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VOICE HIV prevention trial to discontinue use of tenofovir tablets

VOICE, an HIV prevention trial evaluating two antiretroviral (ARV)-based approaches for preventing the sexual transmission of HIV in women - daily use of one of two different ARV tablets or of a vaginal gel - will be dropping one of the oral tablets from the study.

29 Sep 2011

DaTscan aids doctors in diagnosing patients with Parkinson's disease

Fifty thousand to 60,000 new cases of Parkinson's disease are diagnosed in the United States each year. Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) in Winfield, Ill., is among the first medical centers in North America to be using a new technology called DaTscan, an imaging tool that aids doctors in diagnosing patients who demonstrate Parkinsonian symptoms, like Parkinson's disease.

29 Sep 2011

Anthrax defenses need to be strengthened: Experts

It has been a decade since the anthrax attacks brought home the reality of bioterrorism and the nation now has a stockpile of some basic tools to fight back against a few of the threats that worry defense experts the most.

28 Sep 2011

'Urgent action' needed to prevent resistance to antiretroviral therapy

"The clear pattern of increasing antiretroviral resistance in lower-income settings must be considered in the context of the worldwide HIV-control agenda," especially because "the increasing rates of antiretroviral resistance in low-income settings represent a potential threat to the emerging treatment-as-prevention strategy," Evan Wood and Julio Montaner of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS write in a Lancet Infectious Diseases opinion piece.

28 Sep 2011

Transparent reporting tool needed to monitor progress in maternal, child health

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Nandini Oomman, director of the HIV/AIDS Monitor at the center, and Rachel Silverman, a research assistant at the center, respond to a one-year assessment of progress released by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) on September 20, calling it "strangely short on meaningful data and clear messages about progress."

28 Sep 2011

High prevalence of NTDs in Central Asia after 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union

The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish an article emphasizing the rising burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Central Asia on Tuesday, Sept. 27th.

28 Sep 2011

Immediate action needed to curb spread of TB, especially among children

In this post in the Huffington Posts "Impact" blog, Kolleen Bouchane, director of ACTION, an international partnership of advocates working to mobilize resources to treat and prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB), examines the need for improved TB vaccines and diagnostics in order to curb the spread of multidrug-resistant TB, especially among children, and highlights ACTION's new report.

27 Sep 2011

HIV vaccine research showing promise

Recent findings on HIV vaccine research, some presented recently at the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference in Bangkok, "show that the science of an AIDS vaccine is vibrant and vital," Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC-Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, writes in a "Science Speaks" guest blog post.

27 Sep 2011

Rush Foundation, Copenhagen Consensus Center examine how to spend hypothetical AIDS funding

In this post in the Center for Global Developments "Global Health Policy" blog, Mead Over, a senior fellow at the center, writes that the Rush Foundation has asked the Copenhagen Consensus Centre to address the question of how to spend an additional, but hypothetical, $10 billion on HIV/AIDS programs in Africa over the next five years.

27 Sep 2011

URBAN ARCH Consortium to examine consequences of alcohol on HIV disease

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health (BUSM/BUSPH), Boston Medical Center (BMC), the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Pittsburgh, have joined together to examine the consequences of alcohol on HIV disease.

27 Sep 2011

OU to host 2011 International WaTER Conference

The WaTER (Water Technologies for Emerging Regions) Center at the University of Oklahoma is bringing together researchers and advocates from around the world to focus on the life-sustaining resource, clean water.

26 Sep 2011

'Time matters' in the fight against pulmonary hypertension

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Europe (PHA EU) has launched ‘Time Matters’ a new campaign which encourages people with Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) and their friends and family to share hopes and dreams for the future in order to raise awareness of this deadly and rapidly progressive condition. By logging on to the website http://phtimematters.org and posting an entry, everybody can help the patient association take a step towards increased awareness and understanding of this devastating condition.

26 Sep 2011

CytoDyn files provisional patent application for humanized version of Cytolin to treat HIV

CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of new therapies for combating infection with immune deficiency viruses, HIV/AIDS, announced today that it has filed a provisional patent application in the United States for its humanized version of its lead product Cytolin, a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of HIV infection.

26 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

The considerable progress in recent years - including the 22-fold increase in the number of people receiving anti-retroviral drugs between 2001-2010 - has been due to scientific breakthroughs and to civil society's efforts to keep AIDS on the political agenda. This is now changing.

23 Sep 2011

Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

"After a decade of unprecedented increases in donor funding and a corresponding 17 percent decline worldwide in the number of new infections, the fight against HIV is losing momentum," Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School, and Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former executive director of UNAIDS, write in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

23 Sep 2011

Examining alternatives to assessing Global Fund effectiveness

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, William Savedoff, a senior fellow at the center, responds to a high level panel's assessment (.pdf) of fiduciary controls at the Global Fund to Fight, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, examining "what this report might mean for an organization that was expressly created to blaze an innovative approach to international aid and is being counseled to back away from that vision."

23 Sep 2011

Synthetic lectins inhibit HIV from entering cells

University of Utah researchers have discovered a new class of compounds that stick to the sugary coating of the AIDS virus and inhibit it from infecting cells - an early step toward a new treatment to prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

23 Sep 2011

FDA denies FOIA regarding Gilead Sciences' Truvada correspondence, AHF sues

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its denial of AHF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding correspondence between the FDA and Gilead Sciences regarding its potential application to the FDA to expand the use of its AIDS drug, Truvada, for use as an HIV prevention pill for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in uninfected individuals.

23 Sep 2011

National HIV/AIDS Strategy meeting to be held at UAB

The White House Office of National AIDS Policy is holding a series of National HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation Dialogues across the country to examine critical issues and encourage action and collaboration at the state and local levels. The first meeting, focusing on incorporating prevention and care research into HIV programs, is being held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011.

23 Sep 2011