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Cannabinoid drugs can directly inhibit HIV in late-stage AIDS

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have discovered that marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS, according to new findings published online in the journal PLoS ONE.

21 Mar 2012

China's Ministry of Health reports about 900,000 cases of active TB in 2011

"About 900,000 cases of active tuberculosis (TB) were discovered and treated in China in 2011, including 423,000 infectious cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced Monday at a press conference," Xinhua reports.

21 Mar 2012

GeoVax enters into definitive agreements to sell Series A convertible preferred stock

GeoVax Labs, Inc., an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, announced today that it has entered into definitive agreements with certain institutional investors, pursuant to which the Company has agreed to sell shares of its Series A convertible preferred stock at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.2 million and Series A warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,933,333 shares of GeoVax common stock with an exercise price of $1.00 per share and a term of five years.

21 Mar 2012

New vaccine strategy to advance solutions for tuberculosis

Against a backdrop of growing concern about the impact of tuberculosis on children, top scientific experts today published a global plan of action for developing the vaccines that are seen as critical to eliminating the disease. Published today in a special issue of the journal, Tuberculosis , the strategic blueprint for the TB vaccine field, represents consensus reached by the TB vaccine community.

20 Mar 2012

Indian patent court licenses generic copy of Bayer’s blockbuster anticancer drug

Last week an Indian patent court shocked the $600 billion global pharmaceutical business by ordering Bayer, the German health care giant, to allow a tiny Indian generic drug company to sell cheap copies of the blockbuster cancer drug Nexavar – even though everyone agrees that the drug is protected by a patent. Instead, the court decided that Bayer had an obligation to make Nexavar available to people in India who needed it.

20 Mar 2012

Chemists produce first high resolution structure of HCV viral RNA-inhibitor complex

Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have produced the first high resolution structure of a molecule that when attached to the genetic material of the hepatitis C virus prevents it from reproducing.

20 Mar 2012

World Bank report calls for increased HIV prevention efforts in Africa

In a report published last week, the World Bank "called on African governments and international donors to increase efforts to prevent new HIV infections in order to control treatment costs," VOA News reports.

20 Mar 2012

CSIS report examines HIV prevention, care among people who inject drugs in Ukraine

A new report, titled "Injection Drug Use in Ukraine" and published by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), examines the challenges of providing HIV prevention and care services in the country, particularly to people who inject drugs (PWID), who accounted for "nearly 50 percent of new HIV infections registered in 2010," according to the CSIS website.

20 Mar 2012

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement honors two experts on air pollution

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement honors two experts on air pollution with the 2012 Tyler Prize for their work to advance the scientific understanding of air pollution, and develop solutions to reduce the danger to human health and the impact on climate change.

20 Mar 2012

Study identifies new hypervariable regions in human gut viruses

A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of human gut bacteria in modulating human health, metabolism, and disease. Yet bacteria are only part of the story. Viruses that infect those bacteria also shape who we are. Frederic D. Bushman, PhD, professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that sequenced the DNA of viruses -- the virome -- present in the gut of healthy people.

20 Mar 2012

AIDS survey preliminary data show stagnation in Uganda's HIV prevalence, need for improved prevention strategies, experts say

A preliminary report on the Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey, conducted by the Ministry of Health, shows the country's "HIV prevalence rate has stagnated over the last 10 years, and the number of people infected with HIV has risen from 1.8 million people to 2.3 million today," the Observer writes.

20 Mar 2012

TB Alliance launches new combination drug trial

In an ambitious effort to stem the dangerous tide of tuberculosis (TB) and deadly drug-resistant TB around the world, TB Alliance today announced that it has launched a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to test a novel drug combination – in both patients who have TB and those who have multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

19 Mar 2012

AstraZeneca CEO to take part in panel discussion on Ethical Practices in the Pharmaceutical Sector

David Brennan, CEO of AstraZeneca, will take part in the plenary session panel discussion on "Ethical Practices in the Pharmaceutical Sector" at the EuroMeeting 2012 in Copenhagen on Monday 26 March.

19 Mar 2012

Scientist generates mutant version of IL-2 protein to treat advanced cancers

The utility of a naturally occurring protein given, sometimes to great effect, as a drug to treat advanced cancers is limited by the severe side effects it sometimes causes. But a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist has generated a mutant version of the protein whose modified shape renders it substantially more potent than the natural protein while reducing its toxicity.

