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BLOOD TRANSFUSION
by Janet Spencer
TO THE RESCUE • For centuries, doctors tried to heal illnesses through blood-letting, feeling that sickness was caused by imbalance of the body’s fluids and that draining blood would help. Blood-letting didn’t fall out of favor until Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, and Robert Koch proved that disease comes from microbes. Now physicians began studying what happened when you added blood to a sick or injured person instead of subtracting it. • In the early 1800s, London obstetrician James Bundell worried about the number of women who died of blood loss after giving birth. He experimented with blood transfusions and made several discoveries: First, that only human blood should be transfused into other humans, and not animal blood; second, that blood transfusions did not cure any illness aside from blood loss; third, that transfusing blood into someone who was dead would not revive them. However, Blundell never understood why some transfusions were successful and others a failure, often ending in death. (turn the page for more!)
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Vol 2 Issue 15
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Tidbits of The Pass Area
Vol. 2 Issue 15
BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS (continued) • Austrian pathologist Karl Landsteiner researched why blood transfusions would sometimes kill the recipient, and other times would save them. In 1901 he took blood samples from various people and added them to blood samples drawn from other people. Sometimes the red cells clumped up, sometimes they burst, and sometimes nothing happened. Landsteiner first thought that some blood was “sick” and other blood was “healthy” but further research showed that there were different types of blood, which he labeled type A, type B, and type C. He then studied the different blood types, laying the groundwork for much that was to come. • A red blood cell is shaped like a flattened donut without the hole. A protein inside the red blood cell called hemoglobin collects oxygen in the lungs, delivers it to the body’s cells, and then carries carbon dioxide away, to be exhaled through the lungs. But there are different types of red blood cells, determined by different types of proteins that adhere to the outer surface of the flattened donut, like different types of sprinkles: Type A blood has a certain kind of proteins that stick to the outside of the red blood cells, and Type B blood has a different kind of proteins sticking to the cells. If a person with Type A blood receives Type B blood in a transfusion, or vice-versa, it triggers an immune response. • Landsteiner thought Type C blood had a third kind of protein sticking to the red blood cells, but later found it has no proteins sticking to it at all—it’s a flattened donut without any sprinkles. Then he found a fourth kind of blood, which had both Type A protein and Type B protein adhering to it. He called this Type AB blood. Landsteiner realized he needed to re-name his Type C blood in order to indicate that this type of blood has no proteins sticking to it at all. He re-named it Type O (continued next page)
Skillet Cornbread This delicious homemade cornbread is baked in an oven-safe skillet -- preferably one that's heavyweight, such as cast iron. 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 2 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 4 tablespoon margarine or butter, cold 1 can (8 1/2 ounces) cream-style corn 1 large egg, beaten 2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno chiles, shredded 1. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease 10-inch skillet with oven-safe handle. 2. In large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and black pepper. With pastry blender or 2 knives used scissor-fashion, cut in margarine or butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. With fork, stir corn, egg and cheese into flour mixture just until blended (batter will be very stiff). 3. Place greased skillet in oven; preheat pan 5 minutes (to help brown bottom of corn bread). Remove pan from oven; spoon batter into skillet and spread evenly with small metal spatula. 4. Bake cornbread 15 to 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cornbread is just firm to the touch. Cut into 8 wedges and serve warm. * Each serving: About 290 calories, 9g total fat (3g saturated), 34mg cholesterol, 375mg sodium, 44g carbohydrate, 1g dietary fiber, 7g protein. For thousands of triple-tested recipes, visit our Web site at www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipes/. (c) 2019 Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
Week of May 5, 2019
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BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS (continued) • Since Type O blood has no proteins, it can be given to people of all blood types without triggering an immune response, since it’s the proteins that act as the allergen. Type O blood is called the “universal donor.” People with Type AB blood do not suffer ill effects when they receive Type A blood, or Type B blood, or Type O blood, and they are known as “universal receivers.” • Landsteiner was studying the blood of rhesus monkeys when he found that some of them had another type of protein adhering to their red blood cells, while others did not. He then found that humans also either did, or did not, have that identical protein. He called this new protein “the Rh factor” after “rhesus.” • People who are Rh positive cannot receive blood from donors who have Rh negative blood, and the other way around as well. In fact, women who were Rh negative often had trouble when they were pregnant with Rh positive babies until it was discovered that an injection of a blood product called Rh immune globulin would prevent problems. The discovery of the Rh factor brought the number of blood types to eight. • The most common blood type in humans is O-positive (37.4%) and the rarest blood type is AB-negative (0.6%). • Landsteiner also discovered that he could find out a person’s blood type from a single drop of dried blood, laying the groundwork for forensic science. Later it was found that blood types are inherited from parents in predictable patterns, leading to the ability to find out who the father of a child was likely to be. Landsteiner won the Nobel Prize for his work. • Dr. Reuben Ottenberg at Mount Sinai Hospital discovered how to easily cross match a patient’s blood type to the blood type of the blood donor. Blood typing became common in the 1920s. (continued next page)
Vets Left to Suffer When Nurses Steal Painkillers
