The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 18, 2005, Page 8, Image 8
Humanitarian to speak at Russell House
By CARRIE GIVENS
ASSISTANT MIX EDITOR
William Schulz, executive
director of Amnesty
International, will share his views
on the effects of Sept. 11 on
Tuesday in the Russell House
Theater.
Sponsored by Carolina
Productions, Schulz will present
“Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the
Ruin of Human Rights.”
According to the Amnesty
International Web site,
amnesty.org, Schulz aims to
inspire debate on the future of
global human rights in the midst
of a war on terror.
Schulz has been executive
director of Amnesty
International USA since
1964.
Originally an ordained
Unitarian Universalist
minister, he joined Amnesty
International after working
15 years with the Unitarian
Universalist Association of
Congregations.
During his UUA presidency,
Schulz was involved in numerous
international and social justice
causes.
rrom 1985-93, he
served on the Council of
the International
Association for Religious
Freedom, the oldest
international interfaith
organization in the
world.
In January 1991, only
two weeks after the fall
of Romanian leader
SNicolae Ueausescu,
Schulz visited the post
revolutionary country. His
SCHULZ
delegation helped improve rights
for religious and ethnic
minorities.
In February 1992, he traveled
to India to work with the
Floldeen India Fund. He has led
fact-finding missions to the
Middle East. In 1997, Schulz led
an Amnesty mission to Liberia
where he investigated atrocities
committed during the civil war
there.
Throughout his public career,
Schulz has been a vocal opponent
of the death penalty, and has
supported women’s rights, gay
and lesbian rights and racial
justice. Schulz has been a
frequent guest on radio and
television programs such as “60
Minutes,” “Larry King Live,” and
“Today.”
Schulz was selected by the
American Humanist Association
as 2000’s Humanist of the Year
and was named as one of the
World’s 365 Most Influential
People.
Schulz’s presentation will be
the last Carolina Productions
lecture of the semester.
“This will be an amazing,
thought-provoking event,” said
Betsy Curry, Carolina
Productions president and
second-year entrepreneurial
management student.
“Dr. Schulz will present an
interesting look at how
September 11 is continuing to
change our world,” she said.
The lecture will begin at 7:30
p.m. A question-and-answer
session and brief meet-and-greet
opportunity will follow.
Comments m this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
Allergy season strikes with itchy eyes, runny noses
By HARRY JACKSON JR.
KRT CAMPUS
ST. LOUIS — In the spring,
when young trees’ fancies turn to
thoughts of love, their playful
pollen makes more than 40 million
Americans miserable.
The first seasonal allergy
outbreak of the year recently got
under way, beginning the annual
nine-month onslaught of pollen
and mold spores. But doctors say
recent developments make
suffering unnecessary.
“People don’t have to live with
their allergies,” said Dr. Raymond
Slavin, director of allergy and
immunology for St. Louis
University School of Medicine.
“There’s very much that can be
done, and you don’t have to
consider uprooting your family,
leaving your good job, leaving your
friends and moving to another part
of the country.”
A lot of people still view
allergies as jdst a nuisance, said Dr.
Leonard B. Bacharier, a
pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s
Hospital and an assistant professor
with the Washington University
School of Medicine.
reopie wicn anergies win ceil
you that their life is less good, their
quality of life is down, they’re less
productive at work, they don’t
sleep well at night,” Bacharier said.
Common allergy symptoms
include a runny nose; coughing
and sneezing; red, itchy eyes; hives
and headaches, according to the
National Institutes of Health.
A lot of folks fear that the mild
winter means an intense allergy
season. Not so, say doctors.
Granted, it probably started two
weeks early — late February
instead of early March — as trees
and bushes started blooming
without interference from low
temperatures and frost. But a
longer season doesn’t mean a worse
season, Bacharier said.
The Midwest is in an ideal
location for allergens, Slavin said.
The year-round allergen, mold,
grows on grains, and anyone within
200 miles gets a daily dose. Trees
are a problem from about March to
June, grasses from about May to
August and ragweed from August
to the winter. Add to this a caldron
of humidity and it’s an allergy
sufferer’s headache — literally.
Still, doctors say, the options for
treating allergy symptoms have
grown immensely in the past 10
years.
ALLERGY REMEDIES
The means of fighting allergy
symptoms haven’t changed much
in the past few decades:
♦ First, seal the house. Clean it,
cover bedding with plastic, lower
r
the humidity and pull out the
carpet if you can afford it.
♦ Use the improved allergy
medicines, including
antihistamines, decongestants and
steroid nasal sprays.
♦ Consider immunotherapy —
allergy shots designed to reduce
sensitivity.
MEDICATIONS
The biggest breakthroughs in
the past decade have been allergy
pills and steroid nasal sprays. They
work and don’t cause drowsiness
the way older medications do.
