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duke uniucttsity mc6icM ccnteR
VOLUME 22, NUMBER 17
APRIL 25,1975
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Immune System Clock
Marks Death’s Approach
THREE MEMBERS OF THE HAWKINS FAMILY—Since this is National Secretary
Week. INTERCOM felt that hard-working medical center secretaries should occupy
a prominent position in the attention of Duke employees in this issue. We
persuaded Jeannie Hawkins, secretary to John D, Shytle. assistant vice president
for business and finance, to serve as our model. With Ms. Hawkins are her son
David and one of her oldest friends. Sheba, an 11-year-old palomino mare which
she has raised from a six-month-old filly. The young mother said she and Sheba
have been together so long, they know what each other is thinking. She also said
that life is "like a butterfly — brief, bright, but with a few dark spots. Before her
husband James and son David came along. Sheba helped her hurdle the "dark
spots" successfully. (Photo by David Williamson)
For more than a decade, researchers
have said that a genetic clock built into
our cells may determine how long we
live.
Now a Duke specialist on aging
reports that the immune system may
signal when that clock is running down.
Dr. C.E. Buckley III. an associate
professor of medicine, brought up this
possibility last week at a symposium in
Miami. He said he and Dr. Jeffrey M.
Roseman found a link between immune
system strength and survival in a study
of 39 aged men and women.
Laboratory tests performed in 1967
showed how well the subjects' immune
systems were working. The study
participants were 73 to 91 years old at
the time.
The Duke doctors noted a direct
relation between how strong a subject’s
immune system was and how many
years he lived after 1967. Those with
strong systems lived as long as eight
more years, Buckley said. Those with
weaker systems died much sooner,
being more vulnerable to
life-threatening diseases.
The doctors also found that data on
blood pressure, age, race and sex —
traditional risk indicators — were
useless in trying to predict how much
longer a subject would live.
This suggests. Buckley said, that the
immune system may influence which
elderly people live on and which die.
The study results could point to a
genetic clock at work, he said, because
"immune capacity is genetically
controlled."
A person over 72 whose immune
system remains vigorous may have
inherited a life-span clock that takes
longer to run down, he said.
"People who have long life-spans
arise from parents who have long
life-spans." he pointed out.
The study has important implications
for physicians who treat the elderly.
Buckley said.
"It indicates that measures of
immunity in extremely old persons
provide a way of identifying those
New Williams Ward Visiting Hours
Established To Safeguard Infants
In an effort to prevent newborn
babies from acquiring infections in the
hospital, a committee of pediatricians,
nurses and administrators have
established a new visiting policy for
Williams Ward.
"Everyone wants to see the mother
and her new baby. ' said Dr. Roberta
Smith, unit physician for the Full Term
Nursery and one of the committee
members. " It s exciting, and it's only
natural.
"But the newborns are more
susceptible to infection than older
children and adults, and so we re
asking for everyone’s cooperation in
observing the new regulations.
At some time in the past, everyone
connected with the mothers has been
guilty of ignoring the visiting
regulations including hospital
personnel—senior staff physicians,
residents, medical students, nurses,
environmental service workers, etc..
she said.
" That s simply got to stop, the
physician added.
The new regulations provide that the
father of an infant and one other person
designated by the mother may visit on
Williams between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m..
Dr. Smith explained. Grandparents may
visit between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. while
the infant remains in the nursery.
If the grandparents wish, they may
view the baby through the nursery
windows during that time.
Friends and families of women who
are on the ward prior to giving birth may
also visit between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m..
provided that only two people enter the
mother s room at a time.
Babies will be shown after admission
from Carter Suite (the delivery area) to
those family members who are at the
hospital at the time of delivery. This will
t)e a brief show at the nursery windows
unless the infant’s condition dictates
otherwise.
Exceptions to the visiting policy will
{Continued on page 4)
individuals who need maximum health
care.” he said.
The measures of immunity the Duke
doctors looked at were levels of three
immunoglobulins — protein substances
the body makes to fight disease.
Length of survival was tied to two of
the three, called IgG and IgM, Buckley
and Roseman discovered.
"Those individuals who died early
had relatively low levels of IgG and high
levels of IgM. ” Buckley explained.
IgG is the '"janitor" of the body, he
said. It "cleans up ” viruses, bacteria
and fungi throughout the body. IgM. on
the other hand, is more like a street
cleaner. It '"zips around" fighting
disease in the blood vessels, he said.
A high level of IgM means an older
person's immune system is relying
primarily on that substance, the
professor said.
"At this point, death is not far off." he
said. "This change suggests that the
biological clock is winding down. ”
Trash Search
Reveals Lower
Waste Levels
Following up on an earlier
investigation made in January, Frank
Braden, assistant administrator for
patient services, and several
undergraduates searched all hospital
trash delivered to the compactor near
the old hyperbaric chamber during a
single day.
The second search, which took place
in March, was made to determine if the
$1,100 worth of unused hospital
supplies found during the first search
was unusually high or average for the
15-hour period.
"We re not throwing away nearly as
much as we thought, ” Braden said.
"Our findings were a whole lot better."
The total value of items recovered
was $180.
Like the first search, the trash was
checked starting with the initial run at 8
a.m. and continuing until the final run at
10:45 p.m. All trash bags were labeled
so that they could be identified by work
areas.
Again, the largest percentage of
valuable items were recovered from the
trash early in the morning before 9:30
a.m., indicating that these supplies had
been discarded during the night shift.
Included on the list of unused,
reusable or repairable supplies were
bottles of Acetest reagent tablets, bars
of soap, towels, syringes, pillow cases,
pencils, bandages, sponges,
dinnerware. toilet paper rolls, catheters
and surgical gloves.
Braden said a third search of hospital
trash will be made to determine if the
March results were unusually low.
" There was such a difference in our
findings, we want to try again so that
we II get a true picture of the amount of
materials being wasted." he said.