A registered nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center took vials of liquid morphine and other opioids from locked medical carts, painkillers that were intended for patients. He left behind in the vials a saline solution, basically saltwater. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison for tampering with a consumer product and acquiring a controlled substance by deception and subterfuge. That's it? Two years? He could have gotten 10 years in a federal prison and a fine of a quarter million dollars on the first count alone, with four years and another quarter million on the second, and they let him off with two years? That's not the only case of short prison sentences for stealing painkillers from veterans. A nurse at another VA hospital stole opioids, specifically hydromorphone, morphine and fentanyl. The vials were refilled with saline and put back in the automated medication management machine. She was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Sometimes the thieves don't even get prison time. An ICU nurse stole drugs and didn't bother to show on her application that she been fired from another hospital. The nurse was caught after she tampered with the override feature on the medication dispenser and took drugs such as morphine and oxycodone. In a single month she had overridden the machine 19 times. She was sentenced to two years probation for two felonies. In one of the more gut-wrenching cases, in a VA medical hospice in New York, a nurse stole painkillers from dying patients and replaced them with Haloperidol, an anti-psychotic, which did nothing to relieve their suffering. He admitted to doctoring at least 25 syringes of oxycodone hydrochloride, used to treat moderate to severe pain. The patients were World War II and Korea-era veterans. He was sentenced to only 82 months in prison.
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To Your Good Health By Keith Roach, M.D.
B-12 Shot Paralyzes Arm DEAR DR. ROACH: Two years ago at my yearly physical, my doctor said I was low on vitamin B-12 and that the only way to increase it was through a shot in the arm. I received my first shot that day, and my arm was paralyzed for four days. I went in a week later for my second shot, only to have the same thing happen again. I didn't get any more shots. It still hurts to this day, even though an MRI shows nothing wrong. The specialist says it was just coincidence. I cannot hold my arm over my head or stretch it out. What's your take? -- D.R. ANSWER: Well, I don't believe it was just coincidence. Nerve damage following injection is extremely rare, but it sounds like what you are describing. This can be due to direct trauma to the nerve by the needle, or by an inflammatory reaction. The treatment is physical therapy, but unfortunately for you, it works best if begun right away. I still think it is worth your while, however. Also, vitamin B-12 deficiency absolutely can be treated with oral vitamin B-12. Although pernicious anemia, the most common form of vitamin B-12 deficiency, is due to poor B-12 absorption, this can be overcome simply by giving much more B-12 than the body usually needs. A dose of 1 mg daily by mouth is a safe, inexpensive and effective treatment for vitamin B-12 deficiency. Many of my patients still want the injection, however, even though it seems inexplicable to me. DEAR DR. ROACH: Yesterday, while walking barefoot in my
Tidbits of The Pass Area
back yard, I stepped on a bee. This has happened to me before, and it seems that each time the results are a little worse. After I removed the stinger from the underside of one of my toes, I put ice on the sting and took a Benadryl. Since this happened in the evening, I was able to elevate my leg for the rest of the night. In the morning, the area was swollen, red, hot and painful. Now, after my usual three-mile morning power walk, the swelling and soreness is spreading up my foot. I am notorious for going barefoot and stepping on bees. I just know this will happen again. Do you have any suggestions for what might help prevent a bee sting from going "viral"? ANSWER: Your best bet is not to get stung in the first place, which for you means not stepping barefoot where bees might be. It's particularly important for you, as local reactions to bee stings do tend to get worse over time. Fortunately, they do not usually predict the life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. Once stung by a bee, remove the stinger, within seconds if possible, since the venom can continue to be released for several seconds. The local reaction usually lasts less than a day in most people, but it can last up to five days. The reason the swelling and soreness spread after your walk is that the exercise and increased blood flow to the area allowed the venom to move to different areas, and the inflammatory response also progressed. I would recommend that you continue cold compresses and avoid your power walks for at least another day or two after a sting. Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med. cornell.edu. (c) 2019 North America Synd., Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Vol. 2 Issue 15
BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS (continued) • Why are there four different blood types? It’s because of genetic mutation and evolution. Type A blood is the most ancient, and all humanoids had Type A blood as the species began to evolve. Around 3.5 million years ago, Type B blood was a genetic mutation, followed a million years later by Type O. The reason these mutations flourished and were passed down through successive generations has to do with disease resistance. • Cells infected with malaria don’t stick well to Type O red blood cells, so people who have Type O blood are less affected by malaria and have better odds of surviving in order to pass on their blood type to their children. Similarly, people with Type AB blood are more resistant to cholera. Gradually entire populations where cholera was common began to have largely Type AB blood, while people who lived in malaria-prone areas had mainly Type O blood. FURTHER ADVANCES • The advent of World War II prompted the invention of blood banks. Doctors in Russia pioneered the practice of shipping stored blood to the battle front so that blood would be taken to the wounded soldier instead of the wounded soldier being taken to the hospital in order to receive blood. • Plasma is the amber liquid component of blood that transports red blood cells. Plasma can be easily freeze-dried, shipped long distances, stored for long periods at room temperature, and reconstituted with sterile water. Plasma can be transfused into any human regardless of their blood type. Red blood cells must be handled gently and kept either refrigerated or frozen. Therefore plasma is commonly used for transfusions involving cases of trauma, hemophilia, and burns, while whole blood is transfused only in cases of excessive blood loss.
