Blood

The American Red Cross will hold community blood drives throughout this month in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.Today from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., blood donors should go to the Harborview Health Club at 100 Harborview Drive.On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., donors can report to Federal Hill Elementary School at 1040 William St. On Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., donors can go to St. John Episcopal Parish Hall at 3738 Butler Road.For further dates, call 764-4911 or 1-800-787-1991.

The Red Cross of Howard County has stepped up its appeal for blood donations during a serious blood shortage.The situation "is quite critical," said Bobbie Jones, director of donor resources for the Chesapeake and Potomac areas. "If we had an accident, then it would create problems."At the donor center in Columbia, blood supplies are extremely low, said Jones. The center has only a half-day supply of blood, she said. Typically, it would have a two-day supply.Blood supplies throughout Central Maryland have been low this summer.

Q: Tests done during an annual check up showed that my blood calcium level was too high. My doctor has told me that the results of further tests indicate that I have hyperparathyroidism and need an operation. I feel perfectly well and am therefore hesitant to undergo surgery. Could you explain the causes and effects of hyperparathyroidism and why surgery is necessary?A: Hyperparathyroidism, one of many causes of a high blood calcium (hypercalcemia), is usually diagnosed by blood tests demonstrating elevated levels of both calcium and parathyroid hormone in the blood.

The American Red Cross is continuing an emergency blood drive today in response to a dangerous drop in the regional blood supply, agency officials said.Gov. Parris N. Glendening urged the public on Thursday to donate blood to replenish the supply. The American Red Cross Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Region has extended the hours of its collection centers, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.Call (800) GIVE-BLOOD to make appointments at any of six area centers.They are at 4700 Mount Hope Drive, Seton Business Park, Baltimore; Bright Oaks Courtyard, Suite 122-124, 2021 Emmorton Road (Route 924)

Karen Meyer, dressed in pink for breast cancer awareness month, gave blood Wednesday at the Red Cross Donor Center in Timonium as part of a new partnership between the relief agency and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. Meyer was participating in the first-of-its-kind partnership between the two Maryland nonprofits that urges donors to give hope and give blood. "We have never done something like this," said Robin Prothro, executive director of Susan G. Komen Maryland. "It is a perfect combination of missions and maybe it will open the door for other partnerships."

You're running along at a fast clip, smiling as you pass slower runners, when suddenly you feel an excruciatingly sharp pain just under your ribs on the right side of your body. It forces you to slow down to a walk. What is it?You probably have a side stitch.When you run or ride a bicycle very fast, the large muscles in your legs act as a second heart, pumping blood back to the heart. Each time your leg muscles relax, the nearby veins fill with blood. When the leg muscles contract, they squeeze the blood out of those veins so it can return to the heart, which in turn pumps it out to the rest of your body.

LIFE SCIENCES teacher April Sexton was trying to find a way to teach her pupils about blood, when the idea of holding a blood drive occurred to her. She and her pupils and fellow teachers at Northwest Middle School organized the drive last year. They decided to repeat it this year after last year's success. "My units have been switched around, so the kids haven't studied blood yet," Sexton explained. "But they will." Sexton said last year she had to provide a list of people signed up before the Red Cross would conduct the drive.

WASHINGTON -- The federal highway safety agency has overstated the effectiveness of state laws that lower the level of alcohol in the bloodstream needed to classify an individual as legally drunk, a government review has found. The review concluded that lowering the blood-alcohol limit alone did not demonstrably reduce the number or severity of alcohol-related car crashes.The review, by the General Accounting Office, challenged the findings of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in several published studies commissioned by the safety agency, which supports tighter restrictions on drinking and driving.

A QUICK, MOSTLY PAINLESS way of helping the community will be offered tomorrow at St. Jane Frances Roman Catholic Church in Riviera Beach - a blood drive. The Knights of Columbus at St. Jane's is sponsoring the Operation Share Bear holiday-season blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parish/school hall on St. Jane Drive. Joe Turchetta, head "blood sucker" for the group, said Operation Share Bear is a regional blood-collection effort by the American Red Cross conducted Dec. 15 through Jan. 15. "Everyone who donates a pint of blood will get to fill out a gift tag that will be attached to teddy bears that will be distributed to sick kids in local hospitals Jan. 15 through 26," Turchetta said.

Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker had "a couple beers" 2 1/2 hours before his car crashed and left him partially paralyzed, a friend says.But the jockey had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13 percent, according to the California Highway Patrol. That is nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.Don Pierce, a trainer and former jockey, said he and Shoemaker drank a few beers about 6 p.m. Monday after playing golf at the Sierra La Verne Country Club.Shoemaker, 59, remained in critical condition after he fractured his neck in the accident.