Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 28, 1992 TAG: 9201280364
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BRIEFS
Fix boo-boos with glowing words of healingJohnson & Johnson, those folks in New Brunswick, N.J., who have been making Band-Aids since 1920, have come up with a new twist in bandages: multicolored ones that glow in the dark and have "kidspeak" words such as Dude, Tubular, Awesome and Yo on them.
Johnson & Johnson representatives say they surveyed youngsters in the 6-11 age category to determine 10 of the most popular words they use, but ones that are "most foreign to parents."
To achieve the best glow, the new Band-Aids must be exposed to sunlight or other bright light for several minutes, company representatives say.
The glowing Band-Aids (suggested retail, $2.49 for 30 of the 3/4-inch wide, 3-inch long bandages) are available nationwide in drugstores and supermarkets. - Los Angeles Times
Nip it in the bud
The best bet for colds and flu is prevention. Vaccines are widely available for influenza, and they are 65 to 85 percent effective in preventing infection. No vaccines exist yet for the common cold. Because of the numerous strains of cold viruses, researchers believe it will take years before any type of immunization could be developed.
What they are striving for in the meantime is a way to make colds symptom-free. Studies at the University of Virginia show that one in every four people infected with the rhinovirus shows no symptoms.
Many of the cold symptoms are a result of the body's reaction to the virus, said Jack Gwaltney, head of the Division of Epidemiology and Virology at the University of Virginia's Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville. If scientists can figure out how to tone down that response, he said, "maybe one day we could all get colds and not know that we had them." - The Washington Post
The ABCs of therapy
For a young child about to embark on psychological counseling, the world can become full of anxious questions. Trying to allay those anxieties, two psychologists, Marc Nemiroff and Jane Annunziata, have written "A Child's First Book About Play Therapy."
Using large type and colorful illustrations, the authors take children ages 4 to 7 through the process of play therapy, a form of psychotherapy in which children convey their emotions by playing with dolls and toys.
Though the book's main audience is children, it ends by alerting parents to warning signs of psychological problems. The book can be ordered from the American Psychological Association, P.O. Box 2710, Hyattsville, Md., 20784, telephone (703) 247-7705.
Dr. Robert Schachter, a child psychologist and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, said that by reading the book with the child "the parent is saying, `This isn't a bad thing and this is something we're going to do together.' " - The New York Times
CPR technique advance
Cardiac patients in hospitals have a better chance of surviving a heart attack if rescuers use a form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation that applies pressure to the abdomen as well as the chest, a new study has found.
During the six-month study conducted at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., 135 resuscitation attempts were made on 103 patients, according to the report published in the Jan. 15 Journal of the American Medical Association. About 25 percent of the patients receiving abdominal compressions survived and were later discharged from the hospital, compared with a 7 percent survival rate for patients receiving only CPR.
Abdominal compressions work by increasing pressure throughout the circulatory system and improving blood flow to vital organs, the study's authors say.
If future studies with more patients show similar results, the evidence may warrant a change in CPR guidelines. Although the abdominal technique in the study was performed with two people it could easily be done with one person. One hand would remain on the chest while the other was placed on the abdomen over the belly button. The compressions would be administered using a seesaw or rocking-horse motion. All other CPR procedures would remain the same. - The Washington Post