Monitor

BEHAVIOR

Correcting the Myth About Holiday Blues

Every year at this time, the news is full of reports about how holiday blues can put a damper on the season’s merry-making. It’s a misconception that suicide rates spike over the holidays; they actually peak in spring. Even so, nearly half of newspaper stories about suicide during winter 2000 made a causal association between holidays and suicide, according to a study released last week by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Researchers are eager to correct this misconception because they believe that media coverage of the holiday-suicide link tends to portray suicide as a heroic or romantic act of an otherwise healthy person, rather than a deeply disturbed individual suffering from a mental illness. That may result in what behavioral scientists call a “suicide contagion” or “copycat” suicides.

In fact, other studies have suggested that information about the method of suicide encourages imitation among emotionally vulnerable people. And the danger is even greater if there are detailed descriptions or pictures. Annenberg researchers suggest that reporters can be more responsible by providing readers with accurate information about how to recognize warning signs, and new methods of treatment for suicidal persons, rather than using the holidays as a “sexy” hook for a dramatic story.

--Linda Marsa

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CANCER

Archeologists Unearth Promising Treatment

An ancient Chinese malaria remedy that was lost for years and then rediscovered by archeologists is showing promise as a cancer treatment.

Researchers digging in the 1970s unearthed several recipes for ancient folk medicines, including artemisinin, an extract from the leaves of the sweet wormwood plant, which has become a widely used malaria fighter in modern Asia and Africa. When the extract comes into contact with the parasite that causes malaria, it reacts with iron and causes a chemical reaction that leads to death of the parasite. And it can do this at low cost with a high level of safety.

Henry Lai, a research professor at the University of Washington, knew that cancer cells need lots of iron to multiply, so he began wondering if the extract would work against them too. So far, test-tube results show that the compound works on breast cancer cells that have been primed with extra iron and leaves normal breast cells alone. It kills the cancerous cells within 16 hours.

Of course, the research that appears in the current issue of the journal Life Sciences remains preliminary. But regardless, Lai says he’s fascinated that something the Chinese found useful long ago could have another application.

--Jane E. Allen

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HEALTH POLICY

‘Report Cards’ for Bypass Surgery Deaths

Sometimes there’s nothing like a little peer pressure to prompt improvements. That’s part of the thinking behind a new law recently signed by Gov. Gray Davis that will require hospitals to publicly report death rates for bypass surgery for hospitals and individual doctors.

Health policy experts believe that shining a light on this information, until now largely shielded from public view, will help spur hospitals and doctors to improve their procedures and techniques. The information will be a sort of “report card” on how well hospitals and surgeons are performing--and no one wants a “bad” report card posted on the hallway bulletin board.

Proponents of the legislation also say it will help patients who have a choice about which hospital or doctor to go to make better informed selections about bypass surgery.

The new law, SB 680, goes into effect in July 2004. Only a handful of states now require reporting of bypass surgery mortality rates. Some health experts have credited such laws with declines in patient death rates in those states.

--David Olmos