Diabetes Care

What makes you eat? According to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, individuals can identify what sets them up to overeat by looking at their eating behavior. That includes what, for them, is a cue to eat, how they eat, and what the consequences and rewards there are for eating. The study recommends using a successful dieter as a model and deciding in advance what to do in "high-risk" situations: negative moods, interpersonal conflicts and social pressures.

RONNIE Polaneczky's March 30 column ("Taken to the Cleaners") was a distortion of a case in which years of illegal dumping of hazardous materials by a small business was uncovered by a SEPTA construction project. Debonair Dry Cleaners, 60th and Market, was cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for illegally dumping hazardous residue from the cleaning process in the ground beneath and around its property. As a result of the volume of this dumping, over years, the foundation of the building was undermined.

IN HEALTH Dr. James Bonner of Broomall, medical director of the Physical Rehabilitation Center of the Delaware Valley in Folsom, has been appointed president of the Philadelphia Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Bonner has been a member of the 25-year-old organization since 1981 and also has served as program chairman, secretary, treasurer and vice president of the chapter. As president and organizer, Bonner presides over meetings, obtains guest lecturers from around the country, develops programs and various chapter functions, and serves as facilitator for professional information on the physical-medicine and rehabilitation field.

When I was a medical student in San Francisco in the 1980s, I did most rotations at county and VA hospitals. Most patients were poor, and many were from racial and ethnic minority groups. One day, two teenage Asian American boys were wheeled into the trauma emergency room, already dead. They had been slashed in the neck, victims of gang violence. These boys were not much younger than I was, and I realized all too clearly that it could have been me on that stretcher. Most of my patients now are African Americans from Chicago's South Side.

Camden Councilman Ali Sloan El needs to take another look at health care in the city. He accuses State Sen. Wayne R. Bryant (D., Camden) of benefiting his brother, Mark, with the proposed allocation of Camden recovery money from Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center to CAMcare Health Corp. to expand comprehensive primary health-care services. Mark Bryant is president of CAMcare. Look around, Mr. Sloan El. In the midst of some of New Jersey's wealthiest communities, Camden's health statistics rival those in the Third World.

BREAST IMPLANTS Forget silicone. Peanut-oil-filled implants could mean safer breast enlargements for thousands of women who have the surgery each year, says Washington University radiologist Judy Destouet. Because the oil is transparent, such implants do not interfere with X-ray mammography for breast cancer the way silicone breast implants can, Destouet says. The new implants could be commerically available in about two years. SWIMMING-POOL COVERS Swimming-pool owners, beware: Solar-pool covers pose a special drowning risk to young children, who may incorrectly believe they are solid enough to support their weight, a study in the journal Pediatrics reports.

Until recently, patients with diabetes could get only insulin and one type of drug from their doctors. Today, a treatment revolution is under way, giving hope for longer, healthier lives to the 16 million Americans with the burgeoning disease. "The options that we have available to treat someone with diabetes are light-years more than 10 years ago," said Frank Vinicor, director of the diabetes division for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who will attend the American Diabetes Association meeting opening today in Philadelphia.

About one out of every six Pennsylvania hospital stays involved diabetes last year, generating a total bill of more than $6 billion, according to a new state report. The nearly 300,000 cases represent a 17 percent increase from 1997. "This is a huge issue in terms of cost impact to Pennsylvania and to our hospitals," said Marc Volavka, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the independent state agency that issued the new report. "While the disease itself is not curable, it is treatable and controllable," he said.

Sarah B. Jolles of Bala Cynwyd has become a copy writer with the marketing communications firm of Sommers Rosen Inc. of Philadelphia. Jolles received a bachelor of science degree in advertising from Syracuse University. She has held advertising internships at Weightman Inc. Advertising in Philadelphia and at Spitz Advertising in Syracuse, N.Y. Lawrence J. Woodward of Malvern has joined Philadelphia Suburban Water Co. as manager of public relations. Woodward had been director of corporate communications at Pennwalt Corp.

Day & Zimmermann, a Philadelphia provider of industrial, defense and workforce services for government and commercial customers, has hired Ken Jobe as vice president, process and industrial, in its engineering, construction and maintenance unit. Jobe was the owner and principal of Polaris Global Solutions.       Intech Construction, a privately held Philadelphia-based construction manager and general contractor, has promoted Joe Kelly, Blaise Lutz, Dave Maguire, and Phil Moses to principals.