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Letters to the business editor
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
BIKE GUIDE

Hidden in the bowels of the business section on Sunday July 27 was an AP story titled "Tech Test: Bikers, Pedestrians Seeking Better Web Maps."

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In it the author does a great job describing how programmers and commuters in other cities are finding better bicycle and pedestrian routes to use in place of their cars.

But the Post-Gazette missed a golden opportunity to inform its readers about the tremendous online map that the Bike Pittsburgh organization recently completed. The online map, available at www.bike-pgh.org, allows the user to view recommended routes in green and cautionary routes in blue, all overlaying the familiar Google map of our fair city.

The online map also allows users to customize the map to identify landmarks, bike shops and more. The map was developed by cyclists to point out more bicycle-friendly, but possibly lesser-known, routes that improve safety and in many cases save time.

The online bicycle map is another example of a Pittsburgh treasure that many people probably do not know about.

BRIAN STAGNO,
Bloomfield



SLEEP UNEASY

Your article on the dangers of relying on oral appliances for snoring is timely ("Resting Uneasy: Heavy Marketing of Anti-snoring Device Worries Some in Medical Community," Aug. 5). The estimate of the number of people who have undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea keeps growing, and information is spread through the media. One estimate is that 85 percent of those with apnea don't know they have the condition. Most of these people snore. If they rely on snoring "cures" they may not be diagnosed before severe health problems occur as a result of the apnea.

I have watched the same ads with consternation and am glad someone is fighting back. Perhaps articles such as yours should emphasize even more the dangers of apnea. One recent study showed that most of those people who died of heart attacks in their sleep had apnea.

Keep up the good work. The public is just beginning to hear about apnea. I hope the trend in more education through the media continues.

EILEEN GLAHOLT,
Sacramento, Calif.

First published on August 12, 2008 at 12:00 am