European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes monday january 16,1989center stops Multi Organ transplants More work needed to fight refection Pittsburgh a doctors at the nation s leading transplant Center have stopped performing multiple Organ abdominal transplants until they can find a better Way to combat rejection by the body. We re in no sense foreclosing the thing said or. Thomas e. Starzl who pioneered the surgery. We have an operation that s fundamentally sound. But we Don t quite yet have the capability of bringing it off in a predictable and Relia ble  stand s recommendation that Chil Dren s Hospital of Pittsburgh not per form More of the experimental operations until anti rejection drug therapy is improved came after 3-year-old Rolan Drea oily Dodge of Fruitland n.m., died Jan. 6. She survived for six weeks after receiving a liver pancreas Stom Ach Small intestine and part of a Large intestine in one operation at the Hospital. Preliminary Laboratory tests revealed similarities Between the new Mexico child s death and that of Tabatha Foster the Only other person to receive five transplanted organs in a single operation. The Madisonville ky., girl survived six months before dying last May of a blood infection. We probably need better tools Starzl said. We re looking ahead to get Ting better methods of controlling Organ  Starzl said doctors deliberately waited a year before proceeding with a second transplant involving multiple abdominal organs. They decided on oily who was born with a disorder that prevented her intestines from absorbing food and liquids. Based on their experience with Taba tha surgeons gave oily less cyclosporine a potent anti rejection medication. But her  was placed Back on the transplant waiting list Jan. 4 when tests showed her Small intestine was being rejected by her body s immune system. A suitable donor was never found and she died of multiple Organ failure. Tissue analyses on oily Are incomplete but doctors believe she and Taba tha suffered from a dangerous proliferation of White blood cells. The same problem also plagued 10 month old Michael Steward of Rock Ford 111., who died last May following four Organ transplant at Rush presbyterian St. Luke s medical Center in Chi Cago. This really troubles us a lot that this has popped up now in three of three cases Starzl said but his concerns were not unanimous. Or. James w. Williams director of transplantation at the Chicago Hospital said last week that he intended to proceed with his multiple Organ transplant program. Williams has performed two. Similarly surgeons at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and clinics in Madison have shown no inclination of stopping their intestinal transplant pro Gram. The first person to undergo a multiple Organ abdominal transplant a 6-year-old girl lived Only a few hours after Starzes 1983 operation. The second patient a 17-month-old boy survived three Days in 1986 at the Chicago Hospital. The string of failures is reminiscent of the Early Days of liver transplantation said Starzl who performed the world s first successful liver transplant in 1967. The one year survival rate for liver transplant patients has since climbed to about 70 percent said Brian Broznick director of the Pittsburgh transplant foundation. The Only surviving multiple Organ recipient 14-month-old Calvin Olveira of Deerfield Beach fla., received a Small intestine and liver dec. 31 at the Wisconsin Hospital. He was in critical but stable condition Friday at the Madison Hospital. Organ transplants Are the Only option for children like Calvin with Short gut syndrome a potentially fatal intestinal deformity Starzl said. Tabatha also had Short gut syndrome. Making a mail run the old mail Box is becoming the new mail Box office. Using the idea of retired postal worker Reginald Martin the . Postal service has built a Small office that looks like a big mail Box and put a clerk in it to serve drive up customers like this Driver in Rocky River Ohio. The snor Kel Box Experiment is a Success in the Cleveland area and the postal service is considering the idea for nationwide use. Witch wins suit for being fired Biloxi miss. A the salvation army Vio lated a woman s religious rights when it fired her be cause she practices witchcraft a Federal judge ruled. . District judge Dan m. Russell of Biloxi ruled last week that based on the constitutional right to Freedom of religion the salvation army May not Dis Criminate against witches because it receives Federal funds for some programs. Jamie Kellam Dodge a former victim s assistance coordinator at the Pascagoula based salvation army Domestic violence shelter filed a $ 1.25 million Law suit against the salvation army. She sought reinstate ment and compensation for embarrassment Humilia Tion pain and suffering. A ruling on compensation will be made later court officials said. Dodge 28, was fired in August 1987 after she admitted using the Agency copy machine to copy rituals of witchcraft according to court records. If you could see it you would agree it was Horri ble Raymond Brown an attorney for the salvation army said saturday. It talked about sexual things around the fire lots of things that Are contrary to Sal vation army  the salvation army has not decided whether it will Appeal Brown said. Dodge s attorney David Frazier of Pascagoula called Russell s decision  he bit the Bullet and did what a Federal judge is supposed to do to cite Tough decisions in an Effort to follow the Law Frazier said. Genetic trait May be protecting hispanics from heart disease san Antonio up genetic Armor inherited from ancient native american ancestors May be protecting mexican americans from heart disease and High blood pressure a san Antonio research team says. The native american genetic theory is one being explored As researchers search for an explanation of Why mexican american men have slightly lower rates of heart disease and High blood pressure than do an Glos. A puzzling aspect they said is that it is occurring despite a greater incidence of obesity 60 percent More than anglos and a predominance of other factors among mexican americans that generally Trig Ger heart and blood vessel disorders. The Point Here is not that it is less but that the expectation was that it would be higher University of Texas health science Center professor or. Michael , said. On saturday Stern presented the initial findings in the medical mystery at a seminar on High blood pres sure sponsored by the san Antonio american hear association chapter. Figures drawn from the Long Range san Antonio heart study have shown that 7.3 percent of lower mid dle class mexican american men have High blood pressure compared with 10 percent 9f Anglo men of similar status. Additionally heart disease strikes 15 percent fewer mexican american men than Anglo men despite proportionately More obesity diabetes and other factors that would seem to predispose the to heart problems. Something is going on in All of this but i Don thave a Clear answer Stern said. He believes an interesting solution could be the inheritance of some protective genetic trait from native american Peoples. Stateside dental substance holds Hope for Bone disorder Dallas a a substance Long used by dentists to strengthen Teeth is a key part of an experimental treatment that appears to safely curb spinal osteoporosis a condition in which Bone become Brittle researchers say. University of Texas southwestern medical school researchers have announced results from a seven year test of the new treatment on 251 . Patients. Doctors said spinal osteoporosis results from a gradual loss of a Type of Bone found primarily in the spine. It most commonly affects elderly women and results in shortened stature and curvature of the Back. The treatment uses a slow release form of sodium fluoride. When Given with Calcium citrate it can reverse the effects of osteoporosis by add ing Bone mass said or. Charles Pak of South Western medical Center. Treasure trove in taxes lies below . In vaults Albany . A Geraldo Rivera May have trouble finding loot in vaults but not new York City s tax collectors. The state s top court has upheld the City s authority to collect taxes from the owners of under ground vaults that extend beneath Public streets and sidewalks. Unlike Al Capone s vault which Rivera found empty in a nationally televised program there s Money in the new York City vaults. The City is owed an estimated $20.3 million in Back taxes dating to 1962, according to the City finance department. The court of appeals ruled against a manhat Tan property owner who said he should t have to pay a $250,000 tax Bill on his vault because he did t use it. Full casket crushes kills Hearse s Driver in crash cold Spring by. A the Driver of a Hearse was crushed to death Between the dash Board and a full casket in a head on collision authorities said. Jack Volkering 59, of fort Wright was re turning from a funeral mass when a car driven by Lonnie Stephens 23, of Bellevue crossed the Road and struck the Hearse police chief Gene Schweitzer said. Stephens was not seriously Hurt. The casket broke through a Metal holding Post and struck Volkering in the Back As the dash Board and steering wheel hit him in the Chest probably suffocating him said or. Fred Stine Campbell county Coroner