Relapse

Mel Gibson's relapse was a public humiliation. Robin Williams, who "found himself drinking again" after 20 years of sobriety, had a private one, according to a statement released last week. Both are back in treatment as some of their legion of followers "tsk-tsk," shake their heads and conclude that two more stars have failed. But such relapses are fairly common during a lifelong struggle against what science considers the chronic disease of alcoholism. A relapse into renewed drinking, experts say, is no more a treatment failure than is a second heart attack in a cardiovascular disease patient.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bye, Josh. It's too bad because Josh Hamilton might be the most talented baseball player who has ever run around Arlington. Josh Hamilton's relationship with baseball is as pure as anybody ever born. It's his relationship, however, with some other stuff that muddies everything. That puts the Rangers in the no-win position of having to say, "No, thanks" when the money gets stupid, which it will when some ambitious owner gives Hamilton the years and the money he, his agent and his union collectively seek.

Economists can't distinguish between a late winter and a recession relapse, so why expect that Bill can?Federal sleuths say that what looked like a drug cartel execution on the Baltimore waterfront was really a drug cartel execution on the Baltimore waterfront.Fernando Valenzuela is OK. The team he's with is bad luck.Cheer up. "Knot's Landing" is over.

DVD Valkyrie ** (2 stars) Starring Tom Cruise. Directed by Brian Singer. Released by United Artists. $34.98 (Blu-Ray $39.95). Tom Cruise, who once could seemingly do anything in the movies, tries to revive his reputation, resuscitate United Artists and kill-off Adolf Hitler, all in the same movie. Valkyrie details -- that is, excruciatingly details -- a 1944 plot by a handful of enlightened German officers to assassinate the fuhrer. Had it been made 50 years ago, when exciting, star-studded World War II films were al l the rage, Valkyrie would have been filled with colorful performances, multiple climaxes and lots of stirring, bombastic music.

Some women in their 40s who undergo surgery to treat breast cancer may actually increase their risk of a near-term relapse, according to a controversial Harvard Medical School study that suggests cancer surgery itself may "awaken" dormant tumor cells in other parts of the body. The Harvard researchers found that, for about 20 percent of women in their 40s whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, cancer surgery seems to cause tiny tumors in other parts of their body to grow.

DVD Valkyrie ** (2 stars) Starring Tom Cruise. Directed by Brian Singer. Released by United Artists. $34.98 (Blu-Ray $39.95). Tom Cruise, who once could seemingly do anything in the movies, tries to revive his reputation, resuscitate United Artists and kill-off Adolf Hitler, all in the same movie. Valkyrie details -- that is, excruciatingly details -- a 1944 plot by a handful of enlightened German officers to assassinate the fuhrer. Had it been made 50 years ago, when exciting, star-studded World War II films were al l the rage, Valkyrie would have been filled with colorful performances, multiple climaxes and lots of stirring, bombastic music.

WASHINGTON -- If the overworked phrase ''a great American tragedy,'' really applies to anything, it describes the nation's pathetic capital today.Mix a wicked brew of political warfare, unyielding racism, drug abuse, financial corruption, overall greed and general ineptitude, and what you come up with is a city in hopeless trouble.Oh, you would never believe that if you merely looked out of my northwest Washington home this morning. Azalea and dogwood blossoms are resplendent in warm sunlight.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bye, Josh. It's too bad because Josh Hamilton might be the most talented baseball player who has ever run around Arlington. Josh Hamilton's relationship with baseball is as pure as anybody ever born. It's his relationship, however, with some other stuff that muddies everything. That puts the Rangers in the no-win position of having to say, "No, thanks" when the money gets stupid, which it will when some ambitious owner gives Hamilton the years and the money he, his agent and his union collectively seek.

The recent difficulties occasioned by the abuse of "prescription medication" on the part of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and Democratic Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island have again raised the issue of the disease model of addiction vs. the concepts of legal and personal responsibility. It has been said that "truth is a matter of emphasis." To understand this concept clinically, consider the struggle we have in dealing with the tension between biological predisposition and volitional behavior.

DRUG ADDICTION is so pervasive in Baltimore that almost any experiment to loosen its grip seems worth applauding. But a relatively new research study that targets heroin-addicted prisoners for methadone treatment is especially promising. Among the keys to its ultimate success are sufficient resources to ensure treatment once prisoners are released and remediation of the behavioral and other issues that could still send former addicts back to prison. More than 80 percent of inmates in state custody used drugs or alcohol, and some 55 percent to 60 percent are addicted.

David Martinez fought back when energy prices soared two years ago. He put extra insulation in his attic for $750. He installed an $1,800 "tankless" heater that warms water as you draw it. He put in a super-efficient furnace and air conditioner, insulated his basement and lined his attic with foil that repels summertime heat. In all, he spent about $15,000 cold- and heat-proofing the tidy, two-story house in Odenton he shares with wife Iris and daughter Isabella. His home energy use has fallen by about a third, and he has the Baltimore Gas & Electric bills to prove it. "I actually pay less for utilities now than I did before the BGE hike," which sent electricity prices up 70 percent in 2006, says Martinez, a Web developer.

Mel Gibson's relapse was a public humiliation. Robin Williams, who "found himself drinking again" after 20 years of sobriety, had a private one, according to a statement released last week. Both are back in treatment as some of their legion of followers "tsk-tsk," shake their heads and conclude that two more stars have failed. But such relapses are fairly common during a lifelong struggle against what science considers the chronic disease of alcoholism. A relapse into renewed drinking, experts say, is no more a treatment failure than is a second heart attack in a cardiovascular disease patient.

The recent difficulties occasioned by the abuse of "prescription medication" on the part of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and Democratic Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island have again raised the issue of the disease model of addiction vs. the concepts of legal and personal responsibility. It has been said that "truth is a matter of emphasis." To understand this concept clinically, consider the struggle we have in dealing with the tension between biological predisposition and volitional behavior.

NEW YORK -- Pregnant women who stop using antidepressants might be putting themselves at great risk for another depressive episode, a new study has found. "White-knuckling it through pregnancy with recurrent depression may not be in the best interest of mom or the baby," said Dr. Lee Cohen, director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Women's Mental Health and lead author of the study. Researchers at the hospital tracked 201 women with a history of depression through their pregnancies to see whether those who stopped their medication had an increased risk of relapse.

Just so you know, before I take you into the thorny stuff: I've heard from dozens of people - city and suburban families of longtime drug addicts - who say things are better now. Their sons, husbands, brothers, daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters are clean, staying out of trouble and away from their old junkie friends, working and taking care of their children. There are a lot of stories like that. Between 23,000 and 25,000 men and women received publicly funded treatment in this heroin-infested city in each of the last three years.

Some women in their 40s who undergo surgery to treat breast cancer may actually increase their risk of a near-term relapse, according to a controversial Harvard Medical School study that suggests cancer surgery itself may "awaken" dormant tumor cells in other parts of the body. The Harvard researchers found that, for about 20 percent of women in their 40s whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, cancer surgery seems to cause tiny tumors in other parts of their body to grow.

In Brief Partial eclipse tonight The southern United States will be treated to a solar eclipse tonight at dinnertime, but even with safe viewing equipment and clear skies, Marylanders will see just a fraction of it. The moon's shadow will race across the Pacific Ocean, making landfall in Costa Rica and Panama before crossing the northern end of South America. There, the eclipse will be total, or "annular," with the moon blocking all but the outermost ring of the sun's disk. Between here and there, it will be a partial eclipse.

The unveiling last week of a drug that blunts the effects of alcohol qualified as a rare strike against the nation's greatest addiction. But the reception among alcoholics and the people who treat them was decidedly sober.Many in the Baltimore area said there is more to defeating alcoholism than blocking the "buzz" that temporarily calms the nerves and chases bad memories. No pill, they said, can repair the broken egos and personal crises that drive many people to drink in the first place.

DRUG ADDICTION is so pervasive in Baltimore that almost any experiment to loosen its grip seems worth applauding. But a relatively new research study that targets heroin-addicted prisoners for methadone treatment is especially promising. Among the keys to its ultimate success are sufficient resources to ensure treatment once prisoners are released and remediation of the behavioral and other issues that could still send former addicts back to prison. More than 80 percent of inmates in state custody used drugs or alcohol, and some 55 percent to 60 percent are addicted.