May 11,1978 Avoiding a heart attack or stroke is a goal which motivates millions of Americans to exercise more, reduce their consumption of saturated fats and give up smoking. Yet one factor which causes cardiovas cular problems is often over looked--high blood pressure. The disease can be controlled in a simple manner, but many people who have high blood pressure are not treating it the . way they should. With proper treatment, a person can bring his or her blood pressure down and can look forward to living a full, normal life. Alarming statistics, com piled by the National Institutes of Health High Blood Pressure Education Program, show that of the people who have high blood pressure, only about 29 percent successfully control it. Another 29 percent do not know they have the disease. About 19 percent are under treatment but do not yet have it under control, and 23 percent are not treating it at all. It is these latter categories to which the Program is devoting its educational efforts during May, National High Blood Pressure Month. Graham W. Ward, Coor dinator of the National Pro gram, says,"We must convince and help people with high blood pressure to follow the treat ment precribed by their physicians. Too many people take their pills for a while, and then quit after a few months. They are in danger of dying prematurely or suffering dis ability or illness. We know that if people are under treatment for high blood pressure they can live healthy lives." He cites four common misconceptions which contri bute to a patient's droping therapy. First, patients confuse controlling high blood pressure with curing it. After they reach a goal blood pressure reading, patients think they don't have to take their medication any longer. There is no cure for the disease, but often only a pill a Plait; e°4„h AwAlm Nave A Neal day will permit them to lead normal lives. Second, according to Ward, is that many people believe high blood pressure has symptoms. Since they don't feel "sick," they don't treat the disease. He points out that most high blood pressure has no symptoms and a person can't tell when his blood pressure is up. "Once a person has the disease he will probably have it every day, even though he feels great." A third mistake is confusing hypertension with "tension." Patients who act on this error take their pills only when they feel tense or when they feel dizzy or have a headache. The pills, intended for daily use, become an occasional medica tion, like aspirin, for the relief of symptoms. Fourth, Ward points out, is believing a person can choose a treatment plan. "In addition to pills, physicians sometimes prescribe that a patient lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, and limit salt," he says. "But often the patient assumes he has a choice. Many people follow a part of their therapy and think their blood pressure is under control when it is not. In most cases, patients do not have a choice of treatment. If a doctor prescribes medication, it's just as important to take it regularly as it is to do the other things he recommends." During High Blood Pressure Month hundreds of national and local organizations, civic and medical groups are involved in educating the general public, patients, and health profes sionals on the nature of the disease and its treatment. The main emphasis of this year's High Blood Pressure Month will be convincing patients to take their pills as their physician advises. That's why, according to Ward, the slogan for May is, "High Blood Pressure... Treat It for Life." Anyone wishing to have their blood pressure checked may do so by seeing the nurse in WlO2. ‘clo Nl• l ~ qkt 1 , • ‘I PAN/ "'ft 41#4 )* . P s C.C. Reader How to find a summer job. Talk to Manpower. We've got summer job opportunities for office temporaries. Typists, stenos, receptionists, and more. Work as much as you want. Or as little. It's up to you. There's a Manpower office almost anywhere you're spending the summer. Stop in and we'll plan a job schedule for you. 0® MANI : CANER ARY SE ® TEMPORRVICES An equal opportunity employer University Park, Pa. - When Dan Landers gazes into your eyes, there's nothing romantic about his intentions. He's just trying to calculate your reaction time. Dr. Landers, associate professor of physical education at The Pennsylvania State University, and his colleagues have found that brown-eyed people tend to have faster reaction times than blue-eyed people. Furthermore, people with dark brown eyes react faster than people with light brown eyes. One possible reason is that the melanin in our eyes, the dark, grainy pigment that gives them their color, could be genetically related to the amount of melanin in the nervous system, called neuro melanin. Although the actual function of neuromelanin is not known, some scientists believe it has electrical properties that can hasten the speed of neural impulses. If there is a relationship between melanin in the eye and neuromelanin, it would explain why people who have darker eyes, and more neuromelanin, would have faster reaction times. "It's such a bizarre idea I didn't really believe it at first. But in our tests conducted at The Motor Behavior Labora tory, dark-eyed people were really faster, regardless of sex, race, socio-economic