Using ingenious molecular espionage, scientists have found how a single key enzyme, seemingly the Swiss army knife in HIV's toolbox, differentiates and dynamically binds both DNA and RNA as part of the virus' fierce attack on host cells.
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus, which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is an epidemic of global concern. The functioning of natural killer (NK) cells, which are a major element of the innate immunity system and are involved in the body's first line of defense against infections such as HIV, is decreased in both HIV and depression. A group of researchers who have previously found that stress and depression impair NK cell function and accelerate the course of HIV/AIDS are now publishing a new report in Biological Psychiatry.
For the first time, research has made possible a detailed map of how the building blocks of chromosomes, the cellular structures that contain genes, are organized in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The work identifies a critical stop sign for transcription, the first step in gene expression, and has implications for understanding how the AIDS virus regulates its genes.
Gamers have devoted countless years of collective brainpower to idle pursuits. This week researchers will try to harness those finely honed skills to make medical discoveries through a competitive protein-folding computer game.
A new study shows how genes control levels of many blood proteins implicated in disease. Newly published determine how many of the key proteins within our blood are under genetic control, showing that diet and lifestyle are not the only factors influencing its makeup.
According to a new policy analysis the most common HIV prevention strategies -- condom promotion, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections, vaccine and microbicide research, and abstinence -- are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics found in Africa.
Scientist have examined a new mechanism in the reproductive cycle of a certain species of mold. This mechanism protects the organism from genetic abnormalities by "silencing" unmatched genes during meiosis (sexual reproduction). The finding could have implications for higher organisms and may lead to precise "targeting" of unwanted genes, such as those from the HIV virus.
By linking HIV positive prisoners to community-based medical care prior to release through an innovative program called Project Bridge, 95 percent of ex-offenders were retained in health care for a year after being released from incarceration.
The usual waiting period for the results of a HIV test can seem like an eternity, especially in emergency situations where results are needed immediately. Also it requires a blood sample, which is invasive and often painful. Recognizing the urgent need for a faster and less invasive diagnostic method, researchers have just finished testing a new saliva-based test that gives results in approximately 20 minutes.
The "exhaustion" of immune cells that target HIV appears to result from chronic exposure to the virus, specifically exposure to the protein segments targeted by the pathogen-killing HIV-specific CD8 T cells. A study from researchers at the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital may have answered a key question: whether the functional impairment of these T cells is the cause or the result of unchecked viral replication in chronic progressive HIV-1 infection?
The incidence of a strain of tuberculosis (TB) called Mycobacterium bovis, or M. bovis, associated more often with cattle than humans, is increasing in San Diego and is concentrated mostly in Hispanics of Mexican origin, according to a new study. The analysis shows that changing patterns of TB in the United States are increasingly being driven by conditions outside of the country, especially in binational communities.
Australian researchers have unveiled a new immunotherapy technique to help prevent the progression from HIV infection to AIDS. Th simple cost-effective technique has been effective in primates.
Cutting the umbilical cord doesn't necessarily sever the physical link between mother and child. Many cells pass back and forth between the mother and fetus during pregnancy and can be detected in the tissues and organs of both even decades later. This mixing of cells from two genetically distinct individuals is called microchimerism. The phenomenon is the focus of an increasing number of scientists who wonder what role these cells play in the body.
A new mathematical and statistical method allows the virus population in a diseased organism to be determined quickly and economically. Using this method, medicines and vaccines against diseases caused by viral infections could be developed and deployed in a more targeted way in the future. Through their diversity resulting from continuous mutation, viruses easily develop drug resistance. This is also why the manufacture of a vaccine against HIV has been unsuccessful up to now. To bring both under control, the strains of virus present in the host must be known. A new method developed by researchers from Switzerland and America now promises help in identifying diverse virus populations.
