CROSSFEED 1-94
AEROMEDICAL NEWS
HEALTH NEWS
by L. Kline
PAINFUL SACRIFICE - abstaining from sex for a week before a prostate cancer blood screening may give you more accurate test results. According to data from New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen - the key marker of cancer of the prostate gland) are misleadingly low in men who had recent sexual experiences.
STAYING YOUNG AT HEART - want the heart of a man 19 years younger than you? Earn it with exercise. A study of 3,100 men conducted at the University of North Carolina found that aerobic exercise offers more heart protection than pushing back the clock 19 years.
CAN'T FLY AND BRUSH? - try an apple for a snack. Apples crunch between the teeth, dislodging food and stimulating saliva flow to counteract plaque, says Elaine Parker - former assistant professor of dental hygiene at the University of Maryland.
DOES OAT-BRAN CEREAL REALLY HELP? - everyone by now has heard ad nauseum that eating oat bran lowers cholesterol concentrations in the blood, but does the small amount you get in breakfast cereal really help? To find out, researchers in Kentucky studied 12 men with high total cholesterol concentrations. All subjects ate the same diet, but some men ate breakfast of cornflakes for two weeks, the rest on normal-sized servings of ready-to-eat oat-bran cereal, about two ounces , or less than an ounce of bran per day. Compared to a diet of cornflakes, the oat-bran diet lowered total cholesterol by 5.4 percent and LDL cholesterol by 8.5 percent-enough to make oat-bran cereal a significant and practical tool for lowering risk of coronary heart disease.
AN ASPIRIN EVERY OTHER DAY - according to the Physician's Health Study, an aspirin every other day will thin your blood and reduce the risk of a heart attack. Aspirin taken daily will have a counterproductive effect by suppressing both thromboxane, a blood thickener and prostacyclin, a blood thinner. But the suppressing effect lasts only half as long on the blood thinner, so aspirin taken every other day will have a positive effect on helping to prevent strokes and heart attacks.
Healthfact No.1 - People who use humor to cope have more infection-fighting antibodies. Men's Fitness 11/92
BEST REASON TO AVOID BUNGEE JUMPING THIS YEAR - William Brotherton, 20, was killed after jumping from a hot air balloon in Arvada, Colorado. Investigators concluded the reason for the accident was that the hot air balloon was tethered at a height of 190 feet while Brotherton's bungee cord stretched to 260 feet!
MODERATION IN ALL THINGS? - does that occasional cheese burger, french fries and shake hurt? According to studies at the Medical College of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, eating just one high fat meal can increase a middle-aged person's risk of heart attack within a matter of hours.
When saturated fats enter the bloodstream, a protein in the blood, called Factor VII increases. Factor VII apparently reacts to the sudden infusion of fat in the bloodstream as a sign of damage, and it precipitates a clot to protect that area. This protective activity can block the flow of blood and cause a heart attack. However, a regular low-fat diet keeps levels of Factor VII in check. (Aviation Medical Bulletin 1/94)
HIT THE FITNESS PLATEAU? - have you been unable to progress and improve in your exercise program, yet someone fairly new to fitness seems to be blowing past you and handling weights and aerobic challenges easily that took you years to accomplish? It may not be anything that you are doing wrong or he's doing right; the upper limits of your exercise capacity may have been determined before you were born.
Researchers in Canada took a group of men in their late 20's with similar body compositions and put them through the same 12 week aerobic workout program. Some didn't increase their heart efficiency at all while others had as much as a 14-fold increase. The researchers concluded that the differences in the aerobic improvement was genetic. The subjects chromosomal makeup is now being analyzed to see if the genes can be identified that allow marked improvement. If this genetic information can be isolated, it may be possible to pass this genetic advantage on to the rest of us.
Meanwhile, even if you're one of the genetically deprived, don't quit training. You may not win the next Ironman or Wimbledon, but you will enhance your chances for longevity and enjoy far greater mental and physical health.
PROSTATE CANCER - WHO'S AT RISK - we've recently had two of our fellow Southwest brothers stricken with prostate cancer. A number of factors have been linked to higher rates of prostate cancer. Here's the lowdown on a few of the most important:
Vasectomy. The National Institute of Health recently concluded that the weak links found to date are likely due to chance or "detection bias," meaning men with vasectomies may simply see their urologists more.
Race. Black men get prostate cancer at a 40 percent higher rate than whites do. Researchers speculate it may have to do with blacks' synthesizing less vitamin D, low levels of which have also been associated with the disease.
