Word: methodical
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...country in which medical breakthroughs occur with dizzying regularity, the U.S. has been disturbingly backward in the field of contraception research. Not a single fundamentally new birth-control method has been introduced since the Pill and the IUD, or intrauterine device, came out in the early 1960s. Meanwhile, in several European countries, a series of contraceptive innovations has broadened the range of methods far beyond what is available in the U.S. -- and sharply reduced the number of unwanted pregnancies...
Thus many American health experts were delighted last week when the Food and Drug Administration finally approved Norplant, a long-lasting contraceptive that is implanted under the skin. Already available in 16 other countries, the method not only is highly effective but also provides five years of protection against pregnancy with a single implant. How American women will respond to this new alternative, though, is not clear, since Norplant's long-term safety has yet to be fully studied, and it does have a few side effects. Some critics fear that the five-year implant will be used by policymakers...
...protecting the books, one feasible solution is to adopt the method used by the U.S. Customs service--random spot checks. A great majority of those leaving the libraries would be allowed to leave unmolested. But a few--let's say one out of twenty--would be stopped and thoroughly checked. The implied threat of being caught should be enough of a discouragement to potential thieves...
...method is disarmingly simple. Doctors spread a thin layer of the ointment over the wounded area with a tongue depressor and keep the skin completely covered until it heals. So far, the treatment has been used on 50,000 burn patients in China and on several hundred elsewhere. Xu and colleagues traveled to Thailand last month to help treat victims of a gas explosion in Bangkok. In the U.S. the doctor has won converts at the New Jersey-based National Burn Victim Foundation. Xu, 32, who comes from a family of herbal-medicine specialists, will not reveal the ointment...
...many American doctors are not so sure. To begin with, they say, unless Xu reveals the formula, the Food and Drug Administration cannot approve clinical trials. And only when such trials have been carried out and the method's effectiveness demonstrated on large numbers of burn patients are U.S. doctors likely to take these claims seriously. Before-and-after photographs prove little, since a few patients have healed surprisingly well under any circumstances. Concludes Dr. Fred Caldwell, president of the American Burn Association: "It's one thing to make claims of a miracle cure. It's another to back...