Sci Tech
THE BATTALION
9A
Thursday, April 18, 2002
\ngioplasty more available
Saving lives without
cardiac surgery unit
iCommunity hospitals without on-
jsite cardiac units can save more
|iv6s with angioplasty, not drug
Itreatment, a new study of 451
iheart attack victims shows.
Clot-breaking drug
Angioplasty
! Number of patients with the
Hollowing outcome, six weeks
I after treatment:
r°
r 6
I 12
8
4
Death
Heart
attack
Stroke
Number of patients with the
following outcome, six months
after treatment:
1 25
20
15
10
5
Death
Heart
attack
Stroke
NOTE: The study was conducted
at 11 community hospitals without
onsite cardiac surgery units.
I SOURCE: Journal of the American
[ Medical Association
CHICAGO (AP) —A study
suggests that angioplasties can
be safely done at hospitals
regardless of whether they
have cardiac surgery depart
ments, a finding that could
extend the lifesaving procedure
to thousands of U.S. heart
attack patients.
The study, which appears in
Wednesday’s Journal of the
American Medical Association,
challenges the conventional
notion that angioplasties should
only be performed at hospitals
with a special cardiac unit.
The study involved giving
three months of angioplasty
training to staffers at l l of such
hospitals. Angioplasty, in which
a tiny balloon is used to open a
clogged artery, is considered the
best treatment for heart attacks.
Following the training,
researchers found that angio
plasty patients fared about as
well in regular hospitals as
those who undergo the proce
dure at surgery-ready hospitals.
About two-thirds of U.S.
heart attack patients each year
do not get angioplasties because
they are taken to hospitals with
out cardiac surgery units. In
fact, most U.S. hospitals do not
have such units.
The study offers hope to
heart attack victims without
access to such special
departments.
“It should not be a matter of
chance or geography that deter
mines what kind of care a heart
attack patient receives,” said Dr.
Thomas Aversano, a Johns
Hopkins Hospital cardiologist
who led the study.
It should not he a
matter of chance or
geography that
determines what kind
of care a heart attack
99
patient receives.
— Dr. Thomas Aversance
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Angioplasty is not consid
ered surgery. It typically
involves threading a thin tube,
or catheter, tipped with a deflat
ed balloon into an artery, where
the balloon is inflated to clear a
blockage. Small tubes called
stents often are installed during
the procedure to keep the artery
propped open; 70 percent of
angioplasty patients studied
received them.
At six weeks and six
months after their heart
attacks, patients treated with
angioplasty had 40 percent
lower rates of death, strokes
and recurrent heart attacks
than those given the clot-dis
solving medication Activase.
They also had shorter hospital
stays, and none had complica
tions requiring surgery.
About 1.1 million Americans
each year have heart attacks,
and more than 40 percent die.
Letting hospitals without
cardiac surgery units perform
angioplasties could more than
double the number of heart
attack patients who receive the
procedure, potentially saving
many more lives, Aversano said.
The benefits far outweigh the
small risk of complications
requiring surgery, he said.
American College of
Cardiology/American Heart
Association guidelines created
in 1993 recommended against
doing angioplasties at hospitals
without cardiac surgery units.
They were revised last year to
say angioplasty for heart
attacks is acceptable, with a
number of caveats. Hospitals
should have rapid access to a
surgical facility, they should
perform at least 36 angioplas
ties a year, and doctors who
perform the procedure should
do at least 75 a year, the guide
lines say.
Interim Housing
(Housing between the spring and summer semesters)
If you are living on campus for the spring
semester and the first summer session
you are eligible to live or store your
belongings in Interim Housing, which
will be in Davis-Gary Hall.
Applications for Interim Housing will be
available May 2-3 in the Housing
Assignments Office or you may apply
on-line at http://reslife.tamu.edu
Please come by the Housing Assignments
Office for more information!!
Department of Residence Life
Housing Assignments Office
YMCA Building Room 101
845-4744
The week of April 21 - April 25
Ethanol used as alternative fuel
URBANA. Ill. (AP) — Mixing the corn
in his fields with the diesel powering his
tractors has worked so far for farmer Paul
Keiser. Now experts are trying to prove it
can work for others, too.
University of Illinois researchers are
studying an experimental fuel that com
bines ethanol — produced from corn —
with diesel. They hope testing of the so-
called E diesel at two Illinois farms and in
the lab will show the blend is durable, cost-
effective and better for the environment
than normal diesel.
Reiser, who farms corn and soybeans
near Bloomington, noticed little difference
I between the ethanol blend and normal
■* * »
* »
diesel fuel used in most farm equipment.
“We’ve liked the results and we espe
cially like the fact that it is a renewable
resource that we can get right out of our
own fields,” he said. “I’m growing what
I’m using. I don’t know any farmer that
wouldn’t be excited about that.”
The long-term goal is to get the product
on the market and expand demand for corn-
based ethanol, in turn creating more
income for farmers.
Illinois is the nation’s largest ethanol
producer. About 280 million bushels of
corn are processed each year at ethanol
plants owned by Archer Daniels Midland in
Decatur and Midwest Grain Producers and
Williams Bio-Energy, both in Pekin.
“Farmers will tell you it can’t come
soon enough,” university researcher Alan
Hansen said. “But to be realistic there are
some years to go.”
