hiv – Page 5 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

The Gene That Can Transform Mild Influenza in to a Life Threatening Disease

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2012Health, Scienceantiviral, cell, deenan pillay, disease, gene variant, genetic finding, greg towers, h1n1 pandemic influenza, hiv, ifitm3 gene, infection, influenza, life threatening, paul kellam, protein, sir mark walport, swine flu, ucl, variant, virus infection

A genetic finding could help to explain why influenza becomes a life-threatening disease for some people, and yet has only a mild effect on others. Collaborative research led by scientists at UCL and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found that people who carry a particular variant of the IFITM3 gene are significantly more likely to be hospitalised when they fall ill with influenza than those who carry other variants.

The gene plays a critical role in protecting the body against infection with influenza and a rare version of it appears to make people more susceptible to severe forms of the disease. The results are published in the journal Nature. (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…)

Guidelines Stress Caution When Combining Anti-Epileptic, HIV Drugs

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 2012Healthaeds, aids drugs, aids medication, american academy of neurology, anti hiv drugs, antiretrovirals, arvs, carbamazepine, cerebral malaria, drug interactions, drug resistant hiv, epilepsia, epilepsy, gretchen birbeck, guidelines, hiv, medical guideline, michigan state university, mood disorders, nation, neurological ailments, phenobarbital, phenytoin, seizure drugs, strain, sub sahara africa, toxic, world health organization, zambia

EAST LANSING, Mich. — New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease.

Michigan State University’s 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, which was co-developed with the World Health Organization through the International League Against Epilepsy. (more…)

Is an End to AIDS-related Deaths Possible?

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2011General, Mediaafrica, african descendants, aids related death, canada, fight against hiv, gay, ghana, hiv, kappa, laron nelson, msm, sex with men, sexually transmissible infections, viral loads, world aids day

U of T assistant professor of nursing LaRon Nelson weighs in

World AIDS Day is held on Dec. 1 each year. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV, commemorate people who have died and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. Held for the first time in 1988, it’s become one of the most recognized international health holidays. The day is also a chance for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in high prevalence countries and around the world. (more…)

Jeopardy! Winnings Spur IBM and Scripps Research Institute Collaboration to Fight Against Malaria

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2011Science, Technologyafrica, alex l perryman, asia, clean water techniques, critical to human health, drug resistant strains, economic distress, go fight against malaria, hiv, human competitors, ibm, jeopardy game, malaria, mike pique, multi drug resistant aids, plasmodium falciparum, renewable energy materials, ruth huey, sargis dallakyan, scripps research institute, south america, stefano forli, subhash sinha, supercomputer of the people, watson computing system, world community grid, world health organization

*Project to use 2 million PCs to crunch numbers, compress 100 years of research into just one*

LA JOLLA, CA and ARMONK, NY – IBM’s Watson computing system broke new ground earlier this year when it defeated two celebrated human competitors on the Jeopardy! game show. Now, The Scripps Research Institute is hoping to do something equally novel but more critical to human health with part of the prize money from that tournament: Find a cure for drug-resistant malaria. And it’s asking for the public’s help.

To that end, Scripps Research and IBM are encouraging anyone in the world with a personal computer to join World Community Grid, a sort of “supercomputer of the people” that will crunch numbers and perform simulations for “GO Fight Against Malaria”—the project that Scripps Research and IBM have launched at https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org. (more…)

Modified Vaccine Shows Promise in Preventing Malaria

By Guest PostSeptember 29, 2011Health, Scienceandrea amalfitano, barnett rosenberg, circumsporozoite protein, csp, deadly disease, eat 2, gene, gene adjuvants, global effort to prevent malaria infections, hiv, immune response, immune system stimulating gene, key role, malaria parasite, malaria vaccine, michigan state university, nathaniel j schuldt, protein, rea, us army, vaccine, virus, yasser a aldhamen

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Continuing a global effort to prevent malaria infections, Michigan State University researchers have created a new malaria vaccine – one that combines the use of a disabled cold virus with an immune system-stimulating gene – that appears to increase the immune response against the parasite that causes the deadly disease.

At the same time, the group led by Andrea Amalfitano of the College of Osteopathic Medicine also discovered another immune-system stimulating agent – created at MSU and which has been successful in improving immune responses in vaccines for diseases such as HIV – paradoxically made for a less effective malaria vaccine. (more…)

Tag Archives: hiv