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Quality Furniture tess! Raymour Flanigan 1: A Estrogen can benefit even older women By PAUL G. DONOHUE, M.D. ple, and demonstrates the incremental nature of science. Our new knowledge has fueled speculation about the likelihood of extraterrestrial life an idea which has also quietly achieved broader scientific respectability over recent decades. It is too early to draw conclusions, but the mere notion of ET is no longer so outrageous.
in the decades to come, we Fare able to prove the existence of past or present microbial life on Mars or elsewhere, that still leaves the larger question: Is there anybody like us out there at least like us than bacteria? 1 Many earthlings already accept the probability of life elsewhere, categorically stating that "it would be arrogant to think we're the only ones in the entire runiverse." Unfortunately, wide uncritical belief in flying saucers and expo'sure to countless movie aliens has blurred the distinction between fact and fiction, and led to confusion between the issues of UFOs, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and just plain generic alien life. There are many good reasons to doubt that UFOs represent interstellar visits to Earth, but one overrides all others the lack of physical evidence. And as science has learned, eyewitness testimony is rife with problems. But that's fodder for another column. El Despite belief trends, evidence of "higher" life -forms would still probably come as a shock to the world.
While questions regarding SETI in particular, and ET in general (microbial or otherwise), have gained proponents with the discovery of knew worlds, there are other factors contributing to the scientific basis for these debates: First is the growing realization Fof just how diverse life is right on earth, as is the variety of environments it exists in. Life survives in boiling springs and frozen rocks, and withstands conditions ranging from acidic to alkaline. It resides from the mountain tops to the depths of the oceans. It eats rock and can -derive energy by chemical synthesis without sunlight. On earth, life seems to exist wherever it can, and until very recently where biologists doubted it could.
The probability of even greater variations in life's form and habitat has spawned the new science of bioastronomy. Secondly, if we find even the tiniest microbes on Mars as some suspect we will know earth is not an exception. With that possible liquid ocean (recent evidence indicates it may be saltwater!) beneath the ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, scientists are seriously considering the plausibility of life there. If and that's a BIG i if these things came to pass, we'd have three worlds in our one solar system that harbor life, making the odds pretty good for a universe teeming with life. Thirdly, the most recent barrier to fall is the question of planets places life could live outside our solar system.
Just 10 years ago, astronomers still couldn't dismiss the possibility that our solar system was a fluke, and that others might be exceedingly rare. But with new discoveries revealing improbable planets more massive than Jupiter around many kinds of stars, astronomers are venturing earnest guesses that as many as 50 or 60 percent of the 100 billion plus stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy could have one or more planets a minimum of 50 billion. (And let's not forget those "billions and billions" of galaxies beyond our own.) What a difference a decade makes! So, what's next? Robotic missions to Mars, Europa, Saturn, asteroids, comets, and more, are sure to fill many gaps 1. in our knowledge, while raising new questions. Ground-based radio telescopes will continue their deep-space SETI efforts, and early in the next century a new generation of telescopes may finally allow us to glimpse Earth-sized planets around other stars.
Whatever the outcome, our horizons will broaden, and it is not unreasonable to hope that we can answer the question of whether there is life "out there." Q. I am an 84-year-old woman whose mental and physical faculties are still sharp. My doctor of 50 years died and I am now seeing a younger doctor. He wants me to start taking estrogen. Now, really! At my E.Y, A.
True, estrogen given in the years immediately following menopause has a greater effect in preventing osteoporosis than it does when started later in life. However, estrogen slows bone loss even in women in their 70s. At ages beyond that, the evidence is less clear. Estrogen has protective effects other than osteoporosis prevention. It lowers low-density lipoproteins, the bad kind of cholesterol, and raises high-den- Health forum sity lipoproteins.
In so doing, it helps prevent heart attacks and strokes. The flip side of estrogen treatment is that most older women do not relish a return of monthly periods, something that almost always happens when a woman goes on estrogen therapy. Perhaps you and your doctor can come to a compromise. Evista, a new estrogen look-alike, keeps bones strong and lowers LDLs. It appears to offer protection against heart attacks and strokes.
It carries no risk of fostering breast cancer. Monthly menstrual periods do not return. Or the doctor might considering using nonhormone treatments for keeping bones strong. Fosamax and Micalcin are two such drugs. You can't neglect other measures that retard bone softening: calcium, vitamin and exercise.
I'm sending you a copy of my osteoporosis report. You can find the complete story told there. Readers who wish a copy can obtain one by sending $3 and a selfaddressed, stamped (55 cents) No. 10 envelope to: Dr. Donohue No.
23, care of the Union-News, P.O. Box 2350, Springfield, MA 01101-2350. Q. My husband and I are seniors and have been told that the vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia has been reconsidered. It is now suggested that we have a booster shot.
Is there any truth to this? L.M. A. Pneumococcal pneumonia is the most common bacterial pneu- monia, affecting half a million; people every year and causing. 40.000 deaths annually. The elderly and those with de-.
fective immune systems are the: ones most susceptible to from the preventable infection. When the vaccine was first introduced, one shot was thought to confer lifelong immunity. Current recommendations have been changed. A. second dose of the vaccine now is advised if a per: son is 65 or older 'and if five years have elapsed since the first immunization was given and if: the patient was younger than 65.
at the time of the first immuniza- tion. Dr. Donohue is unable to answer individual letters, but will use them in. his column when possible. Write him care of the Union-News, P.O.
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