Blood

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently received a gag gift of protective headgear after she suffered a concussion and blood clot near her brain after a fall. While Clinton can now make light of the injuries, a blood clot can be a serious health risk that can lead to death. Dr. James L. Frazier, III, a neurosurgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, talks about the dangers. What causes a blood clot to form in the brain? A blood clot or thrombus can form in the arteries that supply blood to the brain.

The entire undergraduate student bodies of the Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Naval Academy combined. The population of Bel Air, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The average attendance at a Hershey Bears hockey game (the highest in the AHL). Every one of those descriptions represents roughly 10,000 people. By any way of looking at it, that's quite a large crowd. It's also the same number of people who are killed each year in vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in this country.

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing. Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles — a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs. "The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

A federal grand jury indicted 18 alleged gang members on racketeering charges, including a detainee at a state-managed detention center, news that could draw more scrutiny to Maryland's beleaguered correctional system. Federal officials say the members of the Bloods, most of them operating out of Howard County, broke into houses, stole money and other items, and sold drugs, including oxycodone, ecstasy and marijuana. Eighteen Bloods members were charged with racketeering, and three others not in the gang were charged with selling drugs, federal officials said.

A snowball stand's success depends on two key things: hot weather and lots of hard work, say Baltimore-area purveyors of the summer treat. Add those ingredients to the crushed ice and syrup concoction that has long been a regional favorite, and summertime entrepreneurs say they can make a decent living during the season's warmest weeks. "A lot of people think it's easy to start it," said Margo Torsell, who along with family members runs a three-year-old stand on Liberty Road in Randallstown.

When most people travel, the last place they want to end up is in the hospital. For me, that's always where I'm headed. About once a month, I volunteer as a courier for the National Marrow Donor Program, transporting life-saving bone marrow or stem cells to transplant patients around the world. It's a joy to help, but it can also be exhausting. (Consider how much faster you would run to make a connecting flight if you were carrying much-needed blood instead of souvenirs.) My fiancee once joked that I wasn't happy if I wasn't on a train or plane once a week.

Sometimes men are the ones to take care of birth control through a surgical procedure. But when those men and their partners have a change of heart about children for any number of reasons, they seek to reverse their vasectomies. And that's usually possible, even long after the original procedure, says Dr. Brad Lerner, co-director of the Vasectomy Reversal Center of America a division of Chesapeake Urology. Lerner answers questions about getting and reversing a vasectomy. How common are vasectomies?

RODNIKI, Russia -- Gennady I. Nikonov beams with fatherlike pride as he surveys his progeny. Some are mating in a quiet room, others are getting their first real meal (not a pretty sight); soon-to-be mothers are swollen with pregnancy.He watches happily as a young woman plunges her arm into a 10-quart glass jar and plucks a handful of tiny but already fat, squirming leeches from their cocoons. "This is the most tender moment," he sighs.Another generation of leeches has just been born, and Gennady Nikonov thinks they should suck your blood.

THE RECURRENT blood shortages in the United States, including the one in January 1999, which create periodic medical crises when the nation's blood supply falls perilously short, is a problem with a simple solution. Don't throw away good blood!The blood banking industry influenced the FDA to stigmatize and promote discarding the greatest source of donated blood in this country, namely that of Americans with iron overload, or hemochromatosis. Blood industry leaders allege (with no confirming data)

Red Cross officials have sent out an urgent alert: Blood supplies for the region are dangerously low. For some types of blood the need is critical; as of last week, the Red Cross had less than one day's supply of O negative blood.This time of year, blood banks expect a drop in donations, as regular donors get busy with holiday activities or leave town on vacation. But the demand for blood doesn't take a season off. The situation is worse this year because the fall months were less busy than usual.

Got blood? Time to help your community. On Wednesday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Thursday ,May 16, from 3 to 7 p.m., the Hampden Family Center, 1104 W. 36th St., is partnering with MedStar Health, which owns Union Memorial Hospital, for a blood drive. If you have questions or wish to make an appointment, call the Hampden Family Center at 410-467-8710. At Minás Gallery & Boutique, 815 W. 36th St., there is an ongoing silent auction to benefit the House of Ruth, and the final bids and closing reception takes place on May 17 from 7 to 10 p.m. This auction brings together works from a number of excellent Baltimore artists, with all of the proceeds going to support one of the nation's leading domestic violence centers that helps thousands of battered women and their children every year.

