Faculty Bibliography

An experimental drug, still called by its code name FK-506, which has had stunning success in preventing rejection of transplanted organs in its tests at the University of Pittsburgh, is discussed

Already, though, word has spread about FK-506, and physicians at other medical centers have referred dying patients to [Thomas E. Starzl]. He expressed confidence that with more research FK-506 eventually will replace cyclosporine as the standard drug for most transplant surgery. But he cautioned that there is no reason for a transplant recipient now taking cyclosporin to switch to FK-506 unless that individual develops serious problems. [Gregory P. Burke] said he had encouraged Starzl's team to submit patient records and other detailed data so the agency could determine whether it should act swiftly to allow other transplant teams to use FK-506 to rescue their own patients with failing liver transplants

Lancet, the respected medical journal published in London, said recently, ''The [Virginia Apgar] score has served its purpose, and should now be pensioned off.'' Lancet's reasoning reflected the many laboratory tests, like one for the amount of oxygen in the blood, introduced in the last 36 years to provide more precise measures of a newborn's physiological status. The editorial also reflected improved techniques to resuscitate and care for sick infants. Lancet's attack brought sharp rebuttals from 19 members of the editorial board of The Journal of Perinatology and from pediatricians in other scientific publications. They defended the Apgar test for its simplicity in alerting staff members to the need for special care when it might not otherwise be considered. The defenders also said Apgar scores provide standardized observations in the care given to maintain a newborn's vitality. For example, in a separate reply to Lancet, a team of doctors in Birmingham, England, reported on a study of 100 babies with a low Apgar score that determined 61 of them had received care that was possibly less than optimal. The British physicians contended that such audits using Apgar scores were ''highly desirable'' for every maternity unit because they could help iron out deficiencies in the health care system

The scientists detected deposits of the substance, amyloid beta protein, in the skin, the tissues just beneath the skin, blood vessels and the colon of Alzheimer's patients. Such protein is in the plaques that characteristically form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, plaques that can only be identified in an autopsy. [Dennis J. Selkoe]'s team studied tissues from 41 individuals, of whom 11 had Alzheimer's disease, four had Down's syndrome, which carries with it a higher risk for Alzheimer's disease, and 26 did not have either condition. Eight of the 11 with Alzheimer's had definite evidence of the amyloid protein in tissues other than the brain, and two had equivocal evidence. Of the four with Down's syndrome, the protein was definitely found in two, and its presence was equivocal in the other two. Of the 26 who did not have Alzheimer's or Down's syndrome, the protein was found in three. All were 77 or older

Gilda Radner, the comedian, died of ovarian cancer at age 42 last May, unaware of a crucial medical fact that might have helped save her, or at least helped extend her life. Had she known her family's medical history, she and her doctors might have been more suspicious that her symptoms were due to ovarian cancer and were not signs of the other conditions for which she was treated. The diagnosis might have been made months earlier, and treatment could have been started then, possibly before the cancer became entrenched. Data from a voluntary registry at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo and studies elsewhere show that a familial pattern for ovarian cancer is not as rare as most doctors have believed. Ms. Radner and her relatives are now among 700 people in more than 300 families on the Buffalo list, which is the only national registry for ovarian cancer

She did not know that ovarian cancer had struck two, and possibly three, blood relatives, an indication that she had a higher-than-normal risk of ovarian cancer. [Gilda Radner] and her relatives are now among 700 people in more than 300 families on the Buffalo list, which is the only national registry for ovarian cancer. To be sure, experts believe that the familial pattern accounts for only a small proportion of the 20,000 new cases of ovarian cancer each year in the United States; the precise number is not known. But until recently, they assumed only a minimal familial connection, if any at all

The scientists detected deposits of the substance, amyloid beta protein, in the skin and other parts of the bodies of Alzheimer's patients. The immediate aim, [Dennis Selkoe] said, is to explore ways of detecting the protein in the skin. The researchers have done the tests in the laboratory from tiny pieces of skin snipped in a biopsy. Although a blood test would be preferable to a skin biopsy, the protein has not yet been identified in the blood, Selkoe's team said in a report in the British journal Nature being published today

In a discovery that may lead to the first practical test for Alzheimer's disease, a protein linked to the disease has been located outside the brain

''We have unequivocal evidence of deposition of the amyloid'' in certain tissues, Dr. [Dennis J. Selkoe] said in an interview, adding, ''But we don't know that it is everywhere in the body.'' Dr. Selkoe's team studied tissues from 41 individuals, of whom 11 had Alzheimer's disease, four had Down's syndrome, which carries with it a higher risk for Alzheimer's disease, and 26 did not have either condition. Eight of the 11 with Alzheimer's had definite evidence of the amyloid protein in tissues other than the brain and two had equivocal evidence. Of the four with Down's syndrome, the protein was definitely found in two and its presence was indicated in the other two. Of the 26 who did not have Alzheimer's or Down's syndrome, the protein was found in three, and all were 77 or older