Kidney Failure

Q. I am a pediatrician concerned about parents' use of two over-the-counter medications. I often feel like a one-woman army trying to combat simultaneous use of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Motrin, etc.) for children with fever. Parents sometimes alternate doses as often as every two hours. Some parents are giving these medications together to bring down a fever. Clearly, fever is a physiologic function that helps the body fight infections. I try to educate parents about this, but there seems to be an almost irrational fear of fever in our culture.

STEFFI SIDNEY-SPLAVER, 74 'Rebel Without a Cause' actress Steffi Sidney-Splaver, who as a young actress appeared in "Rebel Without a Cause," then gave up acting to become a Hollywood writer, publicist and producer, has died. She was 74. Sidney-Splaver died Monday of kidney failure at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, said her husband, Rick Splaver. Her first movie role was in "The Eddie Cantor Story," in 1953. Two years later the dark-haired actress landed the role of Mil in "Rebel Without a Cause."

Willard Barr, 90, former mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, died Sunday of a stroke in Fort Worth. Mr. Barr, father of Mayor Kenneth Barr, was elected to the City Council in 1963 and served a single term as mayor from 1965 to 1967.Harley Flack, 55, president of Wright State University since 1994, died of cancer Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.Mary Cunningham Hoard, 95, former board chairman of W. D. Hoard and Sons Co., a publishing firm, from 1972 to 1992, died Saturday in Whitewater, Wis.Athelstan F. Spilhaus, 86, the first U.S. ambassador to the United Nations' scientific organization, a geophysicist and inventor of a device for measuring deep ocean temperatures, died Monday in Washington.

Jesse Tyson Sr., a retired mason who was known for his grilling skills, died April 27 of kidney failure at his Edgemere home. He was 70. The son of a mason and a homemaker, he was born in Clarksville, Va., and was raised in Edgemere. He was a graduate of Baltimore County public schools. Before retiring in 2006, Mr. Tyson worked locally for more than 30 years as a mason, and was "exceptionally proud" of his designs and craftsmanship in building fireplaces, family members said.

Although they constitute only 13 percent of the U.S. population, African-Ameri-cans account for 32 percent of patients treated for kidney failure, according to the 2002 report by the U.S. Renal Data System. Diabetes is the main clinical cause of renal failure, followed by hypertension. A family history of kidney disease also puts people at risk, says Andrew Levey, professor of medicine at Tufts School of Medicine and chief of nephrology at the New England Medical Center of Boston. "Whenever there are racial differences [in a disease]

Wade P. Thomas Jr., a retired Annapolis lawyer who earlier had owned a bakery chain, died July 2 of kidney failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The longtime Crofton resident was 83. He was born in Baltimore and raised on Wardman Road in Stoneleigh. He was a 1946 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1950 from the University of Virginia. Mr. Thomas was a salesman for National Cash Register Corp. and owned a chain of six Cakery Bakeries, with five stores in Maryland and one in North Carolina.

Florence B. "Sissy" Cornish, a retired cafeteria cook and homemaker, died June 26, her 77th birthday, of kidney failure at Bradford Oaks Rehabilitation Center in Clinton. The former longtime Pigtown and Edmondson Village resident had lived in recent years in Upper Marlboro. Florence "Sissy" Boone was born and raised on Ostend Street in Pigtown. She attended city public schools. Until retiring in 1980, Mrs. Cornish was a cafeteria cook at the old Woolworth's on West Lexington Street in downtown Baltimore, where she had worked for many years.

Raymond Rye walked out of the hospital yesterday with a new pancreas, a new life and a feeling he hasn't had in three decades."I feel good, I really do. It's the first time in 30 years I can say that," he told well-wishers little more than two weeks after doctors at University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a healthy pancreas into his body."