Microbicide Trials Network

ONCOLOGY: Answers to age-old questions surrounding fat cell cancer Myxoid round cell liposarcoma (MRCLS) is a cancerous tumor that typically arises in deep fat tissues of the limbs or abdomen. It was shown almost 20 years ago to be characterized by a chromosomal change that generates a fusion protein known as TLS:CHOP...

Health authorities in South Africa have recalled more than a million condoms that were handed out in the lead up to the African National Congress centenary celebrations...

Using a combination of evolutionary biology and virology, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have traced the birth of the ability of some HIV-related viruses to defeat a newly discovered cellular-defense system in primates. The research, led by Michael Emerman, Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's Human Biology and Basic Sciences Division, and Harmit Malik, Ph.D...

HIV-positive mothers can protected their babies from becoming infected with the virus if they take antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. However, even though these drugs prevent transmitting the disease to the child, they could potentially cause birth defects like cleft lip and palate...

Radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy is less effective for patients with HIV when compared to the recurrence and overall survival rates in patients who do not have HIV, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM. Treating head and neck cancer in HIV-positive patients is a challenge for oncologists...

A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University...

A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. "We think this finding about pets can apply to women managing other chronic illnesses," said Allison R...

While global attention to HIV/AIDS remains strong, a lack of focus on prevention strategies is stonewalling health experts in many developing nations, specifically in the Caribbean...

According to a study published in the current issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research, aspirin should be assessed for its ability to prevent cervical cancer developing in women infected with HIV. Aspirin has the potential to provide considerable benefit for women in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, regions where death rates from cervical cancer are extremely high...

Research conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center global health investigators and cancer specialists in New York, Qatar and Haiti suggests that aspirin should be evaluated for its ability to prevent development of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women...

1. High Doses of Vitamin D Provide No Benefit to Patients with Severe COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the top 10 leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Vitamin D deficiency is present in 60 percent to 75 percent of patients with severe COPD...

The level of HIV-1 in the blood of an HIV-infected partner is the single most important factor influencing risk of sexual transmission to an uninfected partner, according to a multinational study of heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa...

Raltegravir, an antiretroviral medication that delays the spread of HIV infection provides a new method to treat HIV in children and adolescents. The drug was recently approved (December 21, 2011) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with other antiretroviral drugs to treat children and teenagers between 2 to18 years of age with the disease...

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Andrea Ciaranello of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA and colleagues find, using a simulation model, that implementation of the latest WHO PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) guidelines must take place in conjunction with improving access to PMTCT programs, increasing retention of women in care, and supporting adher...

New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease...

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has started handing out money to state and local health departments across the country to help fund high impact HIV prevention activities in 2012. The total amount of money available for 2012, intended to cover the first year of a five-year funding cycle, comes to $339 million, said the federal agency on Wednesday...

Scientists have tested a trial vaccine that protects rhesus monkeys against infection from a potent form of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a distant relative of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS in humans. Monkeys that received the vaccine were more than 80% less likely to become infected when exposed to SIV than monkeys that received a dummy shot...

New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that high levels of estradiol present prior to ovulation decreases immune system effectiveness resulting in growth and promotion of infection A new research report in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that a woman's ovarian cycle plays an important role in her susceptibility to infection...

The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science. HPTN 052 evaluated whether antiretroviral drugs can prevent sexual transmission of HIV among couples in which one partner has HIV and the other does not...

Viral diseases are still one of the biggest challenges to medical science. Thanks to thousands of years of co-evolution with humans, their ability to harness the biology of their human hosts to survive and thrive makes them very difficult to target with medical treatment...