Faculty Bibliography

The Health Department is following the disease center's recommendation that a two-gram dose of an antibiotic called Spectinomycin be injected once for patients with PPNG. Dr. [Yehudi M. Felman] said that doctors should take a repeat culture from all patients with gonorrhea ''seven to 14 days after completion of treatment to confirm the cure.'' Last month 17 cases of PPNG were reported in New York, compared with 33 in the preceding four years. ''This is a sharp increase,'' Dr. Felman said. The 17 cases occurred in a period when about 3,300 cases of nonpenicillinresistant gonorrhea were reported. Doctors have reported about 40,000 cases of gonorrhea to the Health Department for each of the last four years.

The disease is Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, and it tends to strike men and women in their 50's and 60's by affecting the body's proteins, specifically a component of the antibodies that fight infections. Its cause is unknown. The story of its discovery in 1944 is one of the more fascinating in the history of medicine. Its discovery was relatively late because recognition had to await the invention of modern technology that could distinguish among the body's proteins. Waldenstrom's disease cannot be diagnosed with stethoscopes and the other standard equipment that doctors carry in their black bags. It is one of the few diseases for which the diagnosis can be made only in a laboratory, and nowhere else. Recognition of the disorder was due to Dr. Waldenstrom's unusual interest in bridging basic research with the practice of bedside medicine. Dr. Waldenstrom, a tall, witty man, is a member of an illustrious Swedish medical family. His father, Henning Waldenstrom, was a professor of orthopedic surgery, and his grandfather, Johan, was a professor of internal medicine at Uppsala.

In Mr. [Julio Echeverria]'s case, after examining the complicated sequence of events, the Board of Medical Examiners charged that Dr. Jascalevich made a diagnosis of cancer that ''he knew or should have known'' was false, that he mismanaged the case, performed unnecessary surgery, endangered Mr. Echeverria's health and life and subjected him to unnecessary suffering and mental anguish. Mr. [Sidney Goldmann]'s report stated that Dr. Jascalevich operated on Mr. Echeverria three times between July 1974 and April 1975. He began by removing gallstones and an inflamed gall bladder. Mr. Echeverria's recovery after the July 26 operation was complicated by drainage of copious amounts of yellowish bile, abdominal pain, weakness and a 103.8 degree temperature. On Aug. 15, during a visit by Mr. Echeverria to his office, Dr. Jascalevich, according to his office records, claimed to have found a piece of tissue while cleaning Mr. Echeverria's surgical wound. Dr. Jascalevich then sent the tissue, which he identified as a ''gallbladder bed'' specimen, to a laboratory where a pathologist diagnosed ''squamous cell carcinoma.'' Since this type of cancer rarely affects the gall bladder, and even more rarely that of a 30-year-old man, the pathologist immediately re-examined the gall bladder that Dr. [Mario E. Jascalevich] had sent to the laboratory after Mr. Echeverria's first operation. No evidence of cancer was detected and Dr. Jascalevich was informed of the peculiar medical situation. The state, after its review, concluded that Dr. Jascalevich should not have accepted unquestioningly the original pathology report of squamous cell cancer in Mr. Echeverria and that ''tumor should have been the last assumption, not the first.'' The state said Dr. Jascalevich failed to consider the more likely possibility of inflammation of the pancreas and despite his own diagnosis, never attempted to treat Mr. Echeverria for cancer or to consult experts about possible treatments. In his defense, Dr. Jascalevich's counsel contended that the surgeon treated Mr. Echeverria appropriately and that it was ''patently unfair'' to hold the surgeon responsible for altering Mrs. [Revis]'s record, because there were many other theories as to what might have happened.

Now scientists in many laboratories have begun to identify the structure, genetic and immunological characteristics of the transplantation antigens. They know that the HLA antigens, as they are called, are situated on the short arm of chromosome 6. There are at least four distinct types of HLA antigen labeled by the letters A through D. Tests for HLA antigens are a standard procedure before the transplantation of an organ. Identical twins have the same antigens, and for those who are unrelated, an attempt is made to match the donor and the recipient's tissue types as closely as possible. Doctors recognize that rejections of a transplanted organ occur even when there is a close tissue match of HLA antigens. Presumably, then, there are other mechanisms that bear on organ transplantation that have yet to be detected. In recent years, doctors have discovered that strong links exist between certain diseases and particular histocompatability antigens. But they do not know why.

