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Reuters examines how harm reduction policies in Switzerland could serve as model for reducing spread of HIV/AIDS among IDUs

Switzerland's innovative policy of providing drug addicts with free methadone and clean needles has greatly reduced deaths while cutting crime rates and should serve as a global model, health experts said on Monday, Reuters reports in an article that examines the outcomes of drug policy reform in the country

27 Oct 2010

India's Trade Minister says EU will take steps to prevent seizure of generic medicines

"India believes a row with the European Union over seizures of generic drugs will be settled without litigation, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Lynn, 10/20).

26 Oct 2010

Potential technologies to help older people sleep better

The Somnia conference has been led by academics at the University of Surrey in conjunction with other academics including those working on new technology at the University of Bath.

26 Oct 2010

Viral microRNA allows EBV to hide within cells and evade immune system

While most commonly associated with mononucleosis, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been linked to many diseases that affect people long after the initial infection takes place, including some forms of cancer. In the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists at The Wistar Institute describe how viral microRNA - small segments of RNA that suppress the effects of gene activity - allows EBV to hide within cells and evade the immune system.

26 Oct 2010

Panel examines global food security ahead of LA Francophonie summit; Global Fund, UNAIDS call for greater cooperation among French-speaking countries

World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy highlighted concerns about the global food situation on Friday during a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the International Organisation of La Francophonie summit, Agence France-Presse reports.

26 Oct 2010

To reach MDGs, citizens must demand more from political leaders, former U.N. Secretary-General tells U.N. Foundation board meeting

At a U.N. Foundation board meeting in Ghana to discuss Millennium Development Goal progress, which concluded on Saturday, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "called on the citizenry to demand the attainment of these set goals from their political leaders," the Accra Mail reports. "It is only through this that we can put pressure on the politician to work towards achieving these goals," he said, according to the newspaper.

26 Oct 2010

Daily dose of whole body vibration reduces bone density loss

A daily dose of whole body vibration may help reduce the usual bone density loss that occurs with age, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

25 Oct 2010

World Vision increases response in cholera affected Haiti

As the cholera outbreak continues to spread in the Artibonite region of Haiti, World Vision is increasing its response in affected areas, pre-positioning much-needed health supplies and preparing residents in its displacement camps in Port-au-Prince with critical, life-saving health and hygiene messages.

25 Oct 2010

NCRR awards 450 Recovery Act instrumentation grants to NIH-funded scientists

Leading-edge, shared technologies are an important component of advancing research to improve health. Specialized instruments such as high-powered electron microscopes, high-resolution mass spectrometers and supercomputers that rapidly process vast amounts of data can enable breakthrough discoveries in preventions, treatments and cures for diseases.

22 Oct 2010

U.N. reports explore issues facing women worldwide

Two U.N. reports released on Wednesday examine the conditions faced by women around the world, the New York Times reports (MacFarquhar, 10/20). The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics report, which is published every five years, offers a compilation of "the latest data documenting progress for women worldwide in eight key areas: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty," according to a U.N. Statistics Division press release.

22 Oct 2010

Hospira announces launch of piperacillin and tazobactam injection in the US

Hospira, Inc., the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced the launch of piperacillin and tazobactam for injection in the United States. The medication is a generic version of Zosyn, the world's leading injectable antibiotic, from Pfizer. Piperacillin and tazobactam injection posted 2009 U.S. sales of more than $855 million.

22 Oct 2010

NIH awards three new SBIR grants to Taiga

Taiga Biotechnologies, Inc. today announced that the company has received three new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health, totaling $1.7 million. This adds to the two previous grants awarded to Taiga for various applications of its proprietary technology platforms, for a total in NIH funding to date of over $2.1 million.

22 Oct 2010

UCLA researchers receive NIH grant to study HIV-positive men from LA County jails

A team of UCLA researchers has received a $4.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study ways to get HIV-positive men who have been released from Los Angeles County jails into medical care and on sustained treatment.

22 Oct 2010

Clinical research scholar receives grant to promote lifestyle changes for HIV patients

Between the demands of work, family and friends, many women find health takes a back seat. Women with HIV are no exception. "Many women with the HIV face challenges from sleepless nights to little personal time-all activities that can negatively impact health," says Allison Webel, a clinical research scholar and instructor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

22 Oct 2010

Researchers investigate reverse zoonosis in marine invertebrate

The spread of lethal diseases from animals to humans has long been an issue of great concern to public health officials. But what about diseases that spread in the other direction, from humans to wildlife. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia has just been awarded a five-year $2 million Ecology of Infectious Diseases grant from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to study the first known case of such a "reverse zoonosis" that involves the transmission of a human pathogen to a marine invertebrate, elkhorn coral.

21 Oct 2010

SciDev.Net examines plans for India-S. Africa HIV vaccine research project

SciDev.Net reports on an HIV vaccine research collaboration between researchers from India and South Africa to launch by the end of 2010.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists find potential Achilles Heel in JC polyomavirus

The JC polyomavirus doesn't strike very often, but it's a mean bug that preys on people with weakened immune systems, including people with AIDS, and almost always kills them. Now an international team of scientists at Brown University, the University of T-bingen in Germany, and Imperial College in London has found a potential Achilles Heel and painted a target on it: The virus must bind to a very specific sugar molecule dangling from the side of the brain cells it attacks.

21 Oct 2010

Study on health effects of alcohol consumption with HIV

Living with HIV is difficult under the best of circumstances, but for people carrying the virus, alcohol consumption can become particularly perilous in intricate ways that are only beginning to be understood. At the Brown Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH) funded by a new $7.5-million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, Brown University scientists will study the health effects of drinking with HIV and provide doctors and patients with the latest guidance their results suggest.

21 Oct 2010

NIH awards $7 million grant to provide sustained care for HIV-positive inmates

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study effective ways to seek, test, and treat inmates with HIV.

21 Oct 2010

Also in Global Health News: Foreign aid in Ethiopia; Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Health in Myanmar; Poverty in Zambia; Rwanda's progress on MDGs; Men involved in PMTCT of HIV

Ethiopia's government has been restricting access to food and other types of foreign aid among opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Malone, 10/19). The report is based on more than 200 interviews, conducted over a six-month period in 2009, of people in 53 villages across three regions of the country, according to an HRW press release (10/19).

21 Oct 2010