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PSI showcases evidence-based HIV prevention methods at International AIDS Conference

Technical staff from PSI, a leading global health organization operating in more than 60 countries around the world, are currently attending the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna to showcase PSI's innovative, evidence-based HIV prevention methods, which have helped to successfully avert more than one billion cases of HIV infection over the past 40 years.

20 Jul 2010

Benefits of drug L-methionine for neurogenic bladder disorders unclear

It is unclear whether patients with neurogenic bladder disorders benefit from the drug L-methionine. The only study currently available provides neither proof of benefit nor proof of harm. This is the result of a report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 12 July 2010.

20 Jul 2010

A look into HIV related issues

According to a report from US health officials, the poorer neighborhoods of America's cities harbour at least 1 in 50 heterosexual adults infected with HIV. These figures are more than elsewhere in the country. According to the research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), being poor and getting HIV are linked and this was regardless of race or ethnicity.

19 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 19, 2010

Today's headlines include the latest news regarding the politics of implementing health reform as well as developments from the international AIDS conference now underway in Vienna.

19 Jul 2010

Phase 2 CUBICIN study for prosthetic joint infections meets primary endpoint

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading acute care therapeutics company, today announced that its Phase 2 safety study of CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection) in the treatment of prosthetic joint infections caused by certain Gram positive pathogens met its study objectives. This study was a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled Phase 2 trial studying anti-infective therapy in the setting of 2-stage surgery for the replacement of infected prosthetic hip or knee joints.

19 Jul 2010

Phase II data on Genetic Immunity's DermaVir vaccine to be presented at XVIII International AIDS Conference

Genetic Immunity, a US/Hungarian biopharmaceutical company developing nanomedicine-based immunotherapies for HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, is releasing Phase II data on the Company's novel DermaVir therapeutic vaccine for HIV/AIDS during the XVIII International AIDS Conference this week in Vienna, Austria. DermaVir, the first dendritic cell-targeting topical HIV vaccine candidate, employs nanotechnology to induce multi-faceted and long-lived immune responses capable of eliminating HIV infected cells.

19 Jul 2010

ViroStatics to present VS411 Phase II dose-ranging trial data at International AIDS Conference in Vienna

ViroStatics, a US/Italian biopharmaceutical company developing innovative immunotherapies for HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, is releasing Phase II data from a randomized, dose-ranging trial of VS411, the Company's novel combination product for treating HIV/AIDS, during the XVII International AIDS Conference this week in Vienna, Austria.

19 Jul 2010

FIT Biotech to present results of FIT-06 Phase II clinical trial at XVIII International AIDS 2010 Conference

FIT Biotech, a privately held biotechnology company developing novel, proprietary immunotherapies for HIV/AIDS and other viral diseases, announced results today from a Phase II clinical trial. The company's immunomodulator FIT-06 showed unprecedented long-term reductions in viral load (approximately 0.5 log) and statistically significant CD4 cell count increases in HIV-infected, previously untreated patients. The effect lasted longer than two years in the absence of any anti-retroviral therapy.

19 Jul 2010

Effective AIDS treatment but poor accessibility: Report from International AIDS conference 2010

At the 18th AIDS conference 2010 in Vienna, Julio Montaner — the President of the International AIDS Society and Chairman of the AIDS 2010 conference said this Sunday that the G-8 countries were not doing enough to ensure treatment of all people infected with HIV and AIDS. He said, “This is a very serious deficit… Let's rejoice in the fact that today we have treatments that work ... what we need is the political will to go the extra mile to deliver universal access.”

18 Jul 2010

Cash incentives cut down HIV transmission: World Bank Studies

A cash incentive has been found to lower the rates of HIV and sexually transmitted disease transmission among Malawian and Tanzanian youths revealed the World Bank, this Sunday. There were two studies undertaken to make this connection.

18 Jul 2010

New tactics for repelling, controlling disease-carrying insects

In the battle between insect predators and their prey, chemical signals called kairomones serve as an early-warning system. Pervasively emitted by the predators, the compounds are detected by their prey, and can even trigger adaptations, such a change in body size or armor, that help protect the prey. But as widespread as kairomones are in the insect world, their chemical identity has remained largely unknown. New research by Rockefeller University's Joel E. Cohen and colleagues at the University of Haifa in Israel has identified two compounds emitted by mosquito predators that make the mosquitoes less inclined to lay eggs in pools of water.

