Letters.Gone ghotin "Dyslexia dyslexia (dĭslĕk`sēə), in psychology, a developmental disability in reading or spelling, generally becoming evident in early schooling. To a dyslexic, letters and words may appear reversed, e.g. gets a break in Italy" (SN 3/31/01, p. 205) brought to mind a remark I learned in grade school decades ago. It is: In English, the word fish can be spelled ghoti. That's gh as in tough, o as in women, and ti as in nation: "ghoti" = "fish." English can be difficult. Norman C. Peterson, Sata Monica, Calif. Bloodlines I was disappointed in "Blood relatives" (SN: 3/31/01, p. 206). It ignored the pioneering work by people at the company Somatogen, now known as Baxter Hemoglobin Therapeutics. They first published work on a recombinant hemoglobin for use as a blood substitute in NATURE in 1990. Later, they demonstrated definitively that many of the problems associated with blood substitutes were caused by nitric oxide nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide, a colorless gas formed by the combustion of nitrogen and oxygen as given by the reaction: energy + N2 + O2 → 2NO; m.p. −163.6°C;; b.p. −151.8°C;. scavenging scavenging of anesthetic. See anesthetic scavenging. and designed a recombinant hemoglobin that significantly decreased that activity. Bruce A. Kerwin Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , Calif. Breathless comments Your recent article on oxygen deprivation ("Breathing on the edge," SN: 3/31/01, p. 202) interested me greatly. As a jump pilot (hauling skydivers), I visit moderately high altitudes regularly. On a typical busy day, I may go to 14,000 feet 20 times. Granted that I don't stay there very long, but I wonder if the harmful effects are cumulative. Peter Danes San Diego, Calif. The interesting piece doesn't fully square with my experience of 57 years ago. As part of our WWII WWII abbr. World War II WWII World War Two preflight pre·flight adj. Preparing for or occurring before flight. tr.v. pre·flight·ed, pre·flight·ing, pre·flights To check (an aircraft) for airworthiness before flight. training, we were taken in groups to simulated altitude in a chamber. For this exercise we would be taken to 18,000 feet so we could see how it felt. All of us would then put on oxygen masks, except for a volunteer, and we then went up to 30,000 feet or more. Along the way, the volunteer was to write "I feel fine" on a pad provided. Although he was instructed to ask for his mask when he felt he needed it, he'd flop over without any evident self-awareness of hypoxia hypoxia Condition in which tissues are starved of oxygen. The extreme is anoxia (absence of oxygen). There are four types: hypoxemic, from low blood oxygen content (e.g., in altitude sickness); anemic, from low blood oxygen-carrying capacity (e.g. . After a short but pointed lecture on the guy's condition, the instructor would put a mask on him and he would pop right back up, find the pencil, and go on writing "I feel fine." Specifically, we did not find the light dimming as the anecdote in your story describes, nor find ourselves conscious of breathing hard, as might also be inferred from the article. Donald Fluke Duke University Durham, N.C. |
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