Faculty Bibliography

Most licensed vaccines work by stimulating the body to make neutralizing antibodies. But experimental HIV vaccines have failed to produce such antibodies. The virus' propensity to mutate and produce different genetic subtypes will require an effective vaccine to produce antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of strains

The Gates foundation has made development of an effective vaccine against HIV, the AIDS virus, a major goal. The new grants bring to $528 million the foundation's investment for this purpose. By contrast, the National Institutes of Health has spent $3.4 billion since the 1980s to develop a vaccine. Until now, most HIV vaccine research has been conducted by small independent teams. But the new grants are being structured to encourage the 165 scientists receiving them to join forces. The goal is to overcome major immunologic and other scientific hurdles that hinder development of such a vaccine. The body invokes two types of immune reactions to defend against dangerous infectious agents

The Gates Foundation has made development of an effective vaccine against HIV, which causes AIDS, a major goal, and the new grants bring to $528 million the foundation's investment for this purpose. By contrast, the National Institutes of Health has spent $3.4 billion since the 1980s to develop a vaccine. Until now, most HIV vaccine research has been conducted by small independent teams. But the new grants are being structured to encourage the 165 scientists receiving them to join forces. The goal is to overcome major immunologic and other scientific hurdles that hinder development of such a vaccine

The Gates Foundation has made development of an effective vaccine against H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, a major goal, and the new grants bring to $528 million the foundation's investment for this purpose. By contrast, the National Institutes of Health has spent $3.4 billion since the 1980's to develop a vaccine. Most licensed vaccines work by stimulating the body to make neutralizing antibodies. But experimental H.I.V. vaccines have failed to produce such antibodies. The virus's propensity to mutate and produce different genetic subtypes will require an effective vaccine to produce antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of strains. Another team led by Dr. David Ho of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Manhattan will receive $24.7 million to design experimental H.I.V. vaccines that bind to dendritic cells. These immune cells help strengthen production of antibodies and cellular immunity

The Gates Foundation has made development of an effective vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a major goal, and the new grants bring to $528 million the foundation's investment for this purpose. By contrast, the National Institutes of Health has spent $3.4 billion since the 1980s to develop a vaccine. Most licensed vaccines work by stimulating the body to make neutralizing antibodies. But experimental HIV vaccines have failed to produce such antibodies. The virus' propensity to mutate and produce different genetic subtypes will require an effective vaccine to produce antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of strains. Six grants will focus on ways to develop cellular immunity. Five grants will go to identifying new techniques to develop novel vaccines that produce neutralizing antibodies. The remaining five grants are for creating central laboratories and information analysis facilities, so that all the grant recipients can openly share data and develop standardized ways to compare their findings. Lack of such standardized tools hampers HIV vaccine research, the foundation said

Tests at George Washington University Hospital found that Mr. Cheney's cardiac pacemaker was working properly and had not been activated due to arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, said Mr. Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride. Mr. Cheney, 65, has had four heart attacks, the first when he was 37 and the fourth on Nov. 22, 2000, in the thick of the dispute between former Vice President Al Gore and President Bush over the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Mr. Cheney has also had quadruple heart bypass surgery and two angioplasties, procedures to clear blockages in the arteries

In the study, which independent experts said was the most conclusive to examine the role of condoms in preventing infection with the virus, women whose male partners used condoms every time they had sexual intercourse had less than half the rate of infection than women whose partners used condoms less than 5 percent of the time. The study was conducted among students at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2000, four government agencies convened a panel of condom experts to determine the medical accuracy of condom labels. The panel concluded that there was inadequate information about condom use in reducing the risk of all sexually transmitted infections except for the AIDS virus and, among men, gonorrhea, an editorial accompanying the journal article said

In the study, which independent experts said was the most conclusive to examine the role of condoms in preventing infection with the virus, women whose male partners used condoms every time they had sexual intercourse had less than half the rate of infection as did women whose partners used condoms less than 5 percent of the time. The study 'provided a very clear answer' to the question of the protective benefits of condoms and papillomavirus infection, said Dr. James R. Allen, president of the American Social Health Association, an organization in Research Triangle Park, N.C., dedicated to the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Allen said he was not involved in the study

In the study, which independent experts said was the most conclusive to examine the role of condoms in preventing infection with the virus, women whose male partners used condoms every time they had sexual intercourse had less than half the rate of infection as did women whose partners used condoms less than 5 percent of the time. In 2000, four government agencies convened a panel of condom experts to determine the medical accuracy of condom labels in describing their effectiveness in preventing papillomavirus and other sexually transmitted diseases. The researchers used certain statistical measures to determine the findings in the study. For example, no malignant or precancerous cervical lesions were detected in 32 patient years at risk among women reporting 100 percent condom use by their partners. That compared with 14 such lesions in 97 patient years at risk among women whose partners did not use condoms or who used them less consistently

Reporting in The New England Journal of Medicine, the study's authors said they had recruited 158 scleroderma patients who had early signs of lung damage. The patients, drawn from 13 hospitals in this country, agreed to be assigned randomly to one of two groups, without knowing which one. One group of 79 was to take Cytoxan pills daily for a year. An equal number were to take a placebo, or dummy pill, also for a year. Both groups were monitored for a second year. Many doctors already prescribe Cytoxan for scleroderma patients, in part because earlier, less scientifically rigorous studies hinted at its benefit. But until now no drug for scleroderma patients with lung damage has proved effective in a scientifically controlled study, the type of research that scientists consider the gold standard for assessing benefits and safety of therapies, Dr. [Philip J. Clements] said in an interview