ATW1H%ASUACAD.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Dr David Dodell) (08/15/89)
--- begin part 1 of 3 cut here --- Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 +------------------------------------------------+ ! ! ! Health Info-Com Network ! ! Newsletter ! +------------------------------------------------+ Editor: David Dodell, D.M.D. St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center 10250 North 92nd Street, Suite 210, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258-4599 USA Telephone (602) 860-1121 (c) 1989 - Distribution on Commercial/Pay Systems Prohibited without Prior Authorization International Distribution Coordinator: Robert Klotz Nova Research Institute 217 South Flood Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73069-5462 USA Telephone (405) 366-3898 The Health Info-Com Network Newsletter is distributed weekly. Articles on a medical nature are welcomed. If you have an article, please contact the editor for information on how to submit it. If you are intrested in joining the distribution system please contact the distribution coordinator. E-Mail Address: Editor: FidoNet = 1:114/15 Bitnet = ATW1H @ ASUACAD Internet = ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org LISTSERV = MEDNEWS @ ASUACAD anonymous ftp = vm1.nodak.edu (Notification List/ftp = hicn-notify-request@stjhmc.fidonet.org) Distribution: North America Australia/Far East Europe FidoNet = 1:19/9 David More Henk Wevers Usenet = krobt@mom.uucp FidoNet = 3:711/413 Fidonet Internet = krobt%mom@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu 2:500/1 Sponsors ======== Dr. Edward Delgrosso Black Bag BBS (FidoNet 1:150/101) Tel 1-302-731-1998 =============================================================================== T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1. Medical News Medical News for Week Ending July 16, 1989 ............................ 1 Medical News from the United Nations .................................. 7 2. Center for Disease Control Reports [MMWR 7-6-89] Progress Towards 1990 Objectives for Physical Fitness ... 15 B Virus Infections in Humans .......................................... 20 Nutritional Status of Somali Refugees ................................. 22 Imported Dengue ....................................................... 25 3. News from the National Institute of Dental Research Dental News from NIDR ................................................. 27 4. Food & Drug Administration News FDA Statement on UnAuthorized AIDS Drug Study ......................... 29 5. Volunteers Needed for Studies/Research Study of GM-CSF with Zidovudine and Alpha Interferon in HIV Patients .. 30 6. Meeting Announcements Informatica '90 ...................................................... 32 Health InfoCom Network News Page i Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 =============================================================================== Medical News =============================================================================== Medical News for Week Ending July 16, 1989 Source: USA TODAY/Gannett National Information Network Reproduced with Permission July 10, 1989 WOMEN EATING HEALTHIER FOOD: Women are eating more healthy, low-fat foods than they did a decade ago, and the more educated they are, the healthier their diets, says a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina. The study also found women are eating more high-fiber foods. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) RETIN-A PIONEER HAS NEW GEL: One of the developers of Retin-A gel is marketing a new skin medication to fight the appearance of aging. Dr. James Fulton said Derm-A-Gel was a water- based lotion that doesn't sting like Retin-A. He said the gel offers the same benefits as Retin-A, but doesn't require a prescription. SUN MIGHT HELP STOP CANCER: Moderate exposure to the sun might help protect some people from skin cancer, a study suggests. Doctors at New York University Medical Center questioned more than 800 people about their sunbathing habits, Science News reports in its July 8 edition. They found that those who had moderate exposure to the sun and tanned easily might actually derive some protection against skin cancer. FORMULA COULD HELP TRANSPLANTS: A new organ preservation solution could give transplantable livers a longer "shelf life." Friday's Journal of the American Medical Association reports that ViaSpan - a cold storage solution developed at the University of Vermont - could extend the cold storage time for harvested livers to more than double its current 4.5 hour average. The solution is licensed to the Du Pont Co. NEW TECHNIQUES SAVE LIVERS: Two new liver transplant techniques could help lessen the shortage of donor livers. Friday's Journal of the American Medical Association reports the first technique involves dividing a single liver between two pediatric recipients. In theory, a liver could be divided among eight patients. The other technique involves using unused parts of several livers to construct a single organ. YOUNG CANCER SURVIVORS STRUGGLE: Children who survive cancer are more likely than their healthy peers to suffer social problems. Researchers studied 183 childhood cancer survivors at St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Memphis, Tenn. The results were published in Health InfoCom Network News Page 1 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 the July journal Pediatrics. Survivors were four times more likely than their peers to suffer school-related and social adjustment