FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2002  

1. Gymnastics Strengthens Girls' Bones: Study
2. Advocates Argue Over Genetic Privacy
3. Artificial Heart Patient Celebrates Anniversary
4. Court: Drug Discrepancies Overlooked
5. Chemical Contents of 'Glow Sticks' Appear Non-Toxic
6. Red Clover Can Help Hot Flashes
7. Getting Drugs a Struggle for Safety Net Providers
8. Hey, Doc, My Wrist Hurts!
9. Take Time to Relax, Bank Tells Bosses
10. Migraines a Pain For Kids, Too
11. Fifty Percent of Stalkers Are Ex-Partners
12. Hospitals No Less Safe on Weekends
13. Twins Born to Older Moms at No Greater Health Risk
14. Survey Finds 'Denial Gap' on Drug Abuse
15. Class Action Denied in Rezulin Suit Against Pfizer
16. Young Widowers at High Suicide Risk
17. Bike Handlebars Can Injure Kids' Internal Organs
18. Travel Can Trigger Asthma Symptoms
19. Pig Farmers Found to Carry Swine Flu Virus
20. Child-Resistant Packaging on Aspirin Works: Study
21. Cutting Copper to Combat Cancer
22. Miniature Genetic Test Set to Give Quick Results
23. Internet Sold Cipro, Questionable Anthrax Info
24. Tailored Education Helps Autistic Kids Mainstream
    
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2002  
    
    
25. Experts Outline Cancer, Diet Evidence
26. Body Piercing Plus Heart Defect May Spell Trouble
27. Deaths Prompt FDA Dialysis Warning
28. HRT May Not Interfere with Mammograms: Study
29. Study Looks at Hormone-Cancer Link
30. TV Viewing Time Linked to Kids' Behavior Problems
31. An Unhappy Christmas Story
32. Plaque-Forming Enzyme Rises in Alzheimer's Brains
33. Hey, Don't Just Stand There!
34. Normal Breast Cancer Gene Type Is DNA Fixer: Study
35. Parkinson's Disease Scrambles Brain's Switchboard
36. Genes Key to Stem Cells' 'Stemness' Identified
37. Gene Therapy Creates Natural Pacemaker
38. More Women Getting Adequate Folic Acid: CDC
39. Motorcycle Helmets Save More Than Lives
40. Peanut Allergy from Playing Cards a Losing Hand
41. Tamoxifen Study Raises Risk-Benefit Questions
42. FDA Offers Guidance on Livestock Antibiotic Safety
43. Ex-FDA Consultant Says Agency Too Tight With Drug Companies
44. Ibuprofen Syrup Helps Kids with Hip Inflammation
45. Clot-Busting Drugs Save Heart Attack Victims
46. 'Big Picture' Health Improvements for Americans
47. Gulf War Illness Not Stress-Linked
48. Nonsmokers Respond Better to Crohn's Disease Drug
49. Pregnancy Hormone Levels May Affect Coffee Craving
50. Prostate Cancer Therapies About Equal
    
    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2002
    
    
51. One a day may protect infants from cancer
52. Many Sex Offenders Had Bad Fathering During Youth
53. CPR of Hospital Patients Rarely Successful: Report
54. Flaxseed May Cut Cholesterol Slightly in Women
55. Animal Drug Guidelines Proposed
56. Vitamins C, E May Prevent Artery Damage: Study
57. AIDS Virus Lurks in Fat Cells, French Study Finds
58. Anthrax Treatment in Development by Dutch Firm
59. Overuse of Anthrax Drug May Prove Deadly: Scientist
60. Regular Exercise Tied to Longer Menstrual Cycles
61. 'Biological Pacemaker' Created
62. Early Surgery Shown to Cut Prostate Cancer Deaths
63. Many Italians Have Unhealthy Habits: Survey
64. Smoking Up Among Firefighters Since 9/11 
65. Gene in Rare Disorder May Boost, Cut Cancer Risk
66. Depression Screening Day Set
67. Blood Pressure Test May Signal Diabetic Kidney Risk
68. About Fetal Ultrasound
69. Sell 'Morning-After' Pill over the Counter: Expert
70. Kidneys Are Incredible
    
