Vital Signs

Cat got your lungs? Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that a relatively new type of a prescription asthma drug can provide some relief when you get too close to kitty. Zaflirlukast, marketed as Accolate, blocks chemicals released in the lungs that can cause asthma symptoms. Some of the test study subjects had some adverse effects, including nausea and diarrhea.

Many people fear that getting old means getting sick, but studies show that increasingly that is not the case. In the latest study, involving 9,200 people over the age of 65, Loyola University Health System researchers found that the percentage of older people becoming sick or spending time in a hospital or nursing home declined significantly between 1986 and 1993, Dr. Richard Cooper reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Two reasons for the decline are healthier lifestyles and the incentives of managed care to keep people on their feet longer.

Women with large breasts are more likely to suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome than their smaller-breasted counterparts, a team headed by a Tuscaloosa, Ala., plastic surgeon has found. But their symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome - a malady that causes tingling in the hand and wrist pain and is often associated with heavy use of computer keyboards or other repetitious motions - were apt to clear up after breast-reduction surgery. Researchers studied 151