problems. MOST BRAIN INJURIES MILD: A recent study found that three-quarters of all brain injuries are mild and uncomplicated. Researchers at the University of California found that 80 percent of brain-injured patients' injuries were mild. Other results, published in the journal Trauma July issue: Most were between 15 and 19 years old. Most common cause: Auto accidents, accounting for 40 percent of the cases. July 11, 1989 DONOR ORGANS IN SHORT SUPPLY: Despite heightened donor recruitment efforts, many people waiting for life- saving transplant surgery still don't get organs in time, say patient advocates. The most severe shortages affect children, say experts meeting in Arlington, Va., for the annual meeting of the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) 13,000 HAD TRANSPLANTS IN 1988: Nearly 13,000 people - including 600 children younger than 15 -had organ transplants in 1988, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing in Richmond, Va. The agency said 769 children were awaiting organ transplants now. The agency said a 2-year-old law requiring hospitals to approach all family members of deceased patients about organ transplants might help combat the shortage. DENTISTS ARE WAVING LASERS: Lasers are being used to perform root canal procedures faster and with less pain than conventional methods. The Academy of General Dentistry said lasers provided a precise cut and did not disturb tissue surrounding the incision. Researchers using lasers at Marquette University Dental School said the technology decreased recovery time, reduced pain and lessened the chances of infection. MEASLES CASES UP 320 PERCENT: Officials at the Centers for Disease Control said Monday that the number of measles cases across the United States was 320 percent higher than it was at the same time last year. At the end of June, the CDC reports 7,022 cases of measles nationwide. That compares to 1,492 cases by the same week in 1988. Reason: Fewer inner-city newborns are being brought in for vaccinations. MEASLES OUTBREAK SHOULD SLOW: Officials at the Centers for Disease Control said Monday that they believe the current outbreak of measles would subside as school children were disbursed for the summer. CDC officials said the disease was predominantly spread in schools and often peaked just before the end of the school year. So far this year, the incidents of measles cases is up 320 percent compared to Health InfoCom Network News Page 2 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 1988. MOST TESTING STATES CHECK ALL: This fall, California will join more than 30 states that currently require some form of testing at birth for sickle cell anemia. Officials at the National Institutes of Health said Monday that 90 percent of the states requiring testing test all infants for the disease - not just the ones believed at risk. ANEMIA DRUG CLEARED FOR MARKET: Care Plus Inc. said Monday that its erythroprotein had been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration and is now available for home use. The drug combats anemias related to chronic renal failure. It uses recombinant DNA technology to stimulate the production of red blood cells in the body and reduce anemia. NEW TEST DETECTS BREAST CANCER: A new test could help avoid disfiguring surgery to examine tumors in breast cancer victims. The new test, called a Mammotest, uses a fine biopsy needle to extract tissue from the lesion, which can then be examined. Developer Fischer Imaging Corp. said it hoped the new test could significantly reduce the number of breast surgeries performed each year. NEW DEVICE IMPROVES IMAGING: Advances in technology have helped researchers develop a smaller catheter for viewing the inside of coronary arteries. A new technique - called digital cardiac imagery - uses a smaller catheter and less dye. Developer Fischer Imaging Corp. said the procedure was safer and less expensive than conventional catheter imaging. July 12, 1989 COMPUTER GIVES DIET TIPS: A new computer program can help consumers examine their diets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled its new Dietary Analysis Program for IBM compatible computers. Users enter information on what they've eaten into the computer, and it supplies data on calories, cholesterol, vitamins, fat content and other important information. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) LIPPOPROTEINS MAY CAUSE DISEASE: Arterial damage caused by toxic byproducts of lippoproteins might be a more important factor in developing heart disease than a person's cholesterol level, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham say. Researchers found that toxic byproducts formed when lippoproteins are metabolized damage arterial walls and contribute directly to heart disease. FDA CLEARS TUMOR DEVICE: The Food and Drug Administration cleared a device Tuesday that uses heat to Health InfoCom Network News Page 3 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 destroy tumors. The System 100A Hyperthermia Instrument, manufactured by Cheung Laboratories, heats tumors to a few degrees above core body temperature and maintains the heat through the use of ultrasound, microwave and fiber optic thermometry, all coordinated by computer. PREGNANCY EDUCATION A MUST: One in six pregnancies end in miscarriage and many of the miscarriages could be prevented, high-risk pregnancy specialist Dr. Stefan Semchyshyn said this week. Early detection of problems through the use of ultrasound combined with educational programs for pregnant women could help save many of the unsuccessful pregnancies, Semchyshyn said. