Word: nih
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...made of proteins (most varieties have a double coat, the outer one consisting either of another protein shell, or of proteins and lipids, fatty substances similar to those in a cell membrane). "There's no waste in a virus," says Dr. Stephen Straus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Every piece is there for a reason. It's a magnificent little structure...
...medical researchers hope soon to have a powerful ally in their campaign against viruses: vaccines made from genetically engineered viruses. At the NIH, Dr. Bernard Moss is using recombinant DNA techniques to convert vaccinia, a large virus that causes cowpox, into a one-shot, multidisease vaccine. He plans to insert only the antigen-coding genes of eight to ten kinds of dangerous viruses into the DNA of live but weakened vaccinia viruses. The re- engineered vaccinia would then sport the antigens of the harmful viruses, but not their ability to cause disease. Once inoculated, it would stimulate the immune system...
...been satisfied to stop there, we would never have invented the car and the airplane." Unfortunately, research faces difficulties. Many companies have pulled back because of the cost of testing and the risk of suits. Federally funded research is down as well. Clinical tests of an NIH-developed implant system called Capronor stalled for more than a year because the company designated to study the device could not get insurance. Says Hasson: "We are rapidly becoming an underdeveloped nation in terms of contraception...
...NIH panel members emphasized that the risk of contracting an AIDS infection from donor blood is quite remote. "You have a greater chance of dying from the anesthesia," noted Dr. Richard Aster of the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin. Stanford University Statistician Lincoln Moses estimated that about 120 AIDS-infected samples slip into the blood supply each year, out of a total of 12 million units donated. Since each pint donated can be split among two or three recipients, as many as 360 people could receive AIDS-infected blood each year, though how many will develop the disease is unknown...
...that they probably don't have the AIDS virus, but to be safe, they'd better not donate blood." At present, only those whose AIDS test is clearly positive are notified. Most important, the panel called for continued efforts to develop more precise blood-screening tests. Such tests, says NIH Administrator Luiz Barbosa, are already in the pipeline, but they must be adapted for use on a mass basis. In two years, he predicts, "we will have a very sensitive test...