Wall Street Journal - July 16, 2003
Mark Ingebretsen

Case in point: German pharmaceutical maker Boehringer Ingelheim claimed that only two African nations "Uganda and Botswana had taken delivery of supplies of nevirapine, the drug it offers free for use in preventing mothers from infecting their babies with HIV/AIDS," according to the Financial Times.

Many doctors believe the drug is a cost-effective way to prevent babies from contracting the virus, the article noted.

A Boehringer official said in the Financial Times that high "customs charges, poor logistics and lack of the necessary healthcare infrastructure," were some reasons why so few countries had chosen to participate in the drug giveaway.

Indeed, the lack of an appropriate health-care infrastructure could pose serious problems in AIDS-stricken nations -- and perhaps ultimately in the rest of the world, as well.

According to a Reuters story, simply overwhelming lesser developed nations with AIDS drugs could result in improper consumption, which, in turn, could lead to the development of resistant HIV strains.

And because of such dangers, some believe "that treating HIV in developing countries is not cost-effective and increases the virus' resistance," a story by the Associated Press said.

However, one economist speaking at the Paris conference disagreed, noting that "studies show that resistance to treatment is no more common in the developing world than elsewhere and recent evidence has shown that treatment enhances prevention efforts, rather than hampering them," the AP reported.

Well Dressed at Any Age

A few designers are focusing on more stylish clothing lines that are easy to put on and take off. The lines are aimed at "the large niche that falls between middle age and being bedridden -- a niche more Americans are destined to occupy for longer periods over the coming decades," the Washington Post reported.

One Tough Bunch of Bugs

Researchers are experimenting with a new way to clean up radioactive sites by using bacteria, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Certain species of bacteria thrive by literally breathing in uranium compounds.

And while these bacteria can't dispose of the uranium, the process by which the organisms extract needed oxygen from the hazardous nuclear waste can render the uranium compounds insoluble.

And in one example, those insoluble compounds would be more easily extracted from groundwater supplies, according to the newspaper.

The genome of one uranium-breathing bacterium has already been sequenced.

Now scientists hope to bioengineer new strains that would be "even more capable of transforming the water-soluble forms of uranium into insoluble forms that could be filtered from streams and underground aquifers," the article said.

Nationwide nearly "500 billion gallons of groundwater ... remain contaminated with uranium and other toxic chemicals," according to the Chronicle.

And Now a Word About the Meaning of Life

Speaking of bacteria, the classic theory among those who study genetics and evolution is that primitive and not-so-primitive organisms live in order to breed. And once their reproductive cycle is finished, so are they. Evolution very tidily programs death into the genetic codes at an age when they're of no more use perpetuating the species.

But humans are different since they must nurture their offspring for years following birth. Now a new theory suggests that the care given by parents to their children plays a larger role in life cycles than previously thought, according to the New York Times.

As the Times article explained it, the new theory of why we live and die "predicts that mortality at any age through the life cycle is caused by a combination of two factors: the classic effect of how much reproductive life is left and the transfer effect, the economist's phrase for parental care."

INDUSTRY VITALS

* With its large population of wild birds, Mexico has been described as "an ideal breeding ground" for West Nile virus; Mexico recently declared a state of emergency against the disease, according to Reuters.

* "As Medicaid HMOs continue to multiply and prosper nationally, many view Georgia as the next hot entry market, ripe for Medicaid managed care," the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

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