AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001
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A demographic study conducted by Georgetown University public policy researchers has revealed that women infected with HIV are less likely to receive antiretroviral therapies than men and as a result, their mortality rate due to HIV infection is higher.
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001
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A new family of antiviral compounds has proved 100 times more potent than the original in laboratory studies and opened a promising new direction in AIDS research.
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001
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Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center have shown in laboratory studies that a molecule found in the human body can halt the growth of HIV.
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Experts have concluded the safety and effectiveness of antiretroviral (ARV) regimens, which prevent HIV transmission from mother to child, warrant their use beyond pilot projects and research settings.
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A drug that helps to slow the progression of HIV does not seem to prevent virus-related damage to an organ critical to the development of the immune system. This organ, called the thymus, is especially important early in life when the human immune system is developing.
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A study focusing on HIV patients receiving antiretroviral treatment has determined that CD4 cell count decreases as these individuals age. The researchers conclude that long-term restoration of immune cells in such patients is dependent, therefore, on thymic potential.
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Two Harvard Medical School researchers working toward an HIV vaccine are yielding promising results using a novel viral vector known for its longevity, according to a study in the September 2000 Journal of Virology.
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Transdermal testosterone (T) replacement therapy effectively raises serum total and free T levels in androgen-deficient HIV infected women, researchers have found.
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Researchers in Austria reported that central nervous system (CNS) involvement is still a frequent autopsy finding in AIDS patients irrespective of the introduction of improved antiretroviral therapies.
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The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) devastates the body's ability to fight off infection by destroying a key class of T cells essential for maintaining a vigorous immune response. Now, scientists from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) report for the first time that B cells - the antibody-producing cells of the immune system - help ferry HIV throughout the blood and can likely deliver the virus to nearby T cells.
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Researchers in Switzerland find that discontinuing primary prophylaxis against disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection (MAC) in HIV infected patients who are responding well to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is safe.
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Nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) therapy contributes to subcutaneous fat wasting in HIV patients, according to researchers in Australia.
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Although researchers in the United States have been able to confirm that protease inhibitors (PI) cause hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and lipodystrophy in HIV infected patients who take these antivirals, they still do not understand the mechanisms behind the complications.
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Antiretroviral therapy for HIV patients can be a double-edged sword, according to University of Pittsburgh AIDS researchers and their Brazilian colleagues.
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The penetration of indinavir into the central nervous system and into the male genital tract is enhanced after low-dose ritonavir is added to the drug cocktail, researchers in The Netherlands report.
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Clinical data from a French multicenter trial show that HIV coinfection does not adversely affect antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
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The results of a study led by a University of Iowa researcher suggest that a drug already undergoing stage I and II clinical trials as a cancer treatment may also have potential as an anti-HIV therapy.
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The new protease inhibitor (PI) Amprenavir , which recently received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, can be used in both initial and salvage combination therapies.
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New research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that men infected with HIV will more rapidly develop AIDS if they use strategies of denial to cope with the disease threat.
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A team of scientists from the United States and Uganda reported that the inexpensive AIDS drug, nevirapine, when given to both mother and child around the time of birth, greatly reduces mother-to-infant transmission of HIV up to a year after the medicine was given.
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Helping to clarify a long-standing issue, a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, shows that women carry lower levels of HIV in their blood than men, especially during early phases of the infection, but have the same risk as men of developing AIDS.
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Antiretroviral combination therapy reduces the risk of death in human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) perinatally (occurring around the time of birth) infected children, according to an article in the July 12 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association
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Earthquakes and other natural disasters may have captured donations and headlines, but preventable diseases killed 13 million people in 1999, according to a report published June 28, 2000, by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
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An international multi-site trial of the spermicide nonoxynol-9 in gel form has shown that the product is not effective in protecting women from HIV infection.
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More than 5,000 scientists and medical doctors have signed a statement in the July 1 issue of Nature declaring that there is overwhelming evidence that the virus HIV causes AIDS, and that recognition of this evidence is essential if viable ways of combating the disease are to be developed.
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A study published in the July issue of Psychiatric Services found that older persons with HIV/AIDS are more likely to experience depression and have thoughts of suicide than do younger persons living with the disease.
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HIV evolved from a benign simian infection into a human virus in the early 1930s, long before it was recognized as a disease, but it stayed in remote Africa until jet travel, urban environments, and the sexual revolution spread it worldwide, a new study suggests.
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New findings from a study conducted in Texas indicate that patients who are positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who also have a history of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis can discontinue anti-CMV treatment when they demonstrate evidence of being sustained responders to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
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Predictors of virological success or ensuing failure for HIV-1 patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were evaluated in a study conducted in Europe.
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Medical investigators at Indiana University's School of Medicine report that patients taking the drug indinavir, an antiretroviral agent used in treating patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has caused asymptomatic crystalluria and acute interstitial nephritis in at least two of their patients.
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Harvard University School of Medicine researchers reported in a major scientific publication that interleukin-2 (IL-2) plasmids enhance the immune response to HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines in rhesus monkeys.
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Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published study results indicating that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 viral load increases in the saliva when there is inflammation present in the oral cavity.
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One of the major factors that researchers must address when determining the best way to design a vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is viral virulence.
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According to a recent study published in the Journal of Virology, the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease inhibitor amprenavir is a good salvage therapy for patients who have had unsuccessful courses of treatment with other protease inhibitors.
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A new study conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, adds additional evidence linking human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a malignant skin disease sometimes seen in patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
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New study indicate that when HIV+ patients' CD4+ cell counts increase to 100 cells/mm3 or more, azithromycin, which is a drug used to prevent and treat Mycobacterium avium complex disease, can be discontinued.
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Chronic diarrhea is associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS. The causes of this malady can sometimes be difficult to diagnose when normal, non-invasive procedures are used.
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AIDS drugs that dramatically prolong the lives of many HIV infected people also quickly block the body's ability to store glucose, scientists have found. Their research explains why people who take HIV protease inhibitors are prone to develop diabetes.
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African Americans, women, injection drug users, and people with low levels of education are less likely than other groups to have early access to antiretroviral therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), says new research.
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An international panel of AIDS experts has established a broad set of recommendations for drug resistance testing in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), published in the May 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Amprenavir, a protease inhibitor used for treating patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is not completely metabolized by patients with liver diseases such as cirrhosis. As a result, Glaxo Wellcome researchers recommend that HIV patients with liver disorders who take amprenavir should have their dosages adjusted.
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The University of California at San Francisco AIDS Research Institute (ARI) is launching a new international program that will focus on stemming the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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Scientists at the Montreal General Hospital in Canada propose that patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who receive highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), may acquire a syndrome related to increased cardiac risk called HIV/HAART-associated lipodystrophy (HAL).
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According to a researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, disease processes that occur during Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) may bring about alterations of lung surfactant which cause hypoxemic respiratory insufficiency in infected patients.
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Adolescents infected with HIV have a surprisingly robust immune response and may benefit particularly well from aggressive early treatment with anti-HIV medications, according to a research team led by an immunologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
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AIDS research pioneer Luc Montagnier urged South Africa to be pragmatic about treating the fatal disease rather than engage in arguments on whether HIV causes it.
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Scientists report that a study comparing long-term versus short-term therapy for preventing tuberculosis in patients with HIV shows the latter to be a safe and effective method of treatment.
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Mandatory HIV screening of pregnant women would not only reduce the number of newborns with the virus, it would also cost less than voluntary testing or no tests at all, a University of Illinois analysis shows.
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Survival chances are better for people with HIV-1 infection in Europe following the recent introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), according to a research letter published in the April 1, 2000, issue of The Lancet.
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A multi-center study led by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the advent of thrombosis in AIDS patients is associated with certain risk factors.
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An understanding about HIV transmission in women - information that could lead to preventive strategies for this population - may come from an organ culture model recently developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) in Pennsylvania.
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A study report from Belgium reveals that genetic mutations not only influence drug resistance in known therapeutic regimens for HIV but also in drugs which are not a part of standard regimens.
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The following was issued by the Independent Women's Forum: In a soon-to-be released review of [U.S.] federal AIDS funding, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that Ryan White CARE Act funding substantially underfunds the African American and Hispanic communities.
