European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes thursday March 5, 1992 research on hypertension pinpoints Salt use weight by the los Angeles times tens of millions of americans with borderline hypertension could Cut their blood pressure by losing weight and avoiding Salt a study says. But stress reduction and other dietary changes promoted for that purpose will have Little effect it said. The findings emerged from the first phase of a dec Adelong Federal project exploring the possibility of preventing High blood pressure a condition that afflicts 63 million americans and kills nearly 32,000 a year. A this is one of the first Steps that will Lead us toward the goal of a National policy for prevention of hypertension a said or. Paul k. Whelton a co author of the study. Blood pressure is the Force of blood through the arteries. A Reading consists of a High figure the systolic pressure when the heart contracts and a lower figure the diastolic when the heart is in the passive phase. A healthy Young adult has an average Reading of about 110-75 Millimetres of Mercury my he which May Rise to 130-90 at age 60. Aids drug found to boost survival Chicago apr aids patients who took the drug at survived at a much higher rate Over two years than patients diagnosed at roughly the same time who did no to take the drug a study says. The study is the first to compare the survival of treated and non treated groups at the same time. Most other studies have compared aids patients who took at with those who died before at was used to treat the disease. Researchers in the new study a team of italians led by or. Stefano Vella compared a two year survival of 27ljtalian patients diagnosed with aids Between july 1987 and March 1988. The subjects were 159 people treated with at and 112 who refused the drug or had conditions that indicated that they should not take at. By september 1990, 113 of the 159 treated patients had died and 86 of the 112 untreated patients had died the researchers reported in wednesdays journal of the american medical association. Estimated survival rates for treated patients were 85 percent after one year and 46 percent after two years. Untreated patients had estimated survival of 46 percent after one year and 20 percent after two years. The findings Are similar to earlier ones on the effectiveness of at also known As zidovudine. But earlier studies were hampered by questions about whether differing survival rates Between treated and non treated patients were due to the drug or to improvements in diagnosis and treatment authors of the new study said. A study at veterans affairs hospitals reported last month that people infected with the aids virus a but not suffering from the disease a who take at Early live no longer than those who begin taking the Medicine later. High blood pressure is defined As systolic pressure of at least 140 my he and diastolic pressure of at least 90. But people with borderline High diastolic Levels in the 80s a As Many As 80 million americans according to Whelton a face increased risk of complications. Until recently patients with mild High blood pressure were put on drugs. But improved understanding of the medications Side effects has prompted physicians to place greater emphasis on non drug approaches. The new study conducted at 11 medical and health centers nationwide examined the value of seven promising forms of non drug treatment a weight reduction Salt restriction stress management and the use of Calcium magnesium potassium and fish Oil As dietary supplements. The second phase of the study will measure the effectiveness of weight reduction and Salt restriction in preventing hypertension in the longer run. Whelton said lowering the average blood pressure in the population by As Little As 2 my he would cause a 6 percent drop in stroke deaths per year and a 4 percent drop in deaths from coronary heart disease. Heart of hearts Cathy Sumrall of Houston who survived intense cancer chemotherapy and a heart transplant cuddles her healthy baby boy Ethan at St. Luke a episcopal Hospital on tuesday. Only about five american women have had babies after heart transplants. A a in a pretty sure he was meant to be a said Sumrall 30. Ethan who was born Friday weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces. Insurance groups weeding ill from healthy. A 11 .1 1 1 1 a 1 by the new York times in a new practice some health insurance companies Are starting to Divide the sick from the Well even in Large groups that were once a bastion of Security in a tumultuous Industry. The result said or. Norman Daniels an ethicist at Tufts University in Medford mass., is that a no one in this country with private health insurance coverage who is in any kind of group plan is free from the kind of uncertainty that Competition is  no one knows How common it is for insurance companies to raise the rates for the sick in Large groups which usually consist of employees at big corporations or members of special interest organizations. But