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SPINE ELECTRODES HELP CHRONIC NERVE PAIN Electricity has proven a powerful painkiller for patients suf-fering from an agonizing condition of the hands and feet,according to a new study. Chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy,a mysterious disorder that most often comes in the wake ofinjury, not only leaves victims with little to no control overa hand or a foot, but also fills them with constant, excrucia-ing pain in the area. Researchers at Maastricht UniversityHospital in Maastricht, Netherlands, found that by wiring thespines of these patients with electrodes, then sending pulsesthrough their bodies at regular intervals, some, if not all,of the pain went away. Dr. Marius A. Kemler, lead researcherand co-author of the study in the New England Journal ofMedicine, writes that pain medication, physical therapy andother treatments have given "generally unfavorable results"to CRSD patients. But in the Dutch team's six-month study,average pain levels for the 24 patients with wired spines de-creased while those of the 18 unwired patients increased.Kemler points out that relief does come with a cost: about$8,500 for the hardware alone, and about 25 percent ofpatients required surgical adjustment of their electrodes.

DRUG FIGHTS BRITTLE BONES IN MEN A bone-building drug that fights osteoporosis in women has beenshown to help men as well, says new research. This is the firstlarge study to test an osteoporosis treatment for men, who areoften overlooked because of the perception that it is a diseaseof little old ladies. But in recent years, scientists have cometo realize that while women, particularly delicately-builtwhites, are more vulnerable to the condition, men are by nomeans immune to age-related bone loss. In the two-year study of241 men, ranging in age from 31 to 87, the drug Fosamax increas-ed bone density, reduced the number of spinal fractures andprevented loss of height. "Fosamax appeared to work in men al-most exactly the same as it works in women," said Mark Ettinger,a co-author of the New England Journal of Medicine paper andmedical director of Radiant Research in Stuart, Fla. Fosamaxmanufacturer Merck & Co. Inc. submitted an application at thebeginning of the year to the FDA for approval to market Fosamaxto treat osteoporosis in men, said a spokeswoman for the WestPoint, Pa., company. The agency has put the drug on a fasttrack for approval.