THE acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is characterized by severe immunodeficiency, life-threatening opportunistic infections, neoplasia, and a fatal outcome. The underlying immune defect in AIDS is caused by infection with a human retrovirus — ...

AZIDOTHYMIDINE (3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine; zidovudine [Retrovir], or AZT) is a nucleoside analogue that inhibits the in vitro replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).¹ In a ...

COSMETIC plastic surgery has become increasingly common in the United States. In 1984, nearly 150,000 patients underwent augmentation-mammoplasty or face-lift operations, a 35 percent increase over 1981.¹ The overall infection rate after these procedures ...

BOTH normal tissue repair and the pathologic fibrosis of normal organs are intimately linked to processes that recruit mesenchymal cells and stimulate them to proliferate at local sites. Since mesenchymal cells produce and secrete the principal components ...

WILSON'S disease is chronic copper intoxication that occurs only in persons who inherit a pair of abnormal alleles of an autosomal recessive gene. The resulting metabolic defect — reflected in a low serum concentration of ceruloplasmin — impairs the ...

EXPOSURE to lead occurs in many occupations but is not well recognized in certain industries. As a result, medical practitioners fail to identify cases of lead poisoning, and uninformed employers do not implement measures to control lead exposure at the ...

THE central feature of the immune system is its diversity. We can appreciate that from the numerous variations in immunoglobulin molecules: a mouse weighing only an ounce has the capacity to make 100 million different antibodies.¹ The advantage of such ...

Presentation of Case

A 43-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of severe dyspnea and lethargy.

She was well until 38 months earlier, when she first noticed a lump in the right breast. A mammographic study, performed elsewhere, was reported ...

IN this issue Martinet et al.¹ report that alveolar macrophages from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis release a growth-promoting activity similar to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and show that the amount of this activity is four times ...

We are a testing culture: we test our urine for drugs; we test our sweat for lies. It is not surprising that we should also test our blood for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). But before we screen low-risk groups for antibody to the human ...

Recent concerns about disease transmission through blood transfusion have prompted frequent questions to physicians about the safety of transfusion. Patients who may need transfusions are anxious to know, often in considerable detail, about their chances ...

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

To the Editor: The Public Health Service has called for "a system for classifying HTLV-III/LAV [HIV] associated disease manifestations which is useful in the design, implementation, and analyses of therapeutic trials."¹ The Centers for Disease Control ...

To the Editor: In a report in the Journal (July 10, 1986, issue),¹ DeHovitz et al. described the occurrence of Isospora belli as an opportunistic enteric pathogen in 15 percent of 131 Haitian patients with AIDS. The authors also commented on the rarity ...

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

In the fall of 1960, the author of this book, then a practicing surgeon in Baltimore and president of Medico, went to Dr. Schweitzer's hospital in Lambaréné (Gabon) as a temporary replacement for the chief surgeon. By coincidence, I was also there helping ...

Famine is among the most horrifying and numbing combinations of natural and man-made disasters. In Ethiopia in the early 1980s, nature contributed a drought. The Ethiopian government contributed inadequate resources, war, avarice, ideology, and limited ...

Imagine getting a call from a prestigious investigator who asks you to help coordinate a multidollar, multicenter drug trial. He recognizes the value of the brain-isotope research you did before age and alcohol took their toll and you were sent to prison ...

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

How we select and train future physicians has recently been subject to great scrutiny and lengthy discourse. The Association of American Medical Colleges' report entitled "Physicians for the Twenty-First Century" was published in 1984. That document ...

No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.

Long ago, the medical graduate appointed to service on the wards of the Massachusetts General Hospital was known as a house pupil. This term may have been dropped because it was thought demeaning, but it captured the essence of the experience by implying ...

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

The following courses will be offered: "Primary Care Pediatrics" (Dec. 3–5); "Emergencies and Procedures in Pediatric Practice" (Dec. 5 and 6); and "Informal Course in Pediatrics" (by arrangement).

Contact Dr. Peter T. Greenspan, ...