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HIV protein TAT used to pull protein Bim into cancer cells - helps kill cancer cells

Cancer cells are sick, but they keep growing because they don't react to internal signals urging them to die. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found an efficient way to get a messenger into cancer cells that forces them to respond to death signals. And they did it using one of the most sinister pathogens around - HIV.

15 Feb 2007

Primary targets of HIV-1 infection in human vagina identified

The primary targets of HIV-1 infection in the human vagina have been definitively identified in a new study published in the February 2007 issue of the journal Immunity. The findings are likely to guide development of new strategies that will prevent HIV-1 transmission.

15 Feb 2007

Response to "The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Papua New Guinea"

The report titled The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Papua New Guinea by Miranda Darling Tobias which was released on 8 February by The Centre for Independent Studies is conceptually and methodologically problematic in its analysis of the impact of the HIV epidemic in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

14 Feb 2007

Marijuana gives relief from chronic pain for AIDS sufferers

Researchers have found that people suffering from chronic foot pain as a result of the AIDS virus gained relief from smoking marijuana.

14 Feb 2007

Maraviroc to receive accelerated review in U.S. and Europe

Pfizer announced today that marketing authorization applications for maraviroc will receive accelerated review in both the United States and Europe. Accelerated reviews are granted to potential medicines that, if approved, would represent significant improvements over current therapies.

13 Feb 2007

Thailand holds drug giants over a barrel

The government of Thailand, has already upset some of the big drug companies by overriding patent licenses for generic versions of heart and HIV/AIDS pills, and is now planning to go one step further unless drug giants cut their prices.

13 Feb 2007

PreventionWorks examined by Washington Post columnist

Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy on Wednesday examined PreventionWorks! -- a privately funded needle-exchange program in Washington, D.C., that aims to curb the spread of HIV among injection drug users in the city.

13 Feb 2007

World Bank to provide Thailand with $750,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The World Bank plans to provide Thailand with a $750,000, three-year grant aimed at providing HIV-positive people with increased access to antiretroviral drugs, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, program director for international health policy at the country's Ministry of Public Health, said recently.

13 Feb 2007

WFP resumes programs providing food to people with TB, HIV in Cambodia

The World Food Program has resumed its programs providing people living with HIV and tuberculosis in Cambodia with access to food after receiving aid from Spain and the U.S., the agency said on Thursday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

13 Feb 2007

House spending resolution contains provision that would cancel funding for program to expand HIV services to pregnant women, infants

The $463 billion spending resolution (HJ Res 20) for fiscal year 2007 passed last week by the House contains a provision that cancels funding for a program aimed at supporting state-level efforts to provide HIV prevention, early diagnosis, and counseling services to pregnant women and infants, CongressDaily reports.

13 Feb 2007

G7 nations plan to adopt vaccine purchase plan for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria

The Group of Seven industrialized nations on Friday plans to sign an agreement to provide $1.5 billion to develop vaccines for diseases -- including HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria -- that largely affect developing countries, the government of Italy announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

13 Feb 2007

Youth in Czech Republic not practicing safe sex

Increasing numbers of young people in the Czech Republic are not protecting themselves against HIV transmission, according to the Czech daily newspaper Mlada Fronta, the Prague Daily Monitor reports.

13 Feb 2007

New HIV/AIDS cases in Japan reach record high

The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV and those who developed AIDS in Japan in 2006 reached record highs of 914 and 390, respectively, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Japanese AIDS Surveillance Committee, the Kyodo/Yahoo! Asia News reports.

13 Feb 2007

Michel Kazatchkine to focus on improving partnerships, health care infrastructures

Michel Kazatchkine -- France's global ambassador for HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases who on Thursday was selected to be the new executive director of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- has announced that he will aim to improve the organization's partnerships with United Nations organizations and donors, the Boston Globe reports.

13 Feb 2007

Wealthy nations launch vaccine purchase plan for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria

Officials from a group of wealthy nations on Friday launched a $1.5 billion plan to provide and develop vaccines for diseases -- including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- that largely affect developing countries, the New York Times reports.

13 Feb 2007

Groups call on G8 to deliver on 2005 promises made for Africa

Some HIV/AIDS advocacy groups last week called on finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations, meeting on Friday in Germany, to fulfill commitments made by the Group of Eight industrialized nations at its 2005 summit regarding aid to Africa, including HIV/AIDS funding, South Africa's Star reports.

13 Feb 2007

Papua New Guinea should boost HIV prevention efforts

More than one-third of the adult population in Papua New Guinea could die of AIDS-related causes within 20 years if the spread of HIV is not controlled in the country, according to a report released Thursday by the Australian Centre for Independent Studies, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

12 Feb 2007

Brazil to continue plans to install condom vending machines in schools nationwide for HIV prevention

Brazil's Ministry of Health on Tuesday pledged to continue plans to install condom vending machines in schools nationwide as part of the country's HIV prevention efforts, Reuters/Washington Post reports.

12 Feb 2007

Determinants of disease presentation and outcome during cryptococcosis

CRNS and the Institut Pasteur conducted research in France on patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis which ranks second among fatal opportunistic infections in patients infected by HIV and who are profoundly immunosuppressed.

12 Feb 2007

South Africa starts major HIV/AIDS vaccine trial

The launch of the first large-scale study to evaluate a candidate HIV vaccine on the African continent was announced today by study collaborators in the United States and South Africa. The trial will involve up to 3,000 participants at five sites throughout South Africa and is expected to continue for four years.

11 Feb 2007