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2002
    
    
71. British Scientists Develop Quick Test for TB
72. Plant Compounds Keep Disease Away: Study
73. Woman's Dislodged Filling Causes Cluster Headaches
74. Acupuncture as Stroke Medicine?
75. Even Cooked Sausages Can Harbor Salmonella
76. Mixed Reviews for Medical Reporting
77. Correcting Infant Vision Can Stop Further Problems
78. Genetic defects found in cloned animals
79. Routine Smallpox Vaccine Risky for Eczema Patients
80. Surgery Best for Carpal Tunnel
81. Record Number of Japanese Live to 100 or More
82. Tea for Two
83. HRT, Drinking Milk Tied to Cancer Hormone in Women
84. Teens Who Eat Less Meat No Healthier Than Others
85. Use of Drug Khat Up in Some Cities
86. Vaginal Infections Linked to Preterm Birth
87. Study Bursts Nicotine Gum's Bubble
88. Tissue-Seeking Molecules Could Be Drug Vehicle
    
    MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2002
    
    
89. Experts Discuss Better Germ Control
90. Gene-Altered Follicles Grow Glowing Green Hair
91. Doctors Freezing Away Tumors
92. Drugged Out
93. Weight-Surgery Death Sparks Debate
94. Mouse Study Gives Clues to Nicotine-SIDS Link
95. Late Artery-Clearing Procedure May Not Help
96. Docs Use Varying Criteria to Determine Brain Death
97. Test Quickly IDs Fetal Heart Rhythm Abnormalities
98. Anger, Stress Can Trigger Irregular Heartbeat
99. Gender Impacts HIV Blood Levels, Report Says
100. Dogs, Day Care Linked to Kids' Ulcer Bug Risk
101. Vitamin E May Help Keep Arteries Clear in Women
102. Obesity Threatens to Reverse Gains in Longevity
     
     SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2002
     
     
103. AbioCor Heart Patient Nears a Year
104. FDA Calls Botox Ads Misleading, Asks for Fix
105. Check Your Cholesterol
106. Heartburn Woes
107. Hundreds Get Radiation Pills
     
     SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2002
     
     
108. Don't Have a Beef With Your Teens
109. Fighting Foot Ulcers

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2002

Gymnastics Strengthens Girls' Bones: Study

Reuters Health

Friday, September 13, 2002

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Supporting the notion that weight-bearing exercise throughout life can cut the risk of brittle bones later on, a small study shows that young female gymnasts build bone mass at a higher-than-average rate.

Researchers found that girls in competitive gymnastics gained more bone density over 3 years than their non-gymnast peers did. They also put on more lean body mass, which comes mainly in the form of muscle.

Higher-than-average bone mass has also been found in adult gymnasts, and the new findings suggest they may owe this to gains made throughout childhood and adolescence, according to the study authors.

More importantly, such early accumulation of bone density may protect against fractures later in life, they reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

In the US, it is estimated that half of women older than 50 will sustain a fracture due to the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis. Experts believe that one way to prevent osteoporosis is to build bone mass at a young age through regular exercise, particularly so-called "high-load" activities that put more pressure on the bones to work. Gymnastics is one such activity.

In the new study, Emma M. Laing of the University of Georgia, Athens, and her colleagues followed 7 female gymnasts and 10 non-gymnasts over 3 years. At the start of the study, girls in both groups were around 11 years old, on average, and were of a similar weight and height overall. The non-gymnasts were active in other ways, with some regularly participating in basketball, softball, soccer or tennis.

The gymnasts, however, had a higher bone density in the hip, lower spine and thigh, as well as a lower percentage of body fat. And over the 3 years, gymnasts accumulated bone density in several areas at a higher rate than the other girls.

There was no difference between the groups in calcium intake, another important factor in bone mass, the researchers note.

They also point out that previous studies have suggested that female gymnasts have a higher-than-average bone density despite the fact that zealous dieting, delayed growth and irregular menstruation--all of which can signal trouble for the bones--are problems in the sport.

Laing and colleagues suggest that gymnasts' greater accumulation of muscle, which exerts a force on bone during contraction, may explain their sturdier bones.

Source: Journal of Pediatrics 2002;141:211-216.

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Advocates Argue Over Genetic Privacy

By Jesse J. Holland

Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

Friday, September 13, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) - As scientists make daily advances with the human genetic code, Congress should act now to prevent Americans from facing genetic discrimination from employers and insurers, privacy advocates say.

Genetic research could make it possible to identify an individual's lifetime risk of cancer, heart attack and other diseases.

