Faculty Bibliography

In the study of 136 children with childhood leukemia and a slightly larger number of healthy children, conducted in Greece, children who attended day care before age 2 had a 70 percent lower risk for childhood leukemia than children who had never been in day care. Children who had been in day care at any age had a 30 percent lower risk. The statistical association was 'startlingly strong,' the authors of the study said. [Dimitrios Trichopoulos]' latest findings strengthen a thesis advanced in recent years by scientists in England and Scotland that children exposed to an as-yet-undetected virus (or other infectious agent) very early in life may gain immunity to childhood leukemia. Childhood leukemia is the most common cancer among children under age 15. The most common form of childhood leukemia is known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and scientists have long suspected that it might be caused by a virus. Suspicions rest mainly on the fact that the incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia peaks at ages 2 and 3 years in both girls and boys

The Centers for Disease Control found evidence of success in isolating and growing the virus only last week, days before the scheduled meeting on Hantavirus, and the Army's findings were made public shortly before that, the scientists, Dr. Clarence J. Peters of the CDC and Dr. Connie Schmaljohn of the Army, said in interviews. The newly isolated virus belongs to the Hantavirus group, which takes its name from the Hantaan River in Korea. A different Hantavirus caused thousands of cases among U.N. troops during the Korean War in the 1950s. It took scientists until the late 1970s to isolate that virus. The newly isolated virus often produces a respiratory illness that can be difficult to distinguish from influenza. Those infected may suffer fever, muscle aches and pains, coughs and other respiratory symptoms for a few days. But then the illness leads to a condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Breathing becomes labored as fluid accumulates in the lungs

Federal researchers say they have isolated the Hantavirus that causes a fatal illness that was first reported among Navajo Indians in New Mexico and was later found in other parts of the Western US. The discovery improves prospects for developing a simple diagnostic test, drug therapy and a vaccine

The newly isolated virus belongs to the hantavirus group, which takes its name from the Hantaan River in Korea. A different hantavirus caused thousands of cases among U.N. troops during the Korean War in the 1950s. It took scientists until the late 1970s to isolate that virus. The newly isolated virus often produces a respiratory illness that can be difficult to distinguish from influenza. Those infected may suffer fever, muscle aches and pains, coughs and other respiratory symptoms for a few days. But then the illness leads to a condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Breathing becomes labored as fluid accumulates in the lungs

The scientists knew that rodents carried other hantaviruses, so they developed blood tests to determine whether they could detect the new virus among the exploding population of deer mice in the region. Next, they had not yet isolated the virus or grown it in cells in the laboratory. So, using the tissues of a deer mouse that had been trapped in the house of a fatal case, they repeatedly inoculated several new generations of cells in the laboratory over the course of weeks. The scientists eventually isolated the virus in test tubes. The molecular pattern in the virus from the mouse was virtually the same as in other samples from the fatal case. 'We don't fully understand how the deer mice pass the virus from one to another,' [Clarence J. Peters] said. 'And by having the virus, we can infect animals in the laboratory to study such patterns and to learn how the virus makes you sick.' Dr. Peters said preliminary genetic studies of the virus made him 'sure this virus has been here for a long time.' If so, it is unknown why outbreaks have not been documented in the past and why the virus has suddenly become a killer. One possibility is that the virus has undergone changes that eased its transmission to humans

This mode of therapy - aspirin, clot-dissolving drugs and beta blockers - has become a widely accepted method of treating heart attacks. The Oxford group then set out to determine whether further benefit could be gained by adding other drugs to the regimen. The new study involved 58,000 patients who were treated for heart attacks in more than 1,000 hospitals in 30 countries in Europe, Australia and North, Central and South America from July 1991 to August 1993. Cardiologists said the new study is likely to be influential in determining doctors' attitudes in using the three drugs. Captopril and other related enzyme-inhibiting drugs have proved useful for many patients with high blood pressure, but the Oxford study evaluated the drug's use only for heart attacks

The new study involved 58,000 patients who were treated for heart attacks in more than 1,000 hospitals in 30 countries from July 1991 to August 1993. Cardiologists who were interviewed said the new study is likely to be influential in determining doctors' attitudes in using the three drugs

According to a study of heart attack patients organized by researchers at Oxford University, two drugs commonly used to treat heart attacks show little or no benefit in preventing death, and a third shows only a small benefit

The new study involved 58,000 patients who were treated for heart attacks in more than 1,000 hospitals in 30 countries in Europe, Australia and North, Central and South America from July 1991 to August 1993. The study's only positive finding was that Captopril had a small benefit in preventing death, as measured at one month and six months after a heart attack. The benefit was a reduction of about five deaths per 1,000 patients treated, and possibly as few as two or three

Summary: British researchers report that magnesium, nitrates and captopril weren't very beneficial in treating heart attacks This mode of therapy -- aspirin, clot-dissolving drugs and beta blockers -- has become a widely accepted method of treating heart attacks. The Oxford group then set out to determine whether even further benefit could be gained by adding other drugs to the standard regimen. The new study involved 58,000 patients who were treated for heart attacks in more than 1,000 hospitals in 30 countries in Europe, Australia, and North, Central and South America from July 1991 to August 1993. Cardiologists who were interviewed said the new study is likely to be influential in determining doctors' attitudes in using the three drugs