Capsules

FIREBRAND

The glowing popularity of wood-burning stoves may be bringing back a skin complaint virtually unknown in the U.S. since the arrival of central heating: erythema abigne, literally redness of the skin from fire. Dermatologists warn that prolonged or repeated exposure to intense heat can cause permanent web-patterned skin discolorations, ranging in shade from pink to brown. (Habitual use of very hot water bottles and heating pads can lead to the same problem.) Dr. Stephen Stone of Springfield, Ill., had one patient whose upper back, shoulder to shoulder, was crisscrossed by marks resulting from sitting too near a wood-burning stove. His advice: "Stay a reasonable distance away. If the heat is intense enough to cause discomfort, that is too close." He further warns that ordinary apparel offers little protection; the heat will penetrate through cloth.

A POTENT MYTH

Impotent men have traditionally received cold comfort from their physicians. "It's all in your head," they are usually told before being shuttled off to psychologists and psychiatrists. Now comes a report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association urging doctors to take a closer look at the patient's physical condition. Endocrinologist Richard Spark of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital writes that the problem in many cases is medical, not mental. Using sensitive radioimmunoassay techniques that can pick up infinitesimal levels of hormones in the blood, Dr. Spark and his team studied 105 impotent men, aged 18 to 75. They found that 35% of the men had previously overlooked disorders of the endocrine system--too little testosterone, for example, or overactive thyroids. In these cases, medical treatment corrected the conditions and restored potency.

THINKING FAT

How does the body recognize when it is too fat? Work at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle suggests that the signal may be the level of insulin in the cerebrospinal fluid. In a six-year study, researchers found that by infusing insulin directly into the brains of baboons they could get the animals to eat less and lose weight. The findings suggest a novel way to combat obesity in human beings. Fat people produce insulin in normal amounts, but the insulin sensing mechanisms in their brains may be defective. Thus, compared with people whose weight is normal, the obese may need much higher levels of insulin in the brain to signal: "Fat. Stop eating!" The next question: How to raise levels of insulin in the brain without causing problems in other parts of the body.

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