Faculty Bibliography

It takes three to eight weeks to grow the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in the laboratory from a sample of sputum or other bodily fluid. Then it takes an additional five weeks or so to determine which drugs are effective against a particular strain. The new test takes only a few days to test for drug susceptibility and resistance, effectively doing away with the second five-week period. A basic element in the test is a phage, or virus that infects bacteria. The Einstein team genetically engineered a phage so that it carries the gene for luciferase, the enzyme that makes fireflies glow. The virus then infected the bacterium in the laboratory. For the drug tests, standard anti-tuberculosis drugs like rifampicin, streptomycin and isoniazid are applied to the altered bacterium. If a glow appears, it signals an impotent antibiotic because the bacterium is able to produce luciferase and light. But if no light appears, it signals that the antibiotic is effective because it has killed or weakened the bacteria

The spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis in New York and elsewhere in the country has alarmed health officials because the death rate in some outbreaks has been as high as 50 percent. The firefly test reduces by several weeks the time it can take to detect a drug-resistant strain of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. A basic element in the test is a phage, or virus that infects bacteria. The Einstein team genetically engineered a phage for the TB bacterium so that it carried the gene for luciferase, the enzyme that makes fireflies glow. The virus was used to infect the bacterium in the laboratory. To test bacteria cultured from patients, standard anti-tuberculosis drugs like rifampicin, streptomycin and isoniazid were applied. If a glow appears, it signals an impotent antibiotic because the bacterium is able to produce luciferase and light. But if no light appears, it signals that the antibiotic is effective because it has killed or weakened the bacteria

Hiroshi Nakajima of Japan was re-elected on May 5, 1993 as head of the UN's World Health Organization. The US and European countries staged a last-minute effort to block Nakajima's re-election, saying that he is a poor administrator and communicator and had lost support of organization's staff

'It's easy to say there is a failure in asthma education,' he added. 'It's a lot harder to say how do you pick, in the limited time you have got in the curriculum, between emphasis on asthma and, say, prevention of tobacco use. How do you trade those off? What do you cover and how much?' One important recent advance in asthma therapy is the use of inhaled steroids, not to be confused with inhaled bronchodilators that offer symptomatic relief. Because the inhaled steroids act only on the lungs and are not absorbed to any extent, they do not have the potential for the serious side effects that can result when they are taken systemically, as they may be for severe arthritis or other conditions. But 'many patients who die from asthma, die without the advantage of having been treated with inhaled steroids' because too many doctors still fear prescribing them, Dr. [Michael A. Kaliner] said. 'The U.S. was late in getting inhaled steroids and even later in adopting their use,' Dr. Kaliner said. He added, 'The major problem we have in asthma therapy today is that primary-care physicians use too little inhaled steroids.'

At a news conference sponsored by the American Medical Association last month and in a recent interview, [Michael A. Kaliner] said there was too wide a discrepancy between the care delivered by the 3,000 allergy and asthma specialists and that provided by the more than 210,000 primary-care doctors, like pediatricians, family doctors and internal medicine specialists. Primary-care doctors tend to underuse the specific treatments that allergists regard as the first line of attack, Kaliner said. He added that primary-care doctors tend to rely on drugs that provide only symptomatic relief and do not address the underlying triggers, thus leaving asthmatics at greater risk for death

At a news conference sponsored by the American Medical Association last month and in an interview this weekend, [Michael A. Kaliner] said there is too wide a discrepancy between the care delivered by the 3,000 allergy and asthma specialists and that provided by the more than 210,000 primary-care doctors, such as pediatricians, family doctors and internal medicine specialists in this country. Primary-care doctors tend to underuse the specific treatments that allergists regard as the first line of attack against asthma, Kaliner said. He added that primary-care doctors tend to rely on drugs that provide only symptomatic relief for asthma and do not address the underlying causes, thus leaving asthmatics at greater risk for death. 'many patients who die from asthma, die without the advantage of having been treated with inhaled steroids' because too many doctors still fear prescribing them, Kaliner said

A study has shown that the drug TPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, used for treating heart attacks, is more effective than the much cheaper streptokinase, placing health care providers in a dilemma over whether to use the expensive and marginally more effective TPA

The CDC said on Apr 29, 1993 that more than 35,000 AIDS cases were reported in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 204% over the same period a year earlier. The rise, which was predicted, is a result of a new and expanded definition of the disease

Of the 35,779 AIDS cases reported in the first quarter, 21,582, or 60 percent, qualified as AIDS under the conditions added in 1993. The other 40 percent would have qualified as having AIDS under the older definition

According to guidelines by the National Stroke Association, emergency treatment should be summoned for people with symptoms of a stroke because steps to limit brain damage are most effective when administered during the first six hours after a stroke. A table is included that shows warning signs of a stroke