Contents Foreword Introduction CHAPTER 1 AIDS Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals Lawrence K. Altman, M.D. New U.S. Report Names Virus That May Cause AIDS Lawrence K. Altman, M.D. AIDS Drugs Offer Hope but Cure Remains Distant Harold M. Schmeck Jr. New Picture of Who Will Get AIDS Is Dominated by Addicts Gina Kolata New Studies Offer Powerful and Puzzling Evidence on Immunity to AIDS Gina Kolata The Genesis of an Epidemic: Humans, Chimps and a Virus Gina Kolata CHAPTER 2 Alzheimer’s Disease Gene Mutation That Causes Alzheimer’s Is Found Gina Kolata Landmark in Alzheimer Research: Breeding Mice With the Disease Gina Kolata Promise Seen for Detection of Alzheimer’s Gina Kolata Rules Seek to Expand Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Gina Kolata Three Drugs to Be Tested to Stave Off Alzheimer’s Gina Kolata CHAPTER 3 Antibiotics “Giant” Germicide Yielded by Mold William L. Laurence Discoverer Stresses Penicillin War Boon New Drug Is Used to Treat Typhoid Drug Is Effective for Tuberculosis CHAPTER 4 Blood Pressure To Retard Old Age With Electricity Blood Pressure Lowered in Tests William L. Laurence New Drug Hailed at Heart Meeting Robert K. Plumb CHAPTER 5 Cancer “Cundurango” The Cause of Cancer Probably Discovered; Its Cure Possible Erysipelas Germs as Cure for Cancer Starving Cancer, a New Treatment Says He Has Found Cancer Microbe Cause of Cancer Found at Last by Boston Scientist Van Buren Thorne, M.D. Removal of Lung Applied in Cancer William L. Laurence Science Winning Fight on Cancer Cigarette Filter Held Ineffective New Cancer Treatment View Scored Jane E. Brody The Doctor’s World: Mastectomy: The Unanswered Questions Lawrence K. Altman, M.D. Scientists Pinpoint Genetic Changes That Predict Cancer Gina Kolata How Demand Surged for Prostate Test Gina Kolata Stand on Mammograms Greeted by Outrage Gina Kolata Experts Decode Cancer Patient’s Genes, Seeking Treatment Clues Denise Grady CHAPTER 6 Cloning—Stem Cells Scientist Reports First Cloning Ever of Adult Mammal Gina Kolata After Decades of Missteps, How Cloning Succeeded Michael Specter with Gina Kolata Scientists Cultivate Cells at Root of Human Life Nicholas Wade Scientists Bypass Need for Embryo to Get Stem Cells Gina Kolata CHAPTER 7 Diabetes Diabetes Cure Confirmed by Treatment of 176 Cases Diabetes Discovery Not a Positive Cure Serum Proves Boon in Fighting Diabetes Virus Link Is Found in Diabetes Patient Harold M. Schmeck Jr. CHAPTER 8 Diagnostics Prof. Röntgen’s X-Rays 3-Dimensional X-Ray Is Tested for New View of Body Jane E. Brody CHAPTER 9 Diet and Obesity Nutritive Value of Food Insurance Study Finds Close Correlation Between Weights and Mortality Rates William L. Laurence Federal Heart Panel Asks Public to Eat Fewer Fats Jane E. Brody Atkins Diet: A “Revolution” That Has Medical Society Up in Arms Jane E. Brody Metabolism Found to Adjust for a Body’s Natural Weight Gina Kolata Some Extra Heft May Be Helpful, New Study Says Gina Kolata CHAPTER 10 Ethics Nazi Medical Horrors Revealed at New Trials Dana Adams Schmidt Many Scientific Experts Condemn Ethics of Cancer Injection John A. Osmundsen Physician Scores Tests on Humans John A. Osmundsen Willowbrook Doctor Is Striving to End 2 Snake Pits Homer Bigart U.S. Issues Rules on Human Testing Harold M. Schmeck Jr. U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala Donald G. McNeil Jr. CHAPTER 11 The Flu Spanish Influenza Here, Ship Men Say Drastic Steps Taken to Fight Influenza Here Swine Flu Program Suspended in Nation; Disease Link Feared Lawrence K. Altman Genetic Material of Virus From 1918 Flu Is Found Gina Kolata CHAPTER 12 Genome Clue to Chemistry of Heredity Found After 10 Years’ Effort, Genome Mapping Team Achieves Sequence of a Human Chromosome Nicholas