The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 10, 2003, Page 4, Image 4
Car bombing blamed
on al-Qaida militants
f
BY DONNA ABU-NASR
THE ASSOCIATED I'RESS
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA -
Saudis blamed al-Qaida militants
Sunday for the suicide car bomb
ing of a Riyadh housing complex,
declaring it proof of the terror net
work’s willingness to shed Muslim
blood in its zeal to bring down the
U.S.-linked Saudi monarchy.
The attack late Saturday at an
upscale compound for foreign
workers — where mostly Arabs
lived—killed 11 people and wound
ed more than 120. The blast, not far
from diplomatic quarters and the .
king’s main palace, left piles of rub
ble, hunks of twisted metal, broken
glass and a large crater.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage said he was
“personally quite sure” al-Qaida
was behind the Saturday night at
tack “because this attack bears the
hallmark of them.” - -
Such attacks appear to be di
rected “against the government of
Saudi Arabia and the people of
Saudi Arabia,” he said, adding
that he expected more to follow.
Gunmen — possibly disguised
as police — shot their way into the
200-house compound, trading fire
with security guards. The attack
ers, believed to be in a police car,
then drove into the compound and
blew themselves up.
Those killed were Lebanese,
Egyptian, Sudanese and Saudi -
four of them children. The Interior
Ministry said most of the 122 in
jured were Arabs as well. Most of
the compound’s residents were
Lebanese, but some Saudis,
German, French and Italian fami
lies also lived there.
Four U.S. citizens were among
the wounded, the ministry said. In
Washington, State Department
spokeswoman Amanda Batt said
“some Americans were treated for
minor injuries and released.”
Led by Saudi-born dissident
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida has long
opposed the Saudi royal family, ac
cusing it of being insufficiently
Islamic and too close to the West,
particularly the United States.
On Sunday in London, the Saudi
ambassador to Britain, Prince
Turki al-Faisal, condemned
Saturday’s attack as the work of an
“evil cult” whose “sole aim is the
destruction of the kingdom. ”
By targeting foreigners’ hous
ing compounds, the attackers tar
get the backbone of the Saudi
economy. Saudi Arabia is home to
6 million expatriate workers, in
cluding about 35,000 Americans
and 30,000 Britons.
Report cites untreated heart patients
BY DANIEL Q. HANEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, FLA. — Doctors have
known for a decade that drugs
called ACE! inhibitors are a cor
nerstone of care for congestive
heart failure, yet a nationwide sur
vey released Sunday shows that
nearly one-third of patients are
sent home from the hospital with
out this lifesaving treatment.
The report documents what
many see as a dangerous reality
of modern medicine: Doctors of
ten fail to offer, or simply don’t
know about, the most basic ele
ments of care for the many condi
tions they see daily.
Just why doctors do not give pa
tients the treatments experts uni
versally agree work best is not al
ways clear, although those who
study the situation say the reasons
probably range from forgetfulness
and haste to simple ignorance.
In the latest study, Dr. Gregg
Fonarow of the University of
California, Los Angeles, looked at
how often patients hospitalized
with heart failure are discharged
with four standard kinds of care.
He found they are often missing,
although this varies widely from
“There are certain hospitals in
the United States where 100 per
cent of the patients get this,” he
said. “There are others where pa
tients had a better chance of win
ning the lottery than getting the
indicated care.”
More than 1 million admissions
are made each year to U.S. hospi
tals for congestive heart failure,
which is becoming even more
common as better treatments that
help people survive heart attacks
leave them with damaged heart
muscle.
Large studies finished in the
early 1990s convinced specialists
that every heart failure patient —
with a few clearly defined excep
tions — should be on widely avail
able drugs called angiotensin con
verting, or ACE, inhibitors. The
American Heart Association and
the American College of
Cardiology included the drugs in
their formal treatment guidelines
in 1995, and the Joint Commission
on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations later agreed.
The newest survey found that
31 percent of patients considered
ideal candidates for ACE in
hibitors are sent home without
them. Even at elite teaching hos
pitals affiliated with medical
schools, more than one-quarter
are not given them.
The other findings:
♦ 72 percent are discharged
without receiving a complete set
of discharge instructions, as
guidelines recommend.
♦ 69 percent of smokers with
heart failure are never told to quit.
♦ 18 percent do not have the
pumping power of their left ven
tricles measured, a standard indi
cator of heart failure.
Fonarow noted that doctors can
bill insurance companies for mea
suring ventricle strength but not
for writing prescriptions or ex
horting patients to give up smok
ing.
“I don’t think the public under
stands the huge degree of varia
tion between hospitals,” he said.
“People think if they go to a good
hospital, they will get all the stan
He based his findings on dis
charge data on 54,639 heart failure
patients at 260 hospitals between
October 2001 and January 2003.
The registry is sponsored by
Johnson & Johnson’s Scios phar
maceutical unit, which is devel
oping new heart disease treat
ments. Fonarow presented the re
sults at the heart association’s an
nual scientific meeting in
Orlando.
Dr. Richard Pasternak, head of
preventive cardiology at
Massachusetts General Hospital,
said he believes doctors are actu
ally more likely to follow standard
procedures than they once were.
