Articles by Amy Mcdonald

Washington-Becoming infected with the AIDS virus is an occupational hazard facing laboratory workers who handle highly concentrated preparations of the virus, according to a study published in the January 1 issue of Science. To minirnize what they call a “very low” risk of infection, the authors urge a review of federal safety guidelines and increased vigilance in following prescribed safety procedures. WASHINGTON—A monthly science magazine that was shut down by the feder

Washington-Becoming infected with the AIDS virus is an occupational hazard facing laboratory workers who handle highly concentrated preparations of the virus, according to a study published in the January 1 issue of Science. To minirnize what they call a “very low” risk of infection, the authors urge a review of federal safety guidelines and increased vigilance in following prescribed safety procedures. WASHINGTON—A monthly science magazine that was shut down by the feder

McDonald is on the staff of THE SCIENTIST.

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WASHINGTON—The office that coordinates efforts among Public Health Service agencies to fight AIDS is being expanded in both size and scope, according to Peter J. Fischinger, the recently appointed PHS AIDS coordinator. “We want to get to the point where we are proactive in dealing with the problems,” said Fischinger, who is on leave for one year as deputy director of the National Cancer Institute. To do so, a new post of deputy AIDS coordinator has been created and the offi

WASHINGTON—In what one observer called “its strongest international response in years,” the U.S. scientific community played a role in the ouster late last month of the unpopular government-appointed head of the University of Chile in Santiago. The National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Medicine and the American Association of University Professors sent letters to Chilean President Gen. Augusto Pino- chet and

WASHINGTON—The National Institutes of Health is tightening monitoring and information programs for researchers and other staff who handle the AIDS virus. The new effort follows the announcement October 8 that a second worker has become infected, apparently in an accident at an contract facility. Some scien tists have also questioned whether current safety guidelines are adequate to deal with the dangers posed by working with the virus. The new procedures will require workers in the inst

WASHINGTON—Federal biosafety guidelines for laboratories handling the AIDS virus are appropriate, a team of virus safety experts has concluded after investigating labs working with large amounts of highly concentrated AIDS virus. But workers need to better understand how and why the practices should be followed. The four-member group, formed last month after NIH announced that an unidentified lab worker was infected while working with the virus, spent two weeks at the dozen or so NIH

WASHINGTON—A bill calling for the creation of a national advisory panel on AIDS is moving swiftly through Congress. The bill, which passed the House last month and could be taken up as early as this month by the Senate, would authorize the president and Congress to appoint a 15-member panel to make policy recommendations in the areas of AIDS research, testing, treatment and education The bill specifies that at least eight members would be “recognized experts” in the fields

WASHINGTON-The question this summer for AIDS researchers is not whether, but by how much, the federal budget will be increased for work on the disease. President Reagan recently boosted his budget request to $523 million, up from the $413 million originally sought in fiscal 1988 for Public Health Service efforts to fight the disease. The additional money would increase funding for research on the causes of the disease to $266 million, and provide $257 million for the development of treatments an

Peter Ward, a marine biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, is fascinated by the chambered nautilus, the lone survivor of an entire subclass of molluscs that emerged some 500 million years ago. In the course of thinking about how to open this world to the public—whom he calls "the real supporters of science"—Ward received a flyer describing a new publishing venture by the New York Academy of Sciences. The result is In Search of Nautilus, one of the first in a series d

WASHINGTON—Federal funds for AIDS research would be funneled more quickly into labs and clinics under a comprehensive AIDS bill introduced May 15 by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). The bill would ensure the timely review of research proposals, train more researchers, set up a network of AIDS research centers and create an NIH advisory board. Stepping up the pace of research is one aspect of a proposal to provide "new resources and new mechanisms to put the nightmare of AIDS behind us,"

WASHINGTON—Resolution of the dispute between American and French researchers over credit for discovery of the AIDS virus and the development of blood tests for the antibody has delighted the science community. But the related decision to create an international AIDS research foundation is being viewed with skepticism by many experts in the field. Under the agreement, announced March 31 by President Ronald Reagan and French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, the U.S. Department of Health and Hu

WASHINGTON—At 1:30 p.m. today, around the corner from the White House, high school students plan to set loose one thousand balloons with self-addressed information cards. They will join 224,000 balloons launched simultaneously around the country by students from 600 schools, in one of the more visible displays of National Science and Technology Week '87. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and funded largely by corporate donors, Science Week is observing its third year. Its messag

WASHINGTON—More than four months after the Institute of Medicine issued its well-publicized report on AIDS, the disease is still outpacing federal efforts to contain and understand it. "Since the report came out, a lot has happened as far as the epidemic spreading, but very little has been done to implement the strongly felt recommendations of the panel," said June Osborn, dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a member of the group that prepared the report. The nec