No. 185 June 1998
ANALGESICS AND LIFE SAVING DRUGS FOR ANIMALS Insulin is one example of a human-labeled drug developed and legally intended for humans with diabetes. Some animals have diabetes but there are no veterinary drugs to counter their diabetes. There are no poison antidotes (drugs) for animals nor are there anesthetics labeled specifically for veterinary use. The FDA knew veterinarians were using human-labeled drugs to treat the diabetes and respiratory infections in dogs, cats, horses, and cattle. ("Using human drugs in the treatment of animals" FDA Veterinarian v. 7, no 5, September/October 1992 pages 1-2 [HE20.4410:7/5] ). Though the use of human-labeled drugs on animals had no adverse impact on public health, the action was illegal because of the label on the bottle. On October 22, 1994 PL 103-396 "Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994" (108 STAT 4153-4155) legalized the practice of using insulin to save cats and dogs, and prescribing drugs approved for sheep to treat the same conditions in cows. ("President signs animal drug availability act" FDA Veterinarian v. 11, no. 6, November/December 1996, pages 1-2 [HE20.4410:11/6] ). This new law legalizes the veterinarian's judgement to use some human-label drugs (such as insulin) for animals and use animal drugs developed for horses on any other species of animals that have the same medical conditions. The FDA has not yet approved sufficient number of drugs to treat all the diseases in different animal species. People have adverse reactions to drugs and, at times, so do animals. To learn the names of some of the drugs prescribed for animals and to learn about the annual frequency of adverse drug reactions check the September/October and November/December 1997 issues of FDAVeterinarian, v. 12, no. 5 & 6. There you will find the "DS/CVM 1996 VETERINARY ADVERSE DRUG EXPERIENCE SUMMARY." This feature lists the drugs by generic name showing statistics for all the adverse drug reaction reports submitted to the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine. This summary allows veterinarians to share the practical knowledge and experiences of how well what drugs are helping what animals.
THE GOOD EARTH Sound familiar?? Maybe you read Pearl S. Buck's novel or maybe you had bad luck with your garden and would like to have some good earth. Would you know good earth if you saw or smelled it?? Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance issued April 1998 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture is 12 pages of color pictures of "appearance of sand loam and fine sandy loam soils at various soil moisture conditions."(A 1.68:1619) This is very good guide to when to irrigate and how much water to supply. The back page has a "Guide for estimating soil moisture conditions." I guess if you're not irrigating and still want to know about good soil try Hank Becker's "Good Earth: the Earthy Smell of Healthy Soil is Linked to two filamentous microbes" (Agricultural Research, v. 43, no. 6 June 1994, page 16 [A77.12: 43/6] ). This article describes an odor-based test for identifying the microbes that make-up a healthy soil's qualities and characteristics. Now you know a little bit more about the good earth.
HOSPITAL OPERATING ROOMS It was most fascinating to read the latest hospital guidelines for nosocomial infection prevention. What is Nosocomial infection? Picture a 19th century surgeon wiping the bloody knife on his apron before starting an incision to extract a bullet. The patient would have survived the bullet wound, but died from a nosocomial infection. A nosocomial prevention technique would have been to sterilize the knife blade by placing it in a flame or pouring whiskey over it. "Draft Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection, 1998, Notice" Federal Register v. 63, no. 116, June 17, 1998 pages 33168-33192 (AE 2.106:63/116) contains this new two part guideline. Part 1 "Surgical Site Infection, an Overview" and Part 2. "Recommendations for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections". Reading the 24 pages of small print would be a must for some people. Others just might browse the ten tables of information about definition criteria, body sites for infection, patient and operation risk factors, pathogens, antiseptics effectiveness, antimicrobial prophylaxis, operating room climate specifications, sterilization cycle parameters, surgical wound classifications I to IV, and the ASA Physical Status Classification. Those with a computer can find these new guidelines at the Hospital Infection Program Home page at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/hip.htm . Medicine is a most fascinating area.
GOLF CARTS From 1993 to 1997 motorized golf carts have injured 119 pedestrians, caused 94 ejection injuries, caused 693 off-road injuries, but had only one on-road fatality. These are some of the six categories of the accidental injuries and fatality estimates reported by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System that collects its data from hospital emergency departments. There are 12 states that allow all-purpose golf carts on public and private roads and also have a set of "required safety equipment" regulations for these carts. There are six different groups of golf carts identified; the Sunbelt states where they are used, and the on-road and off-road uses of these carts. There are 16 states (which include but go beyond the Sunbelt) which range from California to South Carolina to Minnesota to Texas reflecting the use of motorized golf carts to be a nationwide issue and problem. Some States allow the use of these carts only in specified residential areas, and some allow their use on trips to and from the golf course on the public roads. The reading to be found in "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 49CFR 571, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, Final Rule" Federal Register v. 63, no. 116, June 17, 1998, pages 33194 to 33217 (AE 2.106:63/116 or http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html ) is quite a good introduction to the topic regardless of your opinion about the new regulations.
ENGLISH TEACHER'S COLORFUL CENTERFOLD: WEATHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!! True, if you look in an English teacher's journal: English Teaching Forum v.36, no. 1, January-March 1998, centerfold "Weather" and in the front and back inside covers you will find weather information. Issued by the United States Information Agency (IA 1.17:36/1 or http://www.usia.gov/education/engteaching/eal-ndx.htm ), this journal is intended for American teachers of English in foreign countries and other people who need newsletter items. The center foldout identifies recorded extreme weather data for the driest place; the greatest number of wet days, largest hailstorm, and 8 other extreme weather data items. The foldout also reveals the "Fujita Scale" for whirling winds (tornadoes) measurement and the "Saffir-Simpson scale" for measuring tropical storms. There is a brief essay entitled "Changing weather" within the centerfold. "Weather words" is found on page 64 and there are some word games on the back inside cover, which relate weather to seasonal changes. This is quite an interesting bit of information weather you like it or not.
