                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      November 30, 1995

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 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Another German Trial for H.I.V.-Tainted Blood"
"Criticism Delays Plan to Boost AIDS Funding"
"New AIDS Ads Aim for Young Adults"
"D.C. Doctors Offer to Aid Inmate Care"
"Lifeline: Airtime for AIDS"
"Candlelight Procession to Mark World AIDS Day"
"Zimbabwe AIDS Group Folds Through Lack of Cash"
"Decreased Expression of AMPA Receptor Messenger RNA and Protein 
in AIDS: A Model for HIV-Associated Neurotoxicity"
"Multipronged Approach Reveals Conformation of Key AIDS Peptide"
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"Another German Trial for H.I.V.-Tainted Blood"
New York Times (11/30/95) P. A4
     Dr. Gunter Kurt Eckert, the co-owner of the German drug 
laboratory Aprath, went on trial on Wednesday, charged with 
almost 6,000 counts of murder or attempted murder for selling 
HIV-contaminated blood products.  Prosecutors claim that in 1986 
and 1987, Aprath issued nine batches of unscreened blood donated 
by an HIV-infected drug user.  Three of the 14 patients who 
received those blood products have died of AIDS-related causes, 
and two more are infected with HIV.  Eckert is also said to have 
distributed some 5,800 batches of frozen blood products to German
hospitals, despite the fact that up to 90 percent had not been 
tested for the virus that causes AIDS.  Separately, a court in 
Koblenz is scheduled to announce a verdict on Friday for four 
officials at UB Plasma, another manufacturer of blood products, 
who are charged with infecting three individuals with HIV.
      
"Criticism Delays Plan to Boost AIDS Funding"
Philadelphia Inquirer (11/30/95) P. B1;  Collins, Huntly
     Undercounting of Philadelphia's AIDS cases has caused the city to
miss out on some $2.7 million in federal funding during the past 
two years, city health officials said Wednesday.  The number of 
AIDS cases there was undercounted by as much as 28 percent.  
Still, a proposal from the Health Department to guard against 
future undercounts was criticized by community groups Wednesday 
who said the plan would endanger the privacy rights of AIDS 
patients.  "More money might not be the top consideration," noted
Joe Cronauer, education director of We the People Living with 
HIV/AIDS.  The plan would use lab reports to remind doctors to 
report the cases.  Pennsylvania law states that doctors must 
report the name of anyone diagnosed with full-blown AIDS, yet 
city officials describe the reporting as infrequent or late.  The
Health Department therefore wants medical laboratories to report 
the name of anyone whose CD4 level is less than 200.  The city's 
AIDS surveillance officers would subsequently call that patient's
physician to determine whether the individual had AIDS, and if 
so, then enter that person's name into the city's registry.  The 
criticism voiced at the "community advisory meeting" caused city 
Health Commissioner Estelle Richman to postpone implementing the 
plan, saying she needed "to digest" everything she had heard.
      
"New AIDS Ads Aim for Young Adults"
USA Today (11/30/95) P. 4D;  Painter, Kim
     A new federal AIDS prevention campaign geared toward 18- to 
25-year-olds carries the theme "Respect yourself.  Protect 
yourself."  The television and radio commercials show young 
adults discussing abstinence, safer sex, sobriety, and 
communication.  One ad features a man who says, "If you don't 
practice safe sex, and I do, then we're not made for each other, 
honey.  It's not that hard to get those words out."  Dr. Helene 
Gayle of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
explained that compared to a more explicit 1994 campaign, the new
commercials highlight "a more diverse array of messages" that 
young adults in focus groups considered important and persuasive.
      
