Virus Weekly articles from February 2001

Virus Weekly archives from February 2001

Prime-Boost Regimens Enhance DNA Vaccine Efficacy.(against Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Knowing when, how much, and how often helped researchers in England improve the immunogenicity and efficacy of a DNA vaccine against Mycobacterium...

Crucial Regions of HIV Primer Binding Sites Found.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- Microbiologists have found parts of the HIV "primer" critical for replication, a finding that could lead to novel treatments for the disease. "Human...

Virus Glycoprotein Downregulates Beta 1 Integrins.(Ebola virus)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- According to a study from the United States, integrins interact with glycoprotein to facilitate Ebola virus entry into cells. "Filoviruses,...

New Culture System Allows Long-Term Replication of Hepatitis C Virus RNA.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Hepatitis C virus (HCV), with its many genotypes, is complicated to culture in vitro, thus the difficulty with developing a vaccine for this infection in...

New Model Suggests Increased Allergic and Antiviral Responses Exacerbate Inflammation.(in asthma)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have obtained further evidence for a revolutionary way of viewing asthma. Combining complementary findings from mice and humans, they propose a modern scheme for the development of the...

New Methods Identifies Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Response to HCV in Blood.(hepatitis C virus)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins researchers have announced that hepatitis C virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes can be identified in peripheral...

Mice Inoculated with Hepatitis B Tagged Microspheres Show Good Immune Response.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Tiny microspheres embedded with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) may comprise the next generation of drug delivery systems for hepatitis B vaccines, if...

Results Positive for Hepatitis C Response to Interferon Beta-1a.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Interferon-alpha therapy, whether used alone or in combination with ribavirin, is a mainstay for hepatitis C virus treatment. Recombinant interferon beta-1a...

Influenza Vaccination Reduces Risk of Recurrence.(of heart attack)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Reducing the incidence of upper respiratory infection may reduce the risk of recurrent heart attack. "Numerous studies have suggested that...

Study Shows HIV Can Mutate to Attack Human Protective Cells.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study conducted by researchers with the Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, suggests that in the advanced stages of HIV, the virus can change its structure in an affected person to a form that...

Genotype a Key Response Indicator for Interferon/Ribavirin Induction Therapy.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype provides the best indicator of sustained patient response to short-term combination therapy followed by monotherapy,...

Molecules Inhibit HIV Protease.(polyoxometalate molecule)
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have identified a molecule with the ability to inhibit a key enzyme of HIV, which could limit the spread of the virus. Known as polyoxometalate, or POM, the molecule stopped HIV...

Gag Ubiquitination Not Necessary for HIV Replication.
February 13, 2001... 2001 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- - by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- Virologists in the United States have shown that the ubiquitin binding of the HIV Gag protein is not necessary for HIV replication or infection, at least...

HIV Mutants Show Resistance to Antiretroviral Treatment.(with nucleoside analogs)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- Virologists in The Netherlands warn that new HIV mutants refractory to treatment with nucleoside analogs may threaten the future effectiveness of such...

Gag/Gag-Pol Ratio Crucial for Viral Infectivity.(HIV-1 proteins affects viral stability and infectivity)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- Variations in the relative expression levels of the HIV-1 protein Gag and its precursor, Gag-Pol, can dramatically affect the levels of viral stability and...

Hepatitis B Mutation Thwarts Nucleoside Analogues at Cost of Reduced Replication.
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatitis B virus polymerase point mutants blunt the effect of nucleoside analogues - but at a cost. As with HIV, the distribution of variants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can shift in response...

Mutation Rate of Epstein-Barr Virus Protein Differs by Ethnicity in NPC Patients.(nasopharyngeal carcinoma)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A genetic twist in Epstein-Barr virus-related nasopharyngeal carcinoma has been discovered. University of Toronto researchers found that mutations within the latent membrane protein-1 (LMP1)...

Data Presented on Substitution of Efavirenz for Protease Inhibitor.(for HIV treatment)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Data presented at the 8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Chicago, Illinois, indicate that patients who substituted DuPont Pharmaceuticals' anti-HIV drug Sustiva...

Guidelines Updated for Adults and Adolescents.(HIV antiretroviral agent dosage information updated)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An updated version of the Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV Infected Adults and Adolescents, which includes revised recommendations for when to initiate anti-HIV therapy, was...

HIV Population Shifts Following Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By following the relative prevalence of R5 and X4 viruses in a set of women with advanced disease, researchers now show that R5 viruses can re-emerge as the predominant HIV-1 population following...

Vinegar Plus HPV Test Identifies Women at Risk.(for cervical cancer)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A lab test for the human papillomavirus (HPV) combined with a visual inspection of the cervix could identify pre-cancerous lesions and vastly reduce the number of false-positives among women at...

Arboviral Illness Transmitted by Aedes aegypti Mosquitos.
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical records in five Laredo, Texas, medical facilities revealed that 50% of suspected dengue fever case-patients examined during one month-long period last summer had undiagnosed dengue fever...

Neuroprotective Gene Therapy Evaluated in Rat Model.(Parkinson's disease)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- According to a study from Sweden, now is a good time to explore neuroprotective gene therapy for Parkinson's disease. "During the last few years,...

Hepatitis C Modulation of Interleukin-2 May Be Cause for Viral Persistence.
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Viral modulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) may be the reason for irregular T-cell response and viral persistence in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections,...

Protein Plays Dual Role in Apoptosis Responses.(HIV-1 vpr protein)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- The HIV-1 vpr protein can either be used to induce or resist apoptosis in different kinds of cells, depending on conditions and requirements for virus...

Combination Therapy for Hepatitis B Increases T-Helper Cell, Cytokine Response.(ribavarin and interferon-alpha)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Combination drug therapy incorporating ribavirin and interferon (IFN)-alpha elicits long-term immune response in hepatitis B virus patients. T helper...

Parental Exposure, HIV, Keep Viral Persistence High in Italy.(TT virus)
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- TT virus persistence continues to remain high in Italy, particularly in individuals with parental exposure and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)...

Hybridization Technique Finds Differential Gene Expression in Hepatitis C Livers.
February 20, 2001... 2001 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- Researchers have found four genetic differences in the liver of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection that are not common to patients without...