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Peace Corps today demanding that it change its policy of barring people with HIV from serving as volunteers. The ACLU sent the letter on behalf of a Denver volunteer who was sent home from his post in the Ukraine and terminated after he tested positive for HIV.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- After years of advocacy by the American Civil Liberties Union, AIDS Alabama and state legislators, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has agreed to give HIV-positive prisoners greater access to visitation, educational programs, substance abuse treatment programs, and religious services. Until now, HIV-positive prisoners have been denied these programs and services offered to the general population of inmates.
MONTGOMERY, AL ? The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the owner of the Wales West RV park in Silverhill, Alabama today demanding that it stop discriminating against people with HIV by barring people with the disease from using the swimming pool, showers and other common areas of the park without a letter from a doctor.
WASHINGTON - The federal government is illegally restricting the ability of U.S. health organizations to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, charged the American Civil Liberties Union and more than 25 public health and human rights organizations in a legal brief filed today.
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and 26 public health experts, human rights and HIV/AIDS organizations are urging a federal appeals court to reject a government policy that restricts the ability of U.S. groups to end the spread of HIV/AIDS in other countries.
NEW YORK ? The American Civil Liberties Union is concerned that the CDC?s new HIV testing recommendations may harm the health of those newly diagnosed with HIV and compromise the civil rights of anyone seeking medical treatment.
SAN FRANCISCO ? The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the San Francisco Department of Public Health demanding that the San Francisco City Clinic stop misleading people being tested for HIV about names reporting.
NEW YORK ? HIV activists demanded today that the New York State Department of Health stop illegally collecting medical information on people with HIV and stop its illegal end run around New York law requiring informed consent for HIV testing.
CHARLESTON, WV ? The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal discrimination lawsuit on behalf of the surviving family members of a Welch man who died of a heart attack after the police chief physically prevented his friend from performing CPR. The police chief blocked the CPR because he falsely assumed that the man, who was gay, was HIV positive and therefore a health risk.
NEW YORK ? The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed deep concern about a U.S. government policy that ties the hands of public health service providers and those who work with them in the global fight against AIDS.
LITTLE ROCK -- In response to a letter sent today by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arkansas Board of Cosmetology quickly confirmed that people with HIV are not barred from practicing cosmetology in the state. The ACLU sent the letter after the Paragould-based cosmetology school, Hair Tech Beauty College, expelled an HIV-positive student, claiming it was illegal for people with HIV to practice cosmetology.
LITTLE ROCK -- The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Arkansas Board of Cosmetology today asking it to clarify a state regulation that has been used as the justification by a Paragould-based cosmetology school to expel an HIV-positive student.
JACKSON, MS- The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the dramatic improvements in medical treatment and living conditions for hundreds of HIV positive Mississippi prisoners as a result of litigation that concluded yesterday.
Rapid HIV tests have been found to be highly effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in clinical trials in India, according to a study published online Tuesday in PLoS Medicine, the Times of India reports (Sinha, Times of India, 5/7). For the study, the researchers used
The Atlanta-based biotechnology firm GeoVax Labs plans to launch Phase II clinical trials of its experimental HIV vaccine this summer, company officials recently announced, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Hendrick, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/8).
Advocacy groups on Wednesday during a briefing about the millions of children worldwide who have lost one or both parents to AIDS called for an increase in community-based programs to assist AIDS orphans, as well as the passage of legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,
Funding for HIV/AIDS in Tanzania from the government and international donors from 2007 to 2008 is expected to total more than 568 billion Tanzanian shillings, or about $476 million, according to a recently released government report, the Africa Science News Service reports. According to the report, aid from the U.S. and the
The Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services will launch a pilot project to provide no-cost HIV testing and counseling in certain regions of the country to mark its National HIV Testing Day on May 9, Namibia's New Era reports.
The number of new HIV cases reported in Germany increased by 4% in 2007, according to data recently released by the Robert Koch Institute, Xinhua/People's Daily reports.
According to a new policy analysis led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of California, Berkeley, the most common HIV prevention strategies - condom promotion, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), vaccine and microbicide research, and abstinence - are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics found in Africa.