"D.C. Doctors Offer to Aid Inmate Care"
Washington Post (11/30/95) P. C5;  Goldstein, Amy
     The Medical Society of the District of Columbia has offered to 
help redesign medical and psychiatric services in the city's 
Department of Corrections, calling the quality of health care 
provided to District inmates "appalling," according to a new 
report from the organization.  The report marks a rare occasion 
in which the city's private medical community has reached out to 
help formulate public health policy.  The medical group is 
providing the most recent source of outside pressure to try to 
safeguard the health of Washington prisoners, who have extremely 
high rates of AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and drug addiction.  The 
insufficient care was highlighted last summer when a resident of 
the Lorton Correctional Complex who had AIDS was neglected by 
medical staff for days and died while tied to a wheelchair with a
bedsheet soaked with urine.  The medical society's 17-page report
found, among other things, that inmates are not tested for such 
infectious diseases as HIV and TB, and that they therefore pose a
health risk to the community at-large once they are released, 
mainly because they receive minimal follow-up care.
      
"Lifeline: Airtime for AIDS"
USA Today (11/30/95) P. 1D;  Willis, Kim
     On Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, a minimum of 165 cable networks and 
local television stations will air AIDS-related programs and 
public service announcements.  The movies "Longtime Companion," 
"And the Band Played On," and "Philadelphia" will be broadcast on
Bravo, HBO, and Showtime, respectively.
      
"Candlelight Procession to Mark World AIDS Day"
Baltimore Sun (11/30/95) P. 4B
     Maryland residents will unite in honor of World AIDS Day on 
Friday at a candlelight march around the Statehouse, marking 15 
years of the AIDS epidemic.
      
"Zimbabwe AIDS Group Folds Through Lack of Cash"
Reuters (11/29/95)
     The AIDS Counselling Trust (ACT), Zimbabwe's primary 
non-governmental anti-AIDS organization, will shut down 
operations on Dec. 1 due to a lack of cash, reported executive 
director Elizabeth Matenga on Wednesday.  Matenga added, "This 
comes at a time when the AIDS (epidemic) is at its peak in 
Zimbabwe, with 300 to 400 people dying of the incurable disease 
every week."  Established six years ago, ACT provided counseling 
for HIV-infected individuals on how to live positively and also 
conducted AIDS-prevention efforts.
      
"Decreased Expression of AMPA Receptor Messenger RNA and Protein 
in AIDS: A Model for HIV-Associated Neurotoxicity"
Nature Medicine (11/95) Vol. 1, No. 11, P. 1174;  Everall, Ian 
Paul;  Hudson, Lance;  Al-Sarraj, Safa; et al.
     Infection with HIV can result in extensive neuronal loss and 
severe dementia, and although the reasons behind the 
neurotoxicity are unclear, interruption of glutamate-linked 
calcium entry has been suggested as one cause.  Everall et al. 
present a study in which they demonstrate a reduction in 
HIV-infected brains of the expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) and
protein of the GluR-A flop subtype of 
(alpha)-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid 
(AMPA) glutamate receptor in cerebellar Purkinje cells.  A total 
of 68 percent of Purkinje cells had detectable mRNA for GluR-A 
flop in the control group, but only 35 percent did in the HIV 
group--a figure which marks decreased gene expression.  In 
addition, a similar reduction was seen in the detectable protein,
falling from 42 percent of Purkinje cells to just 26 percent.  
According to the researchers, these findings clearly show that 
HIV in the cerebellum does not cause neuronal loss.  However, the
observed disturbance of AMPA receptors may play a role in the 
neurotoxic process in other vulnerable areas of the brain and in 
the clinical development of dementia.
      
"Multipronged Approach Reveals Conformation of Key AIDS Peptide"
Chemical & Engineering News (11/13/95) Vol. 73, No. 46, P. 32
     Investigators at the National Institutes of Health used a 
multipronged approach to determine that portion of glycoprotein 
120 (gp120) that is thought to bind to human cells as the first 
phase of HIV infection is probably found in the intact protein as
an (alpha)-helix.  The critical peptide, called C4, is one of the
few areas of gp120 that is common to the various strains of 
HIV-1.  Because synthesized C4 has no biological activity, Frank 
A. Robey, chief of the National Institute of Dental Research's 
peptide and immunochemistry division, and his colleagues 
synthesized a cross-linked polymer of C4, which produces 
antibodies that react with both native and recombinant gp120.  
According to the scientists, this process of making a polymer of 
a peptide to investigate the structure of a peptide's parent 
protein can be used in other systems to obtain information that 
cannot be found using NMR and X-ray crystallography.
      


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