Word: rayon
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...city of Brezhnev, on the Volga River, returns to the far more poetic Naberezhniye Chelny (Dugout Canoes on the Riverbank). The Moscow suburb of Brezhnev is once again Cheryomushky Rayon (Cherry Tree District). In Leningrad, Brezhnev Square reverts to the Krasnogvardeiskaya Ploshchad (Red Guards Square). Not since Joseph Stalin's name was wiped from the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and the country's highest mountain (now Peak of Communism) in the late 1950s has a Soviet leader been so posthumously disgraced. No word yet on whether the nuclear-powered icebreaker, the cosmonaut-training center, the military academy, the power...
...carpet, battered and bruised by forces beyond its comprehension, awaited the next impact of our mini-wrecking ball. Tiny punctures in its rayon skin were mute testimonials to the kinetic fusion of a warped student wielding two pounds of round, steel government surplus...
...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 out great quantities of the deadly toxin...
...Harvard findings have already led the manufacturers of Playtex and Tampax tampons to 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...
...eight stylishly dressed jurists huddled around a stark, white, rectangular table were sifting through endless snippets of yarn and swatch upon swatch of silk, rayon and linen. "We need to soften the yellow to almost a blond yellow," one mulled aloud, squinting at several fabric squares. A green swatch was rejected by one woman with a disapproving, "That's too much of a bathroom tile shade." Another tan square drew the comment, "Good. It doesn't have any shine, like a brown paper bag." It seemed for a time that no decisions would be reached, but after...