Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.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 Mon, Oct 26 1992 Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 04:43:26 EST Message-ID: 10-26 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update Oct. 26, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MALARIA FEARS PROMPT MEETING: Health experts from around the world meet Monday and Tuesday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to consider adopting a global malaria control strategy. Malaria has been on the rise, especially in Africa, Latin America, parts of South America, Afghanistan, and Cambodia. Annually, about 100 million new cases of the tropical disease occur globally, killing more than 1 million. BRAIN RESEARCHERS GATHER: Nearly 14,000 neuroscientists meeting this week in Anaheim, Calif., will present 9,000 new studies pushing the frontier of the '90s and 20th Century: The human brain. "The new frontier is about man defining himself, about understanding our nature at the deepest level, " says Dr. Ira Black, president-elect of the 20,000 member Society for Neuroscience. (For more, see special Brain package below.) PBS TO COMPARE HEALTH PLANS: The Health Quarterly, a PBS newsmagazine, will offer a voter's guide to health care, examining and contrasting the Bush and Clinton plans as laid out in campaign promises. Perot's plan won't be included, because, according to press materials, "it is not specific enough for us to analyze." Hosted by Roger Mudd, the show will air on PBS, 9 p.m., ET:PT, but times may vary. BULLET TAX PROPOSED: A tax on bullets could pay for the health crisis created by the widespread availability of guns, doctors told a Senate panel Friday. Violent injuries add about $5.3 billion to the U.S. health-care tab - mainly in high-cost emergency care, says American Medical Association trustee Robert McAfee, a Portland, Maine, surgeon. VIOLENCE RISING IN THE USA: Violent crime rates rose 3% in the first six months of 1992 vs. the same period last year, continuing an eight-year upward spiral of violence, the FBI said Sunday. However, after setting records for murders in 1990 and 1991, the first half of 1992 showed a 3% decline in the nation's murder rate. Driving the pace of violence: A 4% rise in forcible rape and 6% hike aggravated assault. GROUP PUSHES FOR TOBACCO TAX: The Coalition for a Healthier Arkansas, which lost a bid to have a cigarette tax increase proposal put on the Nov. 3 ballot, will lobby legislators to raise taxes on tobacco, officials said Sunday. The state Supreme Court found that some signatures on a petition were improperly collected and notarized. STATE CONSIDERS AIDS TESTING: A public hearing is Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, on proposed voluntary AIDS testing of health workers and restrictions on some infected workers. State officials face a Wednesday federal deadline to approve guidelines, which are likely to take effect in early 1993. STUDY SEEKS PARTICIPANTS: The University of Kentucky at Lexington is seeking up to 300 women at risk for breast cancer to join a national study of a promising new cancer drug. The two-year study will gauge the effectiveness of tamoxifen, which can cause side effects. If interested, call 606-257-5207. MICHIGAN KIDS ARE HEAVIEST: Michigan has the USA's fattest kids, says a University of Michigan survey of 15,800 youths. Researchers found that 19% of boys 12-19 years old and 18% of girls 12-18 qualified as obese. Culprits: Too many parents using television as a baby sitter; the nation's highest potato chip and ice cream consumption; long winters and no standard school fitness education program. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BRAIN: NEW TREATMENTS ON THE HORIZON: With understanding of the brain increasing, research on new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke and mental illness should begin to pay off in two to three years, say members of the Society for Neuroscience. Present discoveries should prove "clinically useful ... within a few short years," says Dr. Ira Black, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, N.J. CELL PROTECTION POSSIBLE: Among the research to be presented this week by the society: Substances made by nerve cells that may be engineered to generate new cells and protect from injury or disease; how memory is affected by dreams, nutritional supplements, alcohol and blood pressure drugs. AGGRESSION, CHEMICALS LINKED: Neuroscientists will also reported on how levels of certain brain chemicals associated with menstruation and diet influence aggression and how circadian patterns and the brain's inner clock are affected by heredity and various types of lighting. (End of package.) Health Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (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