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United Nations scientists reported Monday that a simple, relatively inexpensive drug treatment can significantly reduce mother-to-infant transmission of the AIDS virus. The results are not as good as those from the standard treatment in Western countries, where prospective mothers infected with the virus receive the drug AZT starting at about the 26th week of pregnancy, and their babies take it for the first six weeks of life

CHICAGO - The riddle of the origin of the AIDS virus has apparently been solved, according to an international team of scientists who reported Sunday having traced its roots to a related virus in a subspecies of chimpanzee in Africa. Because the chimpanzee is able to live with the virus without falling ill, the scientists expressed hope that their discovery eventually would help improve therapies and develop an effective vaccine against the AIDS virus. The researchers, who reported their findings at the opening session of a scientific meeting here, said the simian virus was closely related to HIV-1, the type of AIDS virus that has caused the overwhelming majority of cases in the world

The riddle of the origin of the AIDS virus apparently has been solved, according to an international team of scientists who reported yesterday that they had traced its roots to a related virus in a subspecies of chimpanzee in Africa. Because the chimpanzee is able to live with the virus without falling ill, the scientists expressed hope that their discovery would eventually help improve therapies and develop an effective vaccine against the AIDS virus. The researchers, who reported their findings at the opening session of a scientific meeting here, said the simian virus was closely related to HIV-1, the type of AIDS virus that has caused the overwhelming majority of cases in the world. Since the virus jumped to humans, perhaps through exposure to blood in hunting or handling the meat of chimpanzees, it has been transmitted among humans to infect an estimated 30 million people worldwide

Surgeons in Louisville, Ky., performed the first hand transplant in the United States on Sunday, replacing the left hand of a New Jersey man with one taken from an unidentified donor who had died a few hours |earlier. Mr. Scott's hand transplant is the third ever performed and the second within five months. Clint Hallam, 48, of Australia is progressing well after receiving a hand and forearm transplant in Lyon, France, last September. Mr. Hallam is able to grasp a glass in his hand and drink from it, two of his doctors said in recent interviews

The births made the octuplets an immediate sensation in the news and renewed the debate about fertility drugs and their enormous medical and human costs, but here in the neonatal intensive care unit on the fourth floor of Texas Children's Hospital, the glare of world attention fades away next to the blip of the infant monitors. Now, although two babies remain under a pound and a half, all are gaining weight, ounce by ounce. The babies have a 95 percent chance of surviving to their expected discharge in late March, said Dr. Leonard Weisman, the head of the neonatal unit. As he led a visiting doctor through the unit, Weisman said he was 'cautiously optimistic' that the babies, all listed in critical condition, would turn out normal. Initially, all the babies breathed with the aid of mechanical ventilators. Now the surviving octuplets breathe on their own. A pump blows air through the tubing to help keep their chest walls from collapsing. The babies also receive caffeine to prevent apnea and stimulate their breathing

This year, the 50th anniversary of Ruth's death, his sports legacy has been extolled again as baseball heroes of newer generations breezed past the home-run record the Babe [Ruth] held for 34 years, until 1961. But unknown to many, Ruth also left a legacy in the annals of medical history. In fact, he was among the first patients anywhere to receive experimental chemotherapy, and some researchers say he was the first ever to receive a combination treatment of chemotherapy and radiation for his type of cancer. For Ruth, the chemotherapy worked dramatically -- but only temporarily. Nevertheless, knowledge gained from his case helped shape the therapy that is now standard for his disease. But the images of a hoarse Ruth, perpetuated in audio and videotapes on the Internet and in sports broadcasts, in addition to his well-known smoking and drinking proclivities, have contributed to the myth that Ruth had throat cancer, which is generally taken to mean cancer of the larynx, or voice box

