Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Fri, Jul 31 1992 Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 04:32:20 EDT Message-ID: 07-31 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update July 31-Aug. 2, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DISEASES PASSED DOWN: Grandma's pregnancy can be just as important as ma's pregnancy in causing genetic diseases found in today's children. The added emphasis on grandmothers' pregnancies comes from imprinting - a new pattern of inheritance. Studies show if genes in a female infant's newly developing eggs are damaged during her mother's pregnancy, then diseases could be passed to her own children. WRINKLES IN YOUTH POTIONS: Life-extension nutritionist Patricia Bragg thinks drinking and bathing in apple cider vinegar will help people live to be 120 years old. Dr. John Renner of the National Council Against Health Fraud says that's hogwash. A lot of miracle potions are hitting store shelves but the Council says they're all scams; that includes injections of fetal sheep cells and laser wands. SOME BELIEVE IN POTIONS: Dr. John Renner says, "There's no fountain of youth even though it's been bottled and sold in every country in the world." You wouldn't know it by Sandra Rhoades. She swears by artichoke extract. Internally and externally. "It will extend our life because it rids the body of the gunk from living," says the 48-year-old aesthetician from Fort Worth, Texas. RED IS DEAD: Animal rights activists have a post-Soviet Union alternative to waiting in long lines for meat in Moscow - vegetarianism. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a full-page ad this weekend in Russia's Pravda newspaper urging readers to let liberation include animals. Two PETA reps plan a demonstration outside McDonald's in Moscow on Saturday. AIDS TEST NOT FAVORED: The National Commission on AIDS says requiring health care workers to be tested for AIDS is a no-no. The government-appointed commission says fear of getting AIDS from infected health care givers is misplaced. A report by the commission says policies must be directed at eliminating risks that are significant rather than remote or theoretical. SENATE PROBES PRIMARY CARE: The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Thursday opened a hearing on the USA's primary medical care crisis. In testimony, the American College of Physicians suggested flexible loan policies for students entering primary care and increasing Medicare-allowable payments for the direct costs of medical education. DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY: Forget about mid-life crisis. Social psychologist David Myers says in his book "The Pursuit of Happiness" (Morrow, $20.00) age doesn't have much to do with happiness at all. Myers says people of all ages have ups and downs but the happiest people have good self-esteem, optimism, an outgoing personality and a sense of personal control. WILSON LAUNCHES HEALTH PROGRAM: Gayle Wilson, first lady of California, Thursday kicked off CaliforniaKids, an innovative public-private partnership designed to provide uninsured children with access to needed health care services. Gov. Pete Wilson's wife pointed out that nearly 2 million children in California lack health insurance. An estimated 680,000 children may be eligible for CaliforniaKids in Los Angeles County. INSURED STRANDED: More than 51,000 West Virginia residents have been left with unpaid medical claims because of the 1990 collapse of the state's Blue Cross-Blue Shield plan, U.S. Senate investigators reported Wednesday. It had lost $69 million over its seven-year life before being forced into liquidation, they said. SMITHKLINE ADS UNDER SCRUTINY: Expert medical reviewers found every SmithKline Beecham advertisement in a recent study so misleading that they recommended rejection or significant revision of the ads, a consumer health group said Thursday. Public Citizen says, "Physicians who rely on these kinds of drug advertisements are likely to misprescribe the drugs, and as a result, patients may be unnecessarily harmed." GROUP WANTS ADS REVIEWED: Public Citizen has urged lawmakers to support legislation that would require all prescription drug advertising, mail and handouts be reviewed by experts before distribution. Drug companies would pay for each review item submitted, thus covering all costs. All the advertisements for tranquilizers and sleeping pills in a recent study were seriously flawed, a majority of the researchers said. SUIT CHARGES NME WITH FRAUD: Eight insurance companies filed suit Thursday against National Medical Enterprises and its subsidiary Psychiatric Institutes of America charging a widespread pattern of health-care fraud. The suit charges NME with undertaking a coordinated national scheme to admit thousands of patients to psychiatric hospitals, without regard to need, in order to bill insurance companies vast sums. Health Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM