Date: September 2, 1996 ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH School of Public Health, University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health, Columbia University School of Public Health, Emory University School of Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health, University of Hawaii School of Public Health, University

Despite some scientists' skepticism and funding shortages, the nascent field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is gaining greater acceptance in the mainstream medical world. PNI seeks to understand the complex communications among the brain and the immune system, and their implications for health. Only within the past two decades have researchers begun to muster experimental evidence to figure it all out. Today, powerful new molecular techniques allow scientists to detail links between stress and

Testing, Information Access Many question whether the initiative can adequately address issues of privacy and the need for education. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is planning to launch a potentially controversial national information network in the fall. It will provide cancer genetic testing information to physicians and patients in an attempt to help them stay up-to-date, as well as access to the latest genetic testing protocols that NCI offers. IN FAVOR: OncorMed's Doug Dolginow b

Genome Project Progress Some firms and institutions are establishing ethics branches to focus on policy issues left unresolved by NIH's ELSI project. RULES REQUIRED: Stanford's Paul Billings thinks ELSI has fallen short in creating a "regulatory arena". Many scientists are finding that concerns about the complex ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding genetic testing and the use of the resulting information are taking up a larger part of their time. In response to this shift in focus,

Medical journal article criticizes recommendations of NIH panel, but many contend that politics remains the real obstacle. The scientific community is up in arms about a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine regarding the use of human embryos in research. Writing in the May 16 issue of the journal, in an article titled "The politics of human embryo research-Avoiding ethical gridlock" (G.J. Annas et al., 334:1329-32, 1996), the authors argue that a National Institutes of Health

Despite contrary suggestions, they say CDC's prevention efforts aimed toward general public were not wasted A recent article in the Wall Street Journal is causing concern in the AIDS research community. The article, titled "AIDS Fight Is Skewed By Federal Campaign Exaggerating Risks" (A. Bennett, A. Sharpe, May 1, 1996, page 1), contends that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta has distorted the public's perception of the potential for contracting AIDS with a

Scientists' Aid Research!America, an Alexandria, Va.-based national nonprofit advocacy group for biomedical research, is branching out to the states, attempting to form grass-roots support for increased federal funding. Officials of the organization are pleased with the programs' progress: Opinion polls consistently show that the public supports increased biomedical research funding. But they also maintain that the programs could use more help from scientists themselves. OPEN EYES: Student m

Edited by Steven Benowitz R.A. Steinman, B. Hoffman, A. Iro, C. Guillouf, D.A. Liebermann, M.E. Elhouseini, "Induction of p21 (WAF1/CIP1) during differentiation," Oncogene, 9:3389-96, 1994. (Cited in more than 40 publications as of February 1996) Comments by Richard A. Steinman, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. CELL CYCLIST: Richard Steinman's cell differentiation research may provide clues to cancer development Richard A. Steinman, an assistant professor of medicine at the Unive

Problems In Implementation LOUD AND CLEAR: Attorney Lynda Dee stresses the need for communication among the institutes. When a federally appointed panel announced in March the results of its 15-month-long review of the United States government's AIDS research program, AIDS activists as well as scientists cheered. The National Institutes of Health's AIDS Research Program Evaluation Working Group's recommendations largely called for scrapping what the group saw as outdated and ineffective polic

Review But many critics are urging still other changes, including easier approval of 'off-label' uses DÉJÀ VU: NCI's David Parkinson sees parallels with AIDS drug testing. By Oncologists, industry officials, and cancer-patient advocacy organizations are applauding recently announced policy changes at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that speed up the approval process for cancer drugs. The plan, announced on March 29 by President Bill Clinton, aims to immediately streamlin

Uncertainties Of 1996 Presidential science adviser John H. Gibbons calls fiscal year 1996 a "grim year for science budgets." BACK TO BASICS: Rep. Robert Walker (R-Pa.) contends that the FY 1997 budget supports applied research at the expense of basic science. Small wonder. On March 19, President Bill Clinton submitted his FY 1997 government budget proposal to the United States Congress. Yet the FY 1996 budget, which was to take effect on Oct. 1, 1995, has yet to be agreed upon. For many scie

K.M. Standifer, C.C. Chien, C. Wahlestedt, G.P. Brown, G.W. Pasternak, "Selective loss of delta-opioid analgesia and binding by antisense oligodeoxynucleotide to a delta-opioid receptor," Neuron, 12:805-10, 1994. (Cited in more than 30 publications as of February 1996) Comments by Gavril W. Pasternak, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Unzip a chunk of DNA. Two strands result. One, dubbed the "sense" strand, carries genetic information. The other, the antisense strand, says nothing. In th