NATIONAL BRIEFS

NATIONWIDE: Syphilis research revealed

As U.S. doctors in Guatemala were wrapping up one of the most unethical medical experiments they had ever conducted, a Guatemalan medical official thanked the lead researcher profusely. The praising letter from more than 60 years ago is among thousands of documents released Tuesday concerning a doctor who led the study that infected Guatemalan prison inmates and mental patients with syphilis in the 1940s. Records released by the National Archives reveal information about Guatemalan officials' involvement in the research, but it's not clear whether they were aware of the details of what the U.S. doctors were doing. The papers that belonged to U.S. Public Health Service researcher Dr. John C. Cutler were formerly housed at the University of Pittsburgh but lay in obscurity until a medical historian discovered them. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have called Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom to apologize.

ALABAMA: IV infection: 9 patients die

Nine hospital patients who were treated with contaminated intravenous feeding bags have died and the maker has pulled the product off the market, state officials said Tuesday. Ten others treated with the bags that provide nutrients through IV tubes also were sickened by the outbreak of serratia marcescens bacteria, officials said. The deaths have not been definitively tied to the bacterial outbreak at six hospitals, state Health Officer Donald Williamson said. The infection was linked to TPN, a nutritional supplement. A single pharmacy, Birmingham-based Meds IV, made the bags.

WASHINGTON: Serious charges in Gulf spill?

Manslaughter and perjury are among possible charges that Justice Department investigators are exploring in the early stages of their probe into the Gulf oil spill, people familiar with the inquiry said Tuesday. They said the department is not ruling out such charges against companies or managers responsible for the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers.