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A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by a surgical team at Stanford University indicates that an experimental device that reinforces the aorta when it is weakened by an aneurysm can greatly simplify surgical repair of the condition

The idea of using devices to repair aortic aneurysms dates at least to 1969 when Dr. Charles T. Dotter tried it on animals at the University of Oregon in Portland. In 1991, Dr. Juan C. Parodi of Buenos Aires reported using a device to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms in humans

An aneurysm, a potentially fatal and common condition, is a ballooning of an artery, and it usually develops painlessly. The chief danger is that an aneurysm can burst suddenly, without warning, and cause death within minutes. The aorta is the artery that carries blood from the heart to supply oxygen and other nutrients to the rest of the body. Aneurysms can develop anywhere along the course of an artery. The idea of using devices to repair aortic aneurysms dates at least to 1969 when Dr. Charles T. Dotter tried it on animals at the University of Oregon in Portland. In 1991, Dr. Juan C. Parodi of Buenos Aires reported using a device to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms in humans. The device used in the Stanford study is different because the aorta in the chest has a larger diameter than the aorta in the abdomen. The device for the chest consists of stainless steel stents covered with woven Dacron grafts that are custom-designed for each patient to account for factors like the size, location and other anatomical features of the aneurysm

OF all the enigmas of AIDS, few match that of Kaposi's sarcoma, which has stumped the best scientific minds investigating AIDS. Once a rare cancer in the United States, Kaposi's sarcoma became epidemic along with AIDS about 1981. No one has figured out why the sarcoma is far more common among gay men than all other types of AIDS patients. He spent his nights and weekends working in his wife's laboratory. Having read papers on the epidemiology of Kaposi's sarcoma by Dr. Harold W. Jaffe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and Dr. Valerie Beral of Oxford, England, Dr. [Patrick S. Moore] was convinced that the condition had an infectious cause. He also thought that the chance of finding a cause of Kaposi's sarcoma, though a long shot, was greater than finding the cause of brain tumors. So he persuaded his wife to use her knowledge of molecular biology to study Kaposi's sarcoma. Presumably the Kaposi sarcoma virus is sexually transmitted. But how? Does the Kaposi's sarcoma virus infect many people but cause disease in only a few? If so, why? Why is Kaposi's sarcoma rare among heterosexuals? Why does it occur so rarely in the absence of AIDS?

Review

The researchers said genetic evidence of a new herpes virus found in tumors of Kaposi's sarcoma suggests the deadly cancer - which strikes more than a fourth of all gay men with AIDS - might be caused by a virus. The fragments, known as sequences of DNA, are unique and seem to place the agent in the herpes virus family, the scientists said. The DNA sequences of the apparent new virus closely resemble those of the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes infectious mononucleosis and has been linked to two cancers in humans. The scientists, emphasizing the preliminary nature of their findings, said Thursday that they had not isolated and determined the complete structure of the virus. Even if the virus turns out to be a previously unknown one, they said, much research needs to be done to prove that it causes of [Kaposi]'s sarcoma. The possibility exists that the virus is present in Kaposi's sarcoma only after the cancer develops

Scientists at Columbia University announced on Dec 15, 1994 that they had found strong evidence of an apparent newly detected virus that might cause Kaposi's sarcoma in people with AIDS. Experts said the findings, reported in Science on Dec 16, were a highly promising advance that, if confirmed, could rank as one of the most important developments in AIDS research in recent years

Reeling from a laboratory accident that infected a researcher with the dangerous Sabia virus in Aug 1994 and caused a public health scare, Yale University on Dec 13, 1994 released reports from two committees that scathingly criticized the university's handling of biological safety. Yale officials countered that they expected to carry out fully the recommendations to tighten safety practices within two months

In a sharp turnaround driven by a desperate need to stop the AIDS epidemic, the World Health Organization is moving ahead with plans for the first large trials of two experimental AIDS vaccines. Both vaccines have gone through the first two stages of a three-stage testing system, evaluating safety and immunologic responses. The third phase tests the vaccines' ability to protect against the disease, and the trials now being planned could involve several thousand volunteers. The experiments are aimed at determining whether the vaccines can prevent infection with HIV, not whether they can prevent AIDS in people already infected with HIV

David E. Rogers, a leading scientist and medical educator who was co-chairman of the National Commission on AIDS, died of colon cancer on Dec 5, 1994. He was 68