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is an epidemic of global concern. According to the most recent estimates, released in November 2007, by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 33.2 million worldwide are living with HIV infection currently.
According to an article published in The Lancet,adult mortality of HIV patients in Malawi has been significantlyreduced after the introduction of free antiretroviral therapy (ART).The effect, say researchers, is large enough to detect at thepopulation level.Malawi, a country of about 13 million people located in southeasternAfrica, sees some 80,000 deaths from AIDS each year. Between 2004 and2006, the country offered free ART to over 80,000 patients.
HIV/AIDS rates among blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. have reached alarming levels, and the U.S. urgently needs to establish new initiatives to address the spread of the disease among the groups, Beny Primm, executive director of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Addiction Research and Treatment, said at an event in Connecticut on Sunday, the
Providing appropriate treatment methods to HIV-positive women during pregnancy can prevent nearly all risk of mother-to-child transmission of the virus, according to a study published online Wednesday in the journal AIDS, the PA/Google.com reports (Kirby, PA/Google.com, 5/6).
The government and businesses in Papua New Guinea should work together to alleviate the effects of HIV/AIDS and avoid a "catastrophic health burden," Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Duncan Kerr said Monday at the start of the 24th Papua New Guinea-Australia Business Forum, Papua New Guinea's Post-Courier reports.Kerr acknowledged current efforts by the
"Our genome ... is three billion bases (base pairs) of DNA. This virus is about 10 million bases of DNA. We're a lot smarter than this virus"
- The despair that set in after the failure of the latest effort to develop an AIDS vaccine has given way to renewed determination on the part of the scientific community, says the Canadian scientist leading an international effort to maximize global activity in the field.
As the world gets ready to mark the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS, there is a consensus that work must continue, both to puzzle out how the human immune system responds to infection with the HIV virus and more generally how the immune system works, Dr. Alan Bernstein said in an interview Thursday. Read more
"The present findings provide evidence that natural killer cell function in HIV infection may be enhanced by selective serotonin reuptake inhibition and also by substance P antagonism in both depressed and non-depressed individuals."
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus , which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , is an epidemic of global concern. via Huliq.com
"So, I've always loved comic books and so when I started to do my comic book creation, I was saying I should do something that I feel strongly about, about HIV."
VIDEO: See more about the comic book A comic book called "O+Men" features heroes with HIV in a bid to raise awareness of HIV. via Area93.com
- Four years after it was passed unanimously by Parliament, a bill allowing low-cost AIDS drugs to be exported to Africa may finally produce results.
Generic drug maker Apotex Inc. says it has been awarded a contract by the government of Rwanda to sell its three-in-one AIDS pill to that country, the final hurdle in the onerous process of making Canada's Access to Medicines Regime work.
A company spokesperson says the first drugs should start being shipped in the fall, as long as none of the companies that hold the patents on the drugs withdraw their permission in the interval. Read more
The NBA will stage an event in India for the first time this summer, conducting one of its Basketball without Borders camps in New Delhi. via The New Zealand Herald
"Over the next several weeks, we expect to release additional study data."
NanoViricides, Inc said that its anti-HIV drug candidates demonstrated significant therapeutic efficacy in the recently completed preliminary animal studies. via News-Medical.Net
"Russia is like an isolated island. Where [injection] drug use drives over 60% of the epidemic, you cannot afford not to have a comprehensive approach."
Russia should increase efforts to address HIV/AIDS among injection drug users to slow the spread of the disease, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said on Saturday during a conference on HIV/AIDS in the ... via News-Medical.Net
The Pulitzer Center is an organization with the mission to promote in-depth coverage of international affairs, focusing on topics that have been under-reported, mis-reported - or not reported at all.
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria may loan cash to developing countries when they grow too wealthy to qualify for grants, the fund's director, Michel Kazatchkine, said on Sunday.
