Itching

Your article on itching captured well the misery and often resigned agony suffered by those of us with chronic itchy spots ["The Relentless Itch," April 2]. However, like most pieces on the subject, you focused on drugs and chemicals and did not even mention the only 100% effective relief I've ever found: a cold, wet compress. Not a long term solution, but enough to get to sleep -- and that's a blessing. ROGER WALTON North Hills A couple of years ago, I suffered from widespread persistent and severe itching.

Lisa Lillien has the world on a plate. The Los Angeles author and entrepreneur sits atop the multimillion-dollar "Hungry Girl" empire that includes TV shows on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel, several bestselling cookbooks and a daily email blast that tops 1 million subscribers. Lillien is a genius at finding low-calorie ways to scratch a craving itch and then sharing them with her legion of fans. Her new book, "Hungry Girl to the Max," features 650 guilt-free recipes, many that are fewer than 200 calories per serving.

beginning, perhaps, as a little tickle, hardly noticeable. Maybe you're in an important meeting and you don't want to fidget. Or maybe your hands are full. So you try to ignore it, but the sensation grows -- an irritating, niggling feeling that gradually occupies more and more of your attention. Finally, you can't take it any longer. You have to scratch the itch.

No sensation better captures the powerful interplay between mind and body like the humble itch. A new study turns up copious evidence to suggest that merely seeing someone else scratching can induce itchiness. And it demonstrates that a person's propensity to "catch" someone else's itch reveals a lot about his or her personality. Even more than yawning and laughter, the urge to scratch can be socially contagious, the new research reveals: Among subjects who saw videos of other people scratching themselves, 64% did the same (seeing another yawn reportedly induces contagious yawning in 40% to 60% of cases, and studies have found laughing induces a contagious reaction 47% of the time)

Motley Crue producer Tom Werman calls Motley Crue one of a kind (Calendar Letters, Nov. 30), but it is just one of hundreds of fake heavy-metal bands that have jumped on the "Let's-Dress-Up-Since-We-Don't-Really-Know-How-to-Play" bandwagon. Stop in at the Troubadour or Gazzari's to see the new "Motley Crues" just itching to get signed by a label based on their looks rather than their talent. Give me a break. JOHN FLITCRAFT West Los Angeles

On the third day of silence and meditation, I said just 14 words, all of them in the course of chopping vegetables for dinner. Days two, four and five were not much different. I'm not the quiet type. But this was my idea. So earlier this year, I drove most of a day to reach Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County to immerse myself in the practice of mindful meditation. To be still, clear of worry over career, my teenage sons' futures, the renovations of our old house. To see whether I could stop -- just stop -- for five days and perhaps for a little bit each day afterward.

It was my freshman year of college, and my expectations were being met — college was turning out to be the best time of my life — until I developed psoriasis. For spring break, I went to New Orleans to help rebuild homes, but when I returned, I had an itchy rash on my chest and neck. I didn't think much about it, figuring that maybe I'd picked up something in Louisiana. I tried over-the-counter cortisone cream for the itching, but practically overnight the rash grew and covered most of my chest, neck and jaw. Campus health services diagnosed the rash as psoriasis — and my life would change forever.

The confident smile Sam Rivero wore as he hunted for his first house had a lot to do with the buzz thumping in his ears. Ever since home values began sinking, pundits have touted the juicy opportunities for aspiring buyers priced out of the market before, and the young business-development executive heard that cue like a sonic boom.

One of the most intriguing things about the new crime drama "Pawn" is Michael Chiklis' British accent. It's not that it's particularly bad or good, but every time he speaks - which is a lot - it does make you wonder why ? The movie is a bit like that accent and joins the pantheon of mildly entertaining thrillers having a go at the domino logic we've seen so often in these movies, starting with that classic flaw in the criminal mind that makes two-bit thugs think they can outsmart compromised cops.

The first outbreak was devastating enough. But within weeks came another outbreak. Then another and another. For Gina Caprio, then 22, the virus that causes genital herpes was nightmarish, "like my life was over." An antiviral drug managed to keep the virus under control, preventing recurrences, but she had to take it every day, year-round.