My periodic "Did You Know" columns tend to raise the blood pressure of more conservative readers who are embarrassed/angry/frustrated by the increasingly aggressive counter-cultural policies of the hard left and their allies in Hollywood, on campus, and in Washington, D.C. Yet, some of this stuff is so looney and/or outside what should be mainstream views and opinions that I can't help myself. So, with due apologies to the aforementioned, did you know: •The Defense Department continues to insist the deadly Fort Hood murders (which killed 13, including a pregnant soldier, and wounded 32 others)

A Sinai Hospital cardiologist is launching a clinical trial of a type of coronary artery disease drug not yet tested in humans, building on a history at the Baltimore hospital of research to develop more effective treatments to prevent blood clotting. Dr. Paul Gurbel is studying an intravenous drug for patients undergoing cardiac stenting, when mesh tubes are implanted to widen blocked arteries. The drug, known for now as PZ-128, would be given to patients after stent implantation to prevent platelets from sticking together around the device, potentially leading to heart attack.

Shame on the senators who defied public opinion and voted to defeat the Manchin-Toomey bill to expand background checks for gun purchases ("Senate rejects expanded checks on gun purchases," April 18). There is blood on the hands of those who voted to kill this bill. Patriotic Americans will move heaven and Earth to make certain they are defeated at the polls when they stand for re-election. Sen. Harry Reid doesn't get away scot free in this incident. He had an opportunity early in the session to modify or eliminate the filibuster rule that has caused so much harm to the nation, and he declined to do it. Without that rule , the measure would have passed.

Dr. Franz Xavier Groll, a retired physician who lived and practiced on Eager Street in downtown Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood, died of pulmonary thrombosis April 2 at Keswick Multi-Care Center. He was 95. Born in Aalen in Germany, he was the son of a forest manager who was also a gamekeeper. He grew up at the time of Adolf Hitler's rise and was a member of the German Youth Movement. He studied medicine at the Ruprecht-Karl University of Heidelberg and served in the German army as a combat physician attached to a Panzer division.

Frostburg State's offense has been paced by the attack of junior Ryan Serio (Chesapeake-AA), sophomore Devin Colegrove (Dulaney) and freshman Spenser Love (Winters Mill), which has combined for 67 of the team's 150 goals and 44 of the 97 assists. And sophomore midfielder Chris Rios (14 goals and 18 assists) has also been instrumental. The unit has also been buoyed by the return of junior midfielders Devon Stailey and Lucas Flaig. Stailey has registered 10 goals and three assists while missing the first four games of the season due to a serious blood infection.

The aqueduct took a year to complete. From the cool mountains in the North it traveled 1,000 miles, transporting life-sustaining water to the sweltering South. Every 100 yards, gargoyle spouts permitted people to draw sustenance from this river of life. It was an engineering marvel.But all was not well. On the day of completion, no water ran in the aqueduct, and the people in the South were dismayed. Would relief never come?A courier arrived with grim news: War had broken out in the North.

Red Cross officials assure the public that the blood supply is "safer than ever." But the changes the organization announced over the weekend suggest that the system is not yet safe enough. Blood transfusions have always carried some risk of infection, but before AIDS the risk was rarely life-threatening. Now, when blood contaminated with the virus can be a death sentence for a recipient, the resulting strain on the system of collecting, testing and distributing blood has been enormous.The Red Cross, which provides half the nation's blood supply, deserves great credit for taking steps to institute a new computerized system and other procedures to prevent the slip-ups that have recently drawn criticism from Congress.

Owls can rotate their heads a dizzying 270 degrees, allowing them to see what's happening behind them while perched on a tree branch or barn beam. This evolutionary adaptation helps the birds keep their fixed-socket, binocular eyes trained on the scurrying mice and other small prey they hunt. But how exactly do their necks seemingly defy the limitations of bones and blood vessels as they swivel around like a submarine periscope? Fabian de Kok-Mercado, a Johns Hopkins-trained medical illustrator and an owl enthusiast, was curious.

The Sun editorial page asks "Should Morgan State have it's own board?" (Feb. 10). The answer is yes, it should. Ever since 1989 when Morgan students demonstrated for such independence, the school has successfully operated as an independent state university. This model has served the state along with Morgan students, faculty and alumni very well. Can Morgan, like any other institution, be improved? The obvious answer is yes. The school needs to return its focus to academic excellence and make selectivity of students a greater priority than the enrollment number.