Subject: RE: DVT from long haul flights
 Date: Sat, 04 Sep 2004 19:34:58 +0100

 Barbara wrote:
> Many many years before the DVT/long-distance-traveller connection came out
> I was familier with DVT from medical causes; as a rare side effect of oestrogen
> based contraceptives, and a risk in several hours long surgical procedures and
> post surgery where the  patient had to remain on lying almost motionless on
> their backs for days during recovery. It's also a risk these days (which women
> are not generally warned about) in some forms of HRT; particularly for smokers.

 Couldn't agree more Barbara. Still somewhat shocked to realize, although facts
 were reviewed before < flight trauma caution > - how the extra information in
 female body cells makes women so much more sensitive to thresholds of otherwise
 unperceived environmental dangers.

 For physicists and medicos - the cause of flight trauma, as opposed to `normal'
 DVTs, is increased angular momentum. That means a) high altitude; b) high
 velocity; c) lateral (E-W or W-E) movement; d) closeness to Equator, are
 contributory and compounding factors.

 E.g. - all else equal, West->East night-time flight produces more symptoms - 
 'cos flying _into_ inertial frame (source of `momentum'); additionally, at the
 Equator one is furthest from N-S axis of Earth, so angular momentum greatest.

 Research / Information? It seems we're going to be denied info due to corporate
 censorship, as we were with cigarettes, BSE etc. (and, to lesser extent, salt,
 m.s.g, refined sugar and others).

 Example - the British Medical Association knew of dangers of chemicals added to
 cigarettes (for faster burn and increased addictiveness) long ago. About forty
 or fifty years ago the BMA regularly (in an open letter) requested the withdrawal
 of those chemicals, but the cigarette manufacturers just as regularly ignored
 that request.

 Corporate censorship seems to have wiped those requests from the public record
 and (corrupt?) British judges, known to be `corporate-friendly', pretend that
 particular public domain info doesn't exist and continue to reject class actions.
 And corporate control of universities and media has increased in recent years. 

 Having noticed almost instant attention from S.I.T.A (international airlines assoc.)
 computers reading that < flight trauma caution > I expect only corporate and
 government censorship of research and information (and maybe a bomb on my doorstep)
 but would be very pleased to be wrong.

 Consolation for women although, as predicted, women suffer more cellular bodily
 effects (later partially confirmed by Dr Kwangwook Cho, Bristol University statement
 - see below - "women appeared to suffer more acute jet-lag"): Males, especially the
 domineering kind, seem to be more readily affected by mental effects of flight trauma.

 E.g. revealingly, several `macho' or corrupt males have `gone amok' on West-East
 flights (noticeably two policemen attacked and abused female staff, threatening
 unprintable `punishments'). Male mental balance - already under testosterone bias
 - seems more easily tipped-over. Which is why male "air-marshals" might be a
 not-so-good idea.

 cheers
 Ray

Refs.
1) < flight trauma caution > in Google
2) Cho, K. "Chronic 'jet lag' produces temporal lobe atrophy and
spatial cogntive deficits." Nature Neuroscience 4, 567-568
(2001).
3) Cho, K., Ennaceur, A., Cole, J.C. & Suh, C.H. "Chronic jet lag
produces cognitive deficits." Journal of Neuroscience 20, 1-5
(2000).

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