Last Minute News The number of poliomyelitis cases in the United States dropped from 30,(lOO (14,000 paralytic) in 1955 to 6,000 cases (2,000 paralytic) in 1957. It is astounding that more persons are still unprotected against polio than are protected by the specific vaccine which is so readily available. The disease could virtually be eradicated if everyone 40 years of age and younger would take the recommended series of 3 polio injections. New polio vaccines containing attenuated living virus developed by Drs. Herald R . Cox and Hilary Koprowski at Lederle Laboratories and Dr. Albert B. Sabin of Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, will be tested in a million persons in Latin America during 1958. Salk poliomyelitis vaccine may now be exported from the U.S. through normal commercial channels. Two new viruses causing respiratory infections have been identified, increasing the viral types of common cold newlyrecognized since 1948 to more than 70.
Influenza and pneumonia deaths declined to about 500 by the last week of December following a peak of 887 deaths for the first week of November, then rose steadily to a secondary peak of 745 deaths for the week ending February 1. A utopsy reports i1ulicate that there may be a higher death rate from the Asian influenza epidemic than was previously believed.
The U.S. Public Health Service has established a National Advisory Committee on Radiation to advise Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney on programs concerning the public health aspects of radiation from all sources. The committee chairman is Dr. Russell H . Morgan, Professor of Radiology, Johns Hopkins U.1iversity Medical School.
e.ffective in treating choriocarcinoma, which affiicts lout of every 40,000 women.
Widespread dental disease among adults can be attributed to parents who gave no attention to so-called baby teeth, says Dr. William R. Alstadt, President of the American Dental Association. Preliminary tests in Puerto Rico indicate that a hormone preparation called Enovid may be used as a successful oral contraceptive.
A new synthetic tissue-building drug, norethandrolone, prepared by G. D. Searle and Company, causes weight gain in elderly persons and other essentially healthy individuals who have been unable to gain weight despite taking vitamins, tonics, and special diets. After July 1, 1959, the listing of accredited colleges of pharmacy by classes will be discontinued, and only those colleges qualified for full accreditation and those newly-organized colleges currently holding "Y" classifications will be retained on the list of accredited colleges.
Currently , the U.S. Public Health Service is supporting 7,000 medical research projects through grants totaling $97,700,000 . Beginning this September, a new program at Columbia University, New York, will be newly introduced which will permit earlier granting of the Ph.D. degree in chemistry , 1 to 5 years sooner than at present.
Agreement has been reached with Russia for an exchange of delegations of specialists in medicine during 195859. For the first time, American colleges and professional schools reached an enrollment of 3,000,000 during the last semester, according to the Bureau of the Census.
1956 there were 4,592,000 children age 16 and 17 in the United States, of which only 830,000 were studying sci· ence and only 659,000 were studying mathematics.
Dr. Frank Ayd, Jr ., Chief of Psychia. try at Franklin Square Hospital, Balti· more, points out that proper diagnosis together with selected drug therapy and psychological care can bring dramatic relief to the lout of every 8 school chilo dren affiicted with scholastic problems or suffering from anxiety, hyperactivity, or other problems of behavior.
The growing reservoir of radioactive dust in the atmosphere, believed by most people to be a menace to present and future generations, continues to be a major tension-creating factor around the globe, at times producing near -hysteria. According to the R ed Cross, both an alligator and a dog hGl'e been revived by the use of artificial respiration tech· mques.
On February 25-28, Surgeon General Leroy E . Burney of the Public Health Service, called a conference on meas· ures for improving services to the chronically ill and aged, the first of its kind to be conducted on a national scale. Representatives of nursing homes, homes for the aged, social service organizations, state health and welfare departments, and 32 national associations, including the AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION, at· tended. Pharmacists are waking up to the fact that their office a "Id store safes must be properly safeguarded to be immune from the burglary-a-mi ·lUte neUing an average of $163 now occurring across the country.
Proprietaries on an average account for only about 15% of drug store sales and yield less than 10% net profit. The 3 largest volume groups of proprie· taries which are now carried in 93% of the supermarkets are vitamins, feminine hygiene products, and laxatives.
There have been extreme cases of poisoning with parathion up to 4 weeks after exposure to plants dusted with the insecticide, according to the Journal of the A merican Medical Association.
A total of 11 nations of the free world, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany , Switzerland, and South Africa, report a steadily-growing shortage of scientists and engineers.
Speaking before a session of the American Management Association, Dr. Charles E. Thompson, Medical Consultant to Sears, Roebuck and Company, said 1 out of every 2 executives has a disease of which he is unaware.
The number of pupils in excess I)f normal classroom capacity dropped from 2,295,000 to 1,937,000 during the last school year, and the shortage of public school classrooms dropped from 159,000 to 140,400 during the same period.
The first quarterly report of the U.S. National Health Survey indicates that 50,000,000 to 56,000,000 people are disabled by accidents each year.
Final results on long-term cancer studies indicate that methotrexate is
A recent nation-wide survey just completed indicates that in the fall of
The Mental Health Week theme (or April 27 to May 3 will be HOPE.
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JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION
Miss Mary E. Switzer, Director of the Office of Vocational R ehabilitation, says that 2,249 blind men and womell and their assistants operating 1,830 vend· ing stands across the nation conduct a business of about $30,000,000 a year.