Newspaper Page Text
10
May 18, 1995
Commonly used chemicals shown to
damage nervous system
Twocategories of chemicals used
to manufacture common goods
such as paper, plastics, paints and
shoes, can daniage the nerves in
the hands and feet much like dia
betes, poisons and even chemo
therapy.
That commonality is providing
research ground for a Medical
College of Georgia
neurotoxicologist studying the
way the central nervous system
controls the most-distant extrem
ities and how disease and chemi
calsinthe environment can weak
en or destroy that control.
“The number of compounds out
thereis growingimmensely,” said
Dr.DaleW. Sickles. “The last guess
istheremay be asmany as 250,000
different chemicals in the envi
ronment that can produce a vari
ety of different types of
neuropathies.” Nerve problems in
workers who help manufacture
many of these compounds have
been documented for 30 years;
that’s about how long scientists
have been trying to find out how
these agents dodamage, Dr. Sick
le said.
He’s hopeful that his work—
based on thetheory thatthechem
icals derail the normal communi
cation process between the brain
and the hands and feet—will yield
a test for neurotoxicity as it pro
NHLBI enlists area doctors for national study
-4
Vp science
30| & medicine
The National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI) has enlist
ed the help of local physicians in the
largest clinical trial ever conducted
of drugs to control high blood pres
sure and high blood cholesterol.
The study’s results could affect
the treatment of millions of Ameri
cans — about 50 million have high
blood pressure, or hypertension,and
about 52 million have high blood
cholesterol.
“The results of this trial are
eagerly awaited by doctors every
where,” said Dr. Claude Lenfant,
director of the NHLBI. “The trial
will assess the benefits of differ
ent types of drugs used to treat
high blood pressure, and of one
used for high blood cholesterol.
“We could not accomplish this tri
al without the commitment of the
participating physicians,” Lenfant
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
vides a model for studying similar
changes that occur with disease.
Victims of chemical exposures
or diseases such as diabetes may
lose their ability to detect pain,
temperature and touch in their
hands and feet, may begin to lose
coordinated muscle function and,
eventually, may become para
lyzed.
“If you can determine all the
different sites at which toxicchem
icals can affect this particular pro
cess and cause these nervestodie,
then you can eventually screen
new chemicals that come out and
prevent these types of injuries,”
the researcher said.
“It has been suggested that ex
posures to environmental chemi
cals can contribute to
neurodegenerative disease seen
laterinlife. Some populationstud
ies have found evidence that envi
ronmental factors are associated
with diseases such as Parkinson’s
and Alzheimer’s. It may be that
environmental agents kill a lot of
neurons over time and it’s the
cumulative effect of that destruc
tion that makes the person sus
ceptible to these degenerative dis
eases,” Dr. Sickles said.
He believes these chemicals in
terfere with the normal transport
system, called axonal transport,
that carries chemicals produced
continued. “The trial is a huge un
dertaking. Altogether, it involves
about 400 doctors and 40,000 pa
tients nationwide, including more
than 60 Veterans Affairs (VA) phy
sicians and thousands of American
veterans.
“About 55 percent of the patients
will be African Americans, who are
especially vulnerable to developing
high blood pressure and its compli
cations.”
TheNHLBIis partoftheNational
Institutes of Health (NTH), located
in Bethesda, Md. The NIH is a Fed
eral agency that supports biochem
ical research, including basic, clini
cal, and epidemiological studies.
VA doctors and patients are par
ticipating in the trial under the aus
pices of the VA Medical Research
Service, an agency of the Veterans
Health Administration, which sup
ports a wide range of medical re
search.
Called the “Antihypertensiveand
Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Pre
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by the central nervous system on
the long journey out to the hands
or feet. A tiny motor protein drags
the chemicals stored in vesicles
(sacs) down a track of microtu
bules to the hands or feet. “The
protein motors are directly affect
ed by these toxic chemicals,” Dr.
Sickles said.
“The job of these protein mo
torsistotransport proteins down
to the distal nerve. By compro
mising that, you are decreasing
the amount of supplies to the
nerve and it eventually dies. If
these nerves die, you lose sensa
tion, become very uncoordinated
and eventually paralyzed if you
lose enough of them. Anything
which compromises oxygen or
energy supplies to these nerves
will also produce this type of de
generation.”
