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Patients receiving rifampicin-based anti-tuberculosis therapy are more likely to experience virological failure when starting nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy, an HIV treatment that is widely used in developing countries because of lower cost, than when starting efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy, according to a study in the August 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Andrew Boulle, M.B.Ch.B., M.Sc., of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing on HIV/AIDS.

An evaluation of recent data has led to an update in the guidelines and recommendations for antiretroviral treatment of adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, according to an article in the August 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Scott M. Hammer, M.D., of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and the International AIDS Society–USA Panel, presented the recommendations of the panel at a JAMA media briefing on HIV/AIDS.

For human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with treatment-related abdominal obesity and growth hormone deficiency, receiving low-dose growth hormone resulted in improvement in fat and blood pressure measurements but worsened glucose levels, according to a study in the August 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Steven Grinspoon, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing on HIV/AIDS.

The world's smallest species of snake, with adults averaging just under four inches in length, has been identified on the Caribbean island of Barbados. The species -- which is as thin as a spaghetti noodle and small enough to rest comfortably on a U.S. quarter --was discovered by Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State. Hedges and his colleagues also are the discoverers of the world's smallest frog and lizard species, which too were found on Caribbean islands. The most recent discovery will be published on 4 August 2008 in the journal Zootaxa.

BOSTON — Americans are likely to be exposed to unacceptable side effects of FDA-approved drugs such as Vioxx in the future because of fatal flaws in the way new drugs are tested and marketed, according to research to be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

BOSTON — Black professionals make extra efforts in the workplace to fulfill what they believe are the expectations of their white colleagues, according to research to be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

Sociologists Marlese Durr of Wright State University and her co-author Adia Harvey Wingfield of Georgia State University argue that black professionals engage in two types of "emotional performance" in the workplace: General etiquette and racialized emotion maintenance.

BOSTON – The mammoth increase in the United States' prison population since the 1970s is having profound demographic consequences that disproportionately affect black males.

"This jump in incarceration rates represents a massive intervention in American families at a time when the federal government was making claims that it was less involved in their lives," according to a University of Washington researcher who will present findings Sunday (Aug. 3) at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

BOSTON — Children in step-families and in other non-traditional families get just as much quality time with their parents as those in traditional families, with only a few exceptions, according to research to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association today.

BOSTON — Men who attend college are more likely to commit property crimes during their college years than their non-college-attending peers, according to research to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Patients who have had acute allergic-like reactions to nonionic iodinated contrast material rarely develop any serious long-term problems and can be treated safely with commonly used medications according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor.

Diabetes Checks & Balances, a unique program launched locally to help people manage the disease, helped decrease emergency room visits and hospital admissions among participants.

Patients cite "convenience to home or work" as the main reason they changed mammography facilities, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and The Barrett Center in Cincinnati, OH.

The study included 303 current mammography patients ("stayers") and 117 patients who no longer received mammography at the university-based center ("leavers"), said Mary C. Mahoney, MD, lead author of the study.

Diabetes Checks & Balances, a unique program launched locally to help people manage the disease, helped decrease emergency room visits and hospital admissions among participants.

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Is Low among Black Men

Despite efforts to stress the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, daily consumption of these foods among men remains low, particularly among black men, according to researchers at Columbia and Temple universities, the University of Pennsylvania and the National Cancer Institute.

Mayo Clinic endocrinologist James Levine, M.D., Ph.D., has continued his research in environment-changing innovations with a six-month study of a real-life office that was re-engineered to increase daily physical activity or NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). The study began in late 2007 and ended in 2008 at SALO, LLC, a Minneapolis-based financial staffing firm. Of the 45 employee volunteers involved in the scientific study, 18 were studied for weight loss and other changes.

Re-engineering included: