Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Wed, Mar 25 1992 Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 05:43:34 EST Message-ID: 03-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update March 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MEETING DISCUSSES ALCOHOL ABUSE: Drunken driving is not the only cause of alcohol-related deaths, say federal health officials at a conference on alcohol-related injuries in Washington. Alcohol abuse also leads to murder, suicide, domestic violence, birth defects and other accidents. However, drunken driving remains the leading cause of alcohol-related injuries and deaths, despite some recent progress. (For more, see special Alcohol package.) NATIVE AMERICAN HEALTH ASSESSED: Native American adolescents face more stress, violence and have poorer health than other teens, says a study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. One in six have tried suicide - four times the national rate - and 18% say they are victims of sexual or physical abuse. Early intervention and education are needed, says Robert Blum, a University of Minnesota pediatrician. HOME HIV TEST KIT VIOLATES LAW: A California company's advertisement for a home HIV test kit is a violation of state law, says the California Department of Health Services. The $24.95 offer allows people to mail their own finger-prick blood samples to a lab and receive results by mail or phone. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected similar plans. Health Test Inc. of Costa Mesa agreed to revise its plan. HIV TEST OFFER TO BE REVISED: A California company offering a home HIV test kit will now have to send employees to customers' homes to prick their fingers, says Health Test president Stephen J. Coonan. The original offer, which let users prick their own fingers, violated state law. Some are still skeptical. "We're very, very leery of it, of any home testing," says Anthony Sprauve of AIDS Project Los Angeles. X-RAY MAY PREVENT KNEE INJURY: An X-ray can identify athletes at the greatest risk of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a severe knee injury, a study shows. New studies also show women athletes are more likely to incur the injury than men. Studies released last month show that athletes with a narrow notch in the bottom of their thigh bones were more likely to tear the ligament than those with normal-width notches. NEW APPROACH TO LYME ADVISED: Even in the absence of outward symptoms, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease can reach the brain, suggests a new study in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of 12 patients, only four of eight with brain infection showed any symptoms, meaning doctors should switch to more powerful antibiotics that can reach the brain. CLUE TO REDUCING FEAR FOUND: Researchers have located an area in rats' brains that are responsible for reducing fear, according to the March issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The area contained certain chemical receptors called the amygdala, which lessened learned fear responses. The findings could lead to the treatment of disorders such as panic attacks and post-traumatic stress in humans. SMOKING BAN VOTED DOWN: Smoking is still legal in Los Angeles restaurants, after the City Council failed to adopt a proposed ban on smoking in the city's 8,200 eateries. In lieu of the ban, the council decided to cut the maximum number of tables available to smokers from 50% to 40%. MARCH OF DIMES OPENS 900 LINE: The March of Dimes Foundation has opened a 900 phone line to answer questions about pregnancy and infant care in the hopes of reducing birth defects and infant mortality rates. Call: 1-900-288-BABY (75 cents per minute). For more information, callers will be directed to local March of Dimes chapters. One-third of U.S. women receive little or inadequate prenatal care. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ALCOHOL: TRAFFIC DEATHS CITED: Nearly half of the 44,529 traffic deaths in 1990 were alcohol-related, amounting to one such death every 24 minutes, say health officials. Other research reported to the conference, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that alcohol is involved in nearly half of accidental deaths at home and between 20% and 37% of emergency room traumas. ALCOHOL CONNECTED TO VIOLENCE: A Philadelphia study of 588 murders found that in two-thirds of the cases, the victim, perpetrator or both had been drinking. Another study found that over half of rapists were drinking immediately before committing their crime. In suicide cases, up to 36% of the victims have a history of alcohol abuse or were drinking shortly before their suicides. CHILD, ALCOHOL ABUSE LINKED: Fathers convicted of child abuse are 10 times more likely to be alcoholics than non-abusing fathers, reports a Harvard Medical School study. Mother convicted of child abuse are three times more likely than other mothers to be alcoholics, according to the study. At the conference, Surgeon General Antonia Novello called on the alcohol industry to stop advertising pitches aimed at young people (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