In his work, funded by the Na
tional Institute of Environmen
tal Health Sciences, Dr. Sickles
is assembling and disassembling
pieces of the 30-year-old scientif
ic puzzles. “We are actually puri
fying these proteins and putting
them back together and getting
them to function. We can actual
ly see them functioning on a com
puter-assisted visualization sys
tem. (Then) we can expose them
to the chemicals and watch them
dysfunction (malfunction).”
vent Heart Attack Trial,” or
ALLHAT, the NHLBI study will
cost about SBS million and will last 9
years.
High blood pressure and high
blood cholesterol increase the likeli
hood of heart disease, the leading
cause of death in the United States.
Stroke, kidney disease, and other
vasculardiseases alsoaremorelike
ly in persons with these conditions.
Treatmentforbothconditionstyp
ically starts with lifestyle changes,
including increased physical activi
ty and weightlossfortheoverweight.
A healthy, low-saturated fat, low
cholesterol eating plan is advised
and, for high blood pressure, avoid
ing excess salt and sodium, and lim
iting alcohol consumption.
When those changes do not lower
blood pressureorcholesterol enough,
then drug therapy is needed.
Drug therapy for high blocd pres
sure once involved few choices be
sides diuretics. But other drugs are
also now used, including calcium
I HINGITT
A GURE OR A GURSE?
The chemical compounds he’s
studyingare literally everywhere.
Acrylamide is used in water puri
fication plants to help remove par
ticles, “It's used in the mining
industry where they pump it into
the soil where it solidifies and
hardensthe soil. It's used in paper
manufacturing; it hardens paper,”
Dr. Sickles said. “There are hun
dreds of thousands of tons of this
manufactured évery year.” Hex
anes, organic solvents used in
paint, glue and shoe manufactur
ing, are likewise common.
Acrylamides are a documented
hazard to those involved in their
production, but the hardening
compound is probably not much of
adirect hazard toconsumers, who
usually are exposed to it after it’s
polymerized, a chemical reaction
in which two or more small mole
cules combine to form a larger
molecule, Dr. Sickles said. The
Environmental Protection Agen
cy is currently analyzing whether
acrylamide should also be classi
fied as a carcinogen, Dr. Sickles
said.
Hexanes may be a more direct
threat to consumers depending
on the product, he said, noting
that long-term glue-sniffing, for
example, can resultin nerve death
in the nose, as well as the hands,
feet and spinal cord.
channel blockers, alpha blockers,
and angiotensin-convertingenzyme
(ACE)inhibitors. Somebelievethese
three newer drugs better reduce
heart attacks or have fewer adverse
side effects than diuretics. But the
claims havenotbeen provenandthe
newer drugs can cost much more
than diuretics.
Similarly, new lipid-lowering
drugs are now being used to lower
high blood cholesterol. While they
work well, they have not been shown
to reduce heart attack deaths and
deathsfromall causesinolderadults
with modest cholesterol elevations.
Both highblood pressureand high
blood cholesterol strikehard atolder
adults. For this reason, patients en
rolledin ALLHAT need tobe atleast
age 60. They also must have met
other requirements. Once in the
study, they receive free medication.
Patients interested in finding
out more about ALLHAT are en
couraged to check with their doc
tors.
MEDICAL DIRECTORY
An Area Guide of
Dental, Medical and Chiropractic Services
CARDIOLOGY
Mac Andrew Bowman
MD,FACC
818 St. Sebastian Way
(706) 724-4400
CHIROPRACTIC
Scruggs Clinic
1926 Thomas Lane
(706)733-8008
Dr. William B. Scruggs, DC
DENTISTRY &
ORTHODONTICS
Eddie Johnson, DMD
27558art0n Chapel Rd.