But that same information also could be used by employers for hiring, firing or promotions, or by insurance companies to determine how much to charge for their services or to deny coverage completely, privacy advocates said Thursday.

But health and insurance advocates say there is no proof that anyone would do this, and lawmakers would be moving far ahead of reality by banning the use of genetic information.

"There is a difference between the perception of how medical information is used and reality," said Dr. John Rowe, chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc., which sells health insurance. "The record does not appear to include any identifiable cases in which people have been discriminated against in health insurance because of genetic information."

Rep. Steve Chabot ( news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, acknowledged that discrimination based on genetic information is "highly speculative."

But "if an employer could access information about an individual's susceptibility to disease, that employer might misuse the data to avoid expenses associated with absenteeism, health benefits and risky occupational exposures," he said.

Thirty-one states already have laws against genetic discrimination in the workplace, and 41 states have laws against insurers using genetic information to discriminate, Chabot said.

There's no telling what would happen if patients lose control of their genetic information, said Dr. Deborah Peel of Austin, Texas, representing the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Using a woman going through a divorce as an example, "should the risk of her having breast cancer ( news - web sites) or a mental disorder in the future keep her from having custody of her children?" Peel said. After the divorce, "should genetic testing of the children be used to assess their potential health problems and alter the amount of financial support their mother receives?"

And later, when she needs somewhere to live, "should a mortgage company be allowed to access the results of her genetic testing to assess her life expectancy before deciding to offer a loan?" she asked.

The answer is a federal law that would require people's permission before genetic information is released, said Joanne Hustead, lawyer for the Health Privacy Project and professor at Georgetown University's Institute for Health Care Research and Policy.

Politicians should be especially concerned about how available genetic information is to businesses and the public, because that information could easily be used against them in public elections, Peel said.

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Artificial Heart Patient Celebrates Anniversary

By Susan Nadeau

Reuters

Friday, September 13, 2002

CHICAGO (Reuters) - For Thomas Christerson, the only person living with a self-contained artificial heart, just "taking it easy" is really living.

"I get up, go to coffee, then I come back and just do whatever," he said. "It's so much easier to live, to breathe," he added. "I'm living through great things in life."

Christerson, 71, on Friday celebrated the first anniversary of his new heart. He is the only surviving patient of seven who have had the heart replacement surgery.

The mechanical heart, called AbioCor and 20 years in development by Abiomed Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts, gave Christerson not only a chest full of titanium and plastic but a new lease on life and a certain place in history.

"I might have been dead by now. I would have," Christerson said in an interview taped last week by the hospital where the surgery was performed. "I'm no hero. I just want to live."

Christerson looked healthy and was in good spirits as he celebrated on Friday, eating cake and ice cream with the doctors and nurses at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. He spent months there recovering after the ground-breaking procedure.

Heavy Heart That Whirs

The AbioCor heart is battery-operated and must be recharged often, makes a constant whirring sound, weighs four times as much as a normal heart and is the size of a grapefruit. Yet for all of the inconveniences, it has kept Christerson alive for a year, which meant countless hours with loved ones and the chance to cuddle his first great-grandchild and namesake, Ellen Thomas.

"I didn't have any idea it would last this long. I thought it would give me another 6 months. But I got a year so far," Christerson said in another interview made public by Jewish Hospital. "I'm tickled to death with it."

In the last year Christerson had his share of hurdles--including a fever of 107 degrees Fahrenheit that threatened to push his other organs into failure--but he survived milestone after milestone.

Dr. Robert Dowling, one of the surgeons who performed the surgery, was clearly moved on Friday, calling the accomplishment "mind-boggling."

"This is a huge milestone not only for Tom but for medicine in general," he added.

Others Not As Lucky

Still, six other patients died after receiving the fully implanted heart, some shortly after surgery, with the other longest survivor living nearly 10 months.

The US Food and Drug Administration ( news - web sites) has granted Abiomed permission to implant a total of 15 replacement hearts as part of the initial human trial, but finding the appropriate patients has proven difficult.

The AbioCor is too large to fit in the chests of many men and most women, though a smaller version is expected to enter trials in 2004. Just to be considered for the experimental surgery, patients must be in late-stage heart failure, must have exhausted all other treatment options, and must be nearly certain to die within 30 days. That makes tolerating the necessary drugs or even the surgery itself next to impossible.

"I think you have to realize that everything we are doing is a new experience for all of us, and we are all learning," said Dr. Laman Gray Jr., another of Christerson's surgeons.