scam, involving doctors, company executives, call centers, 130 companies, bribery, kickbacks and more.
Medicare Scammed Out of $1.7 Billion
Scammers have billed Medicare $1.7 billion in phony invoices for selling hundreds of thousands of us pieces of medical equipment we don't need. Federal agencies have brought charges for peddling unnecessary braces for knee, wrist, shoulder and back. How did this happen? We answered TV and radio ads aimed at Medicare beneficiaries. By calling them for more information, we were offered "free" devices we didn't need. Per the Department of Justice news release, medical doctors were bribed into prescribing the devices to patients they had never even met or those they'd only talked to via brief phone conversations. Once we gave them our Medicare numbers and personal information, our calls would be switched to a foreign call center, and they were then able to bill Medicare. It was a complicated
Scary, isn't it? If you see an ad on TV about free medical equipment you can get because you're on Medicare, write down the information and give it to your doctor. Ask whether that device or service is something you really need. If it is, and if it's something approved by Medicare, you can still get it for free. In fact, whether it's for free medical equipment, or insurance coverage, or for any reason, if it's related to Medicare, all the scammers really want is your Medicare number. In other Medicare scams, they'll call you and say they need to update your information, including your bank account number where your Social Security is deposited. Whether they use sympathy, offers of help or aggressive tactics ... don't let it fool you. Hang up. Remember, once the scammers have your Medicare card number, they can use it again and again. (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
Week of May 5, 2019
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1 In 2017, Washington's Max Scherzer became the 10th pitcher with at least three Cy Young 1. Awards. Name two of the four pitchers to win more than three. 2. The Seattle Mariners played their first major-league season in 1977. In what year did they record their first winning season? • On May 19, 1588, the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon on a mission to secure control of the English Channel and transport a Spanish invasion army to Britain from the Netherlands. The Invincible Armada consisted of 130 ships and carried 2,500 guns and 30,000 men. • On May 18, 1593, an arrest warrant is issued for Christopher Marlowe after fellow writer Thomas Kyd accuses him of heresy. Kyd had been arrested because of heretical documents found in his room, but he claimed they belonged to Marlowe, his former roommate. • On May 16, 1849, the New York City Board of Health finally establishes a hospital to deal with a cholera epidemic that would kill more than 5,000 people. The city was ripe for an epidemic because of poor health conditions and its attraction for immigrants from around the world.
3. Name the last time before 2017-18 that the Army football team had back-to-back undefeated seasons at home. 4. Tim Duncan retired in 2016 as one of three players to be named college basketball player of the year, NBA Rookie of the Year and MVP of both the All-Star Game and the NBA Finals. Name one of the other two.
5 Which of these franchises was the first to win a Stanley Cup -- the Boston Bruins or the Chicago Blackhawks? 5. 6 Name the last country before Russia in 2018 to host the men's World Cup soccer event and score at least eight 6. goals in the first two games. 7 Who was the first woman to earn the chess title of grandmaster in tournament play? 7. 1. Roger Clemens (seven Cy Youngs), Randy Johnson (five), Steve Carlton (four) and Greg Maddux (four). 2. It was 1991, when the Mariners were 83-79. 3. It was 1984-85. 4. Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. 5. The Bruins won a Stanley Cup in 1929, five seasons before the Blackhawks did it. 6. Italy, in 1934. 7. Susan Polgar, in 1991.
