UCR prof knows the Olympics
As Thomas Scanlon watches the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake
City, Utah, he will be pondering the past.
A classics professor at UC Riverside, Scanlon is an expert on
the first Olympics, which began in 776 B.C. and ended in 393 A.D.
Like today, the ancient games included opening rituals, questions
about eligibility and allegations of bribery. Athletes trained and
ate specialized diets.
“They most likely did not use performance-enhancing
drugs,” he said. “I think they would have seen it as
tempting the fates or challenging the gods.”
Married women were not allowed to compete, nor were they allowed
to even watch the competition, on penalty of death. Young unmarried
women were allowed to compete in a separate contest, called the
“Heraia,” in honor of the Greek goddess Hera, Scanlon
said.
UCLA researches stroke treatment
Since “time is brain” when treating stroke victims,
UCLA Medical Center researchers are encouraged by a pilot study
showing magnesium sulfate administered early in the field by
paramedics may actually protect the threatened brain and lead to a
better recovery.
The study’s goal was to demonstrate that this treatment
““ when initiated by paramedics in the field ““ was not
only safe, but could also be delivered much more quickly compared
to the usual approach of waiting until the patient was in the
hospital.
UCLA’s Field Administration of Stroke-Therapy Magnesium
(FAST-MAG) trial was performed in conjunction with the Los Angeles
City Fire Department Emergency Medical System and paramedics using
UCLA as a base station.
“This is the first time in the world that paramedics
treated stroke patients in the field, on the way to the hospital,
with a drug that may protect the brain,” said Dr. Jeffrey
Saver, study investigator, neurologist and co-director of the UCLA
Stroke Center.
UCD examines explosion of lifeÂ
About a billion years ago, the continents emerged relatively
suddenly from an ocean that covered 95 percent of the earth’s
surface, according to a new theory by Eldridge Moores, a geologist
at the University of California, Davis.
The appearance of large masses of dry land would have caused
more extreme weather and the emergence of proper seasons. In turn,
these environmental changes may have led to rise in atmospheric
oxygen that enabled the explosion of new life forms around 500
million years ago.
Briefs compiled from Daily Bruin wire services.