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) STUDY - HEART VICTIMS WAIT: How long heart attack victims wait before seeking treatment is critical in determining their survival, says a study by doctors at Ottawa General Hospital. Of 201 heart attack patients surveyed, 42 percent waited more than four hours before seeking medical help. The study recommended expanding heart patient education programs on the symptoms of a heart attack. FDA CLEARS SICKLE CELL DRUG: The Food and Drug Administration gave "orphan drug" status Tuesday to RheothRx, a drug that combats sickle cell anemia. Producer CytRx Corp. said Phase I safety studies had been completed and Phase II studies were under way. Orphan drug status is granted to allow testing of drugs that combat rare diseases. CANCER DRUG CLEARS HURDLE: The monoclonal antibody-based cancer imaging agent OncoScinct colorectal has cleared Phase III studies, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. Developer Cycogen Corp. will file a product license application with the FDA this fall, the agency said. Tests show the new drug is 20 percent more effective in detecting cancer cells than conventional cancer imaging agents. July 13, 1989 BIRTH CONTROL FAILURE REVISED: Some common birth control methods fail more often than previously thought, say tests published in Thursday's issue of Family Planning Perspectives. Spermicide has a 26-percent failure rate. The rate was previously estimated at 19 percent. Condoms had a 14 percent failure rate, rather than 10 percent. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) DOCTORS RECOMMEND MORE VACCINE: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended an additional measle vaccination to combat recent outbreaks. The agency recommends a vaccination at 15 months old and another in junior high school and additional vaccinations in outbreak areas. The Centers for Disease Control report that measles cases were five times their 1988 total for the end of June. Health InfoCom Network News Page 4 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 INTERNATIONAL TRANSPLANT DONE: In what is being called a transplant first, bone marrow from a 29-year-old Syracuse, N.Y., man was flown to a leukemia patient in London. Doctors at Genessee Hospital, Syracuse, removed a liter of bone marrow from Kim Bowman's pelvis Tuesday. It was flow overnight to London, where it was injected into the patient Wednesday. (From the USA TODAY News section.) WATER BEDS CAN KILL INFANTS: In the past seven years, 32 infants suffocated while sleeping on a water bed, a consumer group said Wednesday. In response to those statistics, The American Academy of Pediatrics has filed a petition with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to place warnings to parents on all water beds. The academy said that infants, unable to roll over while sleeping, could easily suffocate on the beds. July 14-16, 1989 ELDERLY AT RISK FOR SUICIDE: Older Americans have a suicide rate that is 50 percent higher than the rest of the nation, according to a study by the American Association of Retired Persons. The biggest group at risk of committing suicide is older white men - usually widowers - who are more socially isolated than older women, the study says. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) SUICIDE RATES HIGH IN ELDERLY: In the general population, the rate of suicide is 12 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Among those 65-71, the rate is 18.5 per 100,000, according to a new survey by the American Association of Retired Persons. For those 74-84, it is 24.1, and for people more than 85, the rate is 19.1. PURE OXYGEN NO EXTRA HELP: Athletes who inhale pure oxygen to improve their performance are fooling themselves, researchers at Baylor and the University of Texas found. Athletes tested did not recover from exercise any faster with supplemental oxygen than without it. Results of the study were published in Friday's Journal of the American Medical Association. (From the USA TODAY Life section.) GENE ALTERING COULD STOP AIDS: New AIDS research using scrambled genes to destroy the disease's ability to reproduce is offering new hope for an eventual treatment for AIDS. The techniques, outlined in Friday's journal Cell, involve altering the gene the disease uses to reproduce inside the body. Scientists cautioned that the process is preliminary and won't be tested in humans for several years. MIGRANES, MS MIGHT BE LINKED: Severe migrane headaches might be an early sign of multiple sclerosis, according to a study by doctors at the University of Toronto published in Health InfoCom Network News Page 5 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 Friday's Journal of the American Medical Association. The study followed 1,113 MS patients and found 44 patients had migranes just before their first attack of MS, and another 12 had simultaneous attacks of MS and migranes. STUDY - SMOKING PROMPTS DISEASE: Smoking might be tied to carotid atherosclerosis, says a study by doctors in Sweden. The study followed 49 pairs of twins. One twin in each pair smoked. The other was a nonsmoker. Results, published in the July issue of the American Heart Association's Circulation magazine, showed three times as many smoking twins developed carotid atherosclerosis as non-smokers. ONE IN FOUR STILL SMOKE: Despite warnings, one in four Americans still smoke, a new government survey said. The Centers for Disease Control said Thursday 25.2 percent of Americans light up. The Surgeon General's