HIV drugs a good buy, researchers say
Despite their high prices, AIDS drug cocktails have proved their worth in America, saving an average of $2,000 a year in medical costs per patient by keeping people out of the hospital, researchers say.
In a separate study, researchers calculated that AIDS drugs cost about $20,000 in the United States for each year of a patient's extended life making them a better value than treatments for high cholesterol, breast cancer and heart attacks.
The two cost-effectiveness studies, reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine, are likely to add to the debate on how to expand access to HIV drugs for poor people and nations.
Christine Nadori, a medical officer at the international relief agency Doctors Without Borders, said some nations with relatively strong health systems could gain similar economic benefits.
Genetics may determine some musical ability
Scientists have played familiar melodies that contained some off-key notes to pairs of twins. Identical twins (who have the same genetic makeup) are more similar than nonidentical twins in telling whether the melodies were off, the researchers report in a recent issue of Science. Nonidentical twins are no more similar genetically than any other two siblings.
The scientists, from Rockville, Md., and London, concluded that up to 80 percent of the ability to identify off-key notes is inherited.
More heart transplants available for babies
It was Valentine's Day 1996. Dr. Lori West's own heart pounded as she transplanted a new one into the chest of a 2-week-old boy.
The donor had a different blood type than the baby. Though medical wisdom dictated that blood types should match, West's logic told her that the immature immune systems of babies should tolerate hearts from incompatible donors. Her instincts appeared to be right.
Ten transplants and five years later, West and her colleagues at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto are reporting a survival rate of 80 percent as good as the rate with compatible donors.
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