An analog of myristic acid with selective toxicity for African trypanosomes.

Trypanosoma brucei, the protozoan parasite responsible for African sleeping sickness, evades the host immune response through the process of antigenic variation. The variant antigen, known as the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), is anchored to the cell surface by a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) structure that contains myristate (n-tetradecanoate) as its only fatty acid component. The utilization of heteroatom-containing analogs of myristate was studied both in a cell-free system and in vivo. Results indicated that the specificity of fatty acid incorporation depends on chain length rather than on hydrophobicity. One analog, 10-(propoxy)decanoic acid, was highly toxic to trypanosomes in culture although it is nontoxic to mammalian cells.     

An entomopathogenic fungus for control of adult African malaria mosquitoes

Biological control of malaria mosquitoes in Africa has rarely been used in vector control programs. Recent developments in this field show that certain fungi are virulent to adult Anopheles mosquitoes. Practical delivery of an entomopathogenic fungus that infected and killed adult Anopheles gambiae, Africa's main malaria vector, was achieved in rural African village houses. An entomological inoculation rate model suggests that implementation of this vector control method, even at the observed moderate coverage during a field study in Tanzania, would significantly reduce malaria transmission intensity.     

NIH. Higher profile for minority health

For years, some biomedical groups and health activists have pushed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to devote more attention to factors affecting the health of U.S. minorities. Last week, President Bill Clinton signed into law a measure that elevates NIH's office of minority health to the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The move comes with the promise of a bigger budget and greater autonomy to pursue studies on why blacks, Hispanics, and other groups suffer disproportionately high rates of diseases such as heart disease, prostate cancer, and diabetes.