AIDS Weekly articles from April 2000

AIDS Weekly archives from April 2000

HIV 1 and 2 Promoter Constructs Elicit More Interleukin 2.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study of expression vectors has shown that HIV 1 and 2 promoter constructs can produce large quantities of interleukin 2 (IL-2) in human cancer cell lines. Researchers at the University of Arizona...

Constitutive Transport Elements Substitute for RNA Response Elements.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- The RNA transport mechanism in HIV entails the viral Rev protein binding to its cognate RNA response element (RRE) instead of a constitutive transport element (CTE) binding to a cellular factor, scientists...

Pathology in AIDS Patients Influenced by HIV-1 Tat.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- HIV type 1 (HIV-1) Tat may activate the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) homolog called G protein coupled receptor (vGCR) in Kaposi's sarcoma, say scientists at the University of Texas. This suggestion was made...

CCR5 Expression and Beta-Chemokine Production Affect Resistance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands have analyzed the susceptibility of PHA/rIL-2 stimulated PBMC to NSI HIV-1 infection and found that both CCR5 and beta-chemokine influence viral...

Plasma Membrane Potential Regulated by H+-ATPase.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Plasma membrane potential (Delta Psi) partially generates the force which drives nutrient uptake in protists, including Pneumocystis carinii. Researchers at the University of Illinois say plasma membrane...

Various Types of Drug Use Affect HIV Risks.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Various methods of drug use tend to affect the sex related risk for acquiring HIV infection. This is according to a study conducted by R.E. Booth and others at the University of Colorado School of...

Clinical Data Suggest Remune Might Help Rebuild Immune System.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Immune Response Corp., Carlsbad, California, announced that recent clinical data suggest that Remune might induce HIV immunity when used as a combination therapy with other antiviral drugs or when used...

Retroviral Vectors Confer Protection to T Cells and Lymphocytes.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists reported that they were able to construct retroviral vectors using decoy and antisense transcripts that demonstrate protection against T cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes. The presentation...

Investigators Create Novel HIV-2 Lentiviral Vectors.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- A group of investigators at the U.S. National Institutes of Health has developed novel HIV derived lentiviral vectors that transduce a variety of genes into target cells. News of this development was reported...

Medicaid Coverage of HIV/AIDS Product Approved in New York.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cambridge Nutraceuticals, New York, New York, announced that the New York Medicaid system has approved coverage of its glutamine-based Immune System Booster for patients with HIV/AIDS. The Immune System...

New Data Could Provide Clues to Treat STDs, Atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Rockville, Maryland, announced completion of the DNA sequencing of the Chlamydia trachomatis MoPn and C. pneumoniae AR39 genomes. Their findings, in...

Sex Education Program Educates on the Impact of Adolescent Sexual Activity.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. are at epidemic proportions. According to the Robin Hood Foundation report "Kids Having Kids," in 1997, 12.7% of all babies born in the U.S....

Women's Group Blasts U.S. Lawmakers for Shortsighted HIV/AIDS Policy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- The following was issued by the Independent Women's Forum: [helv] In a soon-to-be released review of [U.S.] federal AIDS funding, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that Ryan White CARE Act...

Partnership Announced to Expand HIV Resistance Testing Services.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 3, 2000... 2000 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com) -- Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), Burlington, North Carolina, announced the signing of an agreement to provide ViroLogic Inc.'s phenotypic HIV drug susceptibility assay, PhenoSense HIV,...

Immune System Cell Has Potent Ability to Fight HIV.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered a potent ability of specific immune system cells to fight against HIV. Scientists have long known that immune system cells known as "killer CD8"...

HIV May Use Genetic Mechanisms to Thwart Drug Therapy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study report from Belgium reveals that genetic mutations not only influence drug resistance in known therapeutic regimens for HIV but also in drugs which are not a part of standard regimens. The report...

