Faculty Bibliography

US and Canadian health officials said on Jun 19, 1996 that they were mystified by the outbreak of an intestinal infection caused by an extoic microbe, known as cyclospora. So far, a few hundred cases have been reported in at least eight states and Toronto since early May. The microbe can cause cramping abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, nausea, a mild fever up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit and extreme fatigue

At least 35 people in the New York City area have been stricken since early May 1996 by an exotic parasitic intestinal infection whose source is unknown, health officials said on Jun 18. New York City Health Dept officials said they were alerting doctors and laboratories to look for the parasite, Cyclospora cayetanensis, among patients with unexplained intestinal symptoms. There have been no deaths

Dr. Randas Batista says he has often had dramatic success in performing the operation on more than 300 patients since 1994 near Curitiba in southern Brazil. Several heart surgeons say they have come away amazed after watching Batista do the operation in Brazil or in visits to hospitals in the United States. After shedding their skepticism, several surgeons have performed a small number of the operations at hospitals in the United States, Britain, Italy and other countries. The operation is 'mind-boggling' and 'one of the most important developments in heart surgery in years,' said Dr. Tomas Salerno, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Buffalo General Hospital. The two surgeons grew up in nearby towns in Brazil but did not meet until Batista trained under Salerno in Toronto from 1978 to 1982

The surgeon, Dr. Randas Batista, says he has often had dramatic success in performing the operation on more than 300 patients since 1994 near Curitiba in southern Brazil. Several heart surgeons say they have come away amazed after watching Batista do the operation in Brazil or in visits to hospitals in the United States. After shedding their skepticism, several surgeons have performed a small number of the operations at hospitals in the United States, Britain, Italy and other countries. The operation is 'mind-boggling' and 'one of the most important developments in heart surgery in years,' Dr. Tomas Salerno, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Buffalo General Hospital, said in an interview. He and Batista grew up in nearby towns in Brazil but did not meet until Batista trained under him in Toronto from 1978 to 1982

Recently, DNA sequences of what appear to be a unique human herpesvirus-like agent (HHV-8) have been detected in different types of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tumors (Chang, Y., E.C. Cesarman, M.S. Pessin, F. Lee, J.C. Culpepper, D.M. Knowles, and P.S. Moore. 1994. Science (Wash. DC). 266:1865-1869). To further elucidate the possibility that HHV-8 plays a role in the pathogenesis of KS, the expression of HHV-8 RNA was examined in fresh KS tissue specimens which were found to harbor HHV-8 DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The transcription of HHV-8 RNA was detected by RT-PCR in 26 of 29 specimens (89.7%) of the KS tumors including 2 of 3 CKS and 24 of 26 AIDS-KS. No positive signal was detected in eight biopsy specimens of normal skin from healthy donors. By Northern blot analysis, the expression of HHV-8 was detected in 2 of 10 KS tumors examined. Furthermore, the RNA transcripts were observed in endothelial cells lining the irregular vascular spaces and perivascular spindle-shaped cells histologically characteristic of KS in 2 out of 8 different KS specimens examined by in situ hybridization using an antisense probe specific of HHV-8. The detection of RNA expression of HHV-8 in KS tumors further supports the possible etiopathogenic role of this virus in the development of KS

Randas J. V. Batista, a Brazilian surgeon, has developed a bold new operation for heart failure that supporters say promises ultimately to allow tens of thousands of people to resume daily activities, stop many medications and avoid transplants. The operation defies conventional medical wisdom because it removes living tissue from the heart. The size of an enlarged heart is reduced by cutting out a large slice of living muscle from the main pumping chamber, which is then stitched together while the heart is beating

Working under primitive conditions in a small rural hospital in Brazil, a surgeon has developed a bold new operation for heart failure that supporters say promises to allow tens of thousands of people to resume daily activities, stop many medications and avoid transplants. The operation defies conventional medical wisdom because it removes living tissue from the heart. The size of an enlarged heart is reduced by cutting out a large slice of living muscle from the main pumping chamber, which is then stitched together while the patient's heart is beating

The operation defies conventional medical wisdom because it removes living tissue from the heart. The size of an enlarged heart is reduced by cutting out a large slice of living muscle from the main pumping chamber, which is then stitched together while the patient's heart goes on beating. The surgeon, Dr. Randas Batista, says he has often had dramatic success from the operation, which he has performed on more than 300 patients since 1994 near Curitiba in southern Brazil. Several heart surgeons say they have come away amazed after watching Batista do the operation in Brazil or during visits to hospitals in the United States. After shedding their skepticism, several surgeons have performed a small number of the operations at hospitals in the United States, Britain, Italy and other countries

A new study being published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Jun 11, 1996 warns that ticks can deliver other illnesses besides Lyme disease, and that doctors must take care to treat each correctly. One such disease is human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, also known as H.G.E., which produces flu-like symptoms without the distinctive bull's-eye rash of Lyme disease. The study also identified the white-footed mouse as the reservoir from which the ticks pick up the causative organisms of not only H.G.E. and Lyme disease, but also of a third disease, Nantucket Fever or babesiosis