Tag Archives: hiv infection

Project Aims To Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention Materials For African-American Women

African-American women make up a disproportionate number of HIV/AIDS cases in the United States. Researchers from North Carolina State University are trying to change that, leading a National Science Foundation project aimed at developing HIV/AIDS prevention materials that resonate with African-American female college students.

African-Americans represent approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population, but accounted for an estimated 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. The estimated rate of new HIV infections among African-American women was 15 times that of white women and over three times that of Latina women. (more…)

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Breaking the Chain: ‘Molecular cap’ Blocks Processes that Lead to Alzheimer’s, HIV

A new advance by UCLA biochemists has brought scientists one step closer to developing treatments that could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.

The researchers report that they have designed molecular inhibitors that target specific proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and HIV to prevent them from forming amyloid fibers, the elongated chains of interlocking proteins that play a key role in more than two dozen degenerative and often fatal diseases. (more…)

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Heat Therapy Could Be New Treatment for Parasitic Skin Disease

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists are hoping that heat therapy could eventually replace a complex drug regimen as the first-line treatment of a parasitic skin infection common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. 

The researchers successfully treated the skin infection with heat therapy in two patients whose immune systems were deficient, which lowered their bodies’ ability to respond to medication. Both patients have remained free of the parasitic disease, called cutaneous leishmaniasis, for more than a year since receiving the heat treatment. 

That long-term effectiveness, especially in people with compromised immune systems, makes this one-time application of heat to skin lesions an appealing alternative to the conventional treatment for the infection — a series of about 20 consecutive daily drug injections that is rife with compliance problems, researchers say.  (more…)

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