Thursday, February 19, 1998
Community Briefs
Scientists develop way to regrow hip-bone
A UCLA orthopedic surgeon has developed a new technique to treat
bone death in human hips that may prevent the need for a total hip
replacement.
"In the 12 cases we’ve done since 1991, the procedure has
obtained good to excellent pain relief for our patients," said Dr.
Jay Lieberman, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and
originator of the technique. "People who had difficulty walking
across the room are now hiking, golfing and returning to fully
active lives."
Surgeons see about 20,000 cases of osteonecrosis, or "bone
death," a year. It occurs when the blood supply feeding the head of
the femur bone dies. The femoral head, the knobby end of the
thighbone, fits into the hip socket.
"Early intervention is important," Lieberman said. "If a
significant amount of bone dies, the femoral head eventually
collapses under the weight of the hip joint."
Lieberman’s technique, called osteoregeneration, is a
modification of an already existing technique called core
decompression. In core decompression, the surgeon drills a hole
into the femoral head and removes the dead bone inside to relieve
pressure, restore blood flow and encourage new bone growth.
In osteoregeneration, the surgeon also implants a capsule filled
with a substance known as BMP, or bone-morphogenetic protein, which
induces the body to grow new bone in replacement of the decayed
bone.
After implanting the capsule of BMP, Lieberman implants an
amount of purified human bone impregnated with BMP into the femoral
head.
Use of Internet up among business
The Internet is becoming more popular with businesses.
In Orange County alone, 92 percent of the companies are
connected to the Internet. International companies, mostly
high-tech firms, lead the country with 97 percent use.
The portion of Orange County businesses with a home page or site
on the World Wide Web has leaped to 79 percent from 59 percent last
year, more than doubling what it was two years ago, according to
the UC Irvine Graduate School of Management’s 1998 Orange County
Executive Survey. Among international businesses, 86 percent have a
web site, compared to 69 percent last year.
With technology on the rise, using the Internet for e-mail alone
has become a thing of the past. Although e-mail is still the chief
form of Internet business support, many also use it to communicate
with employees, customers and suppliers.
Firms are increasingly providing access to their employees. This
year, about 36 percent of employees have access to the Internet,
compared to only 30 percent last year.
Many executives cite efficiency and reduced cost of doing
business as the main advantages of using the Internet.
Federal committee says Berkeley discriminated
The federal government has concluded that there is evidence UC
Berkeley illegally discriminated against a white male employee and
retaliated against him when he filed a complaint.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also found that the
university’s Department of Housing and Dining Services spun a web
of lies to explain why it passed the employee up for promotion and
punished him for filing his complaint.
The EEOC "letters of determination" stem from a November 1995
complaint filed by Ken Crawford, a white male who is an on-call
manager with the dining department. He was rejected for the
position of dining services manager at the in 1994. Crawford, the
dining services manager for the hall for the 1993-94 school year,
said a lesser-qualified black male with no management experience
was hired instead.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.