Terry Seaton, professor of
pharmacy practice at St. Louis
College of Pharmacy, Seaton
suggests allergy sufferers work with
an allergist to select the best drug
or combination of drugs. Over
the-counter drugs aren’t meant to
be long-term remedies.
The antihistamines that have
beaten drowsiness are Allegra,
Zyrtec and Clarinex (the
prescription version of Claritin),
Seaton said.
Of the drugs, doctors and
Seaton agreed that Clarinex is the
weakest.
As tor Zyrtec, about 10 percent
of users still complain of
drowsiness. In fact, the Food and
Drug Administration doesn’t allow
the manufacturer to claim that it
won’t cause drowsiness.
Allegra, the heir to the
breakthrough drug, Seldane, is
considered the most trouble-free
and is the friendliest with other
medicines or alcohol.
Seaton said to disregard claims
that a drug is for indoor or outdoor
allergies — all allergy drugs fight
allergies, regardless of whether the
culprits are indoors or outdoors.
Meanwhile, allergists are singing
the praises of steroid nasal sprays.
They can be used alone or with
another allergy medicine. The
sprays offer relief for people who
can’t use pills or people who need
more than pills alone.
“The most effective thing you
can do is combine nasal and oral
antihistamines,” Seaton said.
More stubborn symptoms may
require a decongestant, Seaton
said.
All I
.ruicgia tuiucs ui d uccuiigcaiaiii
form, Allegra D. The decongestant
is pseudoephedrine, the same
ingredient that’s in Sudafed, the
nonsedating, over-the-counter
decongestant.
If symptoms are bad enough to
require sleeping them off, there’s
still Benadryl, says Seaton. It’s one
of the drugs used in emergency
rooms when dealing with
anaphylactic (life-threatening)
allergic reactions, which accounts
for its designation as a “rescue”
medication.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Pollen causes problems for many people. Medicines like Allegra and Zyrtec can help relieve symptoms such as sneezing and coughing.
But it can make you quite
sleepy.
“It’s also marketed as a
sedative,” Seaton said.
New drugs are coming along
all the time to fight allergy
symptoms from multiple
directions. For example, there’s
Singulair, which fights allergies
differently than antihistamines
do. Also, there’s a very expensive
injection available for people and
children who suffer allergies and
asthma that cause them to be
hospitalized. It’s restricted
because it’s expensive — up to
$25,000 a year.
WHAT ARE ALLERGIES?
Allergy symptoms are triggered
when the immune system detects a
foreign protein. The immune
system is a family of killer cells and
organisms normally smart enough
to know when an invading protein
is harmless.
However, some people’s
immunity family has a stupid
cousin named immunoglobulin E.
IgE is an antibody that likes to pick
fights with harmless proteins. The
IgE antibody attaches itself to
what’s called a mast cell, another
immune-system component, and
when the IgE grabs an allergen —
pollen, dust-mite feces, pet dander
— the mast cell secretes
histamines.
The mast cell, another family
member that missed a couple of days
at school, thinks its protecting cells
when it’s actually irritating them.
The reactions of the body’s
tissues to the histamines is
inflammation and irritation that
can be mild to deadly. The deadly
extreme is the anaphylactic
reaction, with inflammation that
causes swelling and closes
breathing passages.
An antihistamine drug tries to
neutralize the histamines released by
mast cells. Decongestants constrict
blood vessels to help dry out tissues
clogged by mucous — which is why
people with high blood pressure
I
should be cautious about over-the
counter decongestants. Steroid
sprays reduce inflammation and
promote healing.
ALLERGIES AND
ASTHMA
More than 80 percent of people
with asthma have allergies, doctors
say.
Asthma can be deadly. It occurs
when irritation causes the
respiratory system to close up.
That’s why doctors tracking
allergies in children often keep an
eye on asthma symptoms.
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
and Cardinal Glennon Children’s
Hospital say asthma . problems
account for the largest number of
admissions over the course of a year.
Bacharier, of Children’s
Hospital, says doctors now treat
asthma as a chronic disease that
needs regular treatment, not just
when symptoms occur.
Decades ago, children and
adults with asthma carried
inhalers. Now, ongoing therapies
let asthma sufferers go for years
without an episode.
Asthma can grow from allergies
because of inflammation that the
allergies cause, says Bacharier. That’s
why parents need to head off allergy
season. The key is to start early.
I
MUSIC for the week of ^X\\ 19
“Something To Be” / “The Hand That Feeds ” (single) j
Rob Thomas Nine Inch Nails
“Wreck of the Day”
Anna Nalick
“Who Is Mike Jones?”
Mike Jones
'‘.A• ... -• , .
“Here Come the Choppers* A
Loudon Wainwright III [/
“Peddlin’ Dreams”
Marla McKee
“Shifting Gears”
Z-Trip
“Grace”
Jim Brickman
jy
UVtATtTVMI
“Live at Stubbs”
Matisyahu