Faculty Bibliography

Two Americans, Dr. Alfred G. Gilman and Dr. Martin Rodbell, won the NobelPrize in medicine yesterday for discovering natural substances known as G-proteins and how they help cells convert signals into cellular chain reactions that control fundamental life processes. Gilman and Rodbell's independent discoveries have helped scientists begin to understand how the body receives signals from outside sources such as light and sound, and from a variety of hormones in the body, and transmits the signals to the interior of cells, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said in announcing the award. PHOTO (2), (1) Dr. Martin Rodbell / BY REUTERS, (2) Dr. Alfred G. Gilman / BY ASSOCIATED PRESS GRAPHIC: ROLE OF THE G-PROTEIN / NEW YORK TIMES GRAPHIC

A new test that can detect several kinds of cancerous human cells was reported yesterday by scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The scientists say they can quickly develop the test into a general method for screening healthy people for the incipient stages of most kinds of cancer. A cell that throws off these controls and divides repeatedly will form a group of identical descendant cells known as a clone. The new test scans the DNA sequence of cells for certain subtle fingerprints of these aberrant clones. 'But it is very important to have no illusions about the difficult challenges that we would face' in harnessing it for screening healthy people for cancer, he said. 'We have to be cautious about talking about a universal screening test being just around the corner.'

NEW YORK - A new test that can detect several kinds of cancerous human cells was reported yesterday by scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The scientists say they can quickly develop the test into a general method for screening healthy people for the incipient stages of most kinds of cancer. A cell that throws off these controls and divides repeatedly will form a group of identical descendant cells known as a clone. The new test scans the DNA sequence of cells for certain subtle fingerprints of these aberrant clones. Leading cancer experts praised the theory of the research, saying the test could help refine the diagnosis and recognition of the stages of cancer. It might also help detect the spread of malignant cells in the body and monitor the effects of drugs and other anti- cancer therapies, the experts said

A cell that throws off these controls and divides repeatedly will form a group of identical descendant cells known as a clone. The new test scans the DNA sequence of cells for certain subtle fingerprints of these aberrant clones. The test is being developed by a team at Johns Hopkins headed by Dr. David Sidransky that has just begun the first of a series of larger trials to validate the test's accuracy. The team needs to determine whether its test actually detects cancer earlier than standard methods and, if so, whether earlier diagnosis would improve therapy and survival rates. Leading cancer experts praised the theory of the research, saying the test could help refine the diagnosis and recognition of the stages of cancer. It might also help detect the spread of malignant cells in the body and monitor the effects of drugs and other anti-cancer therapies, the experts said

A new test that can detect several kinds of cancerous human cells was reported yesterday by scientists from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. A cell that throws off these controls and divides repeatedly will form a group of identical descendant cells known as a clone. The new test scans the DNA sequence of cells for certain subtle fingerprints of these aberrant clones. Leading cancer experts praised the theory of the research, saying the test could help refine the diagnosis and recognition of the stages of cancer. It might also help detect the spread of malignant cells in the body and monitor the effects of drugs and other anti-cancer therapies, the experts said

A new test that can detect several kinds of cancerous human cells was reported Monday by scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The scientists say they can quickly develop the test into a general method for screening healthy people for the incipient stages of most kinds of cancer. The test is being developed by a team at Johns Hopkins headed by Dr. David Sidransky that has just begun the first of a series of larger trials to validate the test's accuracy. The team needs to determine whether its test actually detects cancer earlier than standard methods and, if so, whether earlier diagnosis would improve survival rates. Leading cancer experts praised the theory of the research, saying the test could help refine the diagnosis and recognition of the stages of cancer. It might also help detect the spread of malignant cells in the body and monitor the effects of drugs and other anti-cancer therapies, the experts said

A new test that can detect several kinds of cancerous human cells was reported Monday by scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The scientists say they can quickly develop the test into a general method for screening healthy people for the incipient stages of most kinds of cancer. The test is being developed by a team at Johns Hopkins led by Dr. David Sidransky that has just begun the first of a series of larger trials to validate the test's accuracy. The team needs to determine whether its test actually detects cancer earlier than standard methods and, if so, whether earlier diagnosis would improve therapy and survival rates. Leading cancer experts praised the theory of the research, saying the test could help refine the diagnosis and recognition of the stages of cancer. It might also help detect the spread of malignant cells in the body and monitor the effects of drugs and other anti-cancer therapies, the experts said

Health officials said on Oct 4, 1994 that six countries, including the US, have investigated suspected cases of plague from India, but none have been confirmed

On Tuesday, for example, laboratory tests confirmed that a 12-year old boy in Long Beach had developed dengue fever, not plague, 10 days after his return from India, said Dr. Duane J. Gubler of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Although the World Health Organization has not advised against travel to India, the U.N. agency in Geneva is about to add New Delhi to its list of plague-infected areas because Indian officials have reported four secondary cases there. New Delhi will remain on the list for two weeks after the last case is reported there, Dr. Lindsey Martinez, a WHO official, said. Pneumonic plague symptoms usually develop within one to six days after exposure to the plague bacillus. As symptoms develop, an infected individual can pass the plague-causing bacterium, Yersinia pestis, to others through droplets in the air from coughs or sneezes

Both J.A.M.A. and The Lancet, a prestigious journal published in London, have criticized the practice under which drug companies pay prominent doctors to sign their names to ghostwritten scholarly reviews about new drugs. An editorial in J.A.M.A. described the editors' frustration in telephoning the senior 'author' of a submitted paper only to be switched back and forth between the scientist whose name was on it, 'who had no idea what had been written,' and the writer, 'who did not understand the science.' The changing nature of the medical-industrial complex has led many journals over the last decade to begin imposing rules on would-be authors, requiring disclosure about potential financial conflicts of interest. These rules cover only support from industry, a definition that makes Dr. Edward J. Huth, the editor of The Annals of Internal Medicine, 'a bit uneasy,' unless such disclosure is 'a uniform requirement to cover other sources of income,' as well. Dr. [Jerome P. Kassirer] said he was unaware of the general practice. 'If that is the case, it doesn't look that way from here,' he said with a laugh. 'From the amount of work we do with manuscripts, they are not getting their money's worth.'