By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

A scientist who does research on HIV has been appointed the interim director of Harvard Medical School’s primate research center. In a letter sent to the staff of the New England Primate Research Center Monday afternoon, Dr. Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the medical school, announced that Dr. R. Paul Johnson, an associate professor of medicine, would take over leadership of the center, where four primate deaths in less than two years revealed troubling gaps in basic animal care procedures.

By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Countries up and down the global economic ladder are pushing toward universal health care for their citizens even as the United States considers pulling back on its efforts to provide coverage for more people, Noam N. Levey of the Los Angeles Times reported in a fascinating story over the weekend.

By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

A 2008 federal regulation that denied payments to hospitals if patients contracted certain infections while under their care bolstered attention to preventing those problems, but also shifted focus and resources away from halting other infections, a new study finds. The study, based on a survey of infection specialists at 317 US hospitals, found that 81 percent reported increased attention to preventing two specific infections targeted by federal regulators: catheter-associated urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections.