Greenland ice sheet in danger of melting
NUUK, Greenland, April 7 (UPI) -- Greenland's ice sheet could melt completely within the next 1,000 years if global warming continues at its present rate, a report suggested Wednesday.
Jonathan Gregory from the University of Reading said studies forecast a 46F (25.5 C)increase in Greenland's temperature by the year 2350, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Gregory and his colleagues believe that if the ice cap were to melt, global average sea level would rise by about 23 feet. They said that the rise could be irreversible, even if global warming were halted.
The team said that over the next 350 years global warming was likely to pass the critical threshold needed to cause the sheet to melt.
"Unlike the ice on the Arctic Ocean, much of which melts and reforms each year, the Greenland ice sheet might not re-grow even if the global climate were returned to pre-industrial conditions," Gregory said.
Gregory said that the sheet might have already begun to melt. "It's quite possible that Greenland is already making a slight contribution to global sea levels," he said.
Contraceptive patch blamed in death
NEW YORK, April 7 (UPI) -- A contraceptive patch is being blamed for the death of a Manhattan fashion student who died of a blood clot three weeks after applying her first patch.
The death of Zakiya Kennedy, 18, is the first linked to the use of a contraceptive patch, the New York Post reported Wednesday.
Kennedy, who died Friday, had been using the Ortho Evra patch, officials said.
Investigators believe the aspiring model, who collapsed in a subway station, succumbed to a blood clot, a rare side effect of the birth control patch.
The conclusion that she died of a blood clot is based on information provided by New York City's Medical Examiner's office.
Also, relatives said Zakiya had recently complained of leg pains, a common symptom of blood clots.
Ortho Evra, manufactured by Ortho-McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is the only contraceptive patch with Food and Drug Administration approval, said an FDA spokeswoman. It was approved in November 2001.
Alzheimer medication effects questioned
WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- There is growing disagreement in the U.S. medical community about the effectiveness of the major medications prescribed to Alzheimer's patients.
While there is widespread understanding none constitute a cure, some physicians suggest they are helpful in controlling symptoms, while others feel they are expensive placebos, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
At a meeting in late March at Johns Hopkins University, doctors and other health professionals heard Alzheimer's researchers debate the usefulness of the drugs.
One expert suggested there was just one chance in 10 the drugs would have an effect and that patients should try them for six to eight weeks and then quit if there was no improvement.
About 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and many patients and their families see the five drugs now available to treat it as their only defense. Patients usually take one drug, each costing about $120 a month.
"In my opinion, in 10 years we'll be embarrassed by how much of this stuff we prescribed," a Johns Hopkins professor and geriatrician said, adding he thought hundreds of millions of dollars were being wasted on the drugs.
