Futurity.org » HIV

Missed Rx: Does doctor listen or lecture?

David Orenstein-Brown — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:20:23 +0000

BROWN (US) — Doctors rely on orders, rather than problem-solving, when talking with HIV-positive patients about taking their medication.

According to the analysis of hundreds of recorded office visits, doctors and nurse practitioners typically issued orders and asked closed or leading questions when talking to their HIV-positive patients about adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

Attempts at problem-solving with patients who had lapsed occurred in less than a quarter of visits, say the Brown University researchers.

Portable device to detect disease in 30 minutes

Bill Steele-Cornell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:03:46 +0000

CORNELL (US) — Researchers are developing a small detector designed to quickly identify pathogens such as tuberculosis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV.

Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University, has devised a method of “amplifying” very small samples of pathogen DNA, RNA, or proteins using synthetic DNA. His colleague Edwin Kan, professor of electrical and computer engineering, designed a computer chip that quickly responds to the amplified samples targeted by Luo’s method.

Blood parasite’s genetic code cracked

David Scott-Melbourne — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:28:19 +0000

U. MELBOURNE (AUS) — Scientists have sequenced the genome of a parasite responsible for one of the most socioeconomically devastating diseases in the world.

An international research team led by Neil Young and Robin Gasser from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary Science sequenced the nuclear genome of Schistosoma haematobium from a single pair of tiny worms.

High-risk adults don’t get Hepatitis B vaccine

David Orenstein-Brown — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:41:07 +0000

BROWN (US) — More than half of adults at the highest risk for hepatitis B remain unvaccinated—one reason that tens of thousands of people still contract the virus every year.

Although there is an effective vaccine for the infectious liver disease, a new study published online in the journal Infection finds that in a nationally representative sample of high-risk adults, 51.4 percent said they were unvaccinated. More than half of them had the potential to receive the vaccine based on their reported contact with health care providers.

How-to guide for risky HIV/epilepsy drugs

Jason Cody-Michigan State — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:24:47 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — New guidelines will help doctors avoid fatal interactions among HIV/AIDS and epilepsy drugs, and prevent anti-HIV drugs from losing effectiveness.

Gretchen Birbeck—who spends several months each year in the sub-Sahara African nation of Zambia researching epilepsy, HIV /AIDS, and cerebral malaria—is the lead author of the medical guideline, published in the journal Neurology and co-developed with the World Health Organization through the International League Against Epilepsy.

3D model reveals enzyme’s attack

Sally Sherwen-Melbourne — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:29:31 +0000

U. MELBOURNE (AUS) —Scientists have determined the structure of the enzyme endomannosidase, which clarifies how viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C hijack human enzymes.

The findings open the door to the development of new drugs to combat these deadly viruses that infect more than 180 million people worldwide.

HIV unknowns nudge Malawians to want kids

Matthew Solovey-Penn State — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:36:53 +0000

PENN STATE (US) — People in Malawi who are uncertain about their HIV status are more eager to start families than those who are certain one way or the other, a new study shows.

Malawi, a landlocked country in southeast Africa, has both a high fertility rate and a high prevalence of HIV. About 12 percent of the population is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

More than 30 percent of young Malawians surveyed for the study, published in American Sociological Review, indicated they were uncertain about their HIV status and 70 percent were uncertain about the chance they will be infected with HIV in the future.

Potent antibodies protect mice from HIV

Deborah Williams-Hedges-Caltech — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:26:06 +0000

CALTECH (US) — Researchers for the past year have been studying a group of potent HIV-neutralizing antibodies. Now biologists have discovered a way to deliver the antibodies to mice.

The breakthrough by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has effectively protected the mice from HIV infection.

New anti-HIV agents more potent, less toxic

Eric Gershon-Yale — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:04:20 +0000

YALE (US) — Researchers have discovered chemical compounds that could lead to HIV treatments that are 10 to 2,000 times more potent than drugs now on the market.

“The current compounds or slight variants could become drugs,” says William L. Jorgensen, a professor at Yale University.

Compound dissolves HIV on contact

Ryan Garcia-Texas A&M — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:17:07 +0000

TEXAS A&M (US) — Researchers are closer to developing a topical compound that stops HIV by dissolving the virus on contact.

The ability of the synthetic compound known as “PD 404,182″ to break apart the AIDS-causing virus before it can infect cells was discovered by Zhilei Chen, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, and her team of researchers. Their findings appear in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.