Faculty Bibliography

The drug, clopidogrel, which Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Synthelabo make as Plavix, is often prescribed for two to four weeks to prevent formation of clots in newly opened arteries. After the short-term course of clopidogrel, patients usually continue to take aspirin. The two drug companies paid for the study, which was led by Dr. Steven R. Steinhubl of the University of North Carolina. The study found that continuing clopidogrel in combination with aspirin for one year significantly reduced the number of heart attacks, strokes, repeated angioplasties and fatalities by 26.9 percent compared with a second group in the study that took clopidogrel for only four weeks. The combination of clopidogrel and aspirin ''will probably become a standard of care for at least the first year following'' angioplasty, Dr. [Valentin Fuster] said, and, after further testing, possibly for patients with coronary artery disease who are at high risk for strokes and heart attacks but who do not undergo the procedure

The aim of the tests conducted so far on humans is to determine safety, not effectiveness. Although researchers reported evidence that the transferred cells took root and flourished in scarred areas of the heart, they said they still had to prove that the new cells would make the heart pump more forcefully without significant risks. It will be years before any method becomes part of standard practice, if indeed it does. What the researchers envision is injecting muscle cells taken from the thigh or elsewhere to grow new cells in hearts scarred by heart attacks. Dr. Douglas B. Cowan, a cell biologist at Children's Hospital in Boston, reported that skeletal muscle cells put in the hearts of rats survived for more than a year and seem to have connected with heart cells beginning 10 weeks after implantation

The president took as many as eight medications a day, says the historian, Robert Dallek. A committee of three longtime Kennedy family associates, who for decades refused all requests to look at the records, granted Mr. Dallek's request, in part because of his 'tremendous reputation.' Mr. Dallek is writing a biography, An Unfinished Life: [John F. Kennedy], 1917-1963, to be published next year by Little, Brown. The information shows how far Kennedy went to conceal his ailments and shatters the image he projected as the most vigorous of men. Yet for all of Kennedy's suffering, the ailments did not incapacitate him, Mr. Dallek concluded. In fact, he said, while Kennedy sometimes complained of grogginess, detailed transcripts of tape-recorded conversations during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and other times show the president as lucid and in firm command

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and the experimental therapies of seeding cells focus largely on heart failure, the disease's terminal stage. The damage from a heart attack is permanent because heart cells cannot regenerate the way liver cells can. Dr. Nabil Dib of the Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix reported what are believed to be the first human tests in the United States of injections of skeletal muscle cells into severely damaged hearts. The procedure, tested on 16 patients, involved growing millions of a patient's own skeletal muscle cells in test tubes and then reinjecting various amounts of them. The patients involved were receiving coronary bypass surgery or mechanical pumps to keep them alive until they could get a heart transplant. Dr. Dib's team examined the transplanted cells after the damaged heart was removed in a transplant. The cells ''survived and thrived,'' Dr. Dib said, ''and areas damaged by heart attack and cardiovascular disease showed evidence of repair.''

At times the president took as many as eight medications a day, says the historian, Robert Dallek. A committee of three longtime Kennedy family associates, who for decades refused all requests to look at the records, granted Dallek's request, in part because of his 'tremendous reputation,' said one of them, Theodore Sorensen, who was President Kennedy's special counsel

The records show that [John F. Kennedy] variously took codeine, Demerol and methadone for pain; Ritalin, a stimulant; meprobamate and librium for anxiety; barbiturates for sleep; thyroid hormone; and injections of a blood derivative, gamma globulin, presumably to combat infections

At times the president took as many as eight medications a day, says the historian, Robert Dallek. A committee of three longtime Kennedy family associates, who for decades refused all requests to look at the records, granted Dallek's request, in part because of his 'tremendous reputation,' said one of them, Theodore C. Sorensen, who was the president's special counsel. Yet for all of Kennedy's suffering, the ailments did not incapacitate him, Dallek concluded. In fact, he said, while Kennedy sometimes complained of grogginess, detailed transcripts of tape- recorded conversations during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and other times show the president as lucid and in firm command. For many years, Kennedy's back problems were largely attributed to injuries suffered when his Navy patrol boat, PT-109, was sunk in World War II. In fact, he had back pain before that. Dallek said his vertebrae may have begun degenerating as a result of the steroids he may have taken for intestinal problems in the late 1930s

Yet for all of [John F. Kennedy]'s suffering, the ailments did not incapacitate him, [Robert Dallek] concluded. In fact, he said, while Kennedy sometimes complained of grogginess, detailed transcripts of tape- recorded conversations during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and other times show the president as lucid and in firm command

Yet for all of Kennedy's suffering, the ailments did not incapacitate him, [Robert Dallek] concluded. In fact, he said, while Kennedy sometimes complained of grogginess, detailed transcripts of tape- recorded conversations during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and other times show the president as lucid and in firm command. The records are largely from [Janet Travell], a specialist in internal medicine and pain management who treated Kennedy for years before being eased aside after arguments with other doctors about his care. She gathered files from before and after he became president in 1961. Kennedy's widow and brothers, Robert and Edward, donated them in 1965 to the Kennedy Library, said Deborah Leff, the library's director. [Jeffrey Kelman] and Dallek said the records suggested at least two hypotheses about Kennedy's illnesses. One is that he developed a number of medical conditions early in life, including colitis and osteoporosis. X-rays in the new files showed the spinal fractures and metal screws in the vertebrae. This is especially intriguing because Kennedy's autopsy report found 'no significant gross skeletal abnormalities,' aside from bullet wounds in the skull

CORRECTION: ***** CORRECTION PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2002 *****A story in Monday's editions about a study of young gay and bisexual men in the United States contained an incorrect reference to the study's findings. It should have stated that among those found to have the virus associated with AIDS, 90 percent of blacks, 70 percent of Hispanics and 60 percent of whites said they did not know they were infected with HIV. The study involved 5,719 men who were interviewed at dance clubs, bars and other places frequented by gays in six cities: Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle. The study tested the men for exposure to the AIDS virus, finding that 573 had HIV. Of those, 440, or 77 percent, had said they were unaware they were infected. The results of the HIV tests were available to the men, but it is not known how many sought them or learned that they were infected. Interviews by CDC epidemiologists with people who were recently diagnosed with HIV infection or AIDS showed that 70 percent reported having been sexually active within the previous year, with their use of condoms varying. Women with steady male partners were least likely to report condom use; 57 percent said they used condoms. Heterosexual men with more than one partner were most likely to report condom use -- 75 percent. About two-thirds of gay men said they used condoms whether they had sex with a steady partner or more than one partner