CDC Stage 1-3 HIV(+) Patients Show Early Signs of Nerve Disorder.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- HIV positive patients classified as CDC stages 1-3 demonstrate early signs of distal symmetric polyneuropathy, scientists report in Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. This statement was made based on a study...

Medical College Students in India Surveyed on Sex Knowledge.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Undergraduate students at a medical college in India understand some aspects of sex and sexual practices, but they could use stand to improve their knowledge on this topic, say researchers in the Journal of...

Genetic Mutations Influence Drug Resistance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study report from Belgium reveals that genetic mutations not only influence drug resistance in known therapeutic regimens but also in drugs which are not a part of standard regimens. The report was...

Low HIV Viremia Reduces Risk of Heterosexual Transmission.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- The lower the level of HIV in the blood, the less likely infected persons will transmit the virus to heterosexual partners, according to a study in Africa supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health...

Researchers Develop Model to Study HIV Transmission in Women.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- An understanding about HIV transmission in women - information that could lead to preventive strategies for this population - may come from an organ culture model recently developed by researchers at the...

T-Cell Loss Drives Pathogenesis.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists reported at the recent symposium on Cellular Immunity and Immunotherapy of Cancer that a loss of functional Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) CD8(+) T cells is the driving force behind AIDS-related...

Development of Potential Preventive Vaccine Pursued.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Immune Response Corp. (IMNR), Carlsbad, California, announced data from preclinical animal studies of a potential new vaccine consisting of the company's HIV immunogen, Remune (whole-killed HIV depleted...

Scientists Suggest 5' IRES Present in Most Retroviruses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in France propose that the 5' IRES (internal ribosome entry segment) may be present in most retroviruses. "It has been shown that IRESes can be functionally characterized by their ability to...

Women's Health Foundation Announces Conference in New Orleans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- The World Foundation for Medical Studies in Female Health (WFFH) has announced that its annual clinical conference will be held October 12-14, 2000, at the Hotel Inter-Continental, New Orleans, Louisiana,...

Bad Taste of Medication Threatens Proper Usage.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- The innate desire to taste food and derive pleasure from that sensation is so strong that people sometimes stop taking life-saving medication simply because it tastes bad or ruins the flavor of otherwise...

AIDS Cases Rise in China.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- New cases of Chinese with the AIDS virus grew by more than 40% in 1999, with women increasingly at risk, the newspaper of China's Health Ministry reported on March 29, 2000. Health experts detected 4,677...

HIV 1 and 2 Promoter Constructs Elicit More Interleukin 2.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study of expression vectors has shown that HIV 1 and 2 promoter constructs can produce large quantities of interleukin 2 (IL-2) in human cancer cell lines. Researchers at the University of Arizona...

SBIR Grant Received to Discover Anti-HIV Pharmaceuticals.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Privately held Consensus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medford, Massachusetts, announced the award of a US$99,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy...

Agreement Signed for Potential Hepatitis B, HIV Treatment.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Vion) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced that they have signed a licensing agreement for Vion's novel antiviral technology, nucleoside analog (beta)-L-Fd4C, for the...

Study Looks at Natural History and Pathogenesis of Hepatitis C in HIV Patients.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 10, 2000... 2000 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com) -- The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the U.S. National Institutes of Health recently funded a study that aims to understand the natural history of hepatitis C and HIV...

Clogged Vessels Seen in AIDS Patients with Risk Factors.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- A multi-center study led by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the advent of thrombosis in AIDS patients is associated with certain risk factors. The...

Early Antiviral Therapy Impacts Viremia.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The earlier, the better, when it comes to antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection, scientists in Switzerland say. These scientists, part of a research team at the University Hospital of Geneva conducted...

HAART Improves Survival for HIV(+) in Europe.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Survival chances are better for people with HIV-1 infection in Europe following the recent introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), according to a research letter published in the April...

