Health & Wellness
althbe
i her
is found
stomach
her!
5, Greece (AP) - A 9-year-old girl
i hospital in central Greece suffe
l was found to be carrying her
rs said last Thursday.
s at Larissa General Hospital e
gically removed a growth they
?> an embryo more than two incl
r could see on the right side that
a, but they couldn't suspect that this
: an embryo," hospital director
I said.
( made a full recovery, he
l Markou, head of the hospital's
I the embryo was a formed
I eyes, but no brain or ut
said cases where one of a
other in the womb occurs
niths.
family difl not want to be
; said
will help local fight
substance abuse
t Carolina Coalition Initiative
Center of Wake Forest Ur
Medicine has received a two->
funding initiative from the N.C.
t to support local substance abuse <
i state history.
NCCI is grant funded by the N.<
t of Health and Human Services, ]
Health, Developmental Disabilities
: Abuse Services (DMHDDSAS). 1
assistance is provided by the
Center. The NCCI's mission
abuse ih communities by
of Community coalitions to
i, population-level prevention
:ited about this new initiative, 1
communities deal with the
> abuse," said Mark Wolf son, 1
ive director.
i said the NCCI Cooidinating '
nts to community ]
i will receive up to !
? build community i
ons will receive extensive
to help them
said . Community .
America (CADCA),
).C., is a partner in this i
of three weeks of I
: months to help prepare t
$57;
protests spitting]
l (AP>- A gay-rights group is
r prison sentence given to an I
i convicted of spitting on a .
ic health officials say the risk
i AIDS virus from |
low.
convinced a
that the man's
a deadly
I the long
appropriate,
spit into the -
mouth of a
while he
public
2006, the offi
42, had been in prison twice
i a habitual offender subject to a i
lyears.
Centers for Disease
I says no one has ever contracted tbe,j
Anderson, the HIV projects
1, a gay-rights group, said th* ;
wrong impressions about how "
ey Craig Watkins said "it i
nt intended to cause
.fn?
patients hai
removed
i growing number of women
I cancer seem to be choosing tc
t removed instead of just the
8 reporting.
? were standard treatment I
showed that women
i confined to the breast did \
! radical surgery followed I
1 of more women choosing I
it ,||M
' of about 5,500 women at i
t, Minn., shows that I
. Doctors say there are si g
: around the country, too.
was released last Thursday ?
y of Clinical Oncology an "
group's annual meeting
Clinic study, about 45
' patients chose mastectomies
I to only 30 percent in 2003, the
S, 43 percent were opting for I
[LjBH
Family walks for cure to
REMEMBER ONE OF THEIR OWN
o
Young walkers Gah'ques Ligons, Tasiana Andrews and Gjerria Ligons Jr.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
A family used the May 3 Susan G. Komen
Race for the Cure event at Old Salem as a way r>
to honor a loved one who passed away from
breast cancer,
The family of the late Alphlonia "Peaches"
Perkins Gywn, who died March 6, 2006, took
part in the annual event, which has raised tens of
thousands of dollars for breast cancer research.
Gywn's family members are no strangers to the
walk; they have taken part each year since she
passed away.
This year, about 15 family members walked
the three-mile trek, including men, women, boys
and girls of various ages. The youngest partici
pant was two-year-old Tasiana Andrews, the
great niece of Gywn and the daughter of Terry
and Stacy Andrews, walked the whole three
miles, non-stop. Other walkers were amazed by
the little girl's determination and cheered her
along as she made her way to the finish line.
Each year, the family wears matching t
shirts to honor Gywn. Arnita Perkins Ingram,
Gwyn'-s sister, designed this year's shirts.
The family said the walk was both joyous
and memorable, and they vow to continue to
take part in the event as a tribute to their beloved
"Peaches."
'Clumped' blood
may contribute
to sickle cell pain
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
It's long been knowri that patients with
sickle cell disease have malformed, "sick
le-shaped" red blood cells - which are nor
mally disc-shaped - that can cause sudden
painful episodes when they block small
blood vessels. ?
Now, researchers at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of
Medicine have shown that blood from sick
le cell patients also contains clumps, or
aggregates, of red and white blood cells
that may contribute to the blockages.
The study, published on-line April 18 in
the British Journal of Haematology, marks
the first time that aggregates made up of
red blood cells and white blood cells have
been found in whole blood from sickle cell
patients. The study also shows how the red
and white blood cells adhere to one anoth
er: the interaction is mediated by a particu
lar protein, integrin alpha four beta one.
