Medicine: Capsules, Aug. 30, 1954

¶ An armor vest was recommended for U.S. civil defense by Army doctors reporting on its success in Korea. There, the 8-lb. nylon vest defeated two-thirds of all body hits by shell fragments or low-velocity bullets. The doctors reason that it should work as well in bombed cities, where most injuries are caused by flying debris.

¶ Instead of waiting to compile statistics on what people die of, the Washington State Health Council ran a survey to find what makes them go to a doctor at any time of life. Main findings: they go an average of 4.8 times a year, and the commonest reason (one-sixth of all visits) is for a checkup. Though heart and artery diseases are the leading cause of death, they rank fourth among reasons for seeing the doctor; mental illness is fifth.

¶ The controversial enzyme trypsin (TIME, Jan. 18) got a boost from doctors in Philadelphia General Hospital: injected into the buttocks, it is the best treatment yet for a black eye. It leaves the rainbow hues as gorgeous as ever, but it reduces swelling "in a manner verging on the dramatic."

¶ British researchers reversed the usual order, tried a dog-reducing diet on humans first. Rusks fortified with calcium and amino acids, they found, will streamline anything from a Falstaff-size human to a dachshund in two weeks.

¶ A machine called the Arithmometer, about the size of a table radio, has been developed at Boston Blood Grouping Laboratory to count the cells in a patient's blood. Using a simple mechanical scanner, it is more accurate than the fallible human eye and brain, reduces the count time from five minutes to a minute.