Retroviruses Conference Information: Tape Sales; Email Access

In our last issue we listed some of the major Web sites with reports or other information from the 4th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Washington, January 22-26 (see "Retroviruses Conference: Where to Get Information," AIDS TREATMENT NEWS #264). Here are two other information sources which we have not listed previously.

Audio Tapes Available

Audio tapes are available from 17 of the 39 oral sessions, at $11 per one-hour tape (most of these sessions are two tapes). For an order form (for tapes from the 4th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections) contact Sound Images, Inc., 7388 South Revere Parkway #806, Englewood, Colorado 80112, phone 303/649-1811, fax 303/790-4230, email 103107.1750@compuserve.com.

Note: Usually the same sessions available on tape are also available through the official Retroviruses conference Web site, www.retroconference.org -- which has the advantage of including some of the slides. When we last checked, a few sessions were available only by tape, and a few others only through the Web. The sessions which are available tend to be the overview or educational ones (but at an advanced level, for scientists or physicians). None of 15 "slide presentations," where many of the new findings were released, are available in any form; since these were presented in five simultaneous tracks, even those who attended the meeting could not get to most of them. Fortunately you can obtain some of the information presented through independent reports available without charge through the Internet (see "Retroviruses Conference: Where to Get Information," referenced above).

Email Access to Some Reports from the Conference

Persons or organizations who only have email, but not access to the World Wide Web, can get the "AIDScan" summaries of the Retroviruses conference (provided without charge by the Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care) from the AEGIS computer (AIDS Education Global Information System, run by Sister Mary Elizabeth). A very large collection of other AIDS information is also available in the same way. You send email with the name of the file you want to the AEGIS computer, and it responds automatically by sending the requested file back to you by email. This system is not as convenient as using the World Wide Web, however (or using Telnet to aegis.com, if you can connect to the Internet but do not the hardware or software needed for the World Wide Web).

For email access, send your requests to:

ftpmail@aegis.com

The subject line should be left blank. The first line of the message must be:

get <FILENAME>

where <FILENAME> is the name of the file you want. Only one file can be requested per message.

The "AIDScan" reports are available in 20 files, with the following files names: as970101.txt, as970102.txt, as970103.txt, etc. through as970120.txt.

To see what other AIDS information is available through this system, you can request a file list, which has the name of each file and a one-line description of its contents. This list is fairly large, however, about 250K. To request the list, send email to the same address, but on the first line of your message, say:

get filelist.txt

or for a compressed copy, which you must uncompress after receiving, say

get filelist.zip

Note: If you can use the World Wide Web, the AEGIS information is available at http://www.aegis.com. Or if you do not have Internet access, you can dial directly to the AEGIS bulletin board at 714/248-2836 -- which usually requires a toll call, of course.

The information from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care is also available through their site, http://www.iapac.org