Word: calcium
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...1970s, the availability of beta blockers, a class of drugs that help reduce the burden on the heart, made it possible for certain patients to postpone or avoid surgery altogether. Patients may also benefit from the introduction in the U.S. two years ago of substances called calcium channel blockers, which can reduce blood pressure, relieve some types of angina and help the heart work more efficiently...
...that most of the marginal land of the Great Plains cannot support commercial exploitation. With less than 20 inches of precipitation a year, the region is semiarid. These marginal soils, where they are not too rocky or saline, are often too sandy for farming or are packed with calcium and lime. When overturned by plow blades, valuable topsoil only a few inches thick becomes vulnerable to wind and rain erosion; once gone, it takes decades to replace. The sodbusters are either big operators who buy land and plow on a major scale, or small ranchers who break their own land...
That Congressman watches the world through trifocals. He wears a pacemaker in his chest to quicken his heartbeat when it slows. One of his heart valves is synthetic; it replaced the natural one that developed a calcium deposit. He is nearly deaf without his hearing aids. A bulbous nose dominates his rumpled face, which looks forever melancholy even when its owner is not. He is 82 years...
...some "environmental irritant." Investigators had noted the presence of a yellow powder, possibly pollen, on some windowsills of one school near Jenin, and the air in the vicinity of the school was found to contain a trace of hydrogen sulfide. Doctors in Hebron observed slightly excessive amounts of calcium and sodium in the blood of some of their patients. Said one local doctor: "There is no sign of poisoning. Still, something has happened to these girls...
Muscle atrophy is a visible effect of long space flights, but there are less obvious dangers. All are related to lengthy stays in zero gravity, though scientists do not fully understand why all the changes occur. Bones lose lose one-half of 1% of their calcium each month. Some body fluid shifts from the extremities to the chest and head; a portion of the fluid is excreted. Fatigue sets in, and sound sleep becomes elusive. The heart's size shrinks by 10%. Astronauts exercising on land after a flight have a higher pulse rate than they did before space...