CIENCE TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
THE BATTALION
Page 7
Tornado tout
down in EastliWarm Blooded Dinosaurs?
LINDEN (AP) ■
hopped across part
ty Sunday, knocking
power lines and deuu^
buildings, county officio!!
There were no reports
said Gary Stewart, Cat
emergency management
The tornado reported
down several times afted r
hambers of the heart
arm-blooded animals have four chambers that separate oxygen-
nriched blood from oxygen-depleted blood. Most cold-blooded animals
ave three chambers that mix the blood and send less concentrated
xygen to the body. Now, a dinosaur fossil with a four-chambered heart
as found — suggesting it was warm-blooded. Warm-blooded animals
ove faster and more easily resist temperature change. Here is a
omparison of a human heart and a typical reptilian heart.
Warm-blooded heart
Oxygen- Oxygen-enriched
ting the far East TexastOiH d h?'od d bl ° wd f ° r b ° dy enriched
den. Hughes Springs -j ^
glassville.
The area hit is about
south of DeKalb, where
caused major damagt
year ago. That May 5
aged 150 houses, inji
pie and obliterated ball’
town district.
Laredo bridge!
For inaugurate
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Political tensions
d the scheduled event,
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the event.
Bush, who was abs
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blood
Oxygen-
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§ Oxygen-
AJij enriched
0 ^ blood from
lungs
%
M
Cold-blooded heart
With only three chambers,
the blood mixes and less
oxygenated blood is
circulated in the body. As a
result, the animal typically
has slower movement and
metabolism.
[The dinosaur
[Scientists believe the
lanimal died 66 million
jyears ago. Here is an
(illustration of what the
plant-eating dinosaur
may have looked like.
ource: Science
I
% Size: 13 feet long
Weight: 665
pounds, in
s the flesh
Emily Holmes/AP
Science in Brief
High winds ground Atlantis
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Dan-
jgerously high wind forced NASA to call off
space shuttle Atlantis’ launch Monday on
: a mission to repair the international space
station. The space agency tentatively
aimed for a Tuesday afternoon liftoff, even
! though it is supposed to be windier.
NASA flight rules say that the cross-
winds can be no higher than 17 mph, in
case the spacecraft has to make an emer
gency return to the launch site. With only
nine minutes left in Monday’s countdown,
the wind was gusting to 23 mph and NASA
called off the launch.
‘We'll get ’em next time,” shuttle com
mander James Halsell Jr. said.
Atlantis is loaded with more than a ton
of supplies and replacement parts for the
space station, which has been orbiting vir
tually empty for the past 11/2 years.
FDA OKs heartburn remedies
New treatments focus on causes, not just blocking effects
WASHINGTON (AP) — Aline
Humphrey was losing a 10-year battle
with worsening heartburn: Medications
didn’t help, and she had resorted to eat
ing only easy-to-digest baby food.
Then doctors snaked a tiny tube
down her throat to fix the faulty valve
causing the problem. The California
nurse celebrated several months later
with an eight-course French meal and a
bottle of Dom Perignon — no more
antacids, no more heartburn.
Now other sufferers can try it, too:
The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has approved the first non-drug
treatments for acid reflux — two difier-
ent medical devices that send a tube
down the throat to fix the actual cause of
chronic heartburn instead of just sup
pressing painful stomach acid as med
ications do.
The hourlong, outpatient procedures
could significantly change the way
heartburn is treated.
One device is like a tiny sewing ma
chine that puts a few stitches in the faulty
valve causing heartburn, creating little
pleated gathers to strengthen it. The oth
er device, which Humphrey tried, zaps
the faulty valve with radioffequency en
ergy, beams of heat.
“ Both rely on the fact that we think fix
ing the valve is a good long-term option
rather than staying on medications for the
rest of your life,” explained Dr. Neil Stoll-
man of San Francisco General Hospital,
who tested the radiofrequency device,
Curon Medical Inc.’s Stretta system.
“I still practice medicine, and 1 know
a lot of patients who are going to bene
fit,” said Dr. Brian E. Harvey, the FDA
senior medical officer who reviewed
Stretta and competitor C.R. Bard Incis
Endoscopic Suturing System. The FDA
approved both earlier this month.
