Medicine: Capsules, Oct. 22, 1956

• Share

¶Dental injections with improperly sterilized needles are frequently responsible for the transmission of hepatitis, warned Dr. Francis Foley and Dr. Ralph Gutheim of the Rochester (N.Y.) General Hospital. During a two-year study the doctors detected 15 cases of hepatitis that had been transmitted during the injection of procaine before a tooth extraction. Three of the cases were fatal.

¶Sloan-Kettering Institute's Director Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads announced that he and fellow researchers had confirmed the long-suspected existence of a "cancer-immune mechanism" in normal human cells. In a series of tests at Ohio Penitentiary begun last spring (TIME, June 4), laboratory-cultivated human cancer cells were transplanted to 14 cancer-free convict volunteers. Similar transplants had previously grown well in patients already suffering from cancer. But in the healthy convicts they "evoked a most vigorous, inflammatory reaction," and "were promptly rejected and disappeared." When the mechanism that rejects the cancerous cells is finally identified it could lead to a chemical cure of cancer, Dr. Rhoads believes.

¶After generations have testified that mother's milk is best for babies, scientists have discovered one more reason why: it contains more protein-dissolving enzymes than other milks. Armour & Co., sponsors of the research, hope to boost sale of cow's milk to which such enzymes are added.

¶In the air man breathes a small proportion of all the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen are ionized by cosmic rays—they become positive ions if they lose an electron, negative ions if they gain one. Philadelphia researchers have found that almost two-thirds of hay fever victims won quick relief in air that was heavily negative-ionized, snuffled and sneezed far more in air that was artificially positive-ionized. As a result, Philco Corp. plans to market a negative-ionizing air conditioner. ¶Automobile-accident victims often report "brain concussions" and are admitted to hospitals for study, but in 30% of cases studied by Manhattan Psychiatrist Joost A. M. Meerloo they prove to have no physical injury. Instead they are suffering from mental shock. His prescription : mental first aid by any available doctor soon after the accident to save victims from neurotic guilt and horror feelings.