Faculty Bibliography

Despite nearly universal agreement on the need for a vaccine to prevent AIDS, many scientists, public health officials and political leaders are sharply divided over when to begin the first large-scale trials and which product to test. A vaccine is still the main goal everywhere because prevention is better and cheaper than treatment

People attending the international meeting on AIDS in Vancouver the week of Jul 7, 1996 were confronted with a mix of hope and fear. Studies indicate that a combination of drugs can slow down HIV, but the trials have involved small numbers of individuals and have lasted less than a year

India has quickly emerged as the country with the largest number of people infected with HIV, only a few years after the AIDS virus was first detected there, the head of the UN's AIDS program said as the 11th International AIDS meeting opened in Vancouver on Jul 7, 1996

Remarkable gains in using combinations of costly new and old drugs promise to slow the progression of AIDS, if not stop it in its tracks, and to allow many people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to live longer and healthier lives, the researchers said in interviews. Gains in prevention measures have helped avoid infection for many others in the United States, Thailand and some areas of Africa, offering hope that deterrents can work elsewhere. Health workers in Thailand calculate that by the year 2000 they will have prevented 2 million infections with HIV by controlling other sexually transmitted diseases that may increase susceptibility to AIDS infection and by educating people to practice safer sex. Their findings are among those to be presented to 15,000 participants from 125 countries at the conference. By trumpeting the gains in glowing terms in advance of the meeting, a number of leaders in AIDS research and drug companies have transformed the pessimistic mood that has prevailed at the last several international meetings to one of exuberance. The mood change reflects testimonials from some AIDS patients who seem to have bounced back from their deathbeds, and statements from researchers testing a new class of anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors in combination with AZT and other drugs in industry-sponsored trials. In recent months, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of three protease inhibitors: indinavir (Crixivan), ritonavir (Norvir) and saquinavir (Invirase)

Remarkable gains in using combinations of costly new and old drugs promise to slow the progression of AIDS, if not stop it, and to allow many people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, to live longer and healthier lives, researchers said. Gains in prevention measures have helped avoid infection for many others in the United States, Thailand and some areas of Africa, offering hope that deterrents can work elsewhere. Health workers in Thailand calculate that by 2000 they will have prevented 2 million infections with HIV by controlling other sexually transmitted diseases that may increase susceptibility to AIDS infection and by educating people to practice safer sex. Their findings are among those to be presented to 15,000 participants from 125 countries at the conference. By trumpeting the gains in glowing terms in advance of the meeting, a number of leaders in AIDS research and drug companies have transformed the pessimistic mood that has prevailed at the last several international meetings to one of exuberance. The mood change reflects testimonials from some AIDS patients who seem to have bounced back from their deathbeds, and statements from researchers testing a new class of anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors in combination with AZT and other drugs in industry-sponsored trials. In recent months, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of three protease inhibitors: indinavir {Crixivan}, ritonavir {Norvir} and saquinavir {Invirase}

The 11th international AIDS meeting opens in Vancouver on Jul 6, 1996 with leading researchers' hopes high. Remarkable gains in using combinations of costly new and old drugs promise to slow the progression of AIDS, if not stop it in its tracks, and to allow many people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to live longer and healthier lives, the researchers said

Remarkable gains in using combinations of costly new and old drugs promise to slow the progression of AIDS, if not stop it in its tracks, and to allow many people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to live longer and healthier lives, the researchers said in interviews. Gains in prevention measures have helped avoid infection for many others in North America, Thailand and some areas of Africa, offering hope that deterrents can work elsewhere. Health workers in Thailand calculate that by the year 2000 they will have prevented 2 million infections with HIV by controlling other sexually transmitted diseases that might increase susceptibility to AIDS infection and by educating people to practice safer sex. Their findings are among those to be presented to 15,000 participants from 125 countries at the conference. By trumpeting the gains in glowing terms in advance of the meeting, a number of leaders in AIDS research and drug companies have transformed the pessimistic mood that has prevailed at the last several international meetings to one of exuberance. The mood change reflects testimonials from some AIDS patients who seem to have bounced back from their deathbeds, and statements from researchers testing a new class of anti-HIV drugs known as protease-inhibitors in combination with AZT and other drugs in industry-sponsored trials. In recent months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of three protease-inhibitors: indinavir (Crixivan), ritonavir (Norvir) and saquinavir (Invirase)

New York City's investigation of an outbreak of an intestinal ailment caused by a microbe has created an extraordinary conflict between the Health Dept and a leading scientist, Rosemary Soave, over reporting cases of the ailment, cyclospora. Health Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg subpoenaed records from Soave, who said that she had declined an initial request to turn over the records, citing patient confidentiality and the fact that some patients had been referred to her by other doctors

'I tell them it's Ontario. They're afraid. They think I lie to them,' he said. 'Some of them say, 'If I get sick, I'll come back to you.' I say 'Okay.' '

We examined the effect of diet on gallstone incidence and the composition of biliary phosphatidylcholines in methyltestosterone-treated female hamsters. These hamsters were fed a nutritionally adequate purified lithogenic diet containing 2% corn oil, 4% butterfat, 0.3% cholesterol, and 0.05% methyltestosterone, resulting in a cholesterol gallstone incidence of 86%. This incidence was lowered when mono- and polyunsaturated fats or fatty acids were added to the diet: 2.5% oleic acid resulted in total prevention of cholesterol cholelithiasis, 2.5% linoleic acid, and 4% safflower oil (78% linoleic acid content) reduced gallstone incidence to 26 and 8%, respectively. An additional 4% butterfat (29% oleic acid content) produced gallstones in 50% of the animals. At the end of the 6-wk feeding period, the bile of all hamsters was supersaturated with cholesterol. The major biliary phosphatidylcholine species in all groups were (sn-1-sn-2): 16:0-18:2, 16:0-18:1, 18:0-18:2, 16:0-20:4, and 18:2-18:2. The safflower oil- and linoleic acid-fed hamsters exhibited an enrichment of 16:0-18:2 (16-18%); added butterfat or oleic acid increased the proportion of 16:0-18:1 (9 and 25%, respectively). We conclude that the phosphatidylcholine molecular species in female hamster bile can be altered by dietary fats/fatty acids and that mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids play a role in suppressing the induced cholelithiasis.