Faculty Bibliography

In both the teleconference with reporters and the widely circulated letter, [John Kerry]'s doctors emphasized his vigor and active lifestyle, and said there was no connection between the tendon tear in his right shoulder and last year's bout with cancer. Dr. Gerald J. Doyle, his primary physician, said Kerry's latest blood and X- ray tests showed no evidence that the cancer had recurred or spread

Since researchers began exploring the topic in the late 1950s, some studies have suggested there is a slight risk while others have shown none. Although there is no scientific explanation for such a link, supporters of the higher risk findings have theorized that the breast cancer somehow resulted from a sudden change in a woman's hormonal balance after an abortion

To help resolve the conflict, Dr. Valerie Beral led a team of epidemiologists at the University of Oxford in England that asked authors of all earlier studies on the abortion-breast cancer link to provide their original data. Authors of virtually all studies collaborated, and the new analysis included some previously unpublished studies, the Oxford scientists said. Their report appears in a journal, The Lancet. The Oxford team analyzed data from 44,000 women who provided information about abortions before they developed breast cancer and data from 39,000 women who were asked about abortions after breast- cancer diagnosis. Studies that reported a link between abortions and breast cancer had not asked women about abortions before they developed breast cancer, Beral said

To help resolve the conflict, Dr. Valerie Beral led a team of Oxford epidemiologists that asked authors of all earlier studies on a link between abortion and breast cancer to provide their original data. Authors of virtually all studies collaborated, and the new analysis included some previously unpublished studies, the scientists said. Their report appears in the journal Lancet. Earlier studies showed that women with breast cancer were more likely to report induced abortions than women who did not have breast cancer. Experts say that many people who develop a serious disease seek explanations for it, and acknowledging an abortion is more likely among women with breast cancer

To help resolve the conflict, Dr. Valerie Beral led a team of Oxford epidemiologists that asked authors of all earlier studies on a link between abortion and breast cancer to provide their original data. Authors of virtually all studies collaborated, and the new analysis included some previously unpublished studies, the scientists said. Their report appears in The Lancet. The Oxford findings strengthen the opinion of a scientific panel of more than 100 of the world's experts on the issue appointed by the National Cancer Institute. Last year, the panel concluded that abortion did not increase the risk of breast cancer. The Oxford team analyzed data from 44,000 women who provided information about abortions before they developed breast cancer and data from 39,000 women who were asked about abortions after the diagnosis of breast cancer

Among the microbes on the horizon, says Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are Rift Valley virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, which causes bleeding and encephalitis; Usutu, an African virus that has killed 30% of blackbirds in Vienna since 2001; scrub typhus, a mite-borne rickettsial infection also known as tsutsugamushi fever; Nipah virus, a highly fatal disease from pigs; malaria in the United States; lyssa virus, which causes a rabies-like disease; and mosquito-borne Chandipura virus, which caused a large outbreak of encephalitis in India. No one can predict which infectious disease will test the system next. One candidate is the Usutu virus, said Dr. Norbert Nowotny of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. The virus had not been identified outside southern Africa since its discovery in 1959 in mosquitoes and birds in the Usutu River area in Swaziland. This is the first time scientists have documented the deaths of birds from the Usutu virus. The virus has adapted to cold winters and European mosquitoes, moving slowly toward the borders with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, said Dr. Nowotny, who now works at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain

Of the 12,000 teenagers included in the federal study, 88 percent of those who pledged chastity reported having had sexual intercourse before they married, [Peter Bearman] said at a scientific meeting in Philadelphia on preventing sexually transmitted diseases. By age 23, half the teenagers who had made virginity pledges were married, compared with 25 percent of those who had not pledged, the study found. Bearman said he did not know whether the teenagers who had broken their pledges did so initially with their fiances or with others, because the data had not yet been analyzed. Also, the adolescents who had made pledges were less likely to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Among the boys, 5.2 percent had been tested, compared with 9.1 percent of the boys who had not pledged. Among the girls, 14 percent of pledgers had been tested, compared with 28 percent of girls who had not pledged

A pledge to refrain from premarital sex, the researchers found, did tend to delay the start of sexual intercourse by 18 months. The adolescents who took virginity pledges also married earlier and had fewer sexual partners than the other teenagers surveyed, said Dr. Peter Bearman, the chairman of the sociology department at Columbia University and the lead author of the study. Of the 12,000 teenagers included in the federal study, 88 percent of those who pledged chastity reported having had sexual intercourse before they married, Dr. Bearman said at a scientific meeting in Philadelphia on preventing sexually transmitted diseases. By age 23, half the teenagers who had made virginity pledges were married, compared with 25 percent of those who had not pledged, the study found. Dr. Bearman said he did not know whether the teenagers who had broken their pledges did so initially with their fiances or with others, because the data had not yet been analyzed

In a study of 388 gay men, Dr. Gordon Mansergh reported that his team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the San Francisco Health Department found that 16 percent had used crystal methamphetamine the last time they had anal sex. Crystal users in the study were twice as likely as nonusers to have engaged in unprotected receptive anal intercourse. In the men's last anal sex encounter, 6 percent had used Viagra. The Viagra users were 6.5 times more likely to report having had unprotected insertive anal sex during that encounter. Viagra was not linked to receptive anal risk behavior. From October 2003 through December 2003, ciprofloxacin-resistant gonorrhea accounted for 22 of 133 cases, or 16.5 percent, compared with 6 of 159 cases, or 3.8 percent, from July through September 2003. The overwhelming majority of drug-resistant gonorrhea was among gay men. Such drug-resistant gonorrhea has also being reported in Boston and New York

Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences said in a joint statement that they were in discussions to develop a one-pill combination of three antiretroviral drugs. The single pill would include two Gilead drugs tenofovir, which the company sells under the brand name Viread, and emtricitabine, which it sells under the brand name Emtriva and a third drug, efavirenz. Bristol-Myers Squibb markets efavirenz under the brand name Sustiva in the United States, Canada and some European countries; Merck sells efavirenz as Stocrin elsewhere. The [Bush] administration had been expected to be the target of heavy criticism at the weeklong meeting for its previous reluctance to approve inexpensive combinations of patented antiretroviral AIDS drugs. AIDS advocacy groups had accused the Bush administration of bowing to pressure from the U.S. pharmaceutical industry by delaying approval of less costly generic copies to promote sales of the more expensive patented originals. It was unclear what had contributed to the administration's change of policy, but international health officials welcomed the announcement. It's a pretty radical change in U.S. policy, if applied, Dr. Peter Piot, the director of the United Nations AIDS program, said in a telephone interview. It will help AIDS treatment programs everywhere