C M Y K E6
HEALTH 03-09-10 DM EE E6 CMYK
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KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010
URBAN JUNGLE
Pint-size mammoth is a big deal
The chan ging natural world at our doorsteps.
found traces of adult feces, in-
Foreign flags unfurling
42,000-year-old
dicating that mammoth babies,
like modern elephants, ate their
specimen is unusually mother’s excrement as a source
Sunny, south-sloping lawns are the first to sport early spring
well-preserved
of bacteria they need for proper
flowers, such as these two exotic weeds from Europe and
digestion.
Asia. Common chickweed and Persian speedwell thrive as
Teams of Russian and inter-
cool-weather groundcovers on area lawns, where
by William Mullen national scientists have looked
they form dense green mats. By summer, both
at Lyuba through CT scans and
will have withered, leaving behind a multitude For 42,000 years, Lyuba, a X-rays and have taken portions
of seeds, which will germinate next baby woolly mammoth, was of her skin, bone, teeth and vital
fall and winter to form another preserved almost perfectly in- organs for study. Because she
generation of colonists.
tact, right down to her baby fat, quickly captured the hearts of
in frigid Siberian river muck. Russians, keeping Lyuba for
Now released from her icy posterity became a priority for
grave, she is being preserved in Russian authorities.
much the same manner as an- Falling back on preservation
other famous Russian relic: the methods they feel comfortable
body of revolutionary Vladimir with, Fisher said, the Russians
Lenin. It is a process called des- chose to use a method he be-
iccation, removing all moisture lieves is similar to what has
from the body tissues. been used to preserve Lenin’s
Only Lyuba’s hair and toe- body since his death in 1924.
nails were missing when rein- His body lies in a tomb in Mos-
Common deer herders found her carcass cow’s Red Square.
chickweed in 2007, washed out from the “She was submerged in etha-
permafrost along Yuribey River nol and an antifungal agent,
Persian
in Siberia. Since then, her body, methylparaben,” said Tom
speedwell
tiny tusks, internal organs and Skwerski, an exhibit project
even the contents of her stom- manager for Chicago’s Field
ach have been a wellspring of Museum. “Ethanol permeates
scientific insight into mam- all tissues and dries faster than
0 0.5 moths and life in the ice ages. water. Then she was submerged
“There is no question at this in a solution of formalin, a
INCH
point it is the best-preserved, formaldehyde-based product,
most complete wooly mam- and ethanol, and dried through
Both flowers are bisexual, having both male and female parts.
moth specimen ever found,” evaporation until all moisture
said Daniel Fisher, a mastodon content in her tissue is gone and
Common
Flower parts
Persian
and mammoth expert at the she is mummified.
chickweed speedwell
University of Michigan and one “She no longer has to be kept
Calyx (sepals)
of the first scientists to examine frozen, which can also damage
Corolla (petals)
Lyuba.
RIA NOVOSTI/GETTY IMAGES
her tissue, but is kept in a cli-
Pistol (female)
From her tiny tusks and Scientists perform an autopsy and DNA analysis on a month-old mate-controlled case kept at 70
Style (leads to ovary)
teeth, Fisher concluded that Ly- woolly mammoth found by Siberian reindeer herders in 2007. degrees and 50 percent relative
uba was only a month old when humidity.”
Stigma (receives
pollen)
she apparently fell into a quick- Fisher said, might have acted as never or almost never get soft Lyuba can be seen at the Field
sandlike riverbank and suffo- a preservative and given her tissues” — skin and internal or- Museum in a traveling exhibit,
Stamen (male)
cated as she sucked mud into flesh a foul odor and taste that gans. “What we see in Lyuba is curated by Fisher, called “Mam-
Filament
her mouth and trunk while discouraged wildlife from eating barely different in chemistry moths and Mastodons: Titans
Anther (produces pollen) frantically trying to free herself. the remains when her carcass from tissue in a living animal,” of the Ice Age.” Information
Soon covered completely, she popped out of the permafrost he added. about the exhibit, and photos
SOURCE: Virginia Tech, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
was preserved by the cold, lack and began thawing. Even her intestinal contents from it, can be viewed at www.
PATTERSON CLARK/THE WASHINGTON POST clarkp@washpost.com
of oxygen and a type of bacteria The bones of animals from the were preserved, helping con- fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/
that colonized her flesh, making same period show up with some firm the diets of ice age mam- traveling_mammoths.htm.
it slightly acidic. The bacteria, frequency, but Fisher said “we moths. In Lyuba’s case, they also — Chicago Tribune
SCENES FROM THE 21ST-CENTURY DOCTOR’S OFFICE
Finding a doc in D.C.: a painful experience
doctor continued from E1 2009 survey. This figure topped means . . . finding a primary-
the list, far ahead of Washing- care physician . . . in D.C. is rare;
time to spare. About two weeks ton’s 30 days and New York’s 24 it’s so rare.”
later, she produced a list of days. Even for the high and mighty.
some 15 practices in the District For the most part, health-care Phillips’s group has lobbyists
that she had contacted. Only reform in Massachusetts has who meet regularly with mem-
two were accepting new pa- “been a really great thing,” says bers of Congress and their aides.