UCLA appears to be facing an Oregon State team chock-full of eager Beavers. Oregon State has played only once in three weeks, as its opener against Nicholls State postponed. The Beavers are coming off a bye week. “I love hitting people,” Oregon State defensive end Dylan Wynn told the Oregonian. “I love just being on the field and not getting in trouble for hitting people. The more away from it you are, the more you want it. " Oregon State manhandled Wisconsin, 10-7, in its only game.

In an anonymous strip of commerce in West L.A., beside a small bakery and a pet hospital, is a tribute to a staple of hip-hop and dance culture - the turntable. Up to 20 sets of hands turn wax-coated records into art inside the industrial, graffiti-painted walls of the Scratch DJ Academy. In a world where "Jersey Shore" cast member Pauly D "spins" for a Britney Spears tour and takes home a seven-figure paycheck, and Conor Cruise, the 17-year-old son of Tom Cruise, books gigs on the Hollywood and international club circuits as C-Squared, the programmable iPod has made it so just about anyone can pose as a spin master.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. That's the moral of the story in "Bedbugs," a disturbing new novel by Ben H. Winters. The book chronicles the horrific events surrounding the Wendt family's move to a brownstone that is renting for an unbelievably low price in a trendy Brooklyn neighborhood. What appears idyllic soon turns into a creepy-crawly nightmare. The brownstone at 56 Cranberry St. is rented to the Wendts by a daffy old widow named Andrea Scharfstein, who lives on the ground floor.

Arun Mandal is a master of the universe, masala style. At 28, the New Delhi resident has a well-paying job in finance, a car of his own, a flat-screen TV and an expensive cellphone. Global economic contagion? The way he sees it, India is pretty much immune. With each passing year since India opened its economy in 1991, it's been more exposed to international downturns. But it's got some pretty good trump cards to counter the overseas turbulence right now, including the muscle of 1.2 billion increasingly monied people with a taste for shopping.

I still remember the moment in my childhood in which I lost all faith in the innocent purity of plants. One day, I was a carefree adolescent at summer camp, exploring the leafy woods with my fellow campers. A couple of days later, I was an illustration for a medical textbook. "The worst case of poison ivy I've ever seen!" the camp nurse told the other staffers as she trotted me and my dime-sized blisters around for inspection. OK, I kind of enjoyed the attention. The slightly awestruck reaction.

If you've had it, you would know. Chronic itchiness -- often the result of skin conditions such as psoriasis , eczema or allergies -- disrupts sleep, dims pleasure and limits activities. Just as much as chronic pain does. Now it's official: A study published online this week by the Archives of Dermatology has found that those who suffer from unrelenting itch, generally for six months to a year, have been brought every bit as low by their condition as have chronic-pain sufferers.

Dave Gold launched his 99 Cents Only Stores empire in Los Angeles at age 50 after mulling over the idea for over a decade. The thrifty entrepreneur took the dollar store concept and introduced it to middle-class and upscale neighborhoods. In the process, he created a chain that has become a mainstay for families squeezed during hard times or those who simply love a good bargain. Gold died Monday at his Mid-Wilshire home from an apparent heart attack, said his son, Jeff Gold. He was 80. Long before dollar stores dotted many street corners, Gold opened the first 99 Cents Only store in Los Angeles in 1982.

The concept of the seven-year itch was permanently etched in the minds of American moviegoers when Marilyn Monroe starred in a movie of the same name. Monroe played a voluptuous model about whom a husband fantasizes after his wife of seven years and their son go to a resort. The 1955 film has left the mark of fear or at least wonder upon the psyches of more than a few married couples. Take a Santa Monica woman who is nearing her seven-year wedding anniversary.

I was in Marine Corps boot camp early in 1970 and developed a bad case of jock itch. My drill instructor, although an extremely harsh and seemingly uncaring guy, had warned us all of this possibility and suggested using Listerine. It worked beautifully, and the rash cleared up in just two days. Old-fashioned amber Listerine does burn a bit going on, but it works well. It also is good for athlete's foot. Thanks for reminding us that the herbal extracts and alcohol in original-formula Listerine have antifungal activity.

James Blake is enthusiastic about tennis. He is full of plans on how to move his ranking up from 115 so that he won't have to rely on tournament directors to give him a wild card into the main draw. Blake, who once reached No. 4 in the world, needed that wild card to get into the Farmers Classic tournament that begins Monday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. And if being enthusiastic about the game doesn't seem news bulletin material, it is a big change from when most tennis fans last noticed Blake.