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Show Page A4 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, Tuesday, January 23, 1996 f SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Inside Jeff Getty's body, a biological battle is being waged that could revolutionize AIDS treatment and alter the future of organ transplants. ; Bone marrow cells from a haboon are struggling to plant themselves in the Getty's body, where, doctors hope, they will begin to produce a parallel immune system to fight the AIDS virus that is killing him. ; Getty received the cells by injection Dec. 14, and now waits at his Oakland home to find out if he will live or die. ; Although it will be six months or more before all results are in, the first indication of the battle's outcome is expected by the end of the month. "If something goes wrong, if I come down with a baboon virus, if it proves not to work, at least I got off my ass and did something," Getty said. "I didn't just lie down and die." ' Last week, Getty underwent a painful bone marrow ' biopsy on his upper thigh "It feels like someone running a corkscrew through your head," he said. Doctors are examining that sample and blood tests to deter ; mine whether the baboon cells "engrafted," or settled into his body and began functioning. For treasons scientists don't understand, baboons are not infected by the AIDS virus. Researchers hope that immunity can be transferred to people. The procedure used for the first time on Getty employs immature stem cells that grow up into disease fighters, along with "facilitator" cells that somehow allow stem cells to thrive in a foreign environment. The technique, if it works, could eventually allow many other dying patients to receive organ transplants without waiting for precise tissue matches. In Getty, the ultimate goal is to develop CD4 cells that naturally resist the AIDS virus. CD4 cells disare the body's baboon-marro- w ease fighters; normally, they are killed off by the virus. If the baboon marrow cells don't engraft, the experiment is essentially over for Getty. But Dr. Steven Deeks, who leads the University of San Francisco team treating Getty, said Getty already has proved something by surviving, showing the experimental procedure is safe . enough to be tried again. There are no signs that the i " 3 immune cells transplanted attacked their host. And Getty's immune system, which was suppressed with radiation and drugs before the transplant, apparently has not rejected the baboon cells. Getty's own CD4 cells are climbing back to their levels, and he looks good, tiBf'A i Deeks said. "I'm feeling very healthy," '.": 1 Getty, who has lived with AIDS for 14 years, said by telephone from his home. "I'm eating like a . V horse." But he admitted to mixed emo- tions, saying he's tired of "baboon boy" jokes, attacks by religious conservatives and animal rights activists, and what he considers exaggerated fears that he might unleash some deadly new primate virus on the world. "It's ugly sometimes," he said. "And if it works, I'll be the first to walk the earth." the If treatment fails, he said, human-anim- x . J al he wants to try something else. "I just don't get depressed that easy," he said. "All I need is another thing to try next. I'm ." already lining up plan B and plan C. Action is life." ' wtJ' imr-- r, -- - iiimirm-MiiiS!- " AP Photo Jeff Getty, an AIDS patient who last December underwent a controversial baboon marrow treat- wient, takes a break at his Oakland, Calif., home Friday. Getty received a baboon marrow trans- - plant in hopes of rebuilding his weakened: immune system. The first indication of the bat-tie's outcome is expected by the end of this4 month. Jupiter probe alters theories about planet By JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Data returned by the Galileo probe revealed unexpected findings about the atmosphere of Jupiter that may force scientists to rethink how the planet was formed, NASA scientists said today. Instruments aboard the probe found higher winds, conditions, about half the expected amount of helium and a different cloud structure from what most researchers had expected to see. In early December, a probe released by the unmanned Galileo spacecraft parachuted beneath the banded giant planet's thick clouds. During that historic entry into Jupiter's atmosphere, it relayed a "weather report" before it melted and vaporized. Findings from the probe's data, described as very preliminary, were released in a NASA statement prior to a news conference today at the space agency's Ames Research Center. The release had been delayed more than a month by the federal budget shutdown. The probe found that lightning occurs on Jupiter only about as often as Earth. Scientists said lhat was consistent with an absence of water clouds, and that the virtual absences of lightning reduces the probability of finding complex organic molecules in Jupiter's atmosphere. "The probe detected extremely strong winds and very intense turbulence during its descent through Jupiter's thick atmosphere," scientist Richard Young said in the statement. He said there was evidence that heat escaping from the deer interior of the planet was probably a major cause of the turbulence. "The probe also discovered an intense new radiation belt approximately 31,000 miles above Jupiter's cloud tops and a veritable absence of lightning." Project scientists said surprises in Jupiter's atmospheric composition included significantly lower than- expected levels of helium, neon and some heavy elements like carbon, oxygen and sulfur. Most scientists had believed that Jupiter evolved from the gas andidust cloud of the primitive solar nebula, but the probe's findings may force them to views of its formation, NASA Services Installation Fee 57-min- one-tent- lr, - VOICE MESSAGING Nothing CALL WAITING Nada CALLER ID Nil LAST CALL RETURN Zip PRlblfrYCALL Zero THREE-WA- Y CALLING Zilch CALL FORWARDING Goose Egg CONTINUOUS REDIAL Diddly CALL REJECTION $00.00 said." , Jupiter, the largest of the planets and the fifth from the sun, is 300: times the mass of Earth, which is third from the sun. When the probe descended into Jupiter's atmosphere, scientific instruments recorded temperature, pressure, density, wind speed, chemical composition and radia-tio- n and looked for suspected lightning storms in the clouds. The atmospheric probe was built and managed at Ames. The overall Galileo mission is overseen' by NASA's .fet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Galileo, launched in 1989 aboard space shuttle Atlantis, will orbij Jupiter and eight of its 16 moons for two years. It will pass by Jupiter's moon Ganymede on Juno 27. Free installation through February 16. Monthly charges still apply. . Call ) '. 1 ;- r ). O 1996 U S WEST Communications. Similar offers available for business customers. Some restrictions apply. i |
