------------------------------------------------------------ Newsbriefs ------------------------------------------------------------ Symposium explores violence in the workplace The Homewood Security Department, the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association and the American Society of Industrial Security conducted a conference on violence in the workplace earlier this month. More than 200 representatives of business, industry, medical care, education and law enforcement attended the symposium, which was held in Mudd Hall. Craig D. Lowry, compliance chief of the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Office, told the crowd employers may be required to protect workers susceptible to on-the-job violence. Between 1980 and 1989, there were 180 workplace murders in Maryland; many of those were preventable, Lowry said. FBI special agent Eugene Regala recommended that employers be aware of their employees' work-related and personal stresses and respond with sensitivity when problems arise. Donor egg program boosts pregnancy rate Using donated eggs for in vitro fertilization at the Hop-kins Program for Assisted Reproduction has vastly improved the outlook for women who otherwise would not be able to have children. The success rate exceeds the favorable results from conventional in vitro fertilization. Of the 15 patients who received donor eggs at Hopkins during the past year, 47 percent have delivered or are currently pregnant. In conventional in vitro fertilization, where the patient's own eggs are fertilized, the success rate nationwide is about 20 percent. "The rate of ongoing pregnancy is this high because the oocytes [eggs] have been donated by younger women, and fertility is strongly influenced by age," said Anne Namnoum, director of the in vitro fertilization program. The first birth from a donated embryo to a woman without ovarian function occurred in 1984. Since then, oocyte donation has become accepted procedure in most parts of the world. The most common indications for donated oocytes include premature ovarian failure, poor response to other fertility therapy or genetic diseases. Effective croup treatment discovered Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found an effective treatment for mild to moderate cases of croup, a viral infection of the trachea. Thousands of children suffer from croup each year. In the past medical professionals have recommended treatment--a painful injection--only for those severely affected or hospitalized by the illness. Now doctors report croup symptoms improve promptly after patients inhale the steroid drug budesonide, which is given by nebulization, the method commonly used to provide medicine to children with asthma. "For children with mild to moderate croup, we found that budesonide began to work as soon as one hour after being given," said Peter Rowe, associate professor at Hopkins who worked at CHEO in the past. "This led to shorter stays for children and parents in the emergency department and hospital ward." Rowe said budesonide has had an excellent record of safety in the years it has been used to treat asthma in Europe and Canada. The drug is not yet available in the United States; patients here will have to wait until it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The results of the study were published in the Aug. 4 New England Journal of Medicine.