In 1938, as a New York University/Bellevue Hospital intern, I recorded notes on the 384 cases I saw during my 1-month ambulance duty. Although I intended to use them to follow up the clinical course of patients I admitted to Bellevue, the long hours and pressure of work made this ambitious goal unachievable. Sixty years later, after retirement from academic medicine and medical practice at New York University School of Medicine, I found the long-lost notes among my papers. They are of historic interest since they provide insight into aspects of primary and emergency medicine of the era when the therapeutic efficacy of the sulfanilamide class of agents was under investigation, a unique view of the life of an intern just before interns were replaced on ambulances by technicians, and a glimpse of the surprising character of several neighborhoods of pre-World War II Manhattan. The notes also provide the basis for a current analysis of case incidence and treatment by disease category. A description of the confluence of social, economic, and political forces that led to the establishment of the Bellevue Hospital Ambulance Service, the first such urban service in the world, is included

CONTEXT: Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis could provide a more sensitive means of identifying outbreaks than use of conventional surveillance techniques alone. Variants of the New York City W strain of M tuberculosis were identified in New Jersey. OBJECTIVE: To describe the spread of the W family of M tuberculosis strains in New Jersey identified by molecular typing and surveillance data. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING AND SUBJECTS: All incident culture-positive tuberculosis cases reported in New Jersey from January 1996 to September 1998, for which the W family was defined by insertion sequence (IS) IS6110 DNA fingerprinting, polymorphic GC-rich repetitive sequence (PGRS) typing, spacer oligotyping (spoligotyping), and variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Identification and characterization of W family clones supplemented by surveillance data. RESULTS: Isolates from 1207 cases were analyzed, of which 68 isolates (6%) belonged to the W family based on IS6110 and spoligotype hybridization patterns. The IS6110 hybridization patterns or fingerprints revealed that43 patients (designated group A) shared a unique banding motif not present in other W family isolates. Strains collected from the remaining 25 patients (designated group B), while related to W, displayed a variety of IS6110 patterns and did not share this motif. The PGRS and VNTR typing confirmed the division of the W family into groups A and B and again showed group A strains to be closely related and group B strains to be more diverse. The demographic characteristics of individuals from groups A and B were specific and defined. Group A patients were more likely than group B patients to be US born (91 % vs 24%, P<.001), black (76% vs 16%, P<.001), human immunodeficiency virus positive (40% vs 0%, P = .007), and residents of urban northeast New Jersey counties (P<.001). Patients with group B strains were primarily non-US born, of Asian descent, and more dispersed throughout New Jersey. No outbreak had been detected using conventional surveillance alone. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of multiple molecular techniques in conjunction with surveillance data enabled us to identify a previously undetected outbreak in a defined geographical setting. The outbreak isolates comprise members of a distinct branch of the W family phylogenetic lineage. The use of molecular strain typing provides a proactive approach that may be used to initiate, and not just augment, traditional surveillance outbreak investigations

In the freshwater coelenterate, hydra, asexual reproduction via budding occurs at the base of the gastric region about two-thirds of the distance from the head to the foot. Developmental gradients of head and foot activation and inhibition originating from these organizing centers have long been assumed to control budding in hydra. Much has been learned over the years about these developmental gradients and axial pattern formation, and in particular, the inhibitory influence of the head on budding is well documented. However, understanding of the role of the foot and potential interactions between the foot, bud, and head patterning systems is lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the foot in the initiation of new axis formation during budding by manipulating the foot and monitoring effects on the onset of first bud evagination and the time necessary to reach the 50% budding point. Several experimental situations were examined: the lower peduncle and foot (PF) were injured or removed, a second PF was laterally grafted onto animals either basally (below the budding zone) or apically (above the budding zone), or both the head and PF were removed simultaneously. When the PF was injured or removed, the onset of first bud evagination was delayed and/or the time until the 50% budding point was reached was longer. The effects were more pronounced when the manipulation was performed closer to the anticipated onset of budding. When PF tissue was doubled, precocious bud evagination was induced, regardless of graft location. Removal of the PF at the same time as decapitation reduced the inductive effect of decapitation on bud evagination. These results are discussed in light of potential signals from the foot or interactions between the foot and head patterning systems that might influence bud axis initiation