Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 6

Page 6, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska, Thursday, August 23,1984 Implanted Device I To Aid Ailing Hearts By DANIEL Q.HANEY AP Science Writer BOSTON (AP) Implanted devices that zap the heart with electric jolts may someday be a key weapon against cardiac arrests, by slowing the rapid heartbeat that precedes about half the 400,000 cases of sudden cardiac death among Americans each year, researchers say. Such treatment has been available in emergency rooms for three decades, but often the patient arrives too late to be helped. So researchers are attempting to shrink these hospital machines enough to insert them inside potential victims' bodies. The idea is to provide the life-saving shock automatically on the spot, whenever the device senses that something is wrong. The latest of these devices, developed at Indiana University School of Medicine, was described in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

"I personally think we are embarking on a new era in therapy of tachyarrhythmias," said Dr. Douglas P. Zipes, the inventor. "That will be a In Court Albert Roy Hammock was fined $400 and sentenced to 30 days in jail, with 27 suspended, for driving while intoxicated. He will be on probation for one year and his license will be suspended for 90 days.

Gordon J. Helem forfeited $10 for allowing a dog to run at large. Community Calendar Thursday 7:30 p.m. Sitka Community Association Tribal Council, SCA building, 456 Katlian 8 p.m. AA, Mt.

Edgecumbe hospital third floor 8 p.m. Adult children of alcoholics, SCAODA Friday 8 p.m. AA, Aurora's Watch sponsored by Arrowhead Transfer greater and greater reliance on electrical devices." Tachyarrhythmia and tachycardia describe heart rates of more than 100 beats a minute. Often, this condition can be controlled with drugs. But when it cannot, doctors must shock the heart back to a normal rhythm by placing electrical paddles on the chest.

Otherwise, the heart may go into fibrillation or cardiac arrest that stops blood circulation and quickly leads to death. Relatively mild shocks will correct tachycardia, while stronger jolts are needed to relieve fibrillation. Four years ago, Dr. Michael Mirowski of Johns Hopkins Medical School tested an i a defibrillator, which automatically delivered powerful shocks during cardiac arrest. "This is another step along in encapsulating the emergency room into a 100-gram can that one can implant and do, from inside the heart, what the paddles do externally," Zipes said.

The latest is still experimental, and at least two major drawbacks must be worked out before it can be considered for widespread use. It is not powerful enough to correct fibrillation. And it does not always distinguish between tachycardia and other rhythm abnormalities, so it may produce a shock at the wrong time. "I don't see it replacing drugs but serving as an adjunct," Zipes said. "I see a very wide application once these final problems are solved." The three-ounce device is similar to a pacemaker, which speeds up the heart when it beats too slowly.

Like a pacemaker, it can be quickly installed under local anesthesia without major surgery. Patients are conscious when the fires off its jolts, and it.makes chest muscles contract something like "a giant hiccup," Zipes said. When hospital and doctor costs are added in, the device costs between $12,000 and $15,000. Victim Identified JUNEAU (AP) A- man lost when the 34-foot fishing vessel Lady sank earlier this week off the Kenai Peninsula has been "identified as Brian Creelman of Anchorage, the Coast Guard reported Thursday. The vessel's owner, William Sullivan, 31, and Leanne Nesmith, 24, were picked up within hours of vessel's sinking Tuesday.

ISLANDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE Public Auction and Sale ICC Campus Friday 4:00 P.M. item will be sold as is, where is. Payment must be made upon determination of winning bid, by cash or accepted check, items may be inspected at the college between 12:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. daily prior to the auction sale.

PRE-PRICED SALE: 21 Typist chairs at $15.00 each VOICE AUCTION: (1) IBM Copier II (min. bid $238.94) (1) IBM MagCard II Typewriter (min bid $175) (1) Norelco Transcriber (1) IBM Transcriber, Model 272 (2) IBM Recorders, Model 233 DISCOUNT FOR CHILDREN NOW THRU END OF SEPT. THE A-B-C'S OF LOSING WEIGHT When your children go back to school this fall, will they be carrying more than just their books along with them? At Diet Center, we know that being overweight is not only uncomfortable, but it can also be distracting for students who should be free to concentrate on their school work. The Diet Center Program is an effective, permanent solution to the problem of being overweight. It's already worked for millions, including children and teenagers, and it will work for you and your family too.

