Medical Treatments

The City Council on Tuesday denied applications from 28 medical marijuana dispensaries that wanted permission to operate despite a moratorium, clearing the way for the city to shut down any that have opened. Since the council started to consider the applications last month, it has denied every one, ruling against 43. The council is struggling to assert control over the sale of medical marijuana in the city after its moratorium on new dispensaries proved toothless. Hundreds have opened despite the 2007 ban. The city has stopped accepting applications for exemptions, but 883 were filed before the council closed the loophole.

A once-weekly dose of the antibiotic azithromycin is a simpler, more effective way of preventing disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease in AIDS patients than the current regimen of daily doses of rifabutin, according to UC San Diego researchers. About 40% of AIDS victims develop MAC unless they are treated prophylactically with antibiotics. The disease affects internal organs, causing fever, night sweats, diarrhea, anorexia and wasting. Dr. Diane V.

A multinational team of researchers has found that bone marrow transplants are an effective cure for sickle cell anemia but only for a small group of people who can get the right marrow match from a sibling. A study of 22 carefully selected children with a severe form of the disease found that 16 were apparently cured by the transplant.

Critically wounded CHP Officer Rafael "Ralph" Casillas--shot last week by an ex-convict--underwent a tracheotomy and several more tests Thursday and doctors said they expect the 31-year-old to remain in intensive care for several more weeks. Casillas, who is listed in critical condition at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, was shot in the wrist, thigh and abdomen.

Morris Maizels was not a likely candidate for medical celebrity. He was not a specialist working on a high-tech frontier and he was not associated with a renowned research institution. Maizels, 44, was a family practitioner who had a career very much out of the spotlight, seeing patients with a variety of run-of-the-mill ailments at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a nationwide alert Friday, warning of severe infection risk from an unapproved injection drug extracted from the adrenal gland of cattle, sheep and pigs. The FDA said that at least 54 people have contracted serious bacterial infections after receiving injections of a substance called adrenal cortex extract. The preparation is distributed by Phyne Pharmaceuticals of Scottsdale, Ariz., and is labeled Hallmark Labs Inc., the agency said.

She remembers the doctor opening his office door and not looking at her. "You don't even have to say it," she told him. "It's bad, isn't it?" "Yeah, it's pretty bad." They agreed that he would perform exploratory surgery on her left breast, where the tumor was, and that he would decide whether to remove just the lump or take more tissue. When she awoke from the operation, she found layers of gauze where the breast had been.

A toddler with a rare condition that makes her face hairy like a werewolf's began a series of operations aimed at improving her appearance and, more important, keeping her safe from cancer. Round one was pronounced a success. Abys DeJesus, 2, of Puerto Rico, faced a life of isolation, as well as the possibility of an early death from her condition, known as congenital hairy nevus but once described as "human werewolf syndrome." "The operation should improve her appearance 500%," said Dr.

The 15,000 psychologists attending the annual American Psychological Assn. meeting here departed Tuesday with a major question looming: Is what they do--talk therapy--becoming less relevant in the treatment of mental health disorders?

Dr. Morris Maizels was not a likely candidate for medical celebrity. He was not a specialist working on a high-tech frontier and he was not associated with a renowned research institution. Maizels, 44, was a family practitioner who had a career very much out of the spotlight, seeing patients with run-of-the-mill ailments at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills.