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Affordable artemisinin using tobacco plants

Combating malaria is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals described in the United Nations Millennium Declaration signed by all UN members at the year 2000. A key intervention to control malaria is prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies.

19 Dec 2011

New gel could nip Lyme borreliosis infection in the bud

They come out in the spring, and each year they spread further - the ticks. Thirty percent of them transmit borrelia pathogens, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis that can damage joints and organs.

19 Dec 2011

Link between malaria and salmonella infections

The link between malaria and salmonella infections has been explained for the first time, opening the way to more effective treatments.

19 Dec 2011

Bed bugs deterred by body hair: Study

According to Sheffield, UK researchers hairy skin may be the key to avoiding being bitten by bed bugs. The study was reported in the journal Biology Letters. Researchers say the hair slows down the bed bugs and warns the victim.

18 Dec 2011

Women, girls affected by HIV in Indonesia face poverty

"The number of reported HIV cases has tripled in Indonesia in recent years, curtailing productivity and trapping affected girls and women, especially, in poverty, according to a recent U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) report," PlusNews reports.

17 Dec 2011

Balancing optimism and realism in battle against HIV/AIDS

In his monthly column "Pulling It Together," Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman discusses a recent conversation between The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and U2 lead singer Bono that "captures the tension between the opportunity for new optimism and the continuing need for realism about the AIDS epidemic."

17 Dec 2011

A call for continued investment in global health, development

In this Politico opinion piece, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who chairs the non-profit Hope Through Healing Hands, writes, "Continued investment in the fight to end global AIDS is more than an investment in the lives of families and communities in developing nations -- it is an investment in security, diplomacy and our moral image worldwide."

17 Dec 2011

UNAIDS Board convenes, approves global efforts to meet 2015 HIV/AIDS targets

The UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board "convened from 13-15 December to review and follow up on recommendations of the 2011 U.N. General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS," a UNAIDS press release states.

17 Dec 2011

Vanderbilt to develop low-cost extraction device for people in resource-poor settings

They call it "The Extractionator." The prototype looks like nothing more than a length of clear plastic tubing until you inspect it closely. But it could be the basis of an easy-to-use and low-cost sample collection and preparation system that will help bring the benefits of medical diagnostic testing to the people who live in the poorest areas of the world.

17 Dec 2011

Immediate ART appears preferable to deferring treatment among recently infected HIV patients

Among people recently infected with HIV, immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) appears preferable to deferring treatment, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online.

17 Dec 2011

Behavioral interventions reduce STIs and improve condom use

Behavioral interventions aimed at reducing sexual risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex, are effective at both promoting condom use and reducing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) long after the initial intervention, according to a new report in the December 15 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

16 Dec 2011

F. nucleatum alters endothelial integrity and allows other bacteria to invade human body

A common oral bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum, acts like a key to open a door in human blood vessels and leads the way for it and other bacteria like Escherichia coli to invade the body through the blood and make people sick, according to dental researchers at Case Western Reserve University.

16 Dec 2011

Soligenix secures Harvard option rights to initiate anthrax vaccine development program

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has initiated a next generation anthrax vaccine development program pursuant to a field-exclusive option agreement with Harvard University to negotiate a license under patent rights that cover prophylactic uses of a modified anthrax toxin protein.

16 Dec 2011

Global Fund releases 'Information Note' on Transitional Funding Mechanism

The Center for Global Health Policy's "ScienceSpeaks" blog reports on a recently released "Information Note" from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "explaining the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM) that the Fund Board recently decided would replace a Round 11 funding cycle.

16 Dec 2011

Study aims to reduce mortality disparities by education

A study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review has brought new understanding as to why death rates for less educated middle aged adults are much higher than for their more educated peers despite increased awareness and treatments aimed at reducing health disparities.

16 Dec 2011

HIV testing remains important amid push for expanded treatment in Africa

"With a needle puncture on your finger and a drop of blood, the magic of modern science can give you a rapid HIV test in seconds, and so, knowing your status, you are better able to negotiate the rocky road of surviving HIV where timely detection is key," Farai Sevenzo, a columnist and filmmaker, writes in this BBC News opinion piece, part of a series from African journalists.

16 Dec 2011

AP examines WHO target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by 2015

The Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle examines what it will take for the WHO to reach its new target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by the end of 2015 and how "some experts questioned if WHO should be setting such lofty goals, especially at a time of declining funding."

16 Dec 2011

Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges to develop new diagnostics for tropical diseases

Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have teamed up on an unprecedented global effort to discover and develop affordable, easy-to-use tools to help developing country health workers rapidly diagnose diseases in rural communities. The expected result: more timely and appropriate treatment of illnesses in poor countries, potentially saving countless lives.

16 Dec 2011

Six UNC faculty members named AAAC fellow

Six University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

16 Dec 2011

New book on clinical laboratory mycological identification

A new edition of the definitive practical resource for laboratory identification of fungal infections is now available. "The fully revised Medically Important Fungi: A Guide to Identification, 5th Edition," published by ASM Press, offers step-by-step guidance and textual descriptions that allow both novice and experienced lab technologists to accurately distinguish between fungi that display similar characteristics.

16 Dec 2011