Combination Treatment May Precipitate Sensory Neuropathy.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine report that a combination of didanosine (ddl), stavudine (d4T), and hydroxyurea may significantly increase the risk of acquiring sensory neuropathy. "Sensory...

Dramatic Reduction in New HIV Infections Reported Among Injecting Drug Users in New York City.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers announced that there has been a sharp drop in the rate of new HIV infections among injecting drug users in New York City. During the 1980s, the rate of new infections was 4% to 5% per year...

RNA Mediates Protein-Protein Binding in Opportunistic Infection.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The HIV-1 Tat and Pur (alpha) protein complex depends on RNA binding to form a good bond. RNA enhances the Pur (alpha) site to make the complex stronger, scientists at CUNY Mt. Sinai School of Medicine...

People with AIDS Illnesses More Prone to Memory Problems.
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- People whose diagnosis of AIDS was based on specific illnesses are at greater risk of developing memory problems than are people whose diagnosis grew from low immune-cell counts, new research shows. The...

Syphilis Appears to be a Cofactor for Women with HIV.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to a study reported recently in AIDS, the sexually transmitted disease syphilis tends to reflect a risk for HIV in certain geographical areas of the United States. Researchers at the U.S....

Bovine Viral Disease Protein Activates HIV Long Terminal Repeat.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The genetic characteristics of Jembrana disease virus (JDV) are similar to bovine immunodeficiency virus, scientists report. Because of its genetic structure, the JDV Tat can activate the long terminal repeat...

Study Says Mandatory Testing of Pregnant Women Would Reduce Babies with HIV and Save Money.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Mandatory HIV screening of pregnant women would not only reduce the number of newborns with the virus, it would also cost less than voluntary testing or no tests at all, a University of Illinois analysis...

Modified Gag Gene May Be a Better Delivery System.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers at the Chiron Corporation may have identified a way to modify the Gag gene so that it could serve as a vehicle for gene vaccine delivery in HIV infected patients, according to a report of a study...

Selective Advantage and Inhibition Predict Therapeutic Success.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Both selective advantage and inhibition capacity can predict whether anti-HIV ribozymes can be successfully used for gene therapy, according to a recent study. C. Klebba and colleagues at the Johann...

Two-Step Process Transduces HIV Targeted Cells.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in Japan have developed a two-step gene transduction method that more effectively targets HIV infected cells. A presentation of this process was made at the Gene Therapy: The Next Millennium...

Nef Gene Regulates Immune Response in HIV(+).(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The nef gene plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AIDS, scientists reported at the Gene Therapy: The Next Millennium meeting. According to Goedele Dhondt and researchers in Belgium, this gene...

Mutation Frequency Presents a Problem with HIV Vectors.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Though HIV vectors may be more effective than MLV (murine leukemia virus) vectors for targeting non-dividing cells such as neuronal and hematopoietic stem cells, they may also present more problems because of...

Progress Reported on HIV Therapies.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PGNX) presented promising findings on two treatment strategies designed to prevent HIV from infecting healthy cells and to eliminate those cells already infected with the...

WHO/UNAIDS Hail Consensus on Cotrimoxazole Use for Prevention of HIV Related Infections in Africa.
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have welcomed the consensus reached by experts to recommend the prophylactic use in Africa of cotrimoxazole, a...

WHO Blames Lack of Governments' Support for Unsafe Blood Supply.
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- The World Health Organization said on April 7, 2000, that more than half of the world's countries fail to perform full tests on donated blood, increasing the risk of spreading AIDS and other diseases. ...

Progress in Gene Therapy Announced.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Genetronics Biomedical Limited (GEB; Toronto), San Diego, California, reported results of the extension of its platform technology, electroporation, into gene therapy. The company announced the signing of...

Pfizer Donates Drug to South Africa's Poor.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2000... 2000 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is offering to give away an expensive AIDS drug to poor South Africans, a move that follows a series of protests and raises hopes other pharmaceutical companies will follow suit. The...