Tag Archives: hiv

Mutation Breaks HIV’s Resistance to Drugs, Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2012Health172k, 172k mutation, aids, atsuko hachiya, cellular machinery, drug, hiv, hiv strain, hiv-infected, human, immunodeficiency, inhibitors, missouri, mutation, nnrtis, non nucleoside, nrtis, nucleoside, patient, polymorphism, resistant, reverse, stefan sarafianos, transcriptase, university, virus

Doctors can improve treatment programs using this knowledge

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can contain dozens of different mutations, called polymorphisms. In a recent study an international team of researchers, including University of Missouri scientists, found that one of those mutations, called 172K, made certain forms of the virus more susceptible to treatment. Soon, doctors will be able to use this knowledge to improve the drug regimen they prescribe to HIV-infected individuals.

“The 172K polymorphism makes certain forms of HIV less resistant to drugs,” said Stefan Sarafianos, corresponding author of the study and a researcher at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center. “172K doesn’t affect the virus’ normal activities. In some varieties of HIV that have developed resistance to drugs, when the 172K mutation is present, resistance to two classes of anti-HIV drugs is suppressed. We estimate up to 3 percent of HIV strains carry the 172K polymorphism.” (more…)

Groundbreaking Research Paves Way for HIV Prevention Drug Approval

By Guest PostJuly 15, 2012Healthafrica, antiretroviral drugs, connie celum, fda, hiv, hiv infection, hiv prevention, hiv treatment, hiv vaccine, hiv-positive, jared baeten, Kenya, kenya puppets, nelly mugo, partners prep, placebo, prevention drug, tenofovir, thika, truvada, uganda

For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering approving a drug that helps prevent someone from acquiring HIV. It’s called Truvada, and has been approved for use since 2004 to treat infected people.

Now it has been shown to protect healthy people who are exposed to HIV. The UW’s International Clinical Research Center, within the Department of Global Health, played a key role in examining the drug’s effectiveness for HIV prevention.

Researchers Connie Celum and Jared Baeten led a study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, of pre-exposure prophylaxis among heterosexual couples in Kenya and Uganda. One partner had HIV (and was not yet eligible for HIV treatment) and the other partner did not have HIV. Uninfected partners were given either Truvada or Tenofovir (both antiretroviral drugs) or a placebo. (more…)

Combating Global Problems at BIARI

By Guest PostJune 22, 2012Environment, General, Scienceaids, ambedkar university delhi, anita elizabeth cherian, armed conflict, barbara willaarts, biari, botin foundation, brazil, brown university, cape town, China, chinese cities, civil society, climate change, courtney coelho, development, end project evaluation, environmental awareness, ethiopia, global problem, grass stage theatre, hiv, hiv awareness, India, junia quiroga de cuhan, kathamandu university, ke zhang, latin america, laureate universities, maria cecelia trannin, nepal, new delhi, nigeria, peking university, population, qing hui hou, rebecca hodes, rio de janeiro, rukmini sen, sagar sharma, shimla, South Africa, university, yunnan province, zheng xie

Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). The two-week program began June 11, 2012.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). Participants, who were chosen from a pool of more than 850 applicants, come from several countries, including Brazil, China, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia.

The two-week program began Monday, June 11, 2012. Now in its fourth year, BIARI is centered around four two-week intensive institutes, convened concurrently by Brown faculty, in which participants and leading scholars in their fields share their research and develop new collaborative projects through sustained, high-level dialogue spanning disciplines and continents. This year’s institutes touched on global health and HIV/AIDS; theater and civil society; population and development; and climate change. (more…)

A SMART(er) Way to Track Influenza

By Guest PostJune 12, 2012Scienceaartik sarma, amplification, andrew artenstein, anubhav tripathi, biological debris, brown assay, brown university, carmichael ong, DNA, first aid kit, flu detection test, genetic sequence, H1N1, hiv, influenza rna, influenza rna sequence, iPhone, magnetics, memorial hospital, microfluidics, nasba, nucleic acid sequence, pigs, polymerase chain reaction, prototype, rhode island, rna partners, rna probe, rna strand, smart, smart detector, stephanie mccalla, steven opal, swine flu, tb, tracking of influenza, tuberculosis, united states, virus in mexico