While the AbioCor is not approved in this trial to take the place of a human heart transplant, in the long run, the company's goal is to make it another viable option.

Some 50,000 Americans could benefit from a heart transplant, but only about 2,000 donor hearts become available each year. About 3,000 to 5,000 people are on waiting lists at any given time. In addition, an estimated 5 million Americans suffer from some stage of heart failure.

"What this opens up for the future is to have people who currently have no therapy, go and be treated with a support device, and get out and live normal lives, and get out and do what they want to do for a prolonged period of time," Gray said.

The events of the past year have had a profound effect on Christerson and his family, as well as his small Kentucky town of Central City. Last April, people lined the streets to welcome him as he was brought home in a fire engine, sirens blaring.

"The second chance on life has been an awakening for all of us," said Christerson's daughter, Patti Pryor. "It has given us time to gather together and have special moments."

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Court: Drug Discrepancies Overlooked

By Josh Freed

Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

Friday, September 13, 2002

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A drug company salesman decided not to bother investigating discrepancies connected with a pharmacist later found to have diluted drugs prescribed to cancer patients, according to court documents released Thursday.

"I decided that I'm tired of monkeying around with missing data and having to find it and all of this," Eli Lilly & Co. salesman Darryl Ashley said in a deposition.

Ashley said he made "a conscious decision" to spend his time telling doctors about Lilly's drugs, "not to go around and try to find invoices, not to find who's doing what."

The deposition was among a foot-thick stack of documents unsealed by a judge Thursday in litigation against Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Information contained in most of the other documents had already been released in one form or another.

"We actually are happy now to have our documents out so the public can see that in fact there is not one single piece of evidence that Lilly knew about Courtney's actions," Lilly attorney Marie Woodbury said Thursday.

Several hundred cancer patients have sued the companies, which they claim knew or should have known that Robert Courtney was diluting their medications. One of the suits is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 7.

Courtney pleaded guilty in February to charges of diluting cancer medications at a pharmacy he owned. He awaits sentencing.

Court documents show that in 1998, Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb noticed discrepancies between the amount of drugs sold to Courtney and the amount of drugs prescribed to cancer patients.

The drug companies say the discrepancy was just a problem with the collection of drug sales data.

Ashley said he did not confront Courtney about the discrepancy because he had avoided dealing with the pharmacist, whom he considered unethical. Ashley said Courtney had lied to him to get prices he then used to negotiate with another company, according to an earlier motion filed by the plaintiffs.

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Chemical Contents of 'Glow Sticks' Appear Non-Toxic

Reuters Health

Friday, September 13, 2002

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children or adults who inadvertently ingest or otherwise come in contact with the glow-in-the-dark chemicals inside "glow sticks" or "light sticks" are not likely to be harmed, according to two doctors at the New York City Poison Control Center.

Although the material inside the glowing plastic rods, which are also sold as jewelry and are popular at festivals, sporting events and dance parties, is typically considered to be minimally toxic or non-toxic, there is a dearth of scientific evidence to support this view.

To investigate, Drs. Robert J. Hoffman and Lewis S. Nelson evaluated reports of pediatric and young adult exposure to the chemiluminescent products at their poison control center between January 2000 and April 2001. Their findings are published in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

During that time, 118 cases were reported: 108 included ingestion, 9 involved eye exposure, and 1 case involved skin exposure. Most exposures were among kids under age 13, but the group included 18 teens and 4 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

In all, only 27 patients exposed to an open container that leaked the glowing chemicals developed symptoms, which included irritation at the site of exposure. Four of the children experienced other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and an impaired ability to taste.

A total of 12 reported swallowing intact glow sticks but none reported symptoms when they visited the poison control center or when contacted later. Also, no patient in the study required laboratory evaluation or hospital admission, the researchers add.

"Although we cannot declare that exposure to chemiluminescent products is free of potentially serious consequences, our data demonstrate that reported exposure to such products is unlikely to result in significant morbidity or mortality," the authors conclude.

Source:: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2002;156:901-904.

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Red Clover Can Help Hot Flashes

HealthScoutNews

Friday, September 13, 2002

FRIDAY, Sept. 13 (HealthScoutNews) -- A dietary supplement made from red clover provides relief for women with hot flashes, claims a new study.

Promensil, a standardized red clover supplement, reduces the frequency and severity of hot flashes, say the research, which appears in the current issue of The Female Patient.

