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And Brain Neoplasms: Cancer of the testicle and ovary, malignant bone tumors, and brain neoplasms show varying degrees of response to treatment with X-rays.
Certain tumors of lymphoid and reticulo-endothelial origin, notably Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, and reticulum-cell sarcoma can be effectively managed with radiotherapy. When combined with steroids such as cortisone and ACTH, and chemical agents such as nitrogen mustard, treatment can result in prolongation of normal useful life.
Among the most interesting developments in brain studies was a finding that corrected the long-held conviction that glucose was the only fuel the brain was capable of using. George Cahill studied brain metabolism in persons who fasted for more than 30 days as part of a weight reduction program. By sampling blood entering and leaving the head, he was able to show that during fasting the brain will readily metabolize fatty acids, the breakdown products from deposits of body fat. Careful intelligence tests before and after the fast failed to show any mental impairment during the period of fasting. Cahill said that in fact the subjects were at least as sharp after fasting, and maybe a bit sharper.
1. If new medical techniques can prolong a healthy life far beyond the present span, who will be selected to remain alive? Society, through law, probably will not leave it to the workings of the marketplace or the caprice of physicians. At the very least, it will try to prevent a black market in hearts and lungs. But if science manages to transplant a human brain, the law will be in serious trouble. Which individual will be considered legally "alive"—the one into whose functioning body the new brain has been deposited, or the one whose brain with all its memories has merely moved to a new home?
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