Viagra: Don't Feed The Yaks
Scientists are testing Viagra on Mount Everest climbers. No, not for that. For pulmonary hypertension (PHT), a dangerous disorder in which blood pressure in the lung's main artery increases, impeding breathing. PHT kills several thousand Americans a year, and there's no cure. Because Viagra relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow, lung experts are interested in its effect on PHT. Last year a group of German physicians reported that the drug helped relieve pressure--specifically in the lungs--in a group of 16 PHT patients and was more effective than available treatments. Now, with the help of 120 porters, 50 yaks, 6 Sherpas and funding from the German Research Foundation and drug manufacturer Pfizer, the docs will see if Viagra improves the lung function and exercise capacity of men and women exposed to the oxygen deprivation of thin air--a condition that mimics lung changes developed over years in PHT patients. The climbing world is buzzing about Viagra as an antidote to high altitudes, but, says team member Dr. Ardeschir Ghofrani, there's no evidence yet to support its use. No one on the team has complained about, ahem, side effects.
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Claudia Kalb, who writes health and medical stories for the magazine, was named senior writer in December 2004. Kalb has reported on a wide range of medical and scientific issues, including stem cells, autism, reproductive medicine, HIV/AIDS and childhood obesity. Her cover stories for the magazine include “Kids and the Growing Food Allergy Threat” (October 2007); “Girl or Boy? Now You can Choose. But Should You?” (January 2004), which won a Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York; and “SARS: What You Need to Know, The New Age of Epidemics” (May 2003). Kalb’s story “Battling a Black Epidemic” was featured in Newsweek’s special report, “AIDS at 25” (May 2006), which was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2007.
Kalb had been a general editor in New York since 1999 and a correspondent in the Boston bureau since 1996, where she covered medicine, politics, education, and family and social issues.
Prior to joining Newsweek in 1994, Kalb worked as a researcher and reporter at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in New York, where she researched books, including Dictatorship of Virtue by then New York Times writer Richard Bernstein and Den of Lions by former Lebanon hostage Terry Anderson.
Kalb was awarded a Casey fellowship at the Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families (June 1998), a Knight mini-fellowship at the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT (December 1999) and a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University for the academic year 2001-2002.
Kalb received her B.A. and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College before earning her Master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She works in Newsweek’s Washington bureau.
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