Family history. Having a father or a brother with the disease doubles your risk; having two members of your immediate family stricken at an early age (mid-50's or younger) raises your risk to five times average.
High-fat diet. Several studies have established a link between fat intake and prostate cancer. Diets high in animal fats can significantly raise your risk for developing advanced prostate cancer, placing those with such diets at almost double the risk of contracting a fatal case of prostate cancer.
Researchers suggest that a high-fat diet may act as a trigger for the disease. While family history and race could make you more likely to develop prostate cancer, eating less red meat and other fatty foods may ultimately give you a better chance of surviving it. Other dietary choices that may help lower your risk include soy products and high-fiber foods, such as beans, lentils, tomatoes, peas a;nd dried fruit.
Lack of exercise. Preliminary studies suggest regular vigorous activities like brisk walking and sports lower your risk, perhaps by lowering the body's testosterone levels. (Men's Health 12/93)
From the Flight Surgeon:
"TO FLY OR NOT TO FLY"
by Joe Battersby, D.O.
FAA Medical Examiner
[insert Battersby article here]
(Contributing Editor's note: Felton Havins will be contributing articles on vitamins periodically.)
AMERICA DOESN'T HAVE A HEALTH CARE CRISIS
AMERICA HAS A LIFE STYLE PROBLEM
Everything that happens to you in life is affected by your nutritional intake and also what you fail to consume. Here are a few facts from leading bio-chemists, Dr. Richard Passwater and Dr. Linus Pauling, that may surprise you:
Fresh-cooked foods can lose up to 56% of their nutrients in cooking. The same is true of your vitamins if they are processed with heat.
Canned foods lose 30% of their nutrients in the scalding process, 25% in sterilization, 27% in liquor diffusion, and 12% in reheating.
Frozen foods lose 25% of their nutrients in the scalding process, 19% in freezing, 15% in thawing and 24% in cooking.
A tomato picked in Nebraska contains selenium (essential trace mineral for the distribution of Vitamin E) at 1000 parts per million, whereas a tomato picked in a neighboring state may only contain 1 part per million. Soil depletion from the turn of the century has been dramatic, not to mention pesticides and early green harvest followed by gas processing.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES) reveals that children and teenagers are as likely to consume Kool-Aid or colas
as they are orange juice. They are more likely to consume potato chips and cookies than an apple or other pieces of fruit. The only vegetable to pass the lips of most teenagers is a french-fried potato.
Adults did not fare much better, with over 70% of those surveyed not eating a single fruit or vegetable rich in Vitamins A and C. Ironically, even with all the scientific research pointing to the health benefits of antioxidants (such as beta carotene) and cruciferous vegetables in helping to reduce the risk for certain types of cancer and in helping to reduce heart disease, 80% of survey participants still failed to eat so much as a daily stalk of broccoli or other cruciferous vegetable. The Council for Responsible Nutrition finds that 97% of Americans do not eat diets that match even the RDA. (Required Daily Allowance - 1960's nutritional technology)
So, what's the solution? ...............................SUPPLEMENTATION, SUPPLEMENTATION, SUPPLEMENTATION. Many leading Bio-Chemists preach, "it's important what you eat but it's of even greater significance what you fail to eat."
Your bio-available life span (if you did nothing to harm it) is somewhere between 120 to 125 years of age. You can get way ahead of the game if you exercise at least three times a week (30-45 min. each), eat something less than 20% fat in your diet, and take SUPPLEMENTS. You may not make 120 yrs. but the age you do reach will be a lot more fun than a wheelchair, sun visor and jello.
Only 7% of Americans eat enough of the right foods to get even the RDA level. In order to gain this RDA level, a person would have to eat 5 servings of fruits- 4 servings of vegetables- 3 servings of breads, pastas-3 servings of meat, poultry or fish. Now you won't get rickets, beri-beri, or scurvy. Whoa! It's virtually impossible to reach antioxidant protection levels from food alone. What's an antioxidant? What's a free radical?
Antioxidants are vitamin molecules that carry three electrons by nature. Free radicals are mutated molecules that are suppose to carry an even number of electrons but have had one knocked out of orbit as a result of smoking, radiation exposure, stress, alcohol, fat foods, pollution, etc. Now it's unstable and begins to wreak havoc by robbing electrons from adjacent cells. It's a chain reaction as each molecule tries to stabilize itself by stealing an adjoining cell's electron. If you can see small brown spots on your hands - that's free radical damage. They're wrongly called age spots. It's properly called an oxidation indicator. That's how we age.... through oxidation. Free radicals are the bad bombers doing the dirty work. Antioxidants are the free radical interceptors. The big problems starts when the free radicals reach the nucleus of the cell and damage your DNA. Once the DNA is altered the possibility of cancers, cardiovascular diseases etc. dramatically increases.
