Faculty Bibliography

NO ONE was more skeptical about using magnets for pain relief than Dr. Carlos Vallbona, former chairman of the department of community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. So Dr. Vallbona was amazed when a study he did found that small, low intensity magnets worked, at least for patients experiencing symptoms that can develop years after polio. Dr. Vallbona had long been fascinated by testimonials about magnets from his patients, and even from medical leaders. But his interest in magnet therapy became more serious in 1994 when he and a colleague, Carlton F. Hazlewood, tried them for their own knee pain. The pain was gone in minutes. ''That was too good to be true,'' Dr. Vallbona said. First, Dr. Vallbona informally tested magnets on a few patients. One was a priest with post-polio syndrome who celebrated mass with difficulty due to marked back pain that prevented him from raising his left hand. After applying a magnet for a few minutes the pain was gone, Dr. Vallbona recalled, and, ''the priest said this was a miracle.''

Millions of Americans who took either of two diet pills removed from the market in September should get medical checkups for evidence of possible heart damage, Federal health officials said yesterday. Use of the drugs was linked in an earlier study to heart valve damage, and preliminary evidence from five surveys indicates that about 30 percent of those who used the drugs had heart valve abnormalities, although most had no symptoms. The health officials also urged that all users of the drugs -- whether or not they have symptoms of heart disease -- have an echocardiogram before any dental or other procedure for which antibiotics have long been recommended to prevent dangerous infections of a heart valve. An echocardiogram will help determine whether antibiotic prophylaxis is needed, the guidelines said

Millions of Americans who took either of two diet pills removed from the market in September should get medical checkups for heart damage, federal health officials said Thursday. The officials estimated that 1.2 million to 4.7 million people in the United States used the prescription drugs, fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, either singly or with another drug, phentermine, a combination popularly known as fen-phen. Use of the drugs was linked in an earlier study to heart valve damage, and preliminary evidence from five surveys indicates that about 30 percent of those who used the drugs had heart valve abnormalities, although most had no symptoms

In a surprising reversal of longtime health gains, fewer adult Americans are aware they have high blood pressure, fewer are getting effective therapy and more are dying, federal health officials said here Thursday in issuing new treatment guidelines for the ailment that affects 50 million Americans. During the past 25 years, anti-high blood pressure therapies have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest health statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of longstanding high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. The reason for the abrupt reversal is not known, federal health officials and experts in high blood pressure said at a news conference. But they said contributing factors could be an increase in obesity, growing complacency among doctors and patients about high blood pressure, a large number of patients who stop drug therapy because of unwanted effects, such as decreased sexual interest and fatigue, and lack of effective communication to the public

In a surprising reversal of longtime health gains, fewer adult Americans are aware they have high blood pressure, fewer are getting effective therapy, and more are dying as a result, Federal health officials said here today in issuing new treatment guidelines for the ailment, which affects 50 million Americans. Over the last 25 years, therapies to fight high blood pressure have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest health statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of longstanding high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. ''We are very concerned to see this decline in awareness and control,'' said Dr. Claude Lenfant, the director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a Federal agency in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Lenfant and Dr. Edward J. Roccella, who is in charge of the Government's education program on high blood pressure, said the institute was developing new public announcements and a research program intended to improve compliance with therapy, which generally has to be lifelong

In a surprising reversal of longtime health gains, fewer adult Americans are aware they have high blood pressure, fewer are getting effective therapy and more are dying, federal health officials said Thursday in issuing new treatment guidelines for the ailment affecting 50 million Americans. Over the past 25 years, anti-high blood pressure therapies have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of long-standing high blood pressure, also called hypertension. The reason for the abrupt reversal is not known, federal health officials and experts in high blood pressure said at a news conference. But they said contributing factors could be an increase in obesity, growing complacency among doctors and patients about high blood pressure, a large number of patients who stop drug therapy because of unwanted effects, such as decreased sexual interest and fatigue, and lack of effective communication to the public

Over the last 25 years, anti-high blood pressure therapies have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest health statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of long-standing high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension

In a surprising reversal of longtime health gains, fewer adult Americans are aware they have high blood pressure, fewer are getting effective therapy and more are dying, federal health officials said Thursday in issuing new treatment guidelines for the ailment that affects 50 million Americans. Over the past 25 years, therapies against high blood pressure have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest health statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of long-standing high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension

In a surprising reversal of longtime health gains, fewer adult Americans are aware they have high blood pressure, fewer are getting effective therapy and more are dying, federal health officials said Thursday in issuing new treatment guidelines for the ailment that affects 50 million Americans. Over the past 25 years, treatments to reduce blood pressure have led to significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary heart disease. But the latest health statistics show a rise in severe kidney disease and heart failure, a slight rise in the rate of stroke, and a leveling in the death rate for Americans with coronary heart disease. These conditions often occur as complications of long-standing high blood pressure, also called hypertension. The reason for the abrupt reversal is not known, federal health officials and medical experts said at a news conference. But they said contributing factors could be an increase in obesity, growing complacency among doctors and patients about high blood pressure, a large number of patients who stop drug therapy because of unwanted effects, such as decreased sexual interest and fatigue, and lack of effective communication to the public

The World Bank said Monday that the AIDS epidemic is about to explode in China, India and Eastern Europe and threw its political and financial weight behind needle exchanges, condom distribution and other prevention programs. In its first extensive report about AIDS, the bank said it was prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in countries that will implement sound programs to help control the world epidemic, which has infected 23 million people and killed 6 million more. The AIDS epidemic is increasing poverty and decreasing educational opportunities in the developing world, said Martha Ainsworth, a senior economist at the bank. Without condom distribution, needle exchanges and other prevention programs, the epidemic cannot be stopped, she said