!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CHANCE News 1.05
(1 Oct to 7 Oct 1992)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ARTICLES ABSTRACTED
>>>>>==========>> Coffee gets all-clear in heart disease probe. Press Association Newsfile, 4 October 1992 Report of a study by a Toronto team led by Martin Myers that claims to show that coffee is not a risk factor for heart disease. The study is reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The article also reports that a group at Commonwealth University, in Virginia, conclude from their study that moderate consumption of caffeine drinks does not significantly increase the risk of heart problems. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Polititcal analysts debate value of polls. The Christian Science Monitor, October 1 1992 Linda Feldmann Some experts give advice on how to make the use of polls less destruction and more constructive as they appear in the public press. The experts themselves question whether their wisdom will be headed pointing out that the recommendation after the 88 elections was to have fewer polls and, in fact, we have more. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Smoking. Is it a habit or is it genetic. The New York Times, Good Health Magazine, October 4 1992 Laura Mansnerus A fascinating article on recent studies that show that a correlation between smoking, and depression. Studies using twins have suggested that neither is the cause of the other. Some researchers believe there is a genetic disposition for both smoking and depression. An excellent article to show the complexity of sorting out causes and the putting together of a lot of studies to try to come up with a theory. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Courts reject DNA fingerprinting, citing controversy after NAS report. Nature, 1 October 1992 Chrisopher Anderson An account of the effect on the courts of the National Academy of Science report on proper use of DNA fingerprinting. the article remarks that "The California Court of Appeals, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the US District Court of Guam have all ruled (citing the NAS report and the accompanying controversy) the scientific uncertainly over the role of population substructure in calculating the chance of DNA matches is too great to pass the so- called Frye test." <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Randomized Controlled Trials: Lessons from ECMO. Clinical research (current issue) Robert D. Truog A prize winning paper on some of the ethical problems involved in randomized clinical trials. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Issues in Human Immunodefficiency Virus (HIV) screening programs. American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 136, No. 2 Sin M. Tu, Eugene Litvak, and Marcello Pagano A discussion of the problems involved in screening when you have a situation such as HIV where the false positive results can be as high as 90 percent in low-risk populations. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> Fighting the breast cancer panic. Vogue, October 1992 This article asserts that advertisements for screening mammography give the impression that all women should have mammogramphy and that this leads to women in their twenties having mammography that are very likely unnecessary and which can have negative effects. It is suggested that this is to some extent the result of hospitals having too many mammography machines and having to scramble for potential patients. A detailed discussion for the benefits and the risks of mammograms is provided for women in the different age groups. <<<========<<
>>>>>==========>> HIV-Free AIDS reports. Science, 25 September 1992 Letter from Peter Duesberg An offer to provide "a list of references to more than 800 HIV-free immunodeficiencies and AIDS-defining diseases in all major American and European AIDS risk groups and also references to more than 2200 HIV-free African AIDS cases that all meet the World Health Organizations definition of AIDS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHANCE News 1.05 (1 Oct to 7 Oct 1992) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please send suggestions to: jlsnell@dartmouth.edu