European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A tiny Pill researchers Afaq Good bet scientists maybe Able to develop a Pill that will make it possible for even sedentary folks to keep Muscles in shape. By Steve Emmons los Angeles times ump Kirori for a month and Presto your Muscles get stronger. Take to your la a boy fora month and your Muscles go soft. Everyone knows this happens but no one knows exactly Why. Why should you have to work to keep your Muscles in shape Why can t you relax and take a Pill that duplicates the effects of two hours at the gym ? the surprising answer is one May be on the Way. Depending on which scientist you ask it s just around the Corner or it s 40 years away. But researchers agree they Are closing in on the most Basic biological processes by which Muscles decide whether to become stronger or weaker quicker or slower researchers Are already beginning to manipulate the process. One chemical administered to Laboratory rats duplicates some effects of daily workouts. Does this mean that someday Couch potatoes can look like Arnold Schwarzenegger probably not says Kenneth m. Baldwin professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of California at Irvine and a leading researcher in the Field. But it does mean that the Muscles of people with cancer and aids May not become so debilitated. And it might mean that Ordinary people who typically become sedentary and Start weakening about age 60, can enjoy a stronger less Accident prone life. Baldwin and other researchers Are studying How Muscles work at their most Basic level in Hopes of isolating the process that keeps human Muscles Strong so they can duplicate it with Safe drugs. They say they Are closing in. Scientists have discovered that Muscles react hot Only to the amount of stress placed on them but also to the Type of stress rapid or slow. Somehow these distinctions Are transmitted to the genes in muscle cells which then produce the does this mean that Couch potatoes will look like Arnold Schwarzenegger probably not but i might mean that Ordinary people can enjoy a stronger less Accident prone life. Appropriate kinds of muscle fibres. The Muscles become not Only stronger or weaker but can change their very character. They May switch say from Muscles with stamina and efficiency to Muscles that provide Short bursts of Power and Speed. Research is concentrating on just what signals make these changes take place to find the answers researchers Are looking Down to the level of the Muscles molecules. You know what your Muscles look like if you have Ever examined a Beefsteak. Muscles Are not a solid mass but a dense package of thin Fleshy layers. View one of these layers through a very High powered Microscope and you can see the engines of the muscle the millions upon millions of muscle filaments. Each is composed of Short chains of protein molecules called myosin and actin which together provide the muscle s movement and Force. The actin Chain lies atop the myosin Chain like a. Sliding Hatch. When the muscle fiber is relaxed the Hatch lies. Open and the two chains Are at their greatest combined length. But when the myosin receives the Power command it pulls the Hatch  that shortens the combined length of the two chains and provides the filament s tiny share of the muscle s contraction. This filament s Force is All or nothing Baldwin says. It always applies the same amount at the same Speed. Equivalent types of filaments Are identical in Michael Jordan and Mother Teresa. But there the resemblance ends. The filaments Are bundled into muscle fibres about the size and shape of a thin hair a few Millimetres to a few centimetres Long. Jordan s fibres Are perhaps twice As thick As Mother Teresa a because physical conditioning and testosterone have added More filaments for additional strength. About 100 to 500 fibres Are wrapped together like a package of Spaghetti to form a motor unit the smallest muscle unit that can be controlled individually. When Jordan shoots a basketball or swings a baseball Bathis brain calculates just How Many and which motor units Are required in various Muscles and activates Only them. If the calculation is Correct Jordan scores. To your health condoms and his Early hearing loss q by Simeon Marco Lis the Baltimore Sun my husband is his positive but he has told me that it is Safe for us to have Intercourse As Long As he uses a condom. How effective Are condoms in preventing the spread of his infection. While the level of effectiveness of using condoms in preventing the spread of his during Intercourse is Uncertain a recent Issue of the new England journal of Medicine reported encouraging news a european study followed 304 his negative subjects 196 women and 108 me who had a stable heterosexual relationship with an his positive partner Over an average period of 20 months. Among the 124 couples who used condoms consistently despite a total of about 15,000 episodes of Intercourse the authors reported no infection with his in the healthy partners. These results by no Means prove that condoms provide absolute Protection against his infection but the study clearly shows that condoms if always used during Intercourse Are a very Good line of defense. By contrast there was a significant rate of transmission of the infection among those couples who used condoms inconsistently. Alf although i am Only 29, the hearing in my right ear has been getting slowly worse Over the past two years. This problem is worrisome because Rny father became deaf in both ears when he was in his late 50s, a my advice is that you have your hearing tested because it sounds like your concern is reasonable and that you Are in the Early stages of a hearing disorder that runs in families. Although several diseases that cause hearing problems Are familial the most common is Oto sclerosis estimated to affect one out of every 200 people and is especially prevalent among caucasians and women. Oto sclerosis is caused by an abnormal growth of Bone within the Middle ear that leads to a gradual toss of hearing. The overgrowth of Bone interferes with movement of the stapes one of the three Small Bones in the Middle ear that transmit sound Waves to the inner ear where they Are converted to electrical signals sent to the brain. Hearing loss begins before age 30 and usually progresses Over a period of 10 to 15 years and often results in total deafness. Symptoms of Oto sclerosis include the ability to hear conversations better when there is More background noise ringing in the ears and dizziness. Or. Simeon Margolis is a professor at Johns Hopkins school of Medicine in Baji Moro my. Tuesday september 27,1994 the stars and stripes