Capsules

P: Although not a "direct danger," smoking causes harmful increases in the blood pressure and heart rate of heart-disease patients, reported three U.S. Public Health Service researchers in the A.M.A. Journal. Warned the Journal: "No patient with coronary disease should incur the added risk to his heart imposed by smoking without [consulting] his physician."

P: In Houston, Surgeon W. Sterling Edwards reported the successful use of a prefabricated nylon tube to replace a damaged femoral artery. Within a month after the operation at the Medical College of Alabama, the patient had good circulation in his foot. Unlike hand-fashioned fabric arteries, the new model (produced by Decatur, Ala.'s Chemstrand Corp.) does not fray or kink, thus does not cause "wrinkle thrombosis."

P: After exposing 42 common drugs to blast and radiation during the 1953 Nevada A-bomb tests, the Food & Drug Administration released its findings: all the drugs were unharmed except two--insulin suffered a 10% loss of potency. Vitamin B a loss of 50%. Added the FDA: any drug found in an undamaged container, 1,000 yards or more from ground zero, can be considered safe for immediate use.

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