Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health,americast.usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Wed, Sep 16 1992 Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 04:36:01 EDT Message-ID: 09-16 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update Sept. 16, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network GENETIC LINK SEEN IN LESBIANS: Genes play a key role in determining the sexual preference of lesbians, the first twins study of gay women shows. The findings echo results of recent studies on male homosexuals: Inborn preferences account for about half of individual differences in sexual orientation. The other half could be due to physical changes, environment or an interplay of nature and nurture. (For more, see special Lesbians package below.) WOMEN LEFT OUT OF HEART STUDIES: Studies of heart attack treatments often exclude those who have the most heart attacks - people over age 65. So says a report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston say excluding older people means excluding women. The reports shows women live longer and have heart attacks later than men. KIDS ARE NOT GETTING CARE: The nation's health care crisis prevents many kids from coming to school ready to learn, says a national survey of elementary school teachers by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Ninety percent of 500 teachers surveyed say they had at least one student last year whom they felt had emotional or physical problems that hampered learning; 64% say they see more kids with health problems. ASTRONAUT USES MIND CONTROL: Dr. Mae Jemison is using the power of her mind to avoid falling victim to the nausea that afflicts half of all astronauts in orbit. Jemison can be seen floating about the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay laboratory wearing specially instrumented clothes and a headband. It's part of Jemison's ability to use her thoughts as a drug-free alternative to control symptoms of motion sickness. `BLACK DEATH' KILLS TUCSON MAN: An extremely rare and virulent form of the plague - the ancient "Black Death" - recently killed a Tucson, Ariz., man, health officials have confirmed. The man apparently became infected with pneumonic plague - a form of bubonic plague that attacks the lungs -while exposed to an infected domestic cat during a Colorado visit only one week earlier, state health officials said. DEATH COMES RAPIDLY: Arizona officials are warning the public and officials that pneumonic plague is a health risk at higher elevations - above 4,500 feet, where the bacteria can thrive - that its symptoms can be misleading, and that its progress is rapidly fatal. The first symptoms, mainly signs of pneumonia and fever, showed up in a man on Aug. 22, followed by death four days later. CLINICAL DEPRESSION ADDRESSED: Rod Steiger is joining celebrities Dick Cavett and William Styron in talking publicly about clinical depression. Steiger's voice broke and he dabbed at wet eyes while testifying at a Senate committee hearing Tuesday on "The Promise of Mental Health Research." A National Advisory Mental Health Council says one in five Americans will suffer from some form of mental illness. DRUG COMPANY HEARING SCHEDULED: A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Detroit for a class-action suit against Bolar Pharmaceuticals Company, accused of deliberately producing and selling fraudulent and contaminated generic versions of eight prescription medications. Bolar manufactures generic drugs. The petition alleges that Bolar earned more than $186 million in revenues from the drugs, the plaintiffs' law firm said. COLLEGE FOOD IS RATED: The Princeton Review test coaching firm asked about 2,000 students at 245 campuses across the USA what colleges have the best food. Their answers - Sweet Briar College; College of the Atlantic; Bowdoin College; Deep Springs College; and Cornell University. Students say the worst food can be found at State University of New York, Albany; Stevens Institute of Technology; and Eckerd College. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON LESBIANS: PREFERENCE DETERMINED AT BIRTH: Results of the gay study reveal "sexual preference is often determined at birth rather than a lifestyle choice," says psychologist J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. He and Boston University psychiatrist Dr. Richard C. Pillard began with a panel of 115 homosexual or bisexual women, all twins with sisters. TWINS PUT IN CATEGORIES: Some two-thirds had identical twins, who share all genes; one-third had fraternal twins, related just like siblings; plus, the 115 had 32 adoptive sisters - who share no genes, only the same environment. Findings: About 1 in 2 identical twins also were gay or bisexual; fraternals, 1 in 6; adoptive sisters, 1 in 16. BRAIN SMALLER IN GAY MEN: How genes shape sexual preference isn't known. Bailey sees one likely source as the brain's hypothalamus, recently found to be smaller in gay than in straight men. The findings on women "suggest it's very likely there may be brain differences at birth," says Simon LeVay, who did the male brain studies at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, Calif. (End of package.) 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. 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