office has targeted reducing the number to 25 percent by 1990. NEW DRUG COULD BEAT RSV: Researchers have invented a protein that might be used as a vaccine against respiratory syncitial virus - a disease that kills 2,000 infants each year. Drug producer the Upjohn Company said Thursday the new vaccine, which uses parts of two genes from the disease to trigger an immune response, had been successful in stopping RSV in laboratory rats. More research is under way. DIET MIGHT STOP GALLSTONES: Eating a low-fat, low-calorie diet could help stop gallstones from developing, says a study published in the July issue of RN magazine. The study recommended that overweight people limit their diets to 1,000 calories per day. Gallstones affect from 16 million to 20 million Americans per year. NON-PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE UP: Sales of non-prescription drugs are expected to jump from $10 billion in 1988 to $38 billion within the next decade, says a study in Friday's issue of Drug Topics. The study, its estimated costs in constant 1988 dollars, says the current movement toward self-care and preventative health care will fuel the movement. Health InfoCom Network News Page 6 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 Medical News from the United Nations HEALTH INFORMATION BY SATELLITES A commercial-free television special featuring several prominent entertainers to be launched 1 July will bring vital health information to millions of Latin American homes, using five satellites and 3,000 television affiliates. "Health for All," the first programme of its kind to be produced, will be transmitted live from Miami, Florida, to more than 100 million viewers in 20 countries. Created by the Pan American Health Organisation - the regional office of WHO in the Americas - the broadcast will cover topics such as AIDS, infant mortality, environmental health, diarrhoeal dehydration, the role of women in health services, immunisation, drug abuse, tobacco and other health problems. Among the artists donating their free time to the variety show are Miguel Bose of Spain, the Gypsy Kings of France, Ricardo Bustamante of Colombia, Angela Carrasco of the Dominican Republic and boxing champion Alexis Arguello of Nicaragua. The event is being disseminated in collaboration with the Ibero-American Television Organisation, whose president Amaury Lamas said: "Television and it incalculable power of communication is being used more and more not only for commercial programmes, but also for programmes with great humanitarian content such as this one." Source: PAHO JET LAGGED? SLEEPLESS? TRY BRIGHT LIGHTS Timed exposure to bright lights may help treat certain sleep disorders, according to Drs. Charles Czeisler and Richard Kronauer, and their colleagues at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University. The body's internal clock is more sensitive to light than had been thought, they have reported, and can be ``set'' by relatively brief exposure to bright light. The body's internal clock is located in the brain's hypothalamus. It influences when we sleep, when we wake, and how energetic we feel. The authors' finding that light can be a powerful means of changing the clock's rhythm was based on a study of 14 healthy young men. For an average of eight days, each subject lived in a lab devoid of all time cues. For the first two days of the trial, the subjects were kept awake. Over the following three days, they were exposed to cycles of eight hours of darkness followed by 16 hours of light. Five of those hours were spent facing a bank of bright lamps intended to mimic sunlight just after dawn (about 10,000 lux). The researchers found that the human circadian (from Latin, ``about a day'') rhythms can be reset by as much as 12 hours by scheduled exposure to light for just two to three days. The test subjects reacted differently depending on when the exposure to light occurred. These findings may not only affect the treatment of people who have difficulty sleeping (a common complaint among the elderly), but also may have implications for people doing rotating shift work. An accompanying editorial noted that the study has implications for people suffering from jet lag as well. ``If you're flying to Australia, be sure to get there a couple of days Health InfoCom Network News Page 7 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 early--go to the beach, catch some rays. Tell your boss it's doctors orders.'' SCIENCE June 16,1989; 244:1328-1333,1256-1257. (Compiled from Newspapers and Medical Journals for IMTS's Healthweek In Review.) IMPORTANT STEPS' TOWARDS TB AND LEPROSY VACCINES THE USE OF powerful new genetic engineering techniques to redesign an old vaccine may soon yield cheap and useful new weapons against two of humanity's oldest scourges, leprosy and tuberculosis. Two new prototype vaccines, now being tested in animals, are based on the old vaccinia virus, the benign agent that played a key role in the worldwide campaign to eradicate smallpox. By adding parts from other disease organisms to the old virus, it can be "tailored" so that it stimulates protective immunity against other diseases. The goal of the tuberculosis-leprosy work, at a firm called Applied bioTechnology, in Cambridge, Mass., is to develop vaccines that are cheap, reliable and easy to handle in areas of the world where such diseases are rampant, and where current techniques of treatment and protection are inadequate. The research team, led by biologist Anna Mahr, a senior scientist at Applied bioTechnology, reported