Word: kass
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...launching price wars while ignoring rising inventory and changes in customer needs. The company's key lender, ITT Commercial Credit, has announced that it will jump ship by the end of June. Now Businessland must persuade remaining lenders to extend its loan payments. Observes computer industry analyst Douglas Kass: "The coffin is lying out there waiting for the last nail...
Researchers have known for several years that TSS is caused by a toxin produced by a common and usually harmless bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus. In laboratory studies, the Harvard team, led by Infectious Disease Specialist Edward Kass, found that the bacterium produces up to 20 times as much toxin as usual in the presence of certain tampon fibers. Kass's group discovered that the fibers -- polyester foam and polyacrylate rayon -- soak up large amounts of magnesium, which is normally present in vaginal tissue and fluid. When the magnesium is removed from the bacterium's environment, the bug responds by churning...
...important clue to the magnesium factor came from Kass's earlier research on diphtheria, which is also caused by a bacterial toxin. He recalled that when deprived of iron, the diphtheria microbe produces excessive amounts of toxin. "You comb your mind for something you can get a hold on," he says, and the diphtheria-iron connection "leaped right out." Through a trial-and- error process, Kass and his team found that magnesium played a parallel role with Staph. aureus...
...magnesium link may help explain why toxic shock typically occurs on the fourth day of a woman's period, when the menstrual flow has diminished. During the previous days, the volume of fluid is greater, and, Kass believes, there is probably enough unabsorbed magnesium present to keep toxin production in check...
...withdraw products containing polyacrylate rayon from the market and replace them with safer, though somewhat less absorbent versions. Procter & Gamble's Rely tampons, the only type containing polyester foam, were discontinued in 1980, after they had been linked to dozens of cases of TSS (the incidence rate promptly dropped). Kass is hopeful that his research, which was sponsored by Tambrands (the maker of Tampax), will help manufacturers in developing new tampons that are both ultra-absorbent and safe...