Medicine

If you're over 40, you probably remember that first time someone called you "Ma'am" or "Sir. " It almost surely hurt, no matter how young and fit you felt. Evidently, your age was showing in those wrinkles and sags. Some decide to live with it; others do everything they can to obliterate the evidence. Today there are more nonsurgical options than ever to erase lines, thanks to new developments in the world of fillers. Thirty years ago, a filler such as Zyplast (cow collagen) would be injected to bring a line or scar up to the level of the surrounding skin.

Cartoonists invoked plenty of inflamed invective to inform a healthy debate on the healthcare reform battle. Mike Lester's O.R. Obama is no smooth operator. (Scalpel! Clamp! Jackhammer!) Tony Auth's elephant in the nursery had a sick, infanticide fantasy. (Mask! Gloves! Pillow!) And Rob Rogers' throwback family displayed one giant misplaced leap of faith in mankind. (Hope! Change! Disappointment!) -- Joel Pett

Re "First the cat, now the health system sinks teeth in me," Column, Jan. 15 I am sorry about that horrible ordeal David Lazarus experienced, including his problems with the money side of our healthcare system. However, I am concerned that one of the aspects of Obamacare that Lazarus supports will have doctors making more money by not treating patients. If a doctor gets a fixed amount to treat you (say, $8,000) and "pockets" the amount not spent, then who is to say that he will treat you to the fullest extent?

The line between candy and medicine can be a fine one, at least when it comes to looks, a study finds. Researchers tested 30 kindergarten students and 30 teachers to see if they could distinguish popular candies from over-the-counter medicines. And although you might be thinking you could tell the difference, even the adults didn't get it right 100% of the time. The students guessed correctly on average 70.5%, while teachers averaged 77.6% correct answers. Students who could read (these were kindergartners, remember)

Marijuana reduces pain and nausea while stimulating the appetite. This makes it an excellent medicine for certain types of diseases, a point the author of "A Haze of Misinformation Clouds Issue of Medical Marijuana" (Commentary, July 22) seems to miss entirely. What kinds of diseases are these? Cancer (especially the symptoms of chemotherapy) and AIDS are two of the most notable. No one claims that marijuana can "cure" these diseases. But shouldn't we allow victims of these maladies to live their final days in comfort?

The recent pieces by Gillian Gunn Clissold (Commentary, Jan. 8) and Wayne Smith (Opinion, Jan. 10) accurately portray the halfhearted new policy initiative on Cuba by the Clinton administration. Our relief agency is fully licensed by the U.S. government to provide medical aid to Cuba. What the new policy fails to do is allow us any better means of providing that aid. On Jan. 8, we were forced to send lifesaving medications to a pediatric hospital in Havana by buying a full-fare airline ticket through Mexico to Havana and having a staff person hand-carry an ice chest with the medicines.

Watching television for hour upon hour obviously isn't the best way to spend leisure time -- inactivity has been linked to obesity and heart disease. But a new study quantifies TV viewing's effect on risk of death. Researchers found that each hour a day spent watching TV was linked with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer. The study, released Monday in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Assn.

Think your medication dosage isn't strong enough? No need to get a bigger pill -- simply move it around in your belly. With magnets. That's the idea behind technology that was explored in a paper published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Swallowing pills may be less unpleasant than getting a shot, but pills are a bit difficult to control once they enter the gastrointestinal tract. The body absorbs more or less medicine depending on where the pill is. Ideally, pills could be guided to whichever spot would yield the most effect.

Many over-the-counter, liquid medications meant for children contain dosing instructions and measuring cups or droppers that rarely match each other and could confuse even the most careful parent or caretaker, according to a new study. This could easily lead to under- or over-dosing, with potentially dangerous consequences, researchers said. The study, released online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., examined popular liquid cough, cold, allergy and stomach medications as well as painkillers and fever reducers, all meant for children younger than 12. More than one-quarter of the 200 products examined failed to include a measuring device, such as cup, dropper or oral syringe.