19 Mar 2012

Greater Than AIDS, SiriusXM OutQ to launch SpeakOUT

SiriusXM OutQ, the nation's first and only 24/7 LGBT radio channel, and Greater Than AIDS, a national movement to respond to AIDS in America, announced today the launch of SpeakOUT: Real Talk about AIDS in Gay America, a limited-run series of live, call-in shows that will connect listeners across the country with medical experts, people living with HIV and notable members of the LGBT community to have an honest and challenging dialogue about the current state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the gay community as well as the country at large.

17 Mar 2012

Partnerships critical to stopping HIV/AIDS, GBV among women

"For the past two weeks, the buzz in Washington, D.C., and at the White House is all about women and girls," Roxana Rogers, director of the USAID Office of HIV/AIDS, writes in this "IMPACTblog" post. She highlights a recently announced initiative, funded through PEPFAR, "to help local communities and grassroots organizations fight HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence.

17 Mar 2012

Cuts to health budget lead to increases in HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB incidence in Greece

"The savage cuts to Greece's health service budget have led to a sharp rise in HIV/AIDS and malaria in the beleaguered nation, said a leading aid organization on Thursday," the Guardian's "News Blog" reports.

17 Mar 2012

Zimbabwe's plan to conduct household HIV testing raises concerns among some advocates

PlusNews examines the challenges and concerns surrounding Zimbabwe's plan to conduct a door-to-door HIV testing campaign, which has not yet begun but "is already being met with skepticism by activists who feel this is not a priority for the country, especially with global HIV/AIDS funding on the decline."

17 Mar 2012

World Bank report urges African governments, development aid donors to increase HIV prevention efforts

"With much of the global economy facing slowing growth and uncertain prospects, especially in developed countries, a new World Bank report" -- titled "The Fiscal Dimension of HIV/AIDS in Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, and Uganda" -- "urges African governments and their development aid donors to do significantly more to prevent new HIV infections" and "warns that current spending on HIV/AIDS relates to past infections and is a potentially misleading indicator of the long-term public cost of the fight against HIV/AIDS," a World Bank press release states.

17 Mar 2012

Research roundup: Medicaid vs. private pay ER use; Doctors treat black, white patients differently; Caregiver stress

By looking at National Health Interview Survey data of more than 230,000 patients from 1999-2009, researchers were able to compare Medicaid with privately insured patients. More than 39 percent of those enrolled in Medicaid in the sample used the ER versus 17.7 percent of privately insured patients. Medicaid patients wer much more likely to have "specific barriers to timely primary care."

17 Mar 2012

HIV 1 News and Research

Cannabinoid drugs can directly inhibit HIV in late-stage AIDS

China's Ministry of Health reports about 900,000 cases of active TB in 2011

GeoVax enters into definitive agreements to sell Series A convertible preferred stock

New vaccine strategy to advance solutions for tuberculosis

Indian patent court licenses generic copy of Bayer’s blockbuster anticancer drug

Chemists produce first high resolution structure of HCV viral RNA-inhibitor complex

World Bank report calls for increased HIV prevention efforts in Africa

CSIS report examines HIV prevention, care among people who inject drugs in Ukraine

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement honors two experts on air pollution

Study identifies new hypervariable regions in human gut viruses

AIDS survey preliminary data show stagnation in Uganda's HIV prevalence, need for improved prevention strategies, experts say

TB Alliance launches new combination drug trial

AstraZeneca CEO to take part in panel discussion on Ethical Practices in the Pharmaceutical Sector

Scientist generates mutant version of IL-2 protein to treat advanced cancers

Greater Than AIDS, SiriusXM OutQ to launch SpeakOUT

Partnerships critical to stopping HIV/AIDS, GBV among women

Cuts to health budget lead to increases in HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB incidence in Greece

Zimbabwe's plan to conduct household HIV testing raises concerns among some advocates

World Bank report urges African governments, development aid donors to increase HIV prevention efforts

Research roundup: Medicaid vs. private pay ER use; Doctors treat black, white patients differently; Caregiver stress

Decoding Cannabis: Differentiating Hemp and Marijuana

Deciphering the Microbiome with The Microsetta Initiative

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

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