The cover of Time Magazine, April 1992, stressed that these things called antioxidants may very well fight age related diseases such as cancer and heart diseases. Since then technology has continued to verify the research. And guess what...... all these bio-chemist doing the research are on antioxidant supplementation. (buzz word of the 90's)
The average adult has between 80 to 100 trillion cells. One billion cells per hour must be replaced. Dr. Dewayne Aschmeads contends that your body takes about 100,000 free radical hits a day per cell from a normal non-smoking person. That number increases into the trillions if you do smoke or lay out in the sun to tan. Close behind these heavies are stress, alcohol, and a fatty diet.
Speaking of a fat diet you may be surprised to know the average Oriental consumes about 3,000 calories a day compared to 2,400 for the average American. Why are they so slender for the most part and we're so fat? Because we eat 42% fat a day and they eat only 15 % fat. Conclusion ......Calories don't make you fat.....FAT makes you fat!
If you've ever been associated with a cattle or hog processing plant you would know they use diet technology by starving the animals for severadays and then feeding them for several days. If you do this enough you can absolutely destroy their metabolism and they will gain more weight faster and more efficiently with each cycle.
I think it's absolutely hilarious (maybe sad would be a better word) when the flight attendants are called in for weight check. The supervisors put them on the scales and say lose 25 lbs. in the next few weeks or take some time off. So, what happens? The FAs go on a horrendous diet (what other nations call starvation) lose water and lean muscle but more significantly, drain their immune system. Now having been weakened properly they become susceptible to colds, flu, or viruses and call in sick or worse; try to fly and give it to another FA who will continue the cycle. This is what I call "The Health Drain Chain". The pilots are even worse about this. I had to make my First Officer go home last week with a terrible cold he had gotten from the previous Captain. Where did that Captain get it. I checked! He got it from the pervious F/O. I wonder what the $ figure is for antibiotics and missed days of work as the "Health Drain Chain" continues. This minor example easily hits somewhere around $7,000 and that's going only 3 deep in the Drain Chain. By the way , the Chain was broken when FO Carl Low got on board with some sanitary wipes he carries and proceeded to sterilize the O2 mask, yolk, throttles and myself. Carl just made many $ for the Airline. Our immune system is affected by all the free radicals and their tools of aging Smoking is lung cancer's roommate. Alcohol is always seen with liver and kidney problems. Excess fat tags along with heart disease. Some of us are truly overweight, meaning excess % of body fat. Some of us don't meet the current weight guide lines and yet are in exceptional health with very little body fat. You FA supervisors and management people should give FAs the option of being weighed or being calipered. Every body knows lean muscle weighs more than fat. It doesn't matter what you weigh if the inches are right. Your typical anorexic is 40% + body fat, in poor health, yet would meet the weight criteria of SWA. But how many sick days would they create. If all our SWA smokers took 12,000 IU of Beta Carotene a day ......how many sick days could be saved? I haven't even touched on the loss of mental acuity and job performance. Only through education can you institute a permanent life style change. Free radicals are very expensive!
Southwest Airlines is a young, aggressive modern thinking company. We should be the leader in hanging up old antiquated health technology. Play it again Sam......
1. Exercise more, eat less than 20% fat in your diet, and take supplements! If you have any inkling to garden-do so.
2. Rest properly, don't compromise your immune system.
3. All employees should carry sanitary wipes. They should be stocked in the cockpit. Don't give your associates your sickness.
4. Don't diet....Diets don't work. And you FA health nuts should request to be calipered before you give up your immune defenses.
5. Smoke less--Drink less or just quit altogether.
I'm going to request permission to place two very good VCR tapes at each base. One is how to eat properly and is required viewing at the University of Texas Medical School. The other is a health report on the nineties and includes great graphics on how free radicals tear your body up and how antioxidants can neutralize most of them.
Remember the body is just like any engine... it takes in oxygen and gives off poisonous oxides (FREE RADICALS). See it's all a neat but deadly plan for our early exit from mother earth. How's your time table? How many free radicals will you neutralize today? You must make a life style change. (Forever)
AMERICA DOESN'T HAVE A HEALTH CARE CRISIS
AMERICA HAS A LIFE STYLE PROBLEM
In the next issue I will relay information about the value of chelated minerals and your vitamin supplements. Without the minerals the vitamins just don't work. The minerals are the spark plug of the whole system.