17 Jul 2010

New microfluidic device for effective HIV diagnosis

UC Davis biomedical engineer Prof. Alexander Revzin has developed a "lab on a chip" device for HIV testing. Revzin's microfluidic device uses antibodies to "capture" white blood cells called T cells that are affected by HIV. In addition to physically binding these cells the test detects the types and levels of inflammatory proteins (cytokines) released by the cells.

17 Jul 2010

BioRadar develops TransFMDV for Foot and Mouth Disease

BioRadar UK Ltd. predicted one year ago the current severe Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks after recording an increase of the Replikin Count (ref. 1) of the FMD Virus (FMDV) to its highest level in 52 years. Based on these findings, a new synthetic Replikins Trans-Strain FMD Vaccine, called TransFMDV(TM), has been developed and is now available. The announcement was made at the recent Biorbis Conference on Vaccine Production and Manufacturing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conference was attended by major pharmaceutical company executives to examine how vaccine production could be accelerated in view of the problem last year of responding "too little, too late" to the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

17 Jul 2010

IAS announces winners of four scientific awards to be presented at AIDS 2010

The International AIDS Society (IAS) announced today the ten winners of four prestigious scientific awards, to be presented at plenary sessions during the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010). Presented by the IAS and partners, these awards recognize scientists involved in innovative HIV and AIDS research throughout the world. "The quality of work represented by the 2010 awardees is remarkable," said IAS President Julio Montaner. "The IAS hopes to draw the world's attention to these individuals and to their significant scientific accomplishments, as well as to the continued need for innovation in all of the major areas of HIV and AIDS research, represented by the six conference programme tracks."

17 Jul 2010

Study examines HIV-positive patients' death risk at CD4 counts above 350

"Having HIV appears to be associated with a greater risk of death, even when the immune system is relatively robust and patients have not started treatment," according to a study published Friday in the Lancet, MedPage Today reports (Smith, 7/15).

17 Jul 2010

CDC director gives health system failing grade on prevention

Memphis Commercial Appeal: "The American health care system gets an 'F' when it comes to acting on a handful of prevention methods that have the potential to save the most lives. That failing grade came from Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a Wednesday speech to members of the National Association of County and City Health Officials gathered here for their annual conference at Cook Convention Center."

17 Jul 2010

Research findings may help identify human TOR kinase inhibitors

A parasite estimated to afflict as many as 12 million people worldwide relies on a family of genes that should make it vulnerable to compounds developed to treat cancer and other disorders, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

17 Jul 2010

Also in Global Health News: WHO reacts to Amnesty's N. Korea report; Universal flu vaccine; Malaria-resistant mosquitoes

The WHO is questioning the validity of the findings of a recent Amnesty International report which highlighted the dire needs of North Korea's health system, "contradict[ing] the rosier picture given by WHO chief Margaret Chan after her April trip there," the Associated Press reports. Although WHO spokesman Paul Garwood "insisted he wasn't criticizing Amnesty's work … he said Thursday's report was anecdotal, with stories dating back to 2001," which "[h]e contrasted … with WHO's science-based approach" (7/16).

17 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

As part of a series in advance of AIDS 2010, the "Science Speaks" blog features an interview with U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby "about his expectations for the conference, what was behind the Uganda problem with shortages of AIDS medicine, and whether The New York Times was right when it reported in May that the Ugandan drug shortfall was 'the first example … of how the war on AIDS is falling apart.'"

16 Jul 2010

Study compares denture stomatitis genes with whole transcriptome for salivary biomarker analysis

The goal of the study was to compare whole-transcriptome, mucosal gene expression in Candida albicans (a parasitic fungus that can infect the mouth) associated chronic denture stomatitis to that of healthy oral mucosa and perform proteomic analyses of potential salivary biomarkers. Denture stomatitis is a condition in which the mucosa underneath a denture becomes inflamed and sometimes painful.

16 Jul 2010