• On May 17, 1885, the Apache chief Geronimo again breaks out of an Arizona reservation, fleeing with 42 men and 92 women and children, and sparking panic among Arizona settlers. Geronimo surrendered in September 1886.
by Jo Ann Derson
• On May 15, 1941, the turbojet-propelled GlosterWhittle E 28/39 aircraft flies over Cranwell, England, in the first test of an Allied aircraft using jet propulsion. It reached a top speed of 370 mph at 25,000 feet.
• "Large dogs can benefit from a raised water and food bowl. Why not make it pretty at the same time by putting a stainless-steel bowl into a decorative planter? Find a planter and bowl that have the same size opening. Your pup will thank you." -- I.B.B. in Georgia
• On May 14, 1973, Skylab, America's first space station, is launched into orbit around the Earth. Eleven days later, U.S. astronauts rendezvoused with Skylab, repairing a jammed solar panel and conducting scientific experiments during their 28-day stay.
• "Here's a novel way to store your skewers that's both handy and safe: Once they are clean and dry, wrap in plastic wrap. They will stay together, and the plastic can save you from being poked by the ends when they're loose in the drawer." -- T.H. in Arkansas
• On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded at St. Peter's Square in Rome by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca. He claimed that he had planned to go to England to kill the king but couldn't because there was only a queen and "Turks don't shoot women." (c) 2019 Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• The secret to avoiding stains on your carpet is to get to spills right away. If you have a liquid spill, remove as much of the liquid as you can, then spray the stain with a solution of half vinegar and half water. Let it sit for two minutes, then blot with a towel. If it's solid food, try using a plastic card to scrape it up from underneath so it doesn't get ground in. Then follow the same steps as for a liquid stain. • "It's better to use a dry, lint-free cloth to clean your DVD player and other electronics. Moisture will damage your electrical circuits, so no spray cleaners. But there is one thing you can spray into those cracks to help you clean: canned air! It's is a great alternative for dislodging dust from vents without risking your tech. While you have it out, you might try 'dusting' the headphone and charging ports on your cellphone, too." -- M.F. in Oregon
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• "Need sliced mushrooms for your salad or recipe? They are hard to cut, but you might have the perfect tool for doing the job already in your kitchen. If you have an egg slicer, get it out. It works very well for mushrooms, and it's easier to use than trying to cut those slices yourself." -- J.R. in UtahSend your tips to Now Here's a Tip, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803 (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Tidbits of The Pass Area
Vol. 2 Issue 15
1. Is the book of Judges in the Old or New Testament or neither? 2. From 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ..."? Independence, Freedom, Patriotism, Liberty 3. Which scripture contains, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"? Ruth 4:10, Job 7:2, Psalm 23:4, Amos 1:1 4. Though lame on both feet, what descendant of Saul continually ate at King David's table? Mareshah, Methusael, Micah, Mephibosheth 5. Under what type of tree would the children of Israel come to Deborah for judging? Palm, Sycamore, Fig, Cypress 6. From Matthew 8, who was the first woman that Jesus healed? Paul's sister, Naomi, Peter's mother-in-law, Deborah 1) Old; 2) Liberty; 3) Psalm 23:4; 4) Mephibosheth; 5) Palm; 6) Peter's mother-in-law
Visit Wilson Casey’s Trivia Fan Siteat www.patreon.com/triviaguy. Š 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
Week of May 5, 2019
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Do Dogs Really Know What We're Saying? DEAR PAW'S CORNER: Settle a bet for me. Can dogs really understand human speech? Or are they reacting to other signals when we give them commands (like a hand signal that's repeated at the same time as the sound we make)? -- Jerry in Seattle DEAR JERRY: You may have lost that bet. A study in 2016 found that dogs do indeed understand human speech, and that their brains process language in very much the same way that human brains do. The left side of a dog's brain processes the meaning of the words being spoken, while the right side of the brain processes the emotional intent. Of course, this understanding worked mainly when words were used that the dogs were familiar with, like "good boy" and "well done." And dogs responded most strongly when a familiar word was matched with equal intent: for example, saying "good boy" in a way that clearly praises the dog. They also responded much better to praise than to criticism (and honestly, who wouldn't)? If they didn't understand the word being used, but the intent was clear, they responded -- though not as enthusiastically. So yes, as any dog owner who has ever had to spell out the word W-A-L-K to keep their pet from dashing toward the leash will tell you, dogs do understand us. How can pet owners use this information to better relate to their dogs? It certainly can help when training a pet. Using positive praise, consistent words and keeping that training fun and happy will ensure that dogs learn faster and respond positively to commands. Try it out. Send your questions or pet care tips to ask@pawscorner.com. (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Vol. 2 Issue 15