Faculty Bibliography

Because squalamine has been found dispersed through virtually all tissues of the shark, the authors speculate that the compound gives the fish its principal defense against infection and might explain the shark's reputation of being particularly resistant to infection. Squalamine has not been tested in humans. But Dr. Michael A. Zasloff, who headed the team from Magainin Pharmaceuticals in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., that discovered the compound, said he and his colleagues have begun experiments to determine which infections in humans might respond to squalamine. Before squalamine can be tested in humans, scientists need to learn more about its pharmacology and metabolism. Zasloff's team has found that squalamine is a steroid, and that cholesterol is a close chemical cousin

The new compound does not belong to any known class of chemicals or antibiotics, said the scientists from Magainin Pharmaceuticals in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. The name, squalamine, is derived in part from Squalus acanthias , the Latin name of the dogfish shark in which it was first found. After isolating squalamine (pronounced SQUALL-a-meen) from the stomachs of the dogfish shark, the scientists reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had purified it and in recent weeks have found a way to synthesize it

Dr. [James J. Mongan], who heads the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and is dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine at Kansas City, withdrew in a letter on Tuesday to Donna E. Shalala, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Dr. Mongan made public a copy of his letter, and a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that he had withdrawn from the appointment, which was expected to be announced this week.

According to several new reports being published on Feb 11, 1993, a mysterious syndrome in which patients develop an illness similar to AIDS without evidence of infection with HIV is not new and differs greatly from AIDS. The CDC has reported 111 cases of the syndrome, known as idiopathic CD4 T-lymphocytopenia, or ILC

Public health officials have many reasons to be concerned about E. coli 0157:H7, the bacterium that causes the illness involved in the outbreak. It can crop up anywhere from municipal water and apple cider to rare hamburgers, one of Americans' favorite foods. Doctors have not yet decided on the most effective treatment and in most cases at present can do little more than let the disease take its course. Antibiotics do not seem to help and may even make the disease worse. The symptoms can range from mild to extremely violent, leading occasionally to death, especially among children and the elderly. The ailment can easily be misdiagnosed. Severe abdominal pain and intestinal bleeding from E. coli 0157:H7 infection has led surgeons to operate unnecessarily and remove sections of the bowel and to mistakenly diagnose inflammatory bowel disease. Laboratory workers, suspecting another microbe, were surprised to detect E. coli 0157:H7 in cultures from a few cases. Because the particular type had never been linked to human infection, though E. coli has been known for about a century, proof of its causal role required further investigation. Even then, E. coli 0157:H7 was thought to be a medical oddity

Ashe's wife, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, told their daughter, 6-year-old Camera, on Saturday night about her father's death. 'They had planned a father-daughter party for Valentine's Day with Camera and her friends on Saturday, but Jeanne explained they had to cancel it,' said Donald Dell, Ashe's lawyer and longtime friend. [Henry W. Murray], an expert on infectious diseases, said that statistically, Ashe should have died two to three years ago. He attributed Ashe's favorable course to his stamina and focus on health, and he said that his patient's four-and-half-year survival after toxoplasmosis of the brain 'is probably the longest in the world.' Around Christmas, Ashe became short of breath. But no cause was found for it. PCP, the opportunistic infection that Ashe had avoided by taking aerosolized pentamidine as prophylaxis since his diagnosis in 1988, was diagnosed shortly after New Year's. Ashe spent two weeks in the hospital, for the first time since his AIDS was diagnosed in 1988, Murray said

Arthur Ashe's doctor said yesterday that he was as surprised by the suddenness of the tennis champion's death from AIDS on Saturday as he was at how Ashe had remained healthy for more than four years after AIDS was diagnosed. In recent months, Ashe appeared healthy. But Dr. [Henry W. Murray] said that Ashe had been in declining health during the last seven months, often suffering from pain from his continuing heart condition. Ashe had decided he would undergo a procedure known as angioplasty to relieve a blocked coronary artery in hopes it would reduce the pain, Dr. Stephen Scheidt, Ashe's cardiologist, said. About Christmas, Ashe became short of breath. But no cause was found for it. PCP, the opportunistic infection that Ashe had avoided by taking aerosolized pentamidine for 4 1/2 years, was diagnosed shortly after New Year's. Ashe spent two weeks in the hospital, the first time since his AIDS was diagnosed in 1988, Dr. Murray said

A 62-year-old man who became the world's second recipient of a baboon liver died on Feb 5, 1993 without having regained consciousness since the experimental transplant operation was performed Jan 10 at the University of Pittsburgh. The cause of death was an infection of the membrane that surrounds the intestines

Burton J. Lee III, who served as George Bush's personal doctor for four years and stayed on in the Clinton White House after the inauguration, has been dismissed. Officials in the Clinton administration said that Clinton had always intended to bring in his own doctor

Doctors for the 62-year-old Pittsburgh man who received a transplanted baboon liver said Jan 26, 1993 that after 16 days the liver is growing to near human size and is functioning and improving. The patient, whose name was not disclosed, still has not awakened after the 13-hour, 20-minute operation