status, or any other factors we exa mined," Dr. Landers, who has hazel eyes, says. Several hundred people have been tested in the research, the latest findings of which will be reported in May at the annual meeting of the North American Society for Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity. In most cases, the tests involve lifting one's finger from a telegraph key as soon as possible after seeing a light flash or hearing a bell ring. What is Clamatp? Where is it found? Does it grow? Who invented it? Do you eat it, drink it, pickle it? Where do you buy it, in a hardware store, a supermarket, an apothecary shop? Is it sexy? This unusual research has been hurled at America's college students by a company that has an absolute interest in finding the most intriguing and humorous definition of a Clamato, whatever it is. Mr. Ray Amig, president of the Duffy-Mott Company, announces that $l,OOO will be rewarded to the college student creating the best description of the hybrid. Five hundred additional clams (hint, hint) will go to a runner-up and $250 will be awarded to the person whose response is chosen third best. A panel of famous judges will select the winners, according to Mr. Anrig, who said the competition will start on May 1, and will end on Oat Car Are Your Efts? It Moon Mors Than You Think One test, conducted with the Penn State football team, showed that linebackers, who had the darkest eyes of all team members, also had the fastest reaction times. The studies were carried out by Dr. Landers, Dr. Arthur H. Patterson, of the Division of Man-Environment Relations in the College of Human Develop ment at Penn State, George Obermeier, of the University's Altoona Campus, and graduate students Bruce Hale, Robin Snyder, Noreen Goggin, and Mike Wolf. They were reported in the Journal of Motor Behavior and other scientific publications. A paper pre sented at the 1977 meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity was pub lished this month in the proceedings of that meeting. Some of the earliest work in the field was done by Dr. Morgan Worthy, a Georgia State psychologist who, in 1973, published a controversial book, "Eye Color, Sex, and Race." He maintained that, while there was no such thing as a superior eye color, there were some personality traits that could be attributed to brown-eyed and blue-eyed people. In general, Dr. Worthy said, people with lighter eyes tended to be better at cool, analytical, self-paced tasks while those with dark eyes were more hot-blooded • and quicker to react to stimuli. Because Dr. Worthy's re search findings had not been published in scientific journals, his work was discounted by much of the scientific com munity. But the ideas he suggested sparked interest in eye color, and there have been a number of related studies in recent years. Some scientists now believe melanin in the central nervous system may be a factor in some diseises and disabilities, in cluding schizophrenia, deaf- Clomsio? November 3, 1978 The contest is open to any current full-time college stu dent in the United States. The answer to "What is a Clamato?", can be submitted in the form of an article, short story, fable, a painting, cartoon, jungle, photograph or sculp ture, or any other means a student may employ. Contes tants may enter as many times as they wish and no proof of purchase is necessary. All entries should be sent What is a Clamato Contest 17th Floor 1212 Ave. of the Americas New York, NY 10036 All entries and ideas cannot be returned and will become the property of the Duffy-Mott Company. Decisions of the judges will be final. Be sure to provide your name and address as well as the name of your college or university with your entry. ness, and Parkinson's disease. The most recent work of the Penn State research team has been to "fractionate" reaction time and reflex time--divide them into pre-motor (nervous conduction) and motor (muscle contraction) time components. "In general we've found that brown-eyed people are faster only in pre-motor reaction time," Dr. Landers says. "This suggests that the differences in reaction time are probably due to some characteristic of melanin in the central nervous system. Once the muscles have been activated in response to a stimulus, blue-eyed people are just as fast in general movement time." A representative of the United States Air Force will be on campus each Thursday from 10 a.m. until 12 noon to talk with students about Air Force careers. The representative will be located in the Public Information Office, E-104, Main Building. If you are interested in an Air Force career and would like to hear more about it, you might want to sign up for a trip to Andrews Air Force Base scheduled for Thursday, May 18. You will recieve a complete tour of the facility, meet lots of people and enjoy a free lunch. If you would like to go, contact Peggy O'Hara in the Placement Office. All junior and senior engineering students have recieved an invitation to attend a luncheon sponsored by the Air Force on either May 24 or May 25. Post cards should be returned immediately since these events will be on a first come, first served basis. guest lists will be compiled from the returned post cards. Fil High
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