The study found that 40 milligrams a day of Promensil reduced hot flashes by 48.5 percent, while a placebo offered a 10.5 percent reduction.

The study included 30 healthy, non-vegetarian women who had been post-menopausal for more than a year. None of them had used hormone replacement therapy (HRT), soy or other estrogen-active plant products for at least 16 weeks.

Non-vegetarian women were used in the study to avoid potential biasing. Vegetarian women eat more soy and legumes, which contain isoflavones that help control hot flashes.

"This study demonstrates that dietary supplementation with red-clover derived isoflavones is an effective alternative for symptomatic relief of vasomotor symptoms in post-menopausal women, reducing both the average daily frequency and severity of hot flushes," says study author Dr. Arturo Jeri, director of the climacteric unit at the Institute of Gynaecology and Reproduction in Peru.

More information

Here's more on red clover.

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Getting Drugs a Struggle for Safety Net Providers

By Karen Pallarito

Reuters Health

Friday, September 13, 2002

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In large cities across America, "safety net" providers are leaning heavily on free samples and manufacturer-sponsored charity programs to get the prescription drugs that patients need, a new study finds.

Even with those options, community health centers (CHCs) and others that provide care to the uninsured find that obtaining necessary medications for their patients remains a struggle, researchers report in the September/October issue of the journal Health Affairs.

"The way that the uninsured are getting access to pharmaceuticals is extremely patchwork and full of potential holes," said Suzanne Felt-Lisk, lead author of the study and senior health researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington. "Given the critical nature of pharmaceuticals to health, we ought to have a better way of doing that."

Providers in the five-city study complained that the process of qualifying patients for drugmakers' charity programs is administratively "cumbersome" and that those programs generally limit the amount of medication provided to a 1- to 3-month supply before requiring additional documentation.

Safety-net hospitals "are increasingly dependent on pharmaceutical company patient assistance programs," agreed Ted Slafsky, director of the Public Hospital Pharmacy Coalition in Washington. While the programs are "often very helpful," they typically require a tremendous amount of paperwork and are very difficult to access, he said.

Felt-Lisk and colleagues at Mathematica and the Urban Institute Health Policy Center initially set out to examine changes in safety-net providers' capacity to serve uninsured, low-income patients in their communities. "And pharmaceuticals just kept popping up as an issue," she said.

"People over and over said it's not enough to even have access to see the doctor.... If you can't get the medication to help your condition, you're not even halfway there," she told Reuters Health.

Through telephone interviews and site visits, the research team gleaned some of the ways that safety-net providers lay their hands on outpatient medications or funding for pharmaceuticals and the stumbling blocks encountered along the way.

Almost all providers indicated that they rely heavily on pharmaceutical assistance programs, and many said they take advantage of free samples. "One provider noted that his son in private practice sends all samples he receives to a CHC in Kansas City," the research team writes.

Another source of funding for outpatient drugs is the federal 340B program. Named for a section of the Public Health Service Act, it requires pharmaceutical manufacturers, as a condition of participation in the Medicaid program, to provide discounts on drugs purchased by public hospitals and clinics. Several providers in the study said they rely on grants and government assistance to buy drugs for their patients.

To keep costs down, many said they prescribe older medications and generics. Some safety-net providers worried that patients were going without needed medicines or using drugs sparingly. Others said their patients take "suboptimal" medications for cost reasons.

Unable to compete with the more generous salaries offered in the private sector, several safety-net providers also reported difficulty recruiting pharmacists. A CHC in Detroit temporarily closed its pharmacy until it could fill the post.

Felt-Lisk and colleagues worry about the long-term implications of providers' heavy reliance on drugmakers' voluntary prescription assistance programs. If market conditions turn up the financial heat on drugmakers, companies could decide to cut those programs, she said. "There's no legal obligations for them to be doing this."

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Hey, Doc, My Wrist Hurts!

HealthScoutNews

Friday, September 13, 2002

(HealthScoutNews) -- An old joke: "Hey, Doc, when I bend my wrist like this, it hurts." Doc: "Well, don't bend it like that!"

That's a simplistic -- but realistic -- answer to the question "How do I prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?"

CTS, a painful, sometimes crippling result of too much repetitive stretching of tendons and ligaments in your wrist, has spurred an enormous amount of research over the past 25 years.

