his body m.der and abar “It was an 1 ty Sheriff Om, NEED A JOB? THE KIDS KLUB IS SEEKING STAFF FOR THE 2000 FALL SEMESTER Are you a fun person? Do you enjoy working with kids? AlK >UN KAIG? College Station Looking for valuable work experience? Are you available Mon.-Fri., 2:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we may have a job for you. YOU’RE Y01 1 13 VTi Win $15 Garage.cc Business PLANedu. Got a great b it. 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