Blending crops with diesel fuel isn’t a
new idea — soybeans are already used as
an additive to make biodiesel and ethanol
has been mixed with gasoline for years.-
However, blending ethanol with
diesel has been problematic.
Ethanol reduces the lubrication of
diesel, making it harder on engines, so
other additives are needed to counter that
effect.
Acer 209
Acct 210
Acct 229
Acct 229
Cassidy
Chem 101
Econ 202
Allen
Econ 203
Edwardson
Math 151
Math 152
Math 251
Mgmt 211
Swim
Part 1 of 2
Sun Apr 21
6pm-10pm
Part 1 of 3
Mon Apr 22
5pn»-7pm
Part 1 of 2
Tue Apr 23
10pm-lam
Test Review
Sun Apr 21
3pm-6pm
Part t of 3
Sun April
6prn~8pni
Part 1 of 4
Sun Apr 21
10pnt-12ant
Part 1 of 2
Wed Apr 24
10ptn~lam
lest Review
Mon Apr 22
6pm-9pm
Test Review
Mon Apr 22
9pm-12ain
Part 1 of 2
Mon Apr 22
7 pm-10pm
“Part 1 of 2
Mon Apr 22
8pm-11 pm
Part 2 of 2
Mon Apr 22
7prn-l 1 pm
Part 2 of 3
Tue Apr 23
5pm-8pm
Part 2 of 2
Thu Apr 25
8pm~llpin
Part 2 of 3
Mon Apr 22
6pin-8pm
Part 2 of4
Mon Apr 22
i i pm-1 am
"Part 2 of 2
Thu Apr 25
5pm-8pm
Part 3 of 3
Wed Apr 24
5pm-7pm
The Finals Schedule will be
posted soon. Please check
our website.
wwwAOandGo.com
Part 3 of 3
Tue Apr 23
6pm-8pin
Part 3 of 4
Tue Apr 23
8pm-10pm
■HH
Part 4 of 4
Wed Apr 24
7pm-10pm
tV-tJ
Part 2 of 2
Tue Apr 23
Tpm-lOpm
Part 2 of 2
Tue Apr 23
8pm-llptn
You can now buy
tickets online at
wwwAOandGQ.CQm
and avoid standing in
ticket lines
" p ".—j
Tickets go on sale Sunday at 2:30 p.m. 4.0 8. Go is located on the corner of
SW Pkwy and Tx Ave, behind KFC next to Lack's.
Check our web page at http://www.4.0andGo.com or call 696-8886(TUTOR)
• Authorized Warranty
Service Center
• Factory Trained &
Certified Technicians
• State-of-the-Art
Diagnostic Equipment
BEST!
DOUGLASS
ITS TIME
YOU MAD
"I’HCE
Driven
• FREE Shuttle Service
• Clean and Comfortable
Waiting Areas
• Genuine Nissan Parts
with 12 Month/12,000
Mile Limited Warranty
Nobody knows your Nissan like
Douglass Nissan
"few**™- For service appointments call
764-7726
1001 Earl Rudder Freeway South, College Station
Out of Aggie Bucks?
Remember to Ref///your Aggie Bucks account
during Registration as one of your fee options.
BUCKS
1
Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.
Thursday Special
9 1 1 Topping
LvxlXVjfj Pizzas
Pick-up or delivery
Northgate
601 University Dr.
979-846-3600
Post Oak Square
100 Harvey Road, Ste. D
979-764-7272
Bryan
3414 East 29 ,h Street
979-268-7272
Coming Soon!
1700 Rock Prarie, Ste. A
979-680-0508
LARGE
1 TOPPING
Pick
after 10 p.m
Vlte Are America w s #7
Brake Service Company!
l AIR - "'
■CONDITIONING
! INSPECTION
95
Wal-Mart
\Twl
HZ]
2818
i$
19
^7
Midas Shop
Ask For Kevin
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 7:00am-6:00pm
2715 S. Texas Ave - (979) 764-1844
2 WHEEL
BRAKE SPECIAL
oii)
& FILTER !
LUBE
Sunday: -I-1 a.m. - midnight
IVIonday - Wednesday: 1 *1 a-m. - *1
Thursday: 11 a-m. - 2 a-m-
Friday & Saturday: -I a-m- - 3 a.
• Inspect and adjust A/C belt
• Inspect hoses, fittings & compressor
• Perform system leak test
• Run performance test
ERA Approved Recovery Equipment
Most cors, light trucks and vans. Coupon must be presented at time of
purchase. ‘Refrigerant, odditionol parts and labor extra. Not good with j
any other offer. At participoting shop only. Offer ends 6/30/02.
59
00*
Indudes:
Semi-Metallic Shoes
& Cor keeper Pods
Ask About Our $99 VSD ” Special
See Manager For Details
’Most cars & light trucks. Coupon must be presented ot time of putchase. Not
'good with any other offer. At participoting shop only. Offer ends 6/30/02.
IS
95
tfe/vo/me
> Up To 5 Qts. I0W30 Oil.
> Diesel Cars Excluded.
» Most Cars & Light Trucks.
> Synthetic Oil Extra
Coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Not good with
jrny other offer. At participoting shop only. Offer ends 6/30/02.
TOTAL GAR CARE "Engine light on? We can Help!'