“Things are getting better,” he
said. “The question is why they
aren’t getting better faster.”
One approach is to set up sys
tems in hospitals that routinely
prompt doctors to offer all the
standard kinds of care when they
admit patients or discharge
them. These are like the check
lists airline pilots follow before
taking off.
The heart association recently
introduced its “Get with the
Guidelines” program to improve
treatment of heart attacks by help
ing hospitals establish these
checklists. Dr. Kenneth LaBresh
of MassPRO, the Massachusetts
Medical Society’s healthcare qual
ity organization, said the program
has already paid off for the first
123 hospitals to join.
He presented data at the meet
ing showing doctors at these hos
pitals are more likely to give such
accepted treatments for heart at
tacks as aspirin, beta blockers and
cholesterol drugs.
Among other reports at the
meeting Sunday:
♦ A study of 3,203 adolescents
in rural North Carolina found that
14 percent have at least three signs
of the metabolic syndrome, which
puts them at increased risk of dia
betes and heart disease. These
signs are high blood pressure, ele
vated triglycerides, low levels of
the good cholesterol HDL, high in
sulin levels, high weight and mild
ly elevated glucose levels in the
blood.
▼ r\ i UU5 umvcian) aiuu^
compared four diet books - Atkins,
the Zone, Ornish and the Weight
Watchers cookbook - in 160 over
weight volunteers and found that
all reduced weight by 4 percent to
6 percent over one year. All but
the Ornish plan significantly low
ered the chance of heart trouble
as measured by the widely used
Framingham cardiac risk score.
♦ A study at the University of
Athens found that people who fol
low a Mediterranean diet, which
emphasizes fish, fruit, vegetables,
olive oil and little red meat, have
significantly lower levels of C-re
active protein, a sign of general in
flammation in the bloodstream.
Many researchers think inflam
mation is a common cause of heart
attacks.
— Medical Editor Daniel Q.
Haney is a special correspondent
for The Associated Press.
The Editor in Chief is responsible for ail
operations of The Gamecock, USCs student
newspaper that is published three days a week
during the Spring semester. Duties include
overseeing editorial content, recruiting and
supervision of the editorial staff.
Applications and job descriptions are available at the Office of
the Director of Student Life, Russell House 115, or online at
www.sa.sc.edu/studentmedia.
DEADLINE for completed applications is
Wednesday, November 12,2003 @ 4:00 p.m.
Taking a break
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
USC students Michael Buzzard, with ball, and Bryan Stevens
throw the football around on Davis Field Sunday afternoon.
Hark
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
student, they would get in trou
ble for the Web site,” Matthews
said.
Matthews is seeking recom
mendations from the judicial
board about her available ac
tions against Hark’s Web site.
“Private life or not, he was
still standing buck naked on the
horseshoe,” Matthews said.
In regards to the proposed res
olution, Hark said, “I appreciate
the legislature and their efforts.”
He added that the Web site dis
traction prohibits RHA from
reaching its potential and that
he thinks the proposal “mirrors
that sentiment.”
As outlined in the RHA con
stitution, the RHA president is
“responsible for the representa
tion of all campus residents,”
and the constitution further
states that “grounds for im
peachment shall be for the fail
ure to fulfill the duties of office
as outlined.”
The distinction that needs to
be made in the upcoming senate
meetings is whether a personal
Web site falls underneath the
umbrella of representing all
campus residents.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
Afghans
condemn
beauty
queen
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANILA, PHILIPPINES -
Miss Afghanistan Vida
Samadzai, condemned in her
homeland for parading in a ,,
bikini at the Miss Earth con-»
test, won the pageant’s first
“beauty for a cause” award on
Sunday.
The 23-year-old Samadzai,
the first Afghan in three
decades to take part in a beau
ty contest, failed to make it to
the contest’s semifinals.
But judges announced that,
for the first time, they were
handing out a “beauty for a
cause” prize. They awarded it
to Samadzai for “symbolizing
the newfound confidence,
courage and spirit of today’s
women ana "representing tne
victory of women’s rights and
various social, personal and re
ligious struggles.”
Samadzai could face prose
cution if she returns to her na- *
tive country because of her at- \
tire at the Manila pageant, a se
nior Afghan justice official
said Saturday.
Fazel Ahmad Manawi,
deputy head of Afghanistan’s
Supreme Court, told The
Associated Press that
Samadzai, a college student in
California, had betrayed
Afghan culture by appearing
at the Miss Earth contest in a
bikini - and may have also bro
ken the law.
“I hope that this lady regrets
her actions,” Manawi said. He
added that Afghan prosecutors
may open an investigation, but
refused to say what charges or
penalties Samadzai could face.
Regardless of any legal ac
tion, Samadzai’s parading 4
down a catwalk in a red bikini "
during the contest’s qualifica
tion last month was a radical
departure from the tradition
al image of Afghan women.
so...
psychology, huh?
A
Way to go buddy.
You finally worked up the nerve to talk to that girl from Psych 101,
but you still sounded like a doofus with nothing intelligent to say.
That s where we come in. .
r
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