Body

Wednesday, 20 July, 2011 (Rome, Italy) -- Researchers presenting late breaking research on the final day of the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) have today focussed on new studies in the field of circumcision, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral treatment. The IAS 2011 conference has been attended by over 5000 researchers, clinicians and community leaders since Sunday in Rome.

A study by the University of Liverpool has found that babies admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis from a household where a parent smokes are twice as likely to need oxygen therapy and five times as likely to need mechanical ventilation as babies whose parents do not smoke.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Growing up in soccer-crazed Turkey, Hakan Yildiz knew so little about baseball, even the word "umpire" had no meaning to him.

Today, Yildiz, an assistant business professor at Michigan State University, is part of a team of researchers whose complex method for scheduling Major League Baseball umpires has proven so successful the league has used it five of the past six seasons.

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, July 20, 2011 — Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have developed a new test that quickly and accurately distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections in as little as five hours.

(ROME, 20 July 2011) – Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced results from a long-term, retrospective, European cohort study, which included 1,294 antiretroviral (ARV)-experienced patients (336 female and 958 male) from Germany, France and Sweden, that were presented today at the Sixth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011).

Unlike conventional methods, with the so-called optogenetics, the researchers are able to target one cell type. "We are now going to use this method to find out exactly what goes wrong in the nerve cells in movement disorders such as ataxias", said Prof. Dr. Stefan Herlitze (RUB Department for Biology and Biotechnology). The researchers report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The Bochum team examined a specific signalling pathway that is controlled by a so-called G-protein-coupled receptor. This pathway is important for the modulation of activity in complex neuronal networks.

Wednesday, 20 July, 2011 (Rome, Italy) - Researchers speaking on the final day of the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) have focused on the growing interest in the scientific path to an HIV Cure. Discussions around an HIV cure have been growing over the past 12 months and are now gaining momentum with the establishment of an International AIDS Society (IAS) convened working group concentrating its initial efforts on establishing a global scientific strategy.

ANN ARBOR, MICH. – Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium known to cause peptic ulcers, is also the primary cause of gastric cancer, which is a leading cancer killer globally.

A large clinical trial at seven sites across Latin America has now found that a standard three-drug regimen for treating H. pylori is more effective, at least in the population studied, than either of two four-drug regimens that proved superior in studies in Europe and Asia.

Vegetarians are a third less likely to get a common bowel disorder (diverticular disease) than their meat eating counterparts, finds a new study published on bmj.com today.

A new set of evidence-based guidelines that comprehensively address how basic first responders should be trained to manage emergency situations in an African context has been released, published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The guidelines, which were developed by a panel of African-based experts and in conjunction with African Red Cross Societies, focus on first aid interventions requiring minimal or no equipment.

Temporarily suppressing ovarian function with use of the hormone analogue triptorelin reduced the occurrence of early menopause induced by chemotherapy among women with breast cancer, according to a study in the July 20 issue of JAMA.

DURHAM, N.C. – By altering the genetic makeup of normally "unexcitable" cells, Duke University bioengineers have turned them into cells capable of generating and passing electrical current.

This proof-of-concept advance could have broad implications in treating diseases of the nervous system or the heart, since these tissues rely on cells with the ability to communicate with adjacent cells in order to function properly. This communication is achieved through the passage of electrical impulses, known as action potentials, from cell to cell.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A major challenge for cancer biologists is figuring out which among the hundreds of genetic mutations found in a cancer cell are most important for driving the cancer's spread.

Using a new technique called whole-genome profiling, MIT scientists have now pinpointed a gene that appears to drive progression of small cell lung cancer, an aggressive form of lung cancer accounting for about 15 percent of lung cancer cases.

Testosterone deficiency (TD), often referred to as hypogonadism, is associated with aging and affects approximately 30 percent of men ages 40-79. To highlight some of the challenges and controversies encountered in diagnosis and treatment of men with TD, the authors of a review article in the American Journal of Medicine introduced a clinical vignette to illustrate the implication of TD on men's overall health and analyzed a number of studies in men receiving Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to treat TD.

A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol. The promising results, published July 19 in the journal Molecular Therapy, came from research in rabbits.

In atherosclerosis, fatty lesions called plaques form on the inner lining of blood vessels. Plaque growth narrows arteries, thereby restricting blood flow and causing chest pains and other symptoms. Plaques sometimes rupture. The resulting blood clots can spur heart attacks or strokes.