Wade Genetic Code of Human Life Is Cracked by Scientists Nicholas Wade The Quest for the $1,000 Human Genome Nicholas Wade In Treatment for Leukemia, Glimpses of the Future Gina Kolata In Good Health? Thank Your 100 Trillion Bacteria Gina Kolata CHAPTER 13 Germ Theory Dr. Koch’s Discovery CHAPTER 14 Heart Disease Can Dreaded Hardening of Arteries Now Be Cured? Dr. Meltzer Perfects Devices to “Raise the Dead” Heart Surgery Made Safer by Invention of Cardioscope Heart-Lung Machine Is Used Successfully for the First Time in a Medical Case Waldemar Kaempffert A Balloon Device Averts Surgery for Coronary Disorders Lawrence K. Altman Dentist, Close to Death, Receives First Permanent Artificial Heart Lawrence K. Altman Race Is On to Develop Nonsurgical Ways to Unclog Arteries Sandra Blakeslee New Heart Studies Question the Value of Opening Arteries Gina Kolata CHAPTER 15 Kidney Disease Machine Purifies Blood and Restores It to the Body Van Buren Thorne, M.D. Panel Holds Life-or-Death Vote in Allotting of Artificial Kidney Harold M. Schmeck Jr. Aid to Kidney Patients Howard A. Rusk, M.D. Concern Rising Over Costs of Kidney Dialysis Program Richard D. Lyons CHAPTER 16 Mental Health Dreams of the Insane Help Greatly in Their Cure Surgery Used on the Soul-Sick; Relief of Obsessions Is Reported William L. Laurence Insanity Treated by Electric Shock Pioneer Sees Peril in Brain Operation Lucy Freeman Child Psychiatry Found Advancing Emma Harrison New Antidepressant Is Acclaimed but Not Perfect Natalie Angier Lifting the Veils of Autism, One by One by One Erica Goode Vaccine Cleared Again as Autism Culprit Gardiner Harris The Autism Wars Amy Harmon CHAPTER 17 Public Health How We Poison Our Children The Yellow Fever Plot The Code of Health—Practical Requirements of the Sanitary Law Facts About the Cholera Women to Assure Healthy Homes M. A. Taft Declares Raw Milk Worse Than a Plague Alcohol’s Appalling Effect on Infant Mortality Dr. Noguchi Is Dead, Martyr of Science “Typhoid Mary” Dies of a Stroke at 68 The Vaccination Effect: 100 Million Cases of Contagious Disease Prevented Steve Lohr Ebola Virus Is Outpacing Efforts to Control It, World Health Body Warns Adam Nossiter and Alan Cowell U.S. Patent Aided Pregnant Liberian, Then Took Ill Norimitsu Onishi CHAPTER 18 Reproductive Medicine The Caesarean Operation Birth Made Easy by the Use of Gas Emanie N. Sachs Painless Method Is Devised for Childbirth; California Doctor Blocks Spinal Nerves Birth Control Pills Reported a Success Wider Detection of Prenatal Flaws Expected to Spur Abortions Walter Sullivan Woman Gives Birth to Baby Conceived Outside the Body Scientists Study Freezing and Storing of Embryos Walter Sullivan CHAPTER 19 Surgery Transfusion of Blood: Revival of the Operation in Modern Surgery The Healing Knife: A Revolution in Surgery Leonard Engel CHAPTER 20 Transplants The Marvels Wrought by Plastic Surgery Doctor Describes Grafting of Cornea Man’s Life Saved by Twin’s Kidney Robert K. Plumb Harvard Panel Asks Definition of Death Be Based on Brain Robert Reinhold Transplant Frontiers: A Special Report: Healthy Give Organs to Dying, Raising Issue of Risk and Ethics Denise Grady French, in First, Use a Transplant to Repair a Face Lawrence K. Altman with Craig S. Smith CHAPTER 21 Ulcers Say Gastric Ulcers May Be Infectious New Bacterium Linked to Painful Stomach Ills Lawrence K. Altman New Study Backs Ulcer-Cure Theory Gina Kolata CHAPTER 22: Vaccines Measles Vaccine Reported at U. of P. William L. Laurence Vaccine for Polio Successful; Use in 1 to 3 Years Is Likely William L. Laurence Smallpox Wiped Out in Its Worst Form Lawrence K. Altman Vaccine for Hepatitis B, Judged Highly Effective, Is Approved by F.D.A. Harold M. Schmeck Jr. Medicine Timeline Contributors’ Biographies