Government statistics show that complaints of CTS have increased rapidly since the 1980s.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "disorders associated with repeated trauma" account for about 60 percent of all occupational illnesses. Of these disorders, carpal tunnel syndrome is the condition most often reported.

Computer typists are probably most often associated with CTS. But butchers, dental hygienists, electronic assembly workers and cooks also are frequently treated for symptoms.

Since CTS is caused by repetitively making the same motions of the wrist, avoiding precisely the same motions time after time can help to ward off the problem.

Once it's been diagnosed, a broad assortment of treatments are available, ranging from medications to surgery.

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Take Time to Relax, Bank Tells Bosses

Reuters

Friday, September 13, 2002

LONDON (Reuters) - Stressed British bosses should eat more fruit, drink more water and play squash with clients to resist the ravages of long working hours, Abbey National bank suggested on Thursday.

The recommendations, which also included cutting out chocolate and crisps and learning to delegate, were part of a 10-step plan the bank issued to help bosses relax and improve their health.

The move followed a survey that found 56% of bosses felt stress was making their personal or family life difficult, while more than 1 in 10 said their health was deteriorating.

"We found that senior staff often work 70-hour weeks and are then too stressed to unwind properly. This is taking a heavy toll--our work is being put before our health," said Gary Hockey-Morley, director of Abbey National business.

Only 1% of top staff take regular exercise and 58% feel the best way to relax is to eat out, the survey of 500 companies with up to 250 employees found.

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Migraines a Pain For Kids, Too

HealthScoutNews

Friday, September 13, 2002

(HealthScoutNews) -- A surprising number of children -- more than eight million, or 15 percent of all children by age 15 -- suffer from migraine headaches, according to the American Medical Association.

For many, these severe headaches often stop as their young sufferers grow into adulthood. But they often return in middle age.

Before puberty, migraines hit boys as often as they do girls. But as with adults, girls are the main victims among adolescents. And 70 percent of all youthful sufferers have a family history of migraines.

Physicians believe the cause of migraines is the same in children and adults, but the former often exhibit different symptoms. Lacking is the visual aura adults often report. Most common symptoms among kids include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, increased urination, sweating, thirst, and swelling and tearing.

Children often stop having migraines within a year, even without treatment. But to reduce their impact, doctors usually recommend maintaining regular bedtime and mealtime schedules. Also important, doctors say, is identifying and avoiding the "triggers" that spur a migraine's onset.

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Fifty Percent of Stalkers Are Ex-Partners

Reuters

Friday, September 13, 2002

LEICESTER (Reuters) - Fifty percent of stalkers are former partners who harbor a bitterness or hatred for their victims and are likely to use violence and threats, a British psychologist said on Thursday.

They tend to be hostile, hot-headed and impulsive and may recruit friends and families in their campaign, Dr. Lorraine Sheridan said in a report presented at a science conference.

The professor of psychology at the University of Leicester in central England compiled personality profiles of stalkers, who fall into four types, for law enforcement officials after studying 124 stalking cases.

"It can help investigators to prioritize from the large number of potentially important factors present in any given case," she said in the report.

Sheridan found that 50% of stalkers are ex-partners, 18.5% are infatuated with their target, 15.3% are delusional and do not respond to reason or rejection, and 12.9% are sadistic and obsessed with their victim.

The popular perception of stalkers is of mentally ill people following celebrities, royalty or strangers. But research has shown that many stalkers know their victims.

Sheridan said the profiles are important because they can enable police and legal officials to understand the motivations behind various stalking activities.

"This is especially important given that the same behaviors may present different levels of danger when perpetrated by different stalker types," she explained.

An infatuated stalker and a sadistic stalker may both send flowers and letters to get information about their victims.

"However, the motivations for these acts differ markedly," Sheridan added.

A US study estimated that 8% of women and 2% of men have been stalked at some time during their lives.

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Hospitals No Less Safe on Weekends

HealthScoutNews

Friday, September 13, 2002

FRIDAY, Sept. 13 (HealthScoutNews) -- If you end up in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) on a weekend, there's no need to worry about the level of care you'll receive because there are fewer hospital staff on duty.

Researchers at the University of Iowa and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City found the risk of death for people admitted to ICUs from Friday to Monday was 9 percent higher than the risk for people admitted from Tuesday to Thursday.

They also found the hospital stays of people admitted to the ICU Friday through Monday were about 4 percent longer than the hospital stays of people admitted mid-week.

However, those differences probably have more to do with the condition of the patients than with hospita