The Vita-man
Capt. Felton Havins
Hou 3550
INDUSTRY NEWS
by L. Kline
NEW AUS AIRPORT - Bergstrom Air Force Base is scheduled to replace Robert Mueller Municipal Airport as the civil airport serving Austin, Texas, in late 1998. Upgrades to Bergstrom include a new 9,000 foot runway in addition to the existing 12,500 foot runway.
CLINTON WANTS TO REMOVE ATC FROM FAA - President Clinton is proposing legislation to remove the nation's ATC system from the FAA and place it into a new independent "government corporation" in response to one of the most controversial recommendations from the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry. Proponents of the move say that it will free the ATC system from the cumbersome federal rules on procurement that have put ATC modernization years behind schedule.
WAKE TURBULENCE ACCIDENTS - NTSB investigators believe wake vortices from B757 aircraft may have caused at least four accidents or incidents recently. These include two fatal crashes; a Citation in Billings, and a Westwind at Orange Co. Airport (SNA), California, in December 1993. These accidents have prompted FAA Administrator Hinson to issue a letter to all U.S. pilots warning of the hazards of B757 wake vortices.
This author attended the FAA Wake Turbulence Symposium in October 1991. This symposium was the first meeting held in over a decade to discuss wake hazards. Data and information from the symposium was reported in the December, 1991, "Reporting Point" and is reprinted here in part for your information: "...some research evidence was shown that some narrow-body aircraft create a more intense vortex than some heavy aircraft. Research in both the U.K. and this country has demonstrated that the wake vortex signature of the B757 is as intense as most heavy jets. In England, recommendations by their CAA (British FAA) have included classifying the B757 as a heavy jet because of the nature of the produced vortex, in some cases with observed core velocities of 200-300 mph! Further research has yielded that two aircraft types are more vulnerable to wake vortex encounters and upset than most, the DC-9 and the B737. This data reveals that the rate of encounters is much greater for these two aircraft types as compared to other transport aircraft.
Only concerned about the wake turbulence hazard in the terminal area? Then consider this - several years ago, the Air Force had an accident involving two heavy aircraft; KC-135's. At FL250, the trailing 135 was about 3 miles behind and 500 feet below the lead aircraft when the tanker encountered the lead's wake. The 135 rolled slightly right, then violently left followed by another rapid roll right. Engines 1 and 2 were torn off from the engine pylons and the aircraft lost 4000 feet of altitude until recovery was initiated. It is important to remember that these were the same size aircraft at altitude, where wake vortices do not decay as rapidly as when in the earth's boundary layer."
Quoting from Administrator Hinson's letter, "Whether or not a warning has been given, the pilot is expected to adjust his or her operations and flight path as necessary to preclude serious wake encounters."
LEGAL DECISIONS:
LOGGING AIRCRAFT DISCREPANCIES - the NTSB granted an appeal from a pilot accused of violating FAR 121.563.
In July, 1989, the captain of a Continental B737 flight from LGA to CLE received a door warning light (Equip) shortly after takeoff. The captain immediately returned to LGA and brought the aircraft to the head of an alleyway in the ramp area near the gate, where a mechanic check the door. The mechanic testified that the door appeared to be closed but that a switch might be malfunctioning. The light did not come on again, and the aircraft resumed its schedule, using the same clearance. Upon arrival in CLE, the captain wrote up the discrepancy in the logbook.
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing the case dismissed one of the FAA charges against the crew, inadequate preflighting, but reaffirmed the FAR 121.563 violation against the captain. He found that, in light of the definition of "flight time" logging in CLE rather than LGA violated the rule, which stipulated that irregularities occurring during flight time are to be entered into the maintenance log at the end of that flight time.
The NTSB, in reviewing the case, concluded that the rule itself is "vague and ambiguous, providing insufficient notice to airmen of its application to the facts here...Indeed, our review of cases cited by the Administrator confirms difficulties of interpretation."
The FAA argued that the term "flight time" was added to reflect the intent to cover the ground, as well as air, time; in effect, to cover the entire period until the aircraft came to a final rest. The NTSB noted that the aircraft did not do so in LGA.
The captain of the flight argued that the landing at LGA did not end that segment of the flight time. The aircraft remained pressurized, did not return to the gate or open its doors, and it took off again with the same ATC clearance.
The NTSB agreed with the pilot and exonerated the captain of any FAR violations related to this flight. Administrator v. Lambert