Gail us today for a free, introductory consultation. 304 Baranof DIET CENTER 747-3211 61963 Diert Center, Inc. U.S. Questions Tapes Show Sakharov OK IT'S THE BERRIES --Visitors back from Joe Scott's cabin and lush garden at Greentop Harbor, located on an isolated shore southwest of Pelican on Yakobi Island, report a record crop of gooseberries. Irene Shuler, Shirley, Myer of Anchorage, Bette Hulbert of Juneau and Judy Christiansen, above, brought pounds of gooseberries and are proceeding to can and freeze them.

Scott, 80-pius, is a resident.of the Pioneers Home who spends summers at the garden spot where he has been planting flowers and vegetables for more than 30 years. (Photo specialto the Sentinel) Cherneiiko Ailing? MOSCOW (AP) Moscow residents, remembering the secrecy that surrounded the illness of the late Soviet leaderj Yuri V. Andropov, are speculating about the health of Konstantin-U. Chernenko, who has not been seen in public for six weeks. The Communist Party chief has not made a public appearance since early.

July and, contrary to the practice of previous Kremlin leaders, has not received visiting officials in his long vacation. Western diplomats here say they have heard rumors that Chernenko, 74, returned to Moscow for medical treatment earlier this month, but that they doubt anything is seriously wrong with the Soviet leader. Some noted, however, that Chernenko's complete retreat from public duties differs from traditions established by past Kremlin chiefs. Chernenko left Moscow July 15 for a vacation, the official news agency Tass said. Although the destination and length of his holiday were not announced, the Soviet leader is presumed to be in the Crimea, traditional rest spot of Soviet elite.

Visiting dignitaries have met with Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and other Soviet officials vacationing in the south, according to the official media. WASHINGTON (AP) The State Department said today that videotapes of Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, "prove nothing" about their present condition and were probably released by the Soviets to divert attention from other developments in the case. "We are outraged at the Soviet treatment of the Sakharovs," said Alan Romberg, a State Department spokesman. He said videotapes of the Sakharovs were reportedly made available to the West by Victor Louis, a Soviet journalist who has previously served as a contact to Western publications for the So viet governmen t. On Wednesday night, ABC News showed still photographs from an 18- minute videotape of Sakharov and his wife, Mrs.

Bonner, in Gorky. The tapes were supposedly taken "within the last month." The network said it got the tape from a West German newspaper. Romberg said the pictures, which show the Sakharovs in various poses, appear to be a month old and "prove nothing about the Sakharovs' present condition." "We will still not know definitely what the Sakharovs' mental and physical condition is until reliable observers are allowed to meet with them and talk with them," Romberg said. Sitka Hospital Randy Hatton was admitted to Sitka Community Hospital Wednesday. Leona Rennie and her baby girl, Colette, were discharged.

Emergency Calls A Sitka Volunteer Fire Department ambulance transported a patient from the Coast Guard Air Station to Sitka Community Hospital at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday. An ambulance transferred a patient from 229 Back St. to the Mt. Edgecumbe hospital at 4:22 a.m.

today. Romberg cited "a report" that Mrs. Bonner was tried last week and sentenced to as much as five years of internal exile on charges of "slandering the Soviet state." If true, Romberg said, the action would "reflect the Soviets' disregard for basic human decency." Romberg said U.S. officials can't confirm the report but are "concerned" by it. According to the report, the said, the trial ended on Aug.

17. He declined to say how the report was received. In addition to diverting attention from reports of the Bonner trial, he said release of the tapes was also intended to support the Soviets' claim that Sakharov was "alive and well," despite having been on a hunger strike and having been cut off from contacts with the outside world. Card of Thanks We would like to extend our heartfelt thankyou to all the people who have offered prayers for us during the illness of our beloved Sharon Zinn. To those who shared meals and special assistance thank you.

To Rev. Bo Melin, thank you. Our special thank you to all the kind nurses and doctors of Mt. Edgecumbe hospital who have tried to recover our loved one. You're all special people in our hearts for all the love you showed our Sharon us; The Alaska Native Bortherhood Camp.No.

1 and the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp. No. 4 we thank you for all the love and assistance you gave Bill and Eloise Kanosh for opening your home to us. Paul and Isabel Chulik, Harold and Sophia Frank, Pat and Irene Paul and family, Ray and Lucille Perkins, Naomi Kanosh and all those people who have assisted us and will not be able to mention them in the article, we thank you and God's richest blessing to you all. Gene and Harriet Chilton And family Ronald and Elsie Johns And family Charlie and Margaret Gamble And family The last weight-loss program your children will ever need! i VWMJt.