the experience of Kathleen Renshaw of Leucadia Calif., shows that the problem once thought to be limited to Small groups is spreading to Large groups As Well. Renshaw finally admitted defeat in her struggle to keep group health insurance for her family when the annual Premium reached $16,000 a year. Her problem is her 8-year-old daughter Marisa. Marisa has Only one kidney and it does not fully function. When the family a insurance company Learned of the problem which doctors discovered when Marisa was 3, it began doubling the family a health insurance premiums each year the maximum increase allowed by California Law. Finally the family could no longer pay. And no other company would insure them. Along with Marisa Renshaw her husband William Harvey and their 4-year-old daughter Kirsten who has no medical problems were out in the cold even though they had been part of a Large group with health insurance. Through a catastrophic health insurance plan of the California children services Marisa is now covered for major problems with her kidney but nothing else. And this coverage Renshaw said is available Only if a family of four has an income of $40,000 or less. Or. Donald Light a professor of health policy at the University of Medicine and dentistry of new Jersey said group insurance programs until recently covered any member who became ill. The costs for the sick people were spread Over the entire group. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen a Texas has introduced a Bill in Congress that would prevent the exclusion of sicker individuals from health insurance coverage sold to Small a businesses and would prevent Small groups from cancelling policies of sicker people. . Votes to give rights to unmarried couples from wire reports Washington a the District of Columbia Council voted tuesday to give Legal recognition and health care benefits to unmarried people including homosexual couples who Are living together. ,. The measure makes the capital one of few cities in the nation to recognize so called Domestic partners. San Francisco and Seattle have similar Laws. A we Are simply dealing with the reality of living situations in the City a councilman Jim Nathanson said. Several religious groups objected to the idea fearing it was an attempt to Sanction Gay marriages. But supporters argued it also would apply to heterosexual couples. Like other local Laws the Domestic partners measure is subject to review and possible veto by Congress. Crew jumps from train Kearney neb. A two train crewmen injured themselves by jumping from a locomotive when they thought it was going to crash head on into another train. The trains stopped before they collided monday. Union Pacific Engineer Gene Schumacher 37, and conductor John Rodriguez 43, both of North Platte were hospitalized tuesday in fair condition with cuts and broken Bones. Zenith military sign pact Glenview 111. A Zenith electronics co. Has signed a $5 million defense contract to support research on High Resolution picture tubes for advanced military applications. The contract with the . Defense advanced research projects Agency provides Zenith with $2 million for 1992 and $3 million to be awarded in 1993. Zenith said it will use the Money for further development and Pilot production of larger versions of its a Flat tension mask High Resolution display the worlds Only color picture tube with a perfectly Flat Glare free faceplate. Zenith said it expects to deliver samples of 22-Inch displays to the military late this year. Southern shows axed Burbank Calif. A the Southern Law dramas Matlock and in the heat of the night have solved their last cases and will be cancelled Abc said tuesday. Matlock starring Andy Griffith As a wily attorney Good old boy debuted in 1986. Its last new episode will be shown May 8. In the heat of the night which premiered in 1988, paired Carroll of Connor and Howard Rollins in a Mississippi police series based on the movie of the same name. Its last new show will be May 5. The shows had Low ratings. . Jobless fund is broke Albany . A new Yorkus unemployment insurance fund is going broke and the state will have to borrow As much As $500 million to keep paying benefits unless joblessness Falls drastically a state official said tuesday. State officials said Connecticut Michigan Massachusetts and the District of Columbia have already borrowed Money from the Federal government to pay unemployment benefits this year. The labor department announced tuesday that unemployment in new York increased from 7.8 percent in december to 9.1 percent in january. The states jobless rate must be halved in com in months to keep the fund solvent said Dominic Rotundi state unemployment insurance director. He said the fund had a record $3.2 billion just three years ago. About 354,700 new yorkers receive regular state unemployment benefits. If the unemployment rate stays at about 9 percent the fund would go broke by Early fall and the state would have to borrow up to $500 million he said