Brown University researchers have created a reliable and fast flu-detection test that can be carried in a first-aid kit. The novel prototype device isolates influenza RNA using a combination of magnetics and microfluidics, then amplifies and detects probes bound to the RNA. The technology could lead to real-time tracking of influenza. Results are published in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In April 2009, the world took notice as reports surfaced of a virus in Mexico that had mutated from pigs and was being passed from human to human. The H1N1 “swine flu,” as the virus was named, circulated worldwide, killing more than 18,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States said it was the first global pandemic in more than four decades. (more…)

Clergy can fight HIV on faith-friendly terms

By Guest PostMay 20, 2012Culture, Healthafrican american, african american clergy, aids epidemic, amy nunn, black americans, black clergy, blacks, brown university, hiv, hiv infection, hiv prevention, michelle lally, miriam hospital, philadelphia, sex, sexuality, tim flanigan, united states

In the United States, where blacks bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, black religious institutions could help turn the tide. In a new study in PLoS ONE based on dozens of interviews and focus groups with 38 of Philadelphia’s most influential black clergy, physicians and public health researchers find that traditional barriers to preaching about HIV prevention could give way to faith-friendly messages about getting tested and staying on treatment.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The public health community has long struggled with how best to reduce HIV infection rates among black Americans, which is seven times that of whites. In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of physicians and public health researchers report that African-American clergy say they are ready to join the fight against the disease by focusing on HIV testing, treatment, and social justice, a strategy that is compatible with religious teaching. (more…)

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

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2012Healthafrican-american women, aids, aids prevention, cultural competency, fay cobb payton, hiv, hiv infection, james kiwanuka tondo, kathy gore, latina women, lynette kvasny, pi, primary investigator, united states, white 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…)

To Be A Scientist

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 2012Scienceaids, aids drug, alzheimer, anti aging, anti cancer compounds, anti tumor agents, bob vince, carbovirs, cdd, center for drug design, chemical formulas, childhood home, detection, DNA, eugene mccarthy, explosive, genetic material, hall of fame, hiv, nobel laureate, norman borlaug, patent, precursor, quality of life, scholars walk, scientist, senator, t cells, tc campus, treatment, wall of discovery, walter mondale, ziagen

*How Bob Vince changed the world*

Where does it begin, the act of becoming a scientist? Perhaps with a bowling ball, its finger holes packed with explosives, which when detonated, launch the ball into the air, cracking the otherwise pristine concrete walkway of your childhood home in four places, much to the consternation of your father. Or maybe with an explosion of homemade rocket fuel in your basement chemistry lab that scares your mother half to death. And all this before the troublesome teen years.

Bob Vince can’t be sure where his becoming a scientist began. But where it led changed the world. (more…)

New Molecule Has Potential to Help Treat Genetic Diseases and HIV

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2012Scienceamy rhoden smith, austin, base molecule, brent iverson, cells, chromosome, DNA, dna sequence, double helix, garen holman, georgetown, hiv, kenneth johnson, legos, maha zewail foote, molecule, naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide, ndi, protease inhibitors, sequence of genes, southwestern university, spiral staircase, university of texas, viral dna

AUSTIN, Texas — Chemists at The University of Texas at Austin have created a molecule that’s so good at tangling itself inside the double helix of a DNA sequence that it can stay there for up to 16 days before the DNA liberates itself, much longer than any other molecule reported.

It’s an important step along the path to someday creating drugs that can go after rogue DNA directly. Such drugs would be revolutionary in the treatment of genetic diseases, cancer or retroviruses such as HIV, which incorporate viral DNA directly into the body’s DNA. (more…)