recently at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans that their first animal experiments were successful. "Mice vaccinated with these recombinants do raise antibodies against some mycobacterial proteins," they reported. In the next step, "animal challenge studies to test protection are planned." According to Dennis Panicali, the firm's vice president for product development, "the expression of the tuberculosis and leprosy antigens in vaccinia represents an important step in demonstrating the feasibility of this approach. The next step will be to demonstrate protection in pre-clinical challenge studies." Such experiments involve first vaccinating the animals, then challenging them with large doses of the disease organisms to see if they are immune. Panicali said in a telephone interview, "We will start the challenge experiments soon," especially to test the tuberculosis vaccine. Although tuberculosis is considerably less of a problem than it was three or four decades ago, it still strikes about 10 million people annually, killing almost one third of them. A vaccine against TB does exist, but it is ineffective in some parts of the world. The search for a leprosy vaccine is also important, because the disfiguring disease still afflicts between 10 million and 15 million people, mostly in Asia, Africa and South America. Making a vaccine has been difficult, because it is hard to produce large amounts of the disease organism, M. leprae, in culture dishes or in animals. "Vaccines which are efficacious, safe, consistently reliable and Health InfoCom Network News Page 8 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 inexpensive to produce are currently unavailable for leprosy and tuberculosis," Mahr and her colleagues wrote. But now, vaccines created through manipulating the vaccinia virus "represent a promising approach to developing effective vaccines to prevent these diseases." The two diseases are caused by related organisms called mycobacteria. The discovery of surface molecules on their surfaces that stimulate the immune system to resist infection was made by molecular biologist Richard Young and coworkers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. Young, indeed, has said worldwide control of leprosy might be possible, even within a single generation, if a vaccine becomes available and an aggressive immunization program begins. "I'm terribly excited about the research having progressed this far," he said. About two years ago, Young isolated specific genes that make the special identification proteins that appear on the two bacteria's surfaces. By stitching the genes that make these proteins into vaccinia virus, the researchers at Applied bioTechnology have created entirely new organisms that may act as strong vaccines, similar to the way vaccinia stimulates immunity to smallpox. This new approach to creating vaccines is somewhat analogous to dressing a sheep in wolf's clothing, then using it to keep the guard dogs awake. Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infection of the skin and nervous system. It does much of its damage by deadening the nerves in the hands and feet, so people cannot feel injuries such as cuts and burns. In time, repeated infections in open wounds begins to destroy tissues, causing the disfiguring scarring and open sores that are sometimes associated with untreated leprosy. Fortunately, leprosy is treatable by a drug called dapsone, and persons under treatment present no threat to public health. Doctors say a leprosy vaccine is needed, however, because some strains of the disease organism have evolved a resistance to dapsone. Tuberculosis, on the other hand, is fought with a vaccine called BCG, a relatively weak bacterium that is related to the agent, M. tuberculosis, which causes the disease. Unfortunately, BCG is not effective in many parts of the world, which means about one fourth of the world's infants remain unprotected. Also, a resurgence in the number of tuberculosis cases is being seen among persons with AIDS. Other researchers have rebuilt the same virus to act as a vaccine against rabies in animals, and studies have been done contemplating vaccinia as a tailored vaccine against herpes and even AIDS. Indeed, Panicali's firm, Applied bioTechnology, is trying to devise an AIDS vaccine based on the vaccinia virus. UNITEX WEEKLY HEALTH ROUND-UP All U.S. blood banks would have to meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proficiency standards requiring 80% accuracy in screening for human Health InfoCom Network News Page 9 Volume 2, Number 29 July 17, 1989 immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies and hepatitis B surface antigens under recently proposed FDA regulations. The American Association of Blood Banks, which already requires its members to meet proficiency standards, said that it --- end part 1 of 3 cut here ---
ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Raymond Dunn) (09/05/89)
While I appreciate the amount of time and effort expended in creating this newsletter, I must wonder why it is published in a form much more suited to the print media. With such a large amount of information being presented each week, it would be exceedingly useful if it was possible to use the normal features of our newsreading software to extract and browse. Does anyone have any useful suggestions? -- Ray Dunn. | UUCP: ..!uunet!philmtl!ray Philips Electronics Ltd. | TEL : (514) 744-8200 Ext: 2347 600 Dr Frederik Philips Blvd | FAX : (514) 744-6455 St Laurent. Quebec. H4M 2S9 | TLX : 05-824090