November 17, 2004

Ben Brantley reviews Sam Shepherd play The God of Hell, directed by Lou Jacob and starring Randy Quaid and J Smith-Cameron; photo (M)

Prosecutors drop criminal charges against Carlene Francis and Neville Henry, parents who did not notice that their 15-year-old son Christopher Osbourne had been assaulted in Williamsbridge section of Bronx on Oct 4; Osbourne, who was hospitalized after he slipped into coma for several days, is recovering at home; mystery of assault remains unsolved; photos (M)

New York City officials revamp system for sheltering homeless families, streamlining process to provide beds and social workers more quickly and immediately replacing rundown emergency unit in Bronx with spruced-up building mile away; system will at same time be much more skeptical about repeat cases, two-thirds of families applying, who have already been told they have adequate housing, often with relatives; Mayor Michael Bloomberg's aim is to reduce homelessness by two-thirds over five years, lower cost of very expensive relief process and discourage use of shelter system to get onto housing lists; Comr Linda I Gibbs explains effort to reimagine system created by years of court orders; some 9,000 families are now being housed at annual cost of about $25,000 each (M)

New multidetector CT scans of heart, which take seconds to conduct and require no recuperation, hold prospect of largely replacing diagnostic angiograms, invasive way of looking for blockages; new scans cost about $700, compared with about $4,000 for angiogram, which requires hospitalization; critics warn of potential abuse by doctors conducting unncessary scans and follow-up procedures; Dr Mario J Garcia of Cleveland Clinic says scans will transform diagnosis of heart disease in emergency room, where most of people who come in with chest pains have pulled muscles; colleague Dr Steven Nissen disagrees, seeing 'nightmare' of new costs that could break health care system; companies like General Electric, Siemens, Philips and Toshiba are competing to make newest versions of machines, which have as many as 64 detectors and provide clear images of beating heart; Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York has several versions; Dr Geoffrey Rubin notes that scans also reveal narrowed arteries that are causing no symptoms but that doctors and patients will want to fix in procedures that carry own risks; scans also show little spots in lungs, also usually harmless but worrisome to patients; scans cannot penetrate extensive areas of old calcified plaque, do not work well on patients who are obese or have abnormal heart rhythms and use high doses of radiation (M)

World business briefing: sweden: slow increase in clothes sales**European clothes retailer Hennes & Mauritz reports sales in October increased at slowest pace in five months; reports 9 percent rise in revenue (S)