Capsules

P:Externally applied electrical countershock has been used successfully to stop ventricular fibrillation, a dangerous heartbeat fluttering that sometimes occurs during surgery. Dr. Paul M. Zoll, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, reported that he and his associates had stopped fibrillation and restored the normal beat in four cases by applying heavy currents (up to 720 volts) to the patient through two copper electrodes held against the chest wall. Heretofore, fibrillation has been stopped only by applying the current directly to the heart, requiring a time-consuming chest incision.

P:A new method for determining almost exactly the minute of death has been developed by Drs. Herbert P. Lyle and Frank P. Cleveland of the Hamilton County, Ohio coroner's office. Old methods relied on stage of rigor mortis, state of putrefaction, and rectal temperature changes in the corpse. The Cincinnati doctors told the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists last week that a thin thermometer inserted into the brain will produce a series of constant readings for 24 hours following death, since heat loss in brain tissue occurs according to a predictable formula.

P:Stanford University has begun treating selected cancer patients with its six-million-volt "cancer gun," a linear electron accelerator that scientists hope will destroy cancer growths deep inside the body with high-energy X rays. Dr. Henry S. Kaplan, head of Stanford's Radiology Department, estimates it will take five to ten years to evaluate the benefits of the accelerator. Purpose of the device is to reach and treat deep-growing cancers with less damage than is caused by X rays.

P:A Johns Hopkins Hospital study revealed that soap is not the pure, clean substance people think it is. Tests of the hospital's own soap showed it contained 3,500,000 germ organisms per cubic centimeter. Contaminating bacteria from staff members' clothing found their way into solutions used for rinsing surgical gloves and instruments. Henceforth, the hospital will sterilize soap containers by steam under pressure and add chemical germicides to rinsing solutions.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.