Faculty Bibliography

At one point in the visit, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Mrs. Reagan went on, 'he said to the nurse, `Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.' ' Reagan 'absolutely' did not 'show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,' said John Hutton, the physician who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and who remains a close family friend. Extensive mental status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said. Lawrence Mohr, one of the White House doctors in Reagan's second term, was seeing him for the first time in six months, and afterward, the doctor and the former president talked. As usual, Reagan asked about Mohr's family. But Reagan 'was distant,' he said, and seemed 'preoccupied, which was unusual because Ronald Reagan is a person who was engaged when he would talk to you.'

In February 1996, George Shultz went to visit his old boss, Ronald Reagan, at the former president's home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He drank tea with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and talked a little politics. In all, he stayed perhaps an hour. At one point in the visit, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Mrs. Reagan went on, `he said to the nurse: 'Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.' ` Reagan `absolutely` did not `show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,` said Dr. John Hutton, who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to Stanley Prusiner, a 55-year-old maverick scientist at the University of California at San Francisco whose discoveries about infectious particles called prions have been criticized by other researchers as unproved. The Nobel committee compounded its departure from the tradition of rubber stamping well-accepted scientific work by awarding the prize to only one researcher, emphasizing its confidence in Prusiner's discovery of a ``new genre of disease-causing agents.'' Most of Prusiner's critics accept that prions exist but not that they are necessarily agents of disease

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded yesterday to Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, a 55-year-old maverick scientist in San Francisco whose discoveries about infectious particles called prions have been criticized by other researchers as unproved. The Nobel committee compounded its departure from the tradition of rubber stamping well-accepted scientific work by awarding the prize to only one researcher, emphasizing its confidence in Dr. Prusiner's discovery of a ''new genre of disease-causing agents.'' These agents, neither bacteria nor fungi nor viruses, are proteins and have been linked to mad cow disease and other lethal brain-wasting conditions. The committee cited Dr. Prusiner for discovering the rogue prion proteins as ''a new biological principle of infection'' and adding them ''to the list of well-known infectious agents.'' But some scientists doubt that they can cause disease because unlike other infectious agents, they contain no genetic material

It has been almost three years since Reagan disclosed that he had the memory-destroying neurological illness known as Alzheimer's disease. And if, at the age of 86, the old movie actor still looks the image of vigorous good health, the truth is that the man behind the firm handshake and barely gray hair is steadily, surely ebbing away. Just when the Alzheimer's began can never be known. But while the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimer's can be fuzzy, a matter of gradation, Reagan's four main White House doctors say they saw no evidence that he had crossed it as president. They saw and spoke with him daily in the White House, they said, and beyond the natural failings of age, never found his memory, reasoning or judgment to be significantly impaired. Reagan 'absolutely' did not 'show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,' said Dr. John Hutton, who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said

In February 1996, George Shultz went to visit his old boss Ronald Reagan at the former president's home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He drank tea with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and talked a little politics. In all, he stayed perhaps an hour. At one point in the visit, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Mrs. Reagan went on: 'He said to the nurse: `Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.' It has been almost three years since Reagan disclosed that he had the memory-destroying neurological illness known as Alzheimer's disease. And if, at the age of 86, the old movie actor still looks the image of vigorous good health, the truth is that the man behind the firm handshake and barely gray hair is steadily, surely ebbing away

At one point in the visit, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Mrs. Reagan went on, 'he said to the nurse: `Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.' ' Reagan 'absolutely' did not 'show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,' said Dr. John Hutton, who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental-status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said. Dr. Lawrence C. Mohr, one of the White House doctors in Reagan's second term, was seeing him for the first time in six months, and afterward, the doctor and the former president talked. As usual, Reagan asked about Mohr's family. But Reagan 'was distant,' he said, and seemed 'preoccupied, which was unusual, because Ronald Reagan is a person who was engaged when he would talk to you.'

At the same time, they cast new light on persistent questions about Mr. Reagan's mental state as President, questions rekindled by the disclosure, in November 1994, that he had Alzheimer's. Nearly 70 when he took office in 1981, Mr. Reagan became the oldest President, and throughout his two terms, a series of well-publicized memory lapses and a casual executive style had provoked uncertainty -- even ridicule -- about his mental competence. Mr. Reagan ''absolutely'' did not ''show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,'' said Dr. John E. Hutton Jr., who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his Presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental-status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Mr. Reagan left office, Dr. Hutton said. Dr. Lawrence C. Mohr, one of the White House doctors in Mr. Reagan's second term, was seeing him for the first time in six months, and afterward, the doctor and the former President talked. As usual, Mr. Reagan asked about Dr. Mohr's family. But Mr. Reagan ''was distant,'' he said, and seemed ''preoccupied, which was unusual, because Ronald Reagan is a person who was engaged when he would talk to you.''

It has been almost three years since Reagan disclosed that he had the memory-destroying neurological illness known as Alzheimer's disease. And if, at the age of 86, the old movie actor still looks the image of vigorous good health, the truth is that the man behind the firm handshake and barely gray hair is steadily, surely ebbing away. Just when the Alzheimer's began can never be known. But while the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimer's can be fuzzy, a matter of gradation, Reagan's four main White House doctors say they saw no evidence that he had crossed it as president. They saw and spoke with him daily in the White House, they said, and beyond the natural failings of age, never found his memory, reasoning or judgment to be significantly impaired. Reagan 'absolutely' did not 'show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,' said physician John Hutton, who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said

At one point in the visit, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Nancy Reagan went on, ``he said to the nurse: `Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.''' It has been almost three years since Reagan disclosed that he had the memory-destroying neurological illness known as Alzheimer's disease. If, at 86, the old movie actor still looks the image of vigorous good health, the truth is that the man behind the firm handshake and barely gray hair is steadily, surely ebbing away. Reagan still plays a little golf, works out lightly in his basement and walks amid eucalyptus and day lilies in parks close to home. He puts on a suit and is driven to his office in nearby Century City. As he rides the elevators or walks the corridors, he remains the perfect gentleman, sweeping a hand through the air to let a woman pass by. Well-wishers are ushered into the office, and the 40th president of the United States obliges them with a warm welcome and a photo op