Faculty Bibliography

President [Marvin Bush], like his wife, Barbara, has received a diagnosis of Graves' disease, an autoimmune ailment of unknown cause. It is rare enough for a husband and wife to contract the disease, which is not known to be communicable. Even odder is that Millie, the Bushes' dog, also has an autoimmune disease, one known as lupus. The cluster of cases, of course, might be pure coincidence. But could whatever caused Millie's lupus also have induced the Graves' disease that has afflicted Bush and his wife? That is a possibility that has intrigued medical experts around the nation, and it is now being considered by the president's physician, Dr. Burton J. Lee. Graves' disease is much more common in women than men for reasons that remain uncertain. The Bushes' doctors have called the coincidence bizarre and have cited chances of one in 3 million that a husband and wife will develop Graves' disease. Other experts, such as Dr. Paul W. Ladenson, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, have come up with an estimate of one in 100,000

President Bush, like his wife, Barbara, has received a diagnosis of Graves' disease, an autoimmune ailment of unknown cause. It is rare enough for a husband and wife to contract the disease, which is not known to be communicable. Even odder is that Millie, the Bushes' dog, also has an autoimmune disease, one known as lupus. The cluster of cases may be pure coincidence. But could whatever caused Millie's lupus also have induced the Graves' disease that has afflicted Bush and his wife? That is a possibility that has intrigued medical experts around the country, and it is now being considered by the president's physician, Dr. Burton Lee. HYPOTHETICAL CAUSES One focus of the search will be for a history of autoimmune disorders on each side of the Bush family. Their son, Marvin Bush, has regional enteritis, an autoimmune disorder. STATISTICAL FLUKES

President Bush, like his wife, Barbara, has received a diagnosis of Graves' disease, an autoimmune ailment of unknown cause. It is rare enough for a husband and wife to contract the disease, which is not known to be communicable. Even odder is that Millie, the Bushes' dog, also has an autoimmune disease, one known as lupus. The president's disease was diagnosed this month, the first lady's in January 1990 and Millie's last summer. So in a span of 16 months, three members of the Bush household have contracted a disease in which the immune system, for unknown reasons, interferes with the body's own tissues. The cluster of cases, of course, may be pure coincidence. But could whatever caused Millie's lupus also have induced the Graves' disease that has afflicted Bush and his wife? That is a possibility that has intrigued medical experts around the country, and it is now being considered by the president's physician, Dr. Burton Lee

Vincent T. DeVita Jr, two and a half years after he was wooed from his position as the top federal cancer official, has abruptly resigned as the second-ranking doctor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to pursue his interest in clinical research

Vice President Dan Quayle has talked with friends and staff members about the possibility that the thyroid ailment that struck President Bush and his wife might somehow be linked to lead pipe in the vice-presidental residenct on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in northwestern Washington DC

THE BEGINNINGS of a remarkable new path in transplant surgery may be opened up. Tissues and organs have been transplanted in rats using an immunological method that enabled the rats to survive without the immunosuppressive drugs usually needed to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ. [Clyde Barker]'s team restored normal blood sugar in the rats that had been made diabetic by transplanting pancreatic cells from non-diabetic rats. The diabetic rats survived after receiving only one injection of antilymphocyte serum and no further drugs to suppress the immune system. Last month, Italian scientists advanced the thymus technique by transplanting an entire organ, in this case a kidney. Dr. Giuseppe Remuzzi's team in Bergamo took tiny portions of the kidney from six donor rats. Then they injected the portions into the thymus of rats that swallowed cyclosporine for two days

[Burton Lee] was present at [Bush]'s interview with UPI, when the president said he was taking 'pretty powerful medicine, I guess, because it affects my tummy.' Bush added: 'But it doesn't affect my willingness and eagerness to get to the office early in the morning.' Lee said Bush was referring to a drug, procainamide, that he is taking to help keep his heartbeat regular. Lee said Bush attributed his physical and mental fatigue to the procainamide. Outside the White House medical team, some experts said the heart drug would not have any effect on Bush's mental acuity. These experts attributed any mental slowing exclusively to the lower levels of thyroid hormone that Bush would have experienced after being treated for Graves' disease, the thyroid disorder

President Bush has suffered more serious side effects, including mental fatigue, from his overactive thyroid and the drug treatment for it than was previously known publicly. Bush's personal physician, Burton J. Lee III, confirmed that Bush was 'aware that he was making mistakes' and that 'dealing with the press was more difficult for him.' Bush, who will be 67 years old on Jun 12, 1991, appeared peaked at a news conference with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on May 20

[Bush]'s personal physician, Dr. Burton J. Lee, confirmed in an interview that Bush was 'aware that he was making mistakes' and that 'dealing with the press was more difficult for him.' Lee was present at Bush's interview with UPI reporter Helen Thomas when he told her that he was taking 'pretty powerful medicine, I guess, because it affects my tummy.' Bush added, 'But it doesn't affect my willingness and eagerness to get to the office early in the morning.' The medical team caring for Bush was divided over whether the physical and mental fatigue had been caused by procainamide or by an overactive thyroid, Lee said

[Burton J. Lee III] was present at [Bush]'s interview with UPI reporter Helen Thomas when he told her that he was taking 'pretty powerful medicine, I guess, because it affects my tummy.' Bush added, 'But it doesn't affect my willingness and eagerness to get to the office early in the morning.' Outside the White House medical team, some experts said the heart drug would not have any effect on Bush's mental acuity. These experts attributed any mental slowing exclusively to the lower levels of thyroid hormone that Bush would have experienced after being treated for Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes the thyroid gland to produce excess hormone. 'He looked and felt badly, at least to a friend,' said Lee, who has known Bush for many years. Lee left his practice as a cancer specialist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York to become Bush's personal physician in 1989