                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      October 31, 1994

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement
by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Government Opens AIDS Hot Line"
"City's Top AIDS Official is Reassigned Under Fire"
"Lifeline: European AIDS Study"
"Across the USA: Tennessee"
"Russians Vote AIDS Test for Foreigners"
"AIDS Group Urges Wider Use of Experimental Drug"
"MCNC and U.S. Patent Office Launch Internet AIDS Patent Library"
"Alkaline Phosphatase Band-10 Fraction as a Possible Surrogate 
Marker for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in 
Children."
"FDA Proposes Financial Disclosure for Clinical Researchers"
"Top Public Health Videos Tapped for APHA Filmfest"
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"Government Opens AIDS Hot Line"
Washington Times (10/31/94) P. A7
     The HIV-AIDS Treatment Information Service is a free, 
confidential phone service that will provide treatment 
information to people with AIDS, their families, and health care 
providers.  The service, which is provided by the federal 
government, will be staffed by health information specialists who
are fluent in both English and Spanish.  While advice will not be
offered, callers will receive the latest information on research 
and treatment options.  Related Story: Baltimore Sun (10/31) P. 
7A
      
"City's Top AIDS Official is Reassigned Under Fire"
Philadelphia Inquirer (10/31/94) P. A1;  Collins, Huntly
     Philadelphia Health Commissioner Estelle Richman will announce 
today the reassignment of Richard Scott, head the city's AIDS 
Activities Coordinating Office (AACO).  Scott has been accused by
some leaders of minority groups of being insensitive to their 
needs.  Most recently, Scott was accused of breaching the 
confidentiality rules of a citizen's advisory committee when he 
inadvertently listed the names, sexual orientation, and HIV 
status of the 35 committee members on a federal grant 
application.  Richman said she was removing Scott from AACO 
because she wanted to avoid a power struggle that might harm the 
city's services to AIDS patients.  Richman said that she will 
assume responsibility for the long-troubled AACO because "it 
doesn't make sense to get an interim [director] until I find the 
source of continual discontent."
      
"Lifeline: European AIDS Study"
USA Today (10/31/94) P. 1D;  Vigoda, Arlene
     The Italian Study Group on HIV Heterosexual Transmission reported
in the journal Epidemiology that HIV is transmitted twice as 
easily from men to women as the disease passes from women to men.
One explanation for the difference is that HIV-infected sperm can
travel throughout a woman's reproductive system.  The researchers
also say that a woman's vagina is a "more receptive contact 
surface" to infection than a man's penis.
      
"Across the USA: Tennessee"
USA Today (10/31/94) P. 10A
     Since schools started teaching family wellness in 1991, teen 
pregnancy in Nashville has decreased by 8 percent.  Improved sex 
education, with an emphasis on abstinence and concern about AIDS,
is credited with the change.
      
"Russians Vote AIDS Test for Foreigners"
Chicago Tribune (10/29/94) P. 1-19
     The Russian Parliament has voted to make foreign residents take 
compulsory HIV tests.  The Parliament also pledged to expel all 
of those residents who test positive.  The law must still be 
approved by the upper house of parliament and signed into law by 
President Boris Yeltsin.  Even if the law is passed, logistical 
problems, such as Russian laboratory conditions and the potential
alienation of powerful business partners, could still defeat it. 
Gay rights organizations complain that the proposed legislation 
would violate fundamental human rights.  "We think it is 
senseless to test foreigners for AIDS because there are enough 
people infected in Russia as it is," said Nikolai Nedzelski of 
the Russian Names Fund.  Related Stories: Boston Globe (10/29/94)
P. 4; Philadelphia Inquirer (10/29) P. A5
      
"AIDS Group Urges Wider Use of Experimental Drug"
Reuters (10/27/94);  Trautman, Robert
     The Treatment Action Group (TAG) on Thursday urged the government
and drug manufacturer Hoffmann La Roche, Inc. to provide greater 
access to saquinavir, a new AIDS drug.  TAG told the Food and 
Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health 
(NIH), and Hoffmann--saquinavir's maker--that expanded use of the
drug would provide greater knowledge of its safety and efficacy. 
Saquinavir is hoped to prolong the life of or delay the onset of 
AIDS in an HIV-infected person.  The FDA said it supported 
expanded access to the drug, but questioned whether Hoffmann 
could make enough doses of saquinavir in addition to those 
currently being used in controlled access trials.  A TAG 
spokesman--while indicating that, for expanded access, the 
manufacturer would have to seek FDA approval to give the drug to 
people not in the trial--said he thought Hoffmann was receptive 
to the idea.  Expanded access would make saquinavir available to 
people critically ill with AIDS who are not part of Hoffmann's 
test group.
      
"MCNC and U.S. Patent Office Launch Internet AIDS Patent Library"
PR Newswire (10/26/94)
     Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC), a private, 
nonprofit corporation, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 
have introduced the United States' first Internet-accessible AIDS
patent library.  The system will bring the text and images of 
more than 1,500 AIDS-related patents to people throughout the 
world.
      
"Alkaline Phosphatase Band-10 Fraction as a Possible Surrogate 
Marker for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in 
Children."
Journal of the American Medical Association (10/19/94) Vol. 272, 
No. 15, P. 1152
     A lymphocyte fraction of alkaline phosphatase (ALP band-10) 
activity in serum may be useful in predicting HIV-1 in children 
born to HIV-1 seropositive mothers.  ALP band 10 in serum's 
presence correlated with HIV-1 infection status.  HIV-1 
positively identified in 31 samples from 18 patients, ages 0.1 to
10 years, while the absence of infection was noted in the 14 
samples from 9 patients who made up the controls and whose serum 
samples did not show ALP band-10 activity.  The ability of ALP 
band 10 to predict HIV-1 infection in children as young as two 
months may be useful as a surrogate marker for early 
identification in babies born to HIV-infected mothers long before
maternal anti-HIV antibodies are approved.
      
"FDA Proposes Financial Disclosure for Clinical Researchers"
AIDS Treatment News (10/07/94) No. 208, P. 6;  James, John S.
     A proposed Food and Drug Administration rule would require 
researchers conducting human trials of drugs or medical devices 
to reveal personal interests in the outcome of the trial if and 
when the data is submitted for FDA approval.  The FDA is seeking 
public comment on the proposed rule, and asks that written  
comments be received by Dec. 21.  The requirement would exclude 
employees of the sponsoring pharmaceutical companies, 
investigators conducting pre-clinical or laboratory studies, and 
investigators conducting human trials if they are not submitted 
to the FDA in support of marketing approval for a drug.  The rule
would not, however, prohibit specified arrangements for 
compensating investigators--but their disclosure would still be 
necessary.  Independent researchers who run clinical trials for 
pharmaceutical companies trying to get marketing approval for 
their drugs would also have to comply with the rule.  Payments to
an investigator's spouse and dependent children would have to be 
reported, while payments to business partners would not have to 
be disclosed.
      
"Top Public Health Videos Tapped for APHA Filmfest"
Nation's Health (10/94) Vol. 24, No. 9, P. 7
     Public health videos are the focus of the filmfest to be held 
during the American Public Health Association's Annual Meeting.  
Some of the selections include Reality Check: HIV Testing for 
Youth, HIV and AIDS, A Dangerous Affair: A Teenager's Story of 
AIDS, and Acts of Kindness--HIV/AIDS: Stories of Mutual Ministry.
The meeting will be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, in Washington, 
D.C.
      
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