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doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420090017003pmid: N/A
NATIONS around the Pacific Ocean are enlisting to track emerging variant influenza viruses so vaccines can be prepared in time for future epidemics. Alan Kendal, PhD, influenza branch chief, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga, says this "Pacific Basin Respiratory Virus Research Group" has participants so far from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, United States (Hawaii), Chile, and Panama. A system is being set up to obtain and report more rapidly (perhaps weekly) on specimens tested and viruses isolated, comparable with the surveillance system in the United States. He points out that there have been several years when influenza viruses have appeared in the United States without warning. He cites appearances of A/Taiwan/86, A/Chile/83, and—last year—A/Sichuan. "Those viruses were first detected in the Pacific region and within 6 to 9 months they were causing outbreaks and epidemics in the United States," he
doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420090017002pmid: N/A
EVEN AS the number of reported cases of influenza is rising rapidly in the United States, the first steps toward combating next year's outbreaks were being taken by an advisory group to the Food and Drug Administration. After reviewing influenza viruses currently in circulation throughout the world—data provided by experts from the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga—the group, chaired by Floyd Denny, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, recommended: Keeping the present H1N1 type A virus (isolated in 1986 in Taiwan) in next year's vaccine.Consideration of substituting a slightly different representative of H3N2(known as Shanghai/11/87, isolated during the 1987 and 1988 influenza season) for Sichuan/2/87, the antigen in the present vaccine.Giving serious thought to replacing the present B strain with a new type B strain isolated last year in Japan. The final decision on which variants of the H3N2 and B strains to put into the
doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420090018004pmid: N/A
WORKING HAND in glove, some engineers and scientists concerned with the communication problems of people with multiple physical disabilities have come up with innovative solutions to the challenge posed by persons who are both deaf and blind. Other creative individuals have thought of a way to help people who retain hearing and vision but are incapable of movement. Tapping the functions that remain is what scientists and engineers attempt to do when they design devices for use by persons with physical losses. This is difficult enough when a sensory loss, sight or sound, is involved; when people have multiple disabilities, finding a way to help them compensate is an even more daunting task. At the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in San Francisco, Calif, researchers described new approaches to meeting these input-output challenges through computer-assisted technology. Here is what the developers of Dexter, the
doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420090023005pmid: N/A
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE affects 2.5 million Americans, more than 7% of the American population aged over 65 years. Many of those affected have nonspecific visual complaints. These may be expressed as losing one's place when reading, glare, misjudging distances, clumsiness, bumping into things, knocking things over, and tripping. When tested, the patients have normal visual acuity, but additional neuro-ophthalmologic tests may reveal abnormalities. More Specific Tests Such tests might include having the patient copy a line drawing, registering eye movements, photographing the fundus, and recording visual-evoked potentials (electrical activity over the occipital lobe, as it responds to retinal stimulation). Color vision and contrast sensitivity also may be assessed. Sometimes the standard adult tests need to be adapted as for pediatric patients, because the person with Alzheimer's disease may have trouble communicating. Thomas Bosley, MD, Wills Eye Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues recently tested five persons with clinically
Jackson, J. Brooks; Balfour, Henry H.
doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420090039011pmid: N/A
In Reply.— Dr Damjanovic correctly points out that our statement "all seropositive hemophiliacs have the potential to develop AIDS [acquired immunodeficiency syndrome]" was strictly based on our study of antibody-positive hemophiliacs who had received non-heat-treated factor VIII or IX concentrates. We agree that HIV-1 antibody-positive recipients who received only heat-treated, lyophilized factor concentrates may not have been infected but rather immunized by preserved viral proteins. However, we think it premature to suggest that "a majority of seropositive recipients of the heat-treated, lyophilized products should have a better prognosis," that they are at no risk of developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and that they may have protective immunity. Time, of course, will tell whether these seropositive recipients develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, but Dr Damjanovic's suggestion can be tested easily now by HIV-1 cultures and polymerase chain reaction analysis of these patients. If he, or others, care for seropositive hemophiliacs who have received
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