ARTHUR TOGA/UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
tients with insurance coverage Joseph Gravel, president-elect They’ll occasionally return from
like mine. But they came with of the Association of Family these meetings having gotten a
Scientists shine a light on the
relatively poor online reviews — Medicine Residency Directors. familiar request: “Hey, I have a
one doctor was described as “so- “The only downside to it really family physician back home, or
cially awkward” and the other is that there hasn’t been enough I have a general internist, and I
brain to understand diseases
was said to have a brusque staff attention paid to: Do we have can’t find one [here]. Can you
and exam rooms covered with the capability or the capacity?” help me out?” says Phillips. In
piles of paperwork. Throughout my own quest for the last nine years, he’s heard
This colorful photo illustrates rect the corrupted neural compu- Wonderful. a doctor, and as I began writing from about five members of
some of the complexity of the tations that lead to disease,” said At that point, I came to a con- this article, I’d bring up the is- Congress and some 50 staff
brain. Recently, neuroscientists Brian Chow, one of the MIT re- clusion: This search was offi- sue with friends. Later, fully members. He tells them to do
at the Massachusetts Institute of searchers. cially too hard. And if Congress willing to impose on people exactly what I had been doing
Technology began experimenting The specially primed genes, eventually passes any kind of with the promise of anonymity, when all else failed: head to the
with a kind of light therapy to dubbed Arch and Mac by the MIT health-care reform that gives I sent out a questionnaire.
It’s already
suburbs.
shut down abnormally active team, are key to the work. Arch is coverage to millions more peo- And what good friends they
nearly
“I’ve wound up getting them
brain cells. Using implanted de- short for Archaerhodopsin-3, ple, searches like mine are only were: Tales of untreated urinary seen usually in Northern Vir-
vices along with genes specially which comes from one of the old- going to get harder. An influx of tract infections, among other impossible to ginia or Southern Maryland,” he
primed to react to light, the re- est bacteria on the planet, and patients will overwhelm a sys- things, soon filled my inbox. says. “I have not been successful
searchers deliver a jolt of light Mac is short for one of the mol- tem already crippled by a well- One friend got a UTI just after
find an open
in connecting a member of Con-
deep into the brain; doing so ecules from Leptosphaeria mac- documented dearth of primary- she’d moved to Washington and gress with a primary-care physi-
might allow them to control the ulans, a common fungus. These care physicians, as medical stu- was waiting for her new med-
primary-care
cian in the District.”
defective cells. genes convert light into electrical dents gravitate toward more lu- ical insurance card to arrive. Af- In the end, I proved more
The idea is to to manage the energy; when activated inside the crative specialties. Look at Mas- ter a week of pain, she saw a
practice.
adept than Phillips at finding a
neural circuits thought to be re- brain, they prevent abnormal sachusetts, where a mandate for doctor at a CVS MinuteClinic in physician inside the District
sponsible for epilepsy, Parkin- cells from firing, effectively disa- health insurance has brought Bethesda. But her symptoms re- ical students are more likely to who was in my insurance plan.
son’s disease and chronic pain. bling them. Blue light triggers the coverage rate to 97 percent. turned two weeks later. “By this choose primary care “if they are In early December, I plunked
“In this way the brain can be pro- Mac; yellow activates Arch. Pretty In the Boston area, patients point I was desperate,” she from a rural area, if they are old- down in an examining room at a
grammed with different colors of cool. wait 63 days, on average, to see a wrote to me. “I started calling er and have other life experienc- Capitol Hill practice for my first
light, to study and possibly cor- — Charity Brown family doctor, according to a every doctor listed on my insur- es, if they’re married and, inter- physical in three or four years.
ance company’s website. I must estingly, if they’re female, and if The moment I’d scheduled
have made 20 phone calls be- they come from a family of low- the appointment, I felt relieved.
fore I found a doctor that would er income — not if they’re neces- I had a good feeling about this.
let me come in. I think I waited sarily poor, but if they come And by “good feeling,” I mean
For Advertising Contact
about 2 days to see him.” from a family not of the higher- that unless this doctor made meDanielle Gosnell
Other friends searched dur- income categories.” doubt the validity of her med-202-334-5648
ing less frantic circumstances: Gravel has an immediate so- ical degree, I would be satisfied.gosnelld@washpost.com
One pal, who works in Beth- lution: Fund more primary-care And I was more than satis-
Health Guide
Deadline: Wed. at 12-noon (6 days prior)
esda, first looked for an avail- residents. “If we get more family fied. The exam was comprehen-
HEALTHCARESERVICES HEALTHCARESERVICES WEIGHTCONTROL
able primary-care physician in medicine residents and pri- sive and didn’t feel rushed. The
her plan in Maryland but gave mary-care residents,” he says, practice, Washington Primary
New Laser Treatment Kills Nail Fungus
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FUNGUS?
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Washington’s Robert Graham tion (13). erywhere. But then again, I ha-
washingtonpost.com
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Center, which studies family But the shortage is felt acute- ven’t tried,” she said.
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High Definition medicine and primary care, says ly even for people willing to look Zamskaya says she personallyWilliamsburg Healthy Hypnosis
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going into primary care by be- “D.C. is a little bit unique,” it’s hard to predict when she’ll
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participating in Study
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C M Y K E6
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