Faculty Bibliography

NEW YORK - The smallpox virus, one of the biggest killers in history, has won a temporary stay from its planned execution next week because some scientists have begun to argue that the virus could yield useful medical knowledge about smallpox and maybe other diseases. The disease caused by the smallpox virus was declared eradicated in 1980. It was arguably public health's greatest triumph because smallpox is the only disease that has been wiped out. With the deadline a week away, 'there's no movement toward doing it the end of this year,' Dr. Walter R. Dowdle, acting director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency that holds the American stocks of smallpox virus in Atlanta, said in an interview Friday

The destruction of the last stocks of smallpox virus, which are held by the US and Russia, has been delayed because some scientists have begun to argue that the virus could yield useful medical knowledge about smallpox and possibly other diseases

Nomenclature for systolic readings varies among medical groups. The Framingham study used the World Health Organization's definition of borderline isolated systolic hypertension for readings from 140 to 159. (Isolated means the hypertension definition is based on the systolic pressure independent of the diastolic reading.) The authors said further research was needed to determine whether treatment with measures like diet, exercise and drugs would prevent heart ailments and extend the lives of people with borderline systolic hypertension. The reason is that studies have not been done to determine the benefits of such treatment among people with borderline systolic hypertension. Caution on Drug Therapy After 20 years of follow-up, 80 percent of those who early on had borderline systolic hypertension progressed to full-fledged high blood pressure, compared with 45 percent of the participants with normal blood pressures. Those with borderline systolic hypertension had a significantly greater risk of developing heart attacks, heart failure and strokes than those with normal blood pressure

Nomenclature for systolic readings varies among medical groups. The Framingham study used the World Health Organization's definition of borderline isolated systolic hypertension for readings from 140 to 159. Isolated means the hypertension definition is based on the systolic pressure independent of the diastolic reading. The federally sponsored National High Blood Pressure Education Program defines a systolic pressure from 140 to 160 and a diastolic of less than 90 as Stage 1 systolic hypertension

Then each was asked, in private, such confidential questions as how often he'd had intercourse; how often he'd had a full erection in a day; whether he'd had difficulty attaining an erection before intercourse and after intercourse had begun; how often he'd awakened from sleep with a full erection, and how satisfied he was with his sexual partners

The largest study of impotence since the Kinsey report has found that about half of American men over 40 have experienced the problem to varying degrees. Results of the study, which asked 1,709 men a variety of questions about their sexual potency during the previous six months, are discussed

The study also indicated that impotence may herald serious disease of the heart and blood vessels. Low amounts of high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, the good form of cholesterol, were also significantly correlated with impotence. [S. Mitchell Harman] said this correlation deserves further study in search of a therapy. At age 40, 5 percent of men in the study reported complete impotence. By 70, the prevalence of complete impotence tripled, to 15 percent. Overall, 52 percent of men ages 40-70 had experienced varying degrees of impotence. Doctors have paid more attention to impotence in their patients in recent years as researchers have developed new tests to detect specific causes of impotence and treatments for some of them. Doctors have also improved their understanding of the physiological mechanisms of erection and how they can be affected to cause impotence