Some 14 million Americans suffer
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chronic heartburn, called “gastroe
sophageal reflux disease,” or GERD. A
valve where the esophagus meets the
stomach, called the lower esophageal
sphincter, relaxes at the wrong times, al
lowing acidic stomach contents to back
up into the delicate esophagus causing a
burning sensation.
Spicy foods or overeating could give
anyone occasional heartburn. But
GERD causes serious, repeated heart-
bum. The stomach acid can actually cor
rode the. esophagus, causing inflamma
tion or scarring that makes it hard to
swallow. One recent study found people
with severe reflux are eight times more
likely to develop esophageal cancer.
Acid-blocking medicines — such as
Prilosec, the world’s best-selling drug —
are highly effective at relieving symptoms.
Some people don’t like taking daily
medicine. Others don’t have insurance
to cover the drugs. Curon cites one esti
mate that patients and insurers world
wide spend $14 billion a year on anti-
heartburn drugs.
Still other patients get no relief from
drugs, or suffer side effects. When acid
blockers fail, patients have tried Propul-
sid, a drug that pushes food through the
stomach faster so there’s less to reflux —
but one drug the manufacturer is about
to quit selling because it also can cause
lethal irregular heartbeats.
Until now, the only non-drug alter
native was surgery to tighten the valve.
The two new systems don’t require
cutting patients: Curon’s Stretta has elec
trodes on an endoscope threaded down
the throat. The electrodes bum spots on
the muscle controlling the faulty valve.
A flexible scar-like tissue forms. Doctors
aren’t sure if that tightens the valve, or if
the heat zaps overactive nerves that
made the valve malfunction. Regardless,
in a study of 47 patients followed for six
months after the procedure, 70 percent
had quit taking all heartburn medicines.
Bard’s suturing device, developed by
a physician at the Royal College of Lon
don, is like a miniature sewing machine
on an endoscope.
Tiny stitches tighten the valve. In a
study of 64 patients, 67 percent had ei
ther no heartburn or only occasional,
brief episodes six months later.
No one knows how long the effects
will last — patients may need retreat
ment every few years, FDA’s Harvey
cautioned.
Both procedures can cause mild chest
or stomach pain that day, but studies
fgund no serious side effects. However,
physicians do need training to perform
the procedures, something both compa
nies are beginning. The procedures will
cost $2,000 to $2,500.
“If it turns out that this works as well
as we think, it’s going to be very appeal
ing to physicians and our patients,” said
Emory University’s Dr. Patrick Waring,
who tested Bard’s suturing system.
“I think there’s a lot of people... who
don’t want to have an operation, who
don’t want medicine on a daily basis but
still want relief from their heartburn.”
New treatments for heartburn
Millions of Americana suffer chronic
heartburn caused by acid reflux,
where a faulty valve lets stomach acid
back up into the esophagus. The FDA
has approved two competing non-drug
treatments illustrated below.
In both treatments, a small tube called
an endoscope is passed through the
mouth and placed at the valve between
the stomach and esophagus.
Stretta system
The tube contains
electrodes that use
radiofrequency energy
to burn spots on
muscles controlling the
faulty valve, thus
tightening it.
Endoscopic suturing
system
A miniature sewing machine.
is on the end of the tube,
allowing doctors to place
tiny stitches along the
valve’s edge that are
gathered to tighten it.
-^Esophagus
Endoscope
Sources: Curon Medical Inc.; C.R. Bard Inc.
Emily Holmes/AP
NEED A JOB?
THE KIDS KLUB IS SEEKING
STAFF FOR THE
2000 FALL SEMESTER
College Station
* Are you a fun person?
1 Do you enjoy working with kids?
» Looking for valuable work experience?
» Are you available Mon.-FrL, 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.
Applications are now being accepted for
the Kids Klub After School Program
at Central Park Office
thru April 25th at 5 p.m.
Employment to begin August 7 th
College Station ISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer
For more information call:
rtTK >Ut>S
Male & Female KZUfc 764-3486 '
Staff needed!