Radiology

Toshiba Corp., the Japanese electronics giant, and the University of Maryland Medical Center yesterday unveiled a new international training center where radiologists and clinicians from around the world will be shown how to treat patients with powerful new technology.The center, in the radiology department's new 13,500-square-foot Angiography/Interventional Radiology Center, is equipped with state-of-the-art imaging technology that Toshiba is banking on to be a big seller in the United States.

Kirk Laneve, co-director of Carroll County Physical Therapy in Westminster, has become board certified as a specialist in orthopedic rehabilitation. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland medical school with physical therapy and kinesiology degrees. He is a nationally certified strength and conditioning specialist.Denise Hooper has joined Carroll County General Hospital as a radiologist specializing in women's imaging services, including breast and pelvic imaging. She just finished a fellowship at Duke University.

Sometime this fall, X-rays taken in Westminster will zip through fiber-optic lines and be viewed moments later by specialists in Baltimore, Randallstown, Pikesville and dozens of other places in the metropolitan area.Through a network of nine hospitals set to go online later this year, radiologists will send and receive digitized X-rays, magnetic resonance images, ultrasound readings and nuclear medicine scans. Eventually, the system will include 30 physicians' offices.The network, costing between $2 million and $3 million, is being put together by Advanced Radiology, a Woodlawn-based consortium of radiologists formed last year.

Harbor Hospital Center is spending $3.5 million to consolidate services and create more comfortable surroundings for patients at its family care building."

Dr. Charles N. Davidson, a retired radiologist who served as chief of radiology and professor of radiology at the University of Maryland and maintained a private practice in the Baltimore area, died Nov. 8 in Milwaukee of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.He retired in 1979 from private practice as a partner in Radiology Associates with offices in Towson, Dundalk and Cockeysville. In 1972, he retired as adjunct professor of clinical radiology at the University of Maryland medical school.

Bernard Rifkin, union leader, 84Bernard Rifkin, a union leader and educator who helped create the country's first fully accredited labor college, died after a lengthy illness Friday at his home in lower Manhattan. He was 84.Mr. Rifkin retired in 1976 as a director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 37, AFL-CIO District 37, a nationwide organization based in New York.Since he was a young man, Mr. Rifkin, who was born in Brooklyn, was associated with several unions as an organizer and top official, including the United Automobile Workers, which he joined in 1953.

$250,000 raised for hospitalNorth Arundel Hospital Foundation's "Starlight Ball in Central Park," held last month at Baltimore's Hyatt Regency, raised $250,000 to purchase new equipment for the Hospital's Radiology Department.More than 850 guests attended the annual benefit that has raised more than $1 million since it began five years ago.

Spurred by cost-cutting pressure from health insurance companies, five Maryland radiology practices have joined forces create the state's largest medical imaging company.Advanced Radiology, based in Woodlawn, has 28 outpatient facilities and 400 employees, including 52 doctors.The company was formed by a combination of Copeland, Hyman & Shackman P.A.; LaSalle Diagnostic Imaging; Arundel Radiology; DeCarlo, Lyon, Hearn & Pazourek P.A. and Carroll Imaging Associates."What this thing is all about, in truth, is an attempt to maintain the high quality that we have," said Dr. Michael L. Sherman, president of Advanced Radiology.

Two youths, one of them armed with a sawed-off shotgun, robbed the Severna Park Donut Shack store yesterday morning and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, county police said.The youths walked into the store in the 400 block of Ritchie Highway about 3 a.m. and bought one doughnut. One of them then pulled out the shotgun and demanded money while the other reached over the counter and emptied the cash register, police said.Eastern District officers, a K-9 dog and a Maryland State Police helicopter tried unsuccessfully to find the robbers, authorities said.

For the first time in years, I greet the primordial urge to "spring clean" without a shudder. It has to do with not having been in our house long enough for it to get really scuzzy and with having had "help" come in every two weeks for a few months.It also has a lot to do with the painter who said "I can start tomorrow" to finish the woodwork painting we didn't get done before we moved in. I didn't have time to check all the baseboards and window sills, so I'm assuming: a) he dusted them or b)