First author Dr. Julia E. Brittain, a
research assistant professor in the medical
school's department of biochemistry and
biophysics, s^id further study could lead to
new treatments for the disease. "If the
blockages are caused by these chunks of
aggregates that are circulating in the blood,
and we know how the aggregates are stick
ing together, we potentially could design
drugs to disrupt the aggregates so that they
pass through the blood vessel more freely,"
she said.
Normal red blood cells don't interact
with white blood cells. But Brittain first
showed in lab tests with isolated cells that
young red blood cells (reticulocytes) would
interact with white blood cells and form
aggregates with them. Then, she looked for
such clumps in blood samples from 14 peo
ple with sickle cell disease. All the patient
samples studied had clump9, though some
had only a few, while others had thousands.
She didn't see clumps in samples from
patients without sickle cell disease.
Brittain said other researchers may
have disrupted the aggregates because
blood collection tubes usually contain an
anticoagulant that ties up calcium, which
often plays a role in cell adhesion. She saw
the aggregates only when she used an anti
coagulant that doesn't remove calcium.
Brittain and her colleagues plan further
study of the phenomenon, including the
conditions that might determine the num
ber of aggregates in the blood, and whether
they are affected by the drug hydroxurea.
which is commonly used to treat sickle cell
disease.
Nutrition & Diabetes
This article was previously
run in The Chronicle by the
Maya Angelou Research Center
on Minority Health. It is being
re-run to correspond with the
Center's current series on dia
betes.
Diabetes is a growing prob
lem in our country. According
to the latest statistics, nearly 21
million people have diabetes,
many of whom don't even know
they have it. Diabetes is the
sixth leading cause of death in
the United States. Rates of the
most common form of diabetes,
known as Type 2 diabetes, have
risen dramatically in the last
twenty years. Unfortunately,
African Americans are not only
more likely to develop Type 2
diabetes, but they are also more
likely to suffer from some of the
ltfl
health problems associated with
diabetes, such as amputations,
kidney disease and blindness.
Heart disease, the leading cause
of death among people with dia
betes, also has a big impact in
African American communities.
Recent research has shown
that working with a health care
provider team to control blood
sugar, cholesterol and blood
pressure, is very important in
successfully managing diabetes
and avoiding these serious com
plications. According to the
American Diabetes Association
(ADA), diet can play a big role
in this management strategy.
The ADA recommends a num
ber of tips:
? Limiting the amount of
calories, fat and saturated fat in
your diet is one key. "Limiting"
these foods means eating lean
meats, fish or poultry, choosing
reduced fat snacks, and cutting
back on added fats such as but
ter or mayonnaise.
? Limit the portion sizes of
your meals, especially when eat
ing out, is very important.
Eating foods that are high in
fiber also helps keep the blood
sugar down and gives you that
feeling of "fullness" so you can
See Diabetes on All
School system smoking out smokers
Ban in Winston-Salem/ Forsyth County schools coming in July
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
will soon be a tobacco- free school system.
A new policy that prohibits the use of
tobacco
products by
anyone on
any proper
ty owned
or leased
by the
school sys
tem will go
into effect
July 1.
Though
students
have been
prohibited
from using
tobacco
products in
schools for
many
years, staff
and visitors
have been permitted to use tobacco products in
designated outdoor areas. Last year, the N.C.
General Assembly passed the Tobacco Free
School Law. which forbids the use of tobacco
products by anyone at any time on school
property.
Staff and visitors will notice the following
policy changes:
? Tobacco products will not be allowed to
be used at any time by staff, visitors, contrac
tors or students.
? The policy will apply to all school-owned
or school leased property, including buildings,
grounds, busses, fleet ?cars, ball fields and
other facilities.
? Any property owned by the school system
will be tobacco-free.
Any other property used or leased for
school-sponsored or school-related events will
become 100 percent tobacco-free for the dura
tion of those events.
The school system's employee benefits
program will offer free services and products
to help employees quit their tobacco use.
These include the North Carolina Quitline.
which^offers free quit assistance seven days a
week, 8 a.m. to midnight. Employees can
access the service online at
http://www.quitnownc.org. Professional quit
counselors are trained to help tobacco users
work through the process.
Free nicotine replacement patches are
available for employees who subscribe to the
N.C. State Health Plan. The plan will waive
the co-payment for generic, over-the-counter
nicotine patches for employees if they use the
Quitline or receive smoking-cessation counsel
ing from their health-care provider.
4