The world AIDS conference last month offered a large dose of grim news about the disease and its precursor, HIV.
But a new university study suggests that there is at least one glimmer of hope.
In a recent article in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, researchers report that social activism in groups such as ACT UP may have a positive effect on the way people with AIDS and HIV cope with their medical and psychological problems.
The research team found that i
How Economic Changes Affect Disease
“Plop!” You drop one in the pot of boiling coconut milk. The delicate aroma of wings and fur rise into the air. While not everyone’s ideal food choice, the Chamorro people of Guam regard the flying fox – a type of bat that can grow up to a four foot wingspan – as a delicacy. Mostly consumed by men, the entire animal, including the fur and all the insides, are eaten during social gatherings and certain important events. Women sometimes eat the
An increase in the transmission rate of drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), now affecting as many as one in five newly infected persons, has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
In a five-year, multi-center study of more than 300 patients in 10 North American cities, the investigators found that the transmission rate of drug-resistant HIV had more than doubled, resulting in impaired patient-response once anti-retr
Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have found that aspirin use may decrease the incidence of pancreatic cancer, possibly through its anti-inflammatory effects. The study will be published in the Aug. 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
For seven years, lead author Kristin Anderson, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Public Health, and her colleagues followed a group of postmenopausal women from Iowa who were part of the Iowa
Study suggests promising new insights for men with early-stage disease
A fat-laden diet and high calcium consumption are both well-known suspected risk factors for prostate cancer. However, new findings from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggest that fat and calcium themselves may not cause prostate cancer, as previously thought, but instead may fuel its progression from localized to advanced disease.
While high intake of dietary fat and calcium is associated wi
A new study published in BMC Infectious Diseases reveals that people with latent toxoplasmosis (a harmless form of the disease) are more likely to be involved in a road traffic accident. These findings may well be due to the presence of cysts formed in nerves and muscle tissue, which may reduce the ability of infected individuals to concentrate.
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease, which affects between 30-60% of people across the world. However, very few people have symptoms because our im
Research study shows promising results for non-surgical treatment of life threatening condition
Rodney White, MD, Chief of Vascular Surgery and Associate Chair, Department of Surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Principal Investigator at the Research & Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (REI) is shedding new light on endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs). A life threatening condition caused by a weakening of the vascular wall of the aorta in th
Researchers at the University of Chicago have found a way to combine cancer chemotherapy with gene therapy designed to disrupt the growth of blood vessels to a tumor. The combination, tested in mice, is far more effective than standard chemotherapy and has no additional side effects. This innovative approach is described in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
This new approach evolved out of a similar system, now entering phase-2 human trials, that combines gene ther
According to the World Health Organization, Tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis or TB) will kill two million people this year, with the projected number of new infections over the next twenty years reaching a billion. A rapidly moving, constantly mutating disease, TB’s effects are made worse by its ability to quickly react to new drug treatments, becoming resistant to antibiotics. Searching for a way to improve treatment, a group of researchers from the University of Tennessee developed
For years, physicians have noticed surprising similarities in the factors that seem to trigger attacks in such episodic neurological disorders as migraine and dyskinesia. Common triggers include psychological stress, caffeine or alcohol ingestion, fatigue, hormonal fluctuations and exercise.
A new study shows that a mouse model can be used to investigate how these substances and environmental factors trigger symptomatic attacks. The researchers also identified two drugs that can prevent at
A new and somewhat controversial study published in the August issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine suggests that 18F-FDG PET results obtained after the first cycle of treatment can better predict progression-free survival in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin’s disease (HD) than PET scans conducted at the end of treatment.
Physicians at the Weill Medical College of Cornell and the New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York reported on 23 patients
First amphetamine-based long-acting stimulant offers all-day symptom control in children
A research team led by a Massachusetts General Hospital investigator has found that a long-acting form of the stimulant medication Adderall is effective in controlling symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children when taken in a single morning dose. The standard form of Adderall, which is made up of several amphetamine-based drugs, is only effective for four hours. This new f
A careful study by a group of investigators of the University of Giessen suggests that there is no indication for mercury intoxication or amalgam allergy as a cause of somatic complaints.
To deepen the understanding of the numerous unspecific complaints which are related to the dental material amalgam both in patients and physicians, an interdisciplinary case-control study regarding toxicological, allergic, psychological and psychiatric aspects was conducted. Forty patients with amalgam-asso
A group of investigators of the University of Cagliari found an interesting association between chemokinines and dementia in Down’s syndrome, which may have far reaching implications.
People with Down`s syndrome (DS) show early Alzheimer-like dementia. It has been suggested that the pro-inflammatory cytokine class plays a role in Alzheimer`s disease (AD). The study aims at verifying whether pro-inflammatory cytokines in DS are correlated with age, affective symptoms and intellectual decline
A new screening test to be piloted in Bristol could help to revolutionise the way children with leukaemia are treated by enabling doctors to fine tune treatment to the needs of each individual patient.
Experts from five centres – Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Sheffield – will pilot the test for the most common form of the childhood leukaemia – acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The team at the University of Bristol and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children is using special technology c
The collaboration between cardiologist and orthopedist may at first seem novel, if not odd. But just such an interdisciplinary connection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has yielded potentially useful fruit: a bioengineered, rhythmically beating experimental model of heart muscle.
The new model system is a bioartificial trabeculum, or BAT. Trabecula are thin sections of cardiac tissue within the inner surface of the heart’s main pumping chambers. Although still some
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