''I had him examined in a clinic in New Orleans,'' Dr. [Charles Lee Williams Jr.] said. ''It was shortly after the [Leon Spinks] fight that Ali began to bloat - balloon in weight. I gave him a prescription for [Thyrolar], onethree grains a day. The swelling of his skin improved, as did his speech and enunciation. But on his trips to India and Kenya, urging support of the American Olympic boycott, he stopped taking the Thyrolar.'' Dr. Williams prescribed the drug again while Ali was training for his attempt to wrest the World Boxing Council version ot the the title from [Larry Holmes]. Ali, in his effort to lose weight, also restricted the amount of water he took. Dr. Cope speculated that reduced water intake, combined with the amount of sweat that he lost while training in the 100-degree heat in Las Vegas, may have caused Ali to go ''into the fight perhaps a bit dehydrated,'' as Dr. Williams has contended. But Dr. Cope said he had ''no proof of that whatsoever.'' ''Assuming Ali's normal thyroid function is around 6, if he hadn't been taking thyroid, then right now he should have a T4 thyroid function test of 6, not 10.7,'' Dr. Cope said. He said he expected the test value to be lower when he tested him again in about one month. ''If his story is correct, he should have a further drop in his T4.''

Mr. [John B. Anderson] said that he regarded his heart condition as ''nothing to worry about'' and that he had ''never given it a second thought.'' ''I am never conscious from one day to the next that my heart is any different than anyone else's,'' Mr. Anderson said in an interview last week in his office in the Longworth House Office Building of the Capitol in Washington. Mr. Anderson said that his daily life had not been affected by his mitral valve prolapse and that he ''had the necessary physical endurance to discharge the duties of'' the Presidency. As evidence, he said he swam 1,000 yards up to five times a week and added, ''I'm not even breathing fast when I get out of the pool.'' ''I've never done it,'' Mr. Anderson said. ''It's just not one of those things that I thought was important. I lead a busy life and I don't spend an awful lot of time fussing about things that I really don't think are of great consequence and that was one that I guess I just passed over.''

Epidemiological studies have linked hepatitis B with hepatoma, a cancer that develops in the liver. Hepatoma is rare in this country but common elsewhere, particularly in areas of Africa and Asia. A vaccine that protects against hepatitis B would presumably block the development of hepatoma, making it the first vaccine to protect against any cancer. According to the results, the probable incidence of hepatitis B was reduced by 92 percent in the group that received the experimental vaccine. About 25 percent of those who received the placebo developed hepatitis B, Dr. [Wolf Szmuness] said. As researchers have struggled to develop a protection against hepatitis B over the last quarter of a century, there have been three crucial steps in the vaccine's development. They were the discovery of the Australia antigen, believed to be a component of the virus that causes hepatitis B; development of a laboratory test to detect hepatitis B, and the purification of the Australia antigen.

It is not unknown for a maitre d'hotel to put a restaurant's interests ahead of those of patrons who are in distress. In another New York restaurant, the head waiter insisted that a rescue team perform life-saving measures under the table, obscured by a cloth, so as not to disturb the restaurant's customers. ''It's simple - anyone would have known how to do it,'' he said. In fact, more harm than good can be done by someone who does not know the proper way to help a choking victim. The Heimlich maneuver is potentially dangerous, in fact, if applied unselectively, as if everyone who falls ill in a restaurant has choked on food. When the ambulance left, I returned to my table. The restaurant's business went on as if nothing had happened. The incident did not seem to be on anyone's mind. My dinner companion's impression was that the situation had been handled in the usual chaotic human manner, although she wondered why the ambulance had not arrived earlier.

Among those who have done it was John B.S. Haldane. In an essay, ''On Being One's Own Rabbit,'' he described how he ''got violent 'pins and needles' in his hands, feet and face'' after breathing as fast and deep as he could for two or three minutes and how he once had ''continuous spasm of the hands and face'' for one and a half hours from overbreathing.

Yesterday, in upstate Watervliet, he denounced what he said were his primary opponents' ''below-the-belt'' efforts to portray him as being in failing health. ''In my 34 years of running for public office,'' he said, ''it's the first time I've encountered such a lowlevel campaign.'' ''It's like a brake in your stomach -like someone pulled the emergency cord,'' he said. ''You can't push forward until you stop a moment. Another thing is that even the 10- or 15-second wait for the traffic when you walk in New York City makes a difference. It's very odd. Who knows what it's all about?'' Mr. [Jacob K. Javits] was asked if he could foresee resigning if re-elected. ''No,'' he replied. ''I might walk less and be less mobile, but that has nothing to do with being a Senator, swimming or enjoying life. Work is the greatest therapy for me.''