European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Yawning the pause that by Boyce Rensberger the Washington Post. Everybody knows that yawning is contagious. Seeing another person Yawn can trigger the effect in Many people. It begins with that familiar tightening in the neck just under the jaw and swells into a Mouth widening Chest swelling inhalation and finally a satisfying exhalation. And As Many people notice a Little bit of a Rush follows a Brief sharpening of the senses. That head Clearing effect according to Ronald Baenninger one of the few scientists in the world to study yawning is the Best guess As to Why we Yawn. It is a Way of increasing mental alertness when it matters. He notes for example that yawning is most common just after people Wake up and Fate at night when they re trying to stay awake. Once people Quot give themselves permission to fall asleep at night Quot he said yawning ceases. Quot As everybody knows people also Yawn a to when they re bored Quot said Baenninger who teaches psychology at Philadelphia s Temple University. Quot classrooms and lecture Halls Are the absolute Best places to observe  Baenninger sees these All As instances in which subconscious mechanisms in people s brains Are trying to get them awake and Alert or to keep them that Way a a a a. A nobody knows exactly what the mechanism might be. Some suggest the mechanics of yawning improve researchers say Lions Yawn for the same reasons humans do. Drainage of blood from the brain allowing a Brief surge of fresh. Oxygenated blood to enter. Others suspect the act May somehow trigger the bin s production of stimulatory neurotransmitters substances that relay signals from one brain cell to another. Quot it s not just people either Quot he said. Quot All kinds of animals Yawn. Birds Yawn. Even fish Yawn. For a behaviour to be that widespread it has to have a real  Baenninger said Many animals Yawn at the same times that people do. Lions in the wild Yawn in the Early evening As they Are getting up from their daytime napping to prepare to Hunt. Observation at the Philadelphia zoo shows that captive Lions Yawn most just before feeding time. Quot they re getting up for it he said Quot the same As if they were going to  dogs Are Well known to Yawn a and to stretch an activity that can accompany yawning in Many species a just As the regular time for their walk approaches. In All yawning species the form of the event is consistent the Mouth. Opens slowly As the intensity builds and then after the Peak it shuts quickly. Even the duration is consistent a five to six seconds. Baenninger said the alertness theory fits Well with observations of human yawning a Type of research that has not been easy to do. Quot the usual funding mechanisms of science Don t take this stuff seriously Quot Baenninger said. Quot even i started this work almost As a joke but it has turned out to be so fascinating that i keep it up on my own. I Don t ask for Grant  yawning is so neglected by the. Scientific establishment that pharmacologist Alan Cowan had been studying the phenomenon for years at Temple before he found out Baenninger shared his interest. The two researchers constitute what May be the leading yawning research Center. The research has been difficult Baenninger said because Quot when you bring people into the lab they steadfastly refuse to Yawn they re probably anxious and this could mean they Don t really need to Yawn to keep  but when volunteers Are put in a room where they think they can t be seen they Yawn just As  evidence that stress is unhealthy by Daniel Coleman the new York times people with Many friends or family ties tend to live longer than loners. Heart attack victims who have emotional support survive longer than those who do not. The mind and attitudes have Many Subtle influences on the health of the body and a spate of new studies Are seeking to explore further the nature of this mysterious Axis. Quot what is it that happens in a social network that makes such a difference for health Quot asked or. Sheldon Cohen a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. To find the answers Cohen joined forces with or. Jay Kaplan a psychiatrist at Bowman Cray school of Medicine in Winston Salem no who studies stress in macaque  their research some 10 male macaques were randomly assigned. Either to stable or shifting groups the i it i i \ h i v j 1 $ \ a c a new Yore times friendlier monkeys tended to have stronger immune systems. Latter having three or four new monkeys added to their Cage every month. For macaques joining a new group of monkeys is highly agitating and stressful the males threaten each other until a dominance Hierarchy is established. Yet even under the duress of the struggle for dominance some monkeys remained Friendly. Quot these monkeys touched other monkeys More groomed their Cage mates or simply sat close to them Quot Cohen said. Quot in monkeys those Are All gestures of  after 26 months of shifting groups and fights for dominance the friendliest monkeys were found to have stronger immune responses while the most hostile and aggressive monkeys had the poorest. Cohen s results reported in the journal psychological science suggest that Quot affiliation protects animals from the potentially pathogenic influence of chronic stress Quot he observed. If Friendly intimacy protects the immune system from stress consider what a fight does. Quot How couples handle their disagreements seems to affect their immune system Quot said or. Janice Kiecolt Claser a psychologist at Ohio state University medical school who has just completed a study showing that marital fights can weaken the immune systems of couples. A Kiecolt Claser has been studying couples with her husband or. Ronald Glaser an immunologist and associate director for research at Ohio state in their study 90 couples were brought into a Laboratory and asked to resolve an Issue of disagreement. Continuous blood monitoring for 24 hours allowed their immune responses to be measured during and after the discussion. Quot those couples who had most hostility and negativity during the discussions showed a drop on eight immune measures for the next 24 hours Quot said Kiecolt Glaser. Quot the More hostile you Are during a marital. Argument the harder it is on your 1 immune  your health tips for fever blisters breast exam guideline by or. Simeon Margolis the Baltimore Sun a what causes fever blisters can anything be done to prevent or treat them _ fever blisters or cold sores Are caused by the herpes simplex virus. Almost everybody is infected by the virus at some time in their lives but the infection remains latent in nerves until a flare up leads to the appearance of one or More painful blisters around the lips. There is no cure for the infection although taking Large doses of the antiviral drug acyclovir by Mouth can shorten the time to disappearance of crusts and reduce the duration of pain. But even this works Only if the drug is taken before blisters form when the lips first become inflamed. A number of measures May be helpful in preventing a flare up in those who often get fever blisters or in relieving the symptoms that usually last for about a week a limit exposure to sunlight and apply sunscreen to the lips when in the Sun. A apply a paste of Salt and water when the Blister is first forming to draw out some of the fluid and Speed  drink plenty of liquids and use acetaminophen or aspirin to keep fever Down if you get a cold. Fevers often trigger a Blister. A when a Blister Breaks and becomes an open sore apply a moisturizing ointment such As Blister Chap stick or vaseline to reduce the amount of Scab formation. Q i i have just discovered a Lump in my breast. How can i Tell whether the Lump is cancerous or not lumps or masses Are More Likely to be cancerous malignant when they Are firm attached to underlying tissues and have indistinct Borders. In contrast benign masses generally Are easily moved and have regular discrete margins. Other features that suggest malignancy include dimpling of the skin bloody discharge from the nipple and retraction of the nipple. Malignant tutors Are usually not tender but this is not a dependable distinction. In fact none of these differences is reliable in distinguishing Between a benign and malignant breast mass. Even experienced physicians have difficulty in using the findings of the examination alone to decide whether a breast Tump is malignant. So the real answer to your question is that you should not try to decide whether the Lump you discovered is cancerous or not. Rather you and All women should see a doctor As soon As a breast Lump is found. In addition to examining the Tump your doctor May recommend a Needle aspiration or open Biopsy in order to make a definitive diagnosis. Done to be surprised when mammography is ordered despite the presence of an obvious mass and even if its features Are strongly suggestive of cancer mammography in this situation is done to evaluate the breasts for other masses that May not be apparent on examination. Or. Simeon Margo is la professor of Medicine and biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins school of Medicine in Baltimore my. A the stars and stripes a tuesday january 19, 1993