(706) 790-9179
DeborahY.Makerson
1119 Druid Park Ave.
(706) 737-6453
W.J. Walker, Jr., DMD
1518 Laney-Walker Bivd.
(706) 724-9691
Jack W.Carter
456 Fury's Ferry Rd.
(706) 650-0468
No-needle electrolysis
method proven effective
7
Straight hair follicle
DALLAS
Ingrown hairs cause skin prob
lems for many African Ameri
cans, and now there is a way to
eradicate them according to the
inventor of Guaranty Hair Re
moval No-Needle Electrolysis
(GHR).
Judith Stephens, certified clin
ical electrologist, invented the
needle-free form of electrolysis
in 1983. Permanent hair remov
al has been done traditionally
with needle electrolysis, a tech
nique that employs a fine needle
inserted into each hair follicle.
However, she points out, a nee
dlecan’tbeinserted into a curved
hair follicle.
The GHR device uses electri
cal current directed to the hair
root, but no needle is used. The
operator uses a tweezer to grasp
hair that has been softened and
conditioned using GHR treat
ment procedures to make it less
resistant to the flow of current.
Prostatectomy offers hope
HOUSTON
Patients with clinically localized
prostate cancer, who undergo re
moval of their prostates, have a sev
en-in-10 chance of remaining can
cer-free the rest of their lives. Ifthey
remain cancer-freeforsixyears, they
will likely remain so for life.
That’s the conclusion of a first
ever study of cancer recurrence
among patients who have under
goneradical prostatectomy, said Dr.
Ozdal Dillioglugil of Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston.
“Since a hazard rate that falls
steadily to zero or negligible levels
suggests that the cancer was com
pletely eradicated, theseresultsalso
FAMILY HEALTH
Carey Goodman
MD, FAAFP
1203 George C. Wilson Dr.
(706)855-1454
Elijah Lightfoot Jr., MD
1021 Laney-Walker Bivd.
(706)724-1206
Audrey Henderson, MD
3623 J. Dewey Gray Circle
Suite 113
(706) 860-4567
HOME CARE
Care Management
Consultants
Juanitaßenjamin
(706)737-8830
OBSTETRICS/
GYNECOLOGY
Eddie Cheeks, MD
1903 Wrightsboro Rd.
(706)736-2737
Calvin Hobbs, MD
1903 Wrightsboro Rd.
(706)736-2737
|
b
i Curved hair follicle
The current then travels down
the interior hair shaft cortex to
the hair root, which is perma
nently decomposed.
The GHR method is different
from other methods, according
to Ms. Stephens, because of its
“permanent” hair removal sub
stantiation. In Augusta 1990 the
Food and Drug Administration
ruled that the GHR device is
substantially equivalent to le
gally marketed hair removal de
vices such as electrolysis devic
es. \
“What makes this hair removal
technique sounusual —and effec
tive—is thatthe hairitselfreplac
esthe needle,” says Ms. Stephens.
“Hair is a semi-conductor. Once
hair is made less resistant, it can
carry current straight toits target
—the hair root.”
Ms. Stephens has distributors
all over the world who use her
equipment. For the nearest loca
tion call 1-800-833-4471.
support the effectiveness of radical
prostatectomy in the treatment of
prostate cancer,” Dillioglugil said.
The study is important not only
because of the hope it offers men
suffering from prostate cancer, but
also because the information can be
used to cut medical costs by helping
physicians know at which point con
tinued follow-up care is unlikely to
be needed. |
“Hazard-rate studies have com-|
monly been used in cancer research;
ofotherkinds,” Dillioglugil said. “But}
tothebestofourlmowledgethisis!
the first such study of prostate-can-|
cer patients who underwent radical
prostatectomies.” ‘
OPHTHALMOLOGY
Keith C. Moses
3515WheelerRd. '
Bldg. D, Suite D
(706) 736-0601
PEDIATRIC
MonicaC. Greene, MD
523 15th St. :
(706)722-1026 !
2572 Dover St.
(706)560-0014
OPTOMETRISTS
CasellaEye Center, PC
767 Broad St. :
(706) 722-0817 e
PHYSICAL i .
THERAPY
Waltonßehabilitation
Hospital ‘
1355IndependenceDr.
(706)724-7746
For information on this listing,
contact Augusta Focus, 1143
Laney-Walker Blvd., Augusta, Ga.
30901 or phone (706) 724-7855.