Faculty Bibliography

Australian scientists have discovered a rare strain of the AIDS virus with an unexpected chink in its genetic armor that could suggest new opportunities for developing vaccines and drugs to combat the disease. The strain was found in a small cluster of people in Australia who have carried HIV for up to 14 years but have not developed AIDS. The report appears on Nov 10, 1995 in the journal Science

'This is the first time it has been shown unequivocally that modification of the genomic structure of the AIDS virus can dramatically alter the disease process, perhaps weaken it completely,' said Dr. John Mills, who heads the Macfarlane Burnet Center for Medical Research in Fairfield, Victoria, Australia where the findings were made. His team's study appears in today's edition of the journal, Science

Australian scientists have discovered a rare strain of the AIDS virus with an unexpected chink in its genetic armor. Their subjects are a small cluster of people in Australia who are infected with the strain and share a remarkable property: None of them has developed AIDS, despite having carried the virus for about 14 years. 'This is the first time it has been shown unequivocally that modification of the genomic structure of the AIDS virus can dramatically alter the disease process -- perhaps weaken it completely,' said Dr. John Mills, who heads the Macfarlane Burnet Center for Medical Research in Fairfield, Victoria, Australia, where the findings were made. His team's study is reported Friday in the journal Science. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., said the Australian findings underscored the principle that a weakened, or attenuated, virus could be the source of an AIDS vaccine. But he and other experts said much more research was needed to be sure that such an attenuated-virus vaccine was both safe and effective

Australian scientists have discovered a rare strain of the AIDS virus with an unexpected chink in its genetic armor. Their subjects are a small cluster of people in Australia who are infected with the strain and share a remarkable property -- none has developed AIDS despite having carried the virus for up to 14 years. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., said the Australian findings underscored the principle that a weakened, or attenuated, virus could be the source of an AIDS vaccine. But he and other experts said much more research was needed to be sure that such an attenuated virus vaccine was safe and effective

A bacterium that causes leptospirosis has been identified in tissues of four people who died in an outbreak of disease in Nicaragua, providing an important lead in determining its cause. If leptospirosis is confirmed as the cause of the outbreak, a new mystery is why the infection is causing an unusual type of illness producing bleeding in the lungs

A new procedure known as minimally invasive direct coronary bypass surgery, in which a beating heart is operated on through small incisions in the chest wall, is described. The new operation, which promises to be cheaper, will allow patients to make a quicker and less painful recovery than with a standard bypass

The operation last month on [Edward] Dowling, a 66-year-old piano tuner, involved a new procedure known as minimally invasive direct coronary-bypass surgery. Instead of stopping the heart and having a heart-lung machine take over its duties, [Valavanur] Subramanian's team performed a delicate operation on the organ as it continued to beat. Subramanian's approach is one of several ways minimally invasive coronary-bypass surgery is being done. Some versions are modelled after the video-assisted, fibre-optic techniques developed for gallbladder and other surgeries. Others have modified decades-old methods to sew arterial grafts on to beating hearts without using heart-lung machines. In a standard coronary-bypass operation, surgeons make an incision in the chest, split the breast bone and stop the heart. As a heart-lung machine temporarily pumps oxygenated blood through the body, a surgeon takes veins from a leg, an artery from the chest, arm or abdomen, and sews it to a coronary artery. The graft restores adequate blood flow by bypassing a blockage caused by a build-up of fatty deposits

The National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., said that a study its scientists conducted in four communities confirms earlier reports raising concern about the hazards of short-acting nifedipine. The study also reinforces a warning from federal health officials in August that the drug should be used ''with great caution, if at all.'' Doctors wrote more than 2 million prescriptions for the drug last year, although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved of its use for the treatment of high blood pressure

The National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., said that a study its scientists conducted in four communities confirms earlier reports raising concern about the hazards of short-acting nifedipine. The study also reinforces a warning from federal health officials in August that the drug should be used 'with great caution, if at all.' Doctors wrote more than 2 million prescriptions for the drug last year, although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved of its use for the treatment of high blood pressure

Elderly people with high blood pressure who took nifedipine, a calcium channel blocker marketed as Procardia by Pfizer Inc and as Adalat by Bayer Corp, were nearly twice as likely to die within five years as those treated with other drugs, according to a study by the National Insitute on Aging. The findings are being published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on Nov 1, 1995