Faculty Bibliography

The US has had to turn to Europe more and more frequently for blood supplies. US demand has increased to the point where domestic supply cannot meet the deficit. Some blood centers say that it is cheaper to buy donated blood from Europe than to collect it locally

The Harvard report grew out of studies that began in 1983 when Dr. Daniel Cramer's team picked up on clues from other researchers who had linked galactose and transferase enzyme to ovarian failure that might be a precursor to cancer. Transferase converts galactose into glucose. Researchers believe the suspected danger derives from galactose, but how galactose might lead to ovarian cancer is unknown. Cramer speculated that it might result from ovarian failure leading to cancer. Cramer's team said it believed its study provided 'a credible basis' for the links between ovarian cancer, increased galactose consumption, and lower amounts of transferase

The evidence linking cytomegalovirus with coronary artery disease among transplant patients came from two studies by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. Cytomegalovirus infection developed in 32 recipients. Coronary artery disease developed in 16, and 10 of them had cytomegalovirus infection. Coronary artery disease accounted for 10 per cent of the deaths of heart transplant recipients who had cytomegalovirus infection, but only 2 per cent of those who did not have the viral infection

Reliance on insecticides to kill the mosquitos has ''created a false sense of security'' and is misleading because it reinforces the belief that mosquito control is the Government's responsibility, not the individual's, Dr. [Duane J. Gubler] wrote in the current issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. ''Ae. aegypti has reinvaded nearly every country in the American region that had achieved eradication during the 1950's and 1960's,'' Dr. Gubler wrote. The mosquito was never eradicated from the United States. Only Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Chile remain free of the mosquito. ''The only long-term, cost-effective approach to mosquito control is to convince the people who live in the homes where most transmission occurs to help the government control the mosquito vector,'' Dr. Gubler said in an interview. ''We must have the assistance of the people who unwittingly create the problem.''

Medical researchers discovered that people whose treatment greatly reduces their high blood pressure apparently suffer far more heart attacks than those whose treatment results in moderate declines

Although the chemicals are far from being tested in humans, the discovery is important because it identifies an entirely new class of chemicals that can be studied for effectiveness against AIDS, said the scientists at the National Cancer Institute who conducted the research. The active chemicals are combinations of sugars and fatty acids called glycolipids. [Michael R. Boyd] said the chemicals have stopped the growth of the virus in laboratory experiments, although his team has yet to learn how the glycolipids do this

People whose treatment greatly reduces their high blood pressure apparently suffer far more heart attacks than those whose treatment results in moderate declines, researchers have found. They also emphasized that the results should not deter the estimated 20-million Americans who are being treated for hypertension from continuing to lower their blood pressure. A moderate reduction of blood pressure does reduce the risk of heart attack, and reduction overall reduces the risk of stroke, they said. The researchers said they could not identify precisely what caused the increased risk of heart attack in patients whose blood pressure dropped greatly. But the head of the research team, Dr. Michael H. Alderman, suggested that a large drop in blood pressure might reduce the flow of blood to the heart too much in patients with hardening of the coronary arteries, depriving the heart muscle of oxygen and vital nutrients

Federal scientists have reported that several chemicals derived from blue-green algae were 'remarkably active' against the AIDS virus in test-tube experiments

Medical researchers have said that another experimental vaccine, derived from a virus that causes an AIDS-like disease in monkeys, can apparently protect animals against a form of AIDS

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that over the last decade, the number of hepatitis B cases each year has increased to about 300,000, from 200,000, instead of dropping sharply as would be expected after the introduction of a vaccine. 'It is difficult to conceive of any strategy short of routine immunization of children or adolescents that could bring about control of hepatitis B infection in the United States,' said Dr. Mark A. Kane, an expert in the epidemiology of hepatitis at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The remaining third suffer a mild flu-like illness without jaundice, making diagnosis of hepatitis unlikely. But even those who have mild cases can become carriers, perpetuating the infection