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HIV type 1 (HIV-1) Tat may activate the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) homolog called G protein coupled receptor (vGCR) in Kaposi's sarcoma, say scientists at the University of Texas.
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A study of expression vectors has shown that HIV 1 and 2 promoter constructs can produce large quantities of interleukin 2 (IL-2) in human cancer cell lines.
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A team of researchers from France and the U.S. have identified mutations in a cell receptor that may accelerate the progression of AIDS after HIV infection in some patients.
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For reasons largely unknown, a small number of HIV infected individuals remain symptom-free long after AIDS normally would have appeared. Scientists from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and their co-workers now report how a small subgroup of these so-called long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs) may avoid disease.
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Full-course zidovudine therapy is more cost effective than short-course therapy in preventing perinatal transmission of HIV in the United States, according to a report from the Medical College of Wisconsin.
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Scientists have discovered a key molecule that the AIDS virus uses to hijack a special type of cell in the body's outermost tissues, providing vital information into how the virus is first transmitted in the body. The molecule transports the virus to immune system tissues, and actually facilitates infection.
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HIV specific CD8 T-cell responses may be involved in protection against heterosexual HIV transmission, according to a study following prostitutes in Nairobi, Kenya.
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There are three distinct types of fat distribution abnormalities associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy, according to an ongoing study from France.
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A new study has suggested that phenotypic testing improves HIV treatment choices by physicians and significantly improves the viral suppression seen with antiviral medications.
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A year ago, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) showed that, thanks to its low saltiness compared to other bodily fluids, saliva kills blood cells that find their way into the mouth, including those cells harboring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). That happens through osmosis as the blood cells suck in water from saliva and burst.
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Two research letters published in the February 12, 2000, issue of The Lancet illustrate how the popular herbal remedy St. John's wort can interact dangerously with the pharmacological processes involved with HIV and heart transplant treatments, respectively.
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Results demonstrating the significant potency of Viramune (nevirapine, NVP) were presented at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held in San Francisco, California, January 30 - February 2, 2000.
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After 2 decades of work analyzing and attempting to subdue the HIV virus, the AIDS epidemic is "... evolving, expanding, and posing ever greater challenges," according to a review in the January 28, 2000, issue of Science.
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Pregnant women infected with HIV may have 2 weapons for reducing the risk of transmitting the AIDS virus to their baby: taking a combination of AIDS drugs and opting to give birth by cesarean section, according to new research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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AIDS is the "most dramatic" of the world's health problems and calls for "unprecedented responses" from the world community, World Health Organization director-general Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland said at the opening of WHO's 105th Executive Board meeting January 24, 2000.
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Measuring adenoidal tissue mass can be used as a clinical guide of disease evolution in vertically HIV 1 infected children, researchers from Spain reported.
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According to a study from the United States, 7 long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs) have been identified in a cohort of 128 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infected individuals with hemophilia.
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Activated CD8 T-cells in lymphoid tissue provide an excellent immunological marker for virological response to antiretroviral therapy, according to a report from Norway.
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Women may be infected by the HIV virus in a different way than men, according to a study published in the journal Nature, suggesting it could be even harder to develop a vaccine that would work well on women.
Antigen-induced stimulation of the immune system generates heterogeneity in CD4+ T-cell division rates which helps explain patterns seen in viral load fluctuations during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), researchers from Europe report.
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According to a new study published in the January 2000 issue of Virology, genes involved in T-cell signaling, protein trafficking, and transcriptional regulation were among the genes that displayed functional changes within 3 days of exposure to the HIV virus.
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Ten percent of HIV infected individuals taking antiretroviral drugs experience liver toxicity at a level high enough to warrant stopping treatment, according to new findings by Johns Hopkins University researchers.
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Countries as diverse as Switzerland and Thailand outshine the United States in development and implementation of effective nationwide programs against HIV and AIDS, according to recent research.
A mathematical model demonstrates that years of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) will be required to clear HIV-1 trapped on follicular dendritic cells (FDC).
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Newly published research led by University of Washington scientists could one day lead to a laboratory test to predict when people infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are likely to progress to symptomatic AIDS.
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