Faculty Bibliography

The smallpox virus got an unexpected stay of execution yesterday from the governing board of the World Health Organization. In 1980, after a worldwide vaccination program, the World Health Organization declared the eradication of natural smallpox, one of the biggest killers in history. But samples of the virus have been kept frozen in laboratories in the United States and Russia. The World Health Organization asked for another review, and last September it voted unanimously to destroy the virus. It set June 30, 1995, as the date for simultaneous destruction of the samples in the United States and in Russia, although two of the 10 members of the review panel favored delaying execution for five years

The World Health Organization on Jan 18, 1995 postponed the destruction of the last known stocks of the smallpox virus, which were to have been destroyed in Jun 1995. The UK led a behind-the-scenes effort to postpone further discussions of destruction, and its demise was postponed for at least a year

A federal panel recommended Wednesday that blood banks stop performing a screening test introduced in 1987 that has permanently excluded about a million people as blood donors in this country, even though many are healthy. The exclusions contribute to the nation's severe blood shortage. The recommendation sets the stage for many of the these potential donors to be reinstated if they are found to be healthy, said the panel's chairwoman, Dr. Jane F. Desforges, an expert in blood disorders at the New England Medical Center in Boston

An NIH panel recommended on Jan 11, 1995 that blood banks stop performing a screening test for hepatitis, known as ALT, which has permanently excluded about one million people as blood donors since its introduction in 1987, even though many are healthy. The panel said the test was ineffective and obsolete

Harvey J. Alter, an NIH scientist, said on Jan 10, 1995 that his team had found preliminary evidence of a new virus that is believed to cause a new type of hepatitis. It would be the second new type of hepatitis virus reported in recent months

Many come from a news release or news conference, when public relations officials get carried away with enthusiasm. Sometimes scientists become willing partners with institution officials and say things in releases that they would never dream of saying in a scientific paper, where evidence is demanded to support a claim. Sometimes releases describe human interest elements, which scientific journals generally proscribe and which may capture the public's attention. Sometimes scientists deceive themselves, and institutions get swept along in the wave of enthusiasm of over-promise. A contributing factor to hype in news releases is the relatively new practice of scientific journals' imposing news embargoes on information in papers they are publishing. The practice often restricts public release of scientific information to the time of publication and leads to overzealous competition among news organizations, with a resulting surge of publicity. The human mind has a need for some level of optimism, Dr. Broder said. 'But you must make sure that the necessary optimism and enthusiasm is not misinterpreted as a promissory note that can't be delivered or that gives a certain level of expectation on the part of the public that would be misinterpreted or lead to subsequent frustrations and difficulty,' he said

The type of benign tumor of the appendix that was removed from former Vice President Dan Quayle in Jan 1995 is a rare type known as mucinous cystadenoma. Doctors are looking to see if there is a connection between Quayle's tumor and blood clots that where found in his lung before he was hospitalized

Former Vice President Dan Quayle had an enlarged appendix removed last week during his second admission in a month to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis. Mr. Quayle, who is 47, en-tered the hospital the first time to treat blood clots in his lungs

Former Vice President Dan Quayle underwent an appendectomy on Jan 4, 1995 at a hospital in Indianapolis and was resting comfortably after the procedure

Former Vice President Dan Quayle was admitted to an Indianapolis hospital over the 1994 New Year's weekend for elective surgical removal of an enlarged appendix, his office said on Jan 3, 1995. It was the second admission to the same hospital in a month for Quayle, who on Dec 6, 1994 was discharged from Indiana University Hospital after an eight-day stay for treatment of blood clots in both lungs