GUIDELINES INSTANTLY CREATE 29 MILION FAT PEOPLE That's the paraphrase of the title of an article that appeared in the Washington Post newspaper (and other newspapers) about June 17, 1998. How could all of these people become fat instantly if they had no change in their body-mass index? Instant growth was not involved. The answer to our riddle was the issuance on June 17, 1998 of the new Federal Obesity Guidelines by the NIH Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute. These new guidelines, when applied to the American people, categorize about 27 million people (of normal weight) as fat, obese, or overweight. If you go to the BMI (Body-Mass Index) Calculator at http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ and insert your weight and select your height, the BMI will calculate your body mass index and tell you if you are fat/overweight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. The Obesity Guidelines Home page that has 8 parts with links is at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/cardio/obes/prof/guidelns/ob_home.htm and has URL links to its 8 parts: the Full Report, Executive Summary, Evidence Model, Evidence Tables, Press Release, Tip Sheets, Body Mass Index Calculator, and the Body Mass Index Table (of Heights and Weights). Not everyone may agree with the NIH statement that about 97 million adults in the United States are overweight or obese and also have greater health risks because of this new obesity standard, but here are the New Obesity Guidelines.
V-MAIL & MICROFILM Personal mail between the U.S. soldiers overseas and their families at home was a morale booster for everyone and an important part of life. Entitled Victory Mail (later shortened to V-Mail); the burgeoning volume of personal overseas mail quickly became a logistics problem. "Victory Mail, Microfilmed letters linked GIs with home" Postalife v. 20, no. 5, September/October 1986 pages 14-17 (P 1.43:20/5) tells us the problem was quickly solved with the Kodak company reducing the letters to the size of a postage stamp putting 1,500 letters on a roll of 16 mm film. When received the microfilmed letters were enlarged to 4-by-5 inch prints for their recipients. The V-Mail service using microfilm was used in the United States from June 12, 1942 to November 1, 1945. This V-Mail service was a new version of an old process called microphotography. This technique for mail delivery was first used in 1870 during the Franco Prussian War when the Siege of Paris isolated the city. To get letters and messages out, a French photographer named Dragon, conceived the idea of copying the messages on microfilm which was carried to its destination by homing pigeons. When received, the microfilmed messages were projected onto a screen, hand-copied, and mailed to the addresses. After 1945, the use of microfilm became more of a medium for space saving information storage and publications preservation than mail service. However, many of the spy movies made during the post war (and later) era show the use of microfilm, microdots, and similar devices in various governments military and espionage operations.
DO YOU HAVE A GOOD/BAD JOB? Do you have a good job? Or, do you have a bad job? John R. Meisenheimer II has presented a good examination of the pay, benefits, job security, occupational structure, and job safety to assess the quality of jobs in the services and other industries. ("The Services industry in the 'good' versus 'bad' jobs debate" Monthly Labor Review, v. 121, no. 2, February 1998, pages 22-47 [L2.6:121/2] ). Once the automobile assembly line and other production jobs in the manufacturing industries were paid better than many jobs in the service industries. But times have changed with robots now assembling cars and many more people in medical, social, legal, and new computer services. Currently, who gets paid more than the experienced and "independent" computer consultant who seems to be in one of the newest and best service occupations? Is this the best service occupation? As there are few lawns without a weed (or two), every job has its advantages and disadvantages and there are a variety of levels of jobs in the manufacturing, service, or any other industry. Every job has a unique combination of pay, benefits, job security, occupational structure, and job safety. What's your current job combination, what's the most/least important element of your current job, or what element(s) would be most important if you were changing occupations? Some people want to paint portraits, some design computers, some fight oil well fires, and some test the taste of tea. What's your choice(s)?
BASEBALL STRIKE OF 1994-95 Do you remember what you did during the baseball strike of 1994-95? Did you cheer for the owners? For the players? Miss going to the games? Did you know there was a baseball strike? Did you care? The baseball players, the owners, the cities, the ticket scalpers (I assume) lost money, as did the television networks. Baseball goes back to the 1820's and 1871 saw the birth of professional league play. In 1890, about 200 major leaguers staged the Brotherhood of Revolt of 1890, but the first strike occurred in 1912 by the Detroit Tigers. Work stoppages occurred in 1972, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990, and of course 1994-95. This was the longest work stoppage in the history of professional sports. The 232-day strike from August 11,1994 to April 26, 1995 cost the owners $700 million during the 1994 season and $300 million for the delay start of the 1995 season. The players' average salaries dropped about 5%, some veterans were released, and some cheaper talent was brought up from the minor leagues. All the "gory" strike and settlement details take up five pages, and there is about one page of "its over" and "implications of the strike" in Paul D. Staudohar's "The baseball strike of 1994-95" Monthly Labor Review v. 120, no. 3 March 1997 pages 21-27 (L 2.6:120/3). It is easy to sympathize with a player/worker trying to get a deserved raise, but baseball players, per the new agreement, having their minimum salaries upped from $109,000 to $150,000 in 1997 could pay for it (sympathy, that is).
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July 31, 1998