Faculty Bibliography

Dr. [Preston A. Marx] recalled his teammates as saying, ''We think we've got it, but we can't publish a scientific paper based on the results of an experiment on just one animal.'' So the [Davis] researchers injected two additional monkeys; both developed simian AIDS on Jan. 19

Until recently, doctors were certain they had solved the problem of RLF. They believed that the administration of high concentrations of oxygen for prolonged periods soon after birth damaged the eyes of infants born prematurely, ultimately detaching the retina. Use of oxygen in nurseries was strictly curtailed, leading to a marked reduction in the number of cases. Indeed, the link between oxygen and RLF became so solid that most physicians regarded oxygen as the sole cause

Although excess oxygen clearly can still be blamed for some current RLF blindness, it is equally clear that at least 163 cases developed among infants who had breathed only the amount of oxygen in room air. Moreover, RLF has occurred in stillborn infants and in infants who were blue from lack of oxygen as a result of birth defects affecting the heart. Once the evidence was available, health codes were changed to account for the dangers of oxygen and stern warnings were written in textbooks. The thinking became so rigid that every case of RLF was taken as proof of improper use of supplemental oxygen, according to Dr. William A. Silverman's account in his book titled ''Retrolental Fibroplasia: A Modern Parable,'' which Grune and Stratton published in 1980. Scientists have offered a wide variety of possible causes of RLF. One theoretical possibility is blood transfusions. In some studies, they were the only factor that could be correlated with RLF. The theoretical explanation was that the adult red blood cells that were transfused to the infants delivered oxygen more efficiently and thus sent a damaging supply of oxygen to the retina. Doctors are discussing plans for a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a surgical technique to freeze part of the eye to stop the progression of the disorder. The aim is to destroy affected portions of the retina, on the theory that the dying cells produce a substance that promotes the growth of blood vessels and scar tissue. Because no one knows what the long-term effects might be on the eye of a infant born prematurely, the technique would be used on only one eye of each child involved in the study, according to Dr. [Dale L. Phelps], the U.C.L.A. pediatrician

The disease ''probably has killed nobody,'' said Dr. Hugh A. Carithers, a physician in Jacksonsville, Fla., who is completing an analysis of 1,200 cases of cat scratch disease. The lymph nodes may remain swollen for two or more months, and by coincidence the infected person might develop other conditions in the recovery phase. As a result, many complications are falsely attributed to cat scratch disease, Dr. Carithers said. As he and other members of the team became more accustomed to seeing the new bacterium, they began to find it in more samples. Still, they did not find them in every suspected case. After further study they recognized that the bacterium could be seen more easily in the early stages of the disease, but only with great difficulty in the last stage. ''You can see them, but you have to know what they look like before you can say they are bacteria and not debris'' left by the infection process, Dr. Wear said. The silver stain is difficult to do, and is offered at only a few major medical centers. Even at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, which is the center to which pathologists send their most perplexing samples, only one technician does it. ''He will go along for 10 months of the year and everything will just turn out beautiful,'' Dr. Wear said. ''Then all of a sudden one month nothing will turn out.''

Tass said that artificial kidney treatments, known as hemodialysis, ''supplied satisfactory health and work capability'' until the end of last month. At that time, Mr. [Yuri V. Andropov]'s condition ''worsened in connection with the growth of distrophic changes in the internal organs and progressive hypotension,'' Tass said. Wasting of Organs Judging by American medical standards it was clear that Mr. Andropov had less than 6 percent of his kidney function a year ago. To Dr. [Ira Greifer] it was clear that Mr. Andropov had been kept alive by kidney dialysis therapy for the last year. But, he said, it was also clear that the therapy ''was not successful'' and probably failed last August when Mr. Andropov disappeared from public view. The drug is not marketed in the Soviet Union, and Dr. Craig D. Burrell, an official of the company, said yesterday that Sandoz had no evidence to suggest ''that the Russians used cyclosporin'' in Mr. Andropov's case

[Samuel A. K. Wilson]'s disease occurs throughout the world but is so rare that a physician who cares for three new patients each day is likely to encounter only one case in a 40-year career, according to ''Wilson's Disease,'' a book by Dr. Scheinberg and Dr. Irmin Sternlieb. Still, physicians must always be on the alert for such rare diseases because they never know when one will show up in their practice. Even doctors have failed to recognize their own symptoms as those of Wilson's disease. One was diagnosed as having chronic viral hepatitis when he was a medical student. The hepatitis continued for several years, and it was only when he developed pinkeye and consulted an ophthalmologist that he learned he also had Kayser-Fleischer rings and Wilson's disease. Once penicillamine treatment started, the ''hepatitis'' cleared. As one patient said, ''The most frustrating part of this whole experience is having intelligence and not being able to communicate, except by spelling on an alphabet card, because people prejudge you as an idiot.''

This spending has not made foundation officials complacent. ''Good ideas can't be funded'' because the total amount is too small, said Dr. Robert Blendon, an official of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J. ''We need a central registry, which would not cost much,'' said Dr. Blendon, who is an economist. He added, ''If the day comes when the Government spends more money on international health, we will need that list. Right now if someone has a good idea, we would not know where to begin.'' Dr. Julius B. Richmond, who was Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary of Health in the Carter Administration, said that when he met with Fidel Castro in Havana in 1978, the Cuban leader said: ''We have 1,800 doctors in Africa. How many do you have? Why don't you do more?''

''The failure to identify definite cases of AIDS or even severe symptoms suggests that affected donors with only mild or inapparent illness account for the majority of cases of transfusion-associated AIDS,'' the researchers said. They also said that ''exposure to as little as one unit'' of blood ''may result in transmission'' of AIDS. Five More Cases Examined Some physicians and others have been concerned for some time about the risk to transfusion recipients as well as hemophiliacs. In yesterday's editorial, Dr. [Joseph R. Bove] agreed, saying that the new data expanded ''the population at risk to include transfusion recipients'' beyond hemophiliacs. He added that although the risk was extremely low, the concern was great

As of Dec. 19, a total of 3,000 cases of AIDS were reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and 1,283, or 43 percent, were fatal. Most experts believe AIDS, an incurable condition, is usually fatal in time. The cases were reported since the disease was first recognized in 1981. Because there is no laboratory test that is specific for AIDS to assist in the epidemiological investigation, the Centers for Disease Control have established a rather strict definition of a case. Therefore, the totals do not include hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of additional cases that appear to the patients' physicians to be AIDS but that do not meet the official definition. Such epidemiological definitions are standard practice in investigations of diseases of unknown cause

The husband was one of 21 hemophiliacs thought to have acquired AIDS from injections of the factor VIII blood product. The husband and wife said they had had intercourse only with each other. ''We determined that her only apparent risk factor was sexual intercourse once every two to three months with her husband,'' the authors said. Assessment by Team ''Frequent sexual contact or several sexual partners are not necessary for transmission to occur,'' Dr. [Arthur E. Pitchenik]'s team reported, ''and the syndrome can occur in elderly people (given the proper risk factors) and need not be restricted to the younger population.'' An autopsy, however, showed that he had died of pneumonia caused by the microbe pneumocystis carinii. This microbe frequently affects AIDS patients, but few others. Thus, given the patient's other ailments, the AIDS diagnosis only then became apparent. Diagnosis of AIDS