HIV virus

HIV Testing Method Holds Promise For Developing Countries

harminka — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:54:48 -0500

A new technique that detects the HIV virus early and monitors its development without requiring refrigeration may make AIDS testing more accessible in sub-Saharan Africa.

New-Found Molecules May Block HIV Spread

harminka — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:11:16 -0500

Rice University's Andrew Barron and his group, working with labs in Italy, Germany and Greece, have identified specific molecules that could block the means by which the deadly HIV virus spreads by taking away its ability to bind with other proteins.

Has HIV become more virulent?

harminka — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:17:31 -0500

Damage to patients’ immune systems is happening sooner now than it did at the beginning of the HIV epidemic, suggesting the virus has become more virulent, according to a new study in the May 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Mindfulness meditation slows progression of HIV

harminka — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:27:45 -0500

CD4+ T lymphocytes, or simply CD4 T cells, are the "brains" of the immune system, coordinating its activity when the body comes under attack. They are also the cells that are attacked by HIV, the devastating virus that causes AIDS and has infected roughly 40 million people worldwide. The virus slowly eats away at CD4 T cells, weakening the immune system.

UT pathologists believe they have pinpointed Achilles heel of HIV

harminka — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:09:52 -0500

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions.

Molecular changes in brain fluid give insight into brain-damaging disease

harminka — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:39:21 -0500

Soon after an individual becomes infected with HIV the virus infects cells in the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system [CNS]). Although this causes no immediate problems, during the late-stages of disease it can cause dementia and encephalitis (acute inflammation of the brain that can cause death).

Scientists image single HIV particle being born

harminka — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:53:43 -0500

A mapmaker and a mathematician may seem like an unlikely duo, but together they worked out a way to measure longitude – and kept millions of sailors from getting lost at sea. Now, another unlikely duo, a virologist and a biophysicist at Rockefeller University, is making history of their own.

New treatments for HIV

harminka — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:50:41 -0500

By identifying a protein that restricts the release of HIV-1 virus from human cells, scientists believe they may be closer to identifying new approaches to treatment. The research is published in the advance online edition of Nature Medicine.

Anthony Fauci reflects on 25 years of HIV

harminka — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:03:57 -0500

On the 25th anniversary of the first scientific article linking a retrovirus to AIDS, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, reflects in an essay in Nature on his experience treating and studying HIV/AIDS for the past quarter century.

Major shift in HIV prevention priorities needed

harminka — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:54:12 -0500

According to a new policy analysis led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of California, Berkeley, the most common HIV prevention strategies—condom promotion, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), vaccine and microbicide research, and abstinence—are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics found in Africa.

Molecular espionage shows a single HIV enzyme's many tasks

harminka — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:14:37 -0500

Using ingenious molecular espionage, scientists have found how a single key enzyme, seemingly the Swiss army knife in HIV's toolbox, differentiates and dynamically binds both DNA and RNA as part of the virus' fierce attack on host cells. The work is described this week in the journal Nature.

Researchers synthesize compound to flush HIV out of hiding

harminka — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:22:40 -0500

Any hunter will tell you that when your quarry goes into hiding, you have to flush it out to get a good shot at it. Such is the case with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.