Faculty Bibliography

The rate of new infections with HIV, the AIDS virus, among black gay men 23 to 29 years was six times that of a comparable group of young white gay men and three times that of all young gay men in the study. The study found that young black gay men had a 14.7% annual rate of new infection compared with 2.5% among young white gay men, 3.5% among Hispanic gay men and 4.4% for all gay men 23 to 29 years old. In February, the disease centers reported that among young gay black men the prevalence, or the total number of HIV infections and AIDS cases, was 30%. The new evidence shows that such infections occurred from 1998 to 2000. Although the number of infections could continue to rise, the findings do not necessarily mean that all would become infected in time because many of the uninfected are using recommended prevention measures

The new research, released Thursday, relies on a newer blood test to identify people who have been infected only recently. The researchers found that in the six cities, black gay men ages 23 to 29 had a 14.7% annual rate of new infection compared with 2.5% among white gay men and 3.5% among Hispanic gay men of the same age. For the age group overall, the new infection rate was 4.4%. Also, the study involved men who went to gay bars and similar venues, whose sexual practices and drug use may not mirror those of other gay men. On the other hand, the reluctance of many gay black men to acknowledge their homosexuality means their rate of HIV infection would not have been detected. The gay men in the study were small children in the 1980s when health officials issued the early information that helped reduce infection rates among gay men. Now, health officials say they must renew and sustain such messages in part because young gay men have not seen many friends die of AIDS and may not take prevention as seriously as older gays

[Piero Anversa]'s findings add to those from studies on animals that show the dogma that the heart cannot regenerate 'is no longer true,' said [Claude J. Lenfant] whose federal agency in Bethesda, Md., paid for the research that was conducted in Vallhala and at the University of Udine and University of Trieste in Italy. Lenfant said the findings eventually could have 'enormous public health value' if it led to new therapies that delayed the onset of heart failure and prolonged life. Lenfant also said that he believed Anversa's research holds greater promise for heart disease than gene therapy, which many experts consider a highly promising route to new therapies. Anversa said he never believed that the heart was an exception to the rule that cell regeneration is essential to life. Nor did he believe, as the dogma held, that scarring after heart attacks was evidence against the heart's ability to make new cells. Other organs, like the skin, constantly grow new cells to replace old and damaged ones and still leave scars, Anversa said

[Piero Anversa]'s findings add to those from studies on animals that show the dogma that the heart cannot regenerate 'is no longer true,' said [Claude J. Lenfant] whose federal agency in Bethesda, Md., paid for the research that was conducted in Valhalla and at the Universities of Udine and Trieste in Italy

The institute helped pay for the research by [Piero Anversa]'s group in Valhalla and at the University of Udine and the University of Trieste in Italy. [Claude J. Lenfant] said the findings eventually could have 'enormous public health value' if they led to new therapies that delayed the onset of heart failure and prolonged life. Lenfant also said that he believed Anversa's research holds greater promise for heart disease than gene therapy, which many experts consider a highly promising route to new therapies. Anversa said he never believed that the heart was an exception to the rule that cell regeneration is essential to life. Nor did he believe, as the dogma held, that scarring after heart attacks was evidence against the heart's ability to make new cells. Other organs, like the skin, constantly grow new cells to replace old and damaged ones and still leave scars, Anversa said. Anversa began this line of research 20 years ago. In its latest version his team compared muscle cells in the hearts of 13 patients who died four to 12 days after a large heart attack with those in the hearts of 10 patients who died from other causes. Anversa's team focused attention on two areas -- the zone of tissue bordering the site of a heart attack and from a more distant area of the heart

A healthy volunteer died recently after inhaling a drug in a federally financed asthma study conducted by Johns Hopkins University, officials said Thursday. The volunteer's hospitalization after inhaling the drug led the institution to suspend the research

The Web site posting came a day after the Office for Human Research Protections, responding to a Freedom of Information request filed by The New York Times, released letters it had received from Johns Hopkins officials. Ethicists and asthma experts not affiliated with Johns Hopkins have criticized the university for releasing only sketchy details of the experiment. Rod Kelley, a spokesman for Sigma-Aldrich, said that his company's hexamethonium was not generally intended for human use and that he could not immediately find any record that Johns Hopkins had been provided human-grade material. Joann Rodgers, a spokeswoman for Johns Hopkins, called it ''standard practice'' to use chemicals labeled not intended for human use if they had received F.D.A. approval for experimental testing, as was the case for hexamethonium

Johns Hopkins has suspended the study. Its goal was to determine how the airways in the lungs of non-asthmatic individuals stay open even when irritating chemicals are inhaled. Participants were given two drugs, methacholine and hexamethonium, to determine their effect on the airways

The letters sketch a picture of an experiment that went amiss, beginning 24 hours after the volunteer inhaled hexamethonium. On May 7, the volunteer reported dry cough, shortness of breath on exertion, muscular aches and fever. Two days later, the volunteer was admitted to the hospital, and doctors were concerned about a possible reaction to the drug. ''This obviously qualifies as a serious adverse event,'' Dr. Alkis Togias, one of the study researchers, wrote in a letter dated May 9. In a letter to the federal office dated May 17, Dr. Chi V. Dang, vice dean for research at Hopkins, said that the study had been suspended and that the volunteer remained hospitalized. Dr. Dang noted that before entering the experiment, the volunteer had undergone extensive tests, including those for lung function, and had been found healthy. Dr. Dang wrote that Hopkins was asking a laboratory to test the hexamethonium, which, he wrote, the manufacturer had said was 99.6 percent pure. (The letter did not identify the manufacturer.) Dr. Dang also said tests were being conducted on equipment used in the experiment and to determine whether the volunteer had come down with a a viral infection

A draft prepared by the United Nations AIDS Program apparently cited groups at greatest risk of AIDS, like gay men, prostitutes and users of intravenously injected drugs. Islamic countries objected to specifying homosexuals and other groups on grounds that such an acknowledgment would violate the teachings of the Koran, United Nations and United States officials said. Although a draft of the declaration has circulated for months, the Islamic countries only recently raised objections to a paragraph that dealt with vulnerable groups, reacting with surprise to what they saw, officials said. Islamic countries objected to the draft because they had no role in drafting it, which was done by technical experts at Unaids, the United Nations agency coordinating the fight against AIDS. The declaration calls on all countries to develop, implement and pay for national strategies to combat the spread of H.I.V., the AIDS virus. By 2003, countries will be expected to integrate H.I.V. prevention, care, treatment and support for patients and families into their planning and to deal with the hundreds of thousands of children orphaned by AIDS