Word: cf
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...digestive problems took their toll, she could not have expected to outlive her teens. But now, says Ramsey, "Brianna has an excellent chance of living into adulthood." In fact, although Ramsey and other clinicians are reluctant to raise false hopes, Brianna and thousands of other babies born with CF in the past few years may even live to see a cure. Says Ramsey: "In the next decade, we are going to see a revolution in treatment for this disease. We can really, truly think about a cure...
...past two years alone, researchers have reported preliminary success with two separate therapies that for the first time treat the underlying cellular disorder as opposed to just the symptoms of the disease. More promising still, doctors are closing in on a technique for replacing the defective CF gene, which was discovered in 1989. The discovery has spawned an unprecedented proposal to screen tens of millions of Americans for the defect, so that couples can avoid having an affected child. After decades of relative quiet on the CF front, scientists have their eyes on the prize. "This is a wonderful place...
When laboratory rats had this reconstructed virus sprayed into their tiny lungs, they not only absorbed the foreign gene but actually sprouted, in their airways, the human protein that scientists believe will cure CF (Since the cells that line the lungs are shed periodically, this aerosol gene therapy will probably have to be repeated every two or three months.) While Crystal has yet to try the therapy in humans, he is supremely optimistic: "We now know it works in the test tube and in animals. I can guarantee that we can correct the defective protein in humans...
Another futuristic therapy involves the manipulation of the errant protein itself. This molecule, which scientists have already reconstructed using the blueprint provided by the CF gene, could conceivably be goaded into working properly with the right medication. Alternatively, doctors could implant a healthy version of the CF gene in embryonic mice or goats, harvest the resulting protein from the adult animals' milk, and then spray the protein directly into patients' lungs. "Basically, we're talking about a four-legged manufacturing plant," said Dr. Robert Beall of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation...
...happens, V.I. Warshawski, starring Kathleen Turner as the private eyeful, is a sorry excuse for a film. It opened last Friday and may be forgotten in a week. But bad pictures as well as good feed the pop-cultural zeitgeist (cf., Fatal Attraction, Pretty Woman, Ghost). And Warshawski shows Hollywood once again scrounging to resolve a lingering dilemma: how to get women into the summer-movie mainstream...