Per The Financial Times, July 14th 2011 by, Andrew Jack in London:
"A medicine used to treat patients with HIV can cut the risk of transmission to their unifected heterosexual partners by at least three-fifths, according to ...a clinical trial by the University of Washington...showed those who took a daily prophylactic dose of the drug tenofovir had 62% fewer infections than those on a placebo. Those taking a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine had 73% fewer infections....will reinforce the findings of other recent studies showing the effectiveness of the drug in cutting the risk of infections in gay men, and in women who use it as a vaginal microbicide gel....2.6million people newly infected with HIV each year, 33.3m living with the virus, but only 7m receiving treatment....Gilead...is the U.S. pharmaceutical company that developed tenofovir, which is now used in one of the most widely adopted drug regimes to treat HIV around the world."
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day: Acupuncture can greatly boost the body's immune system. If you or someone you know has HIV or AIDS, turn them on to acupuncture to help them live their lives fully and with gusto!
Showing posts with label HIV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, November 8, 2010
Sexuality & Obesity, A Gender Perspective: Results From French National Random Probability Survey Of Sexual Behaviours
The British Medical Journal has published the results of a French study on obesity and sexual behavior. Here's the abstract:
"...Obese women were less likely than normal weight women to report having a sexual partner in the past 12 months. Obese men were less likely than normal weight men to report more than one sexual partner in the same period and more likely to report erectile dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction was not associated with BMI among women. Obese women aged under 30 were less likely to seek healthcare services for contraception or to use oral contraceptives. They were also more likely to report an unintended pregnancy..."
"...There is a link between BMI and sexual behaviour and adverse sexual health outcomes, with obese women less likely to access contraceptive healthcare services and having more unplanned pregnancies. Prevention of unintended pregnancies among these women is a major reproductive health challenge. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of sensitivities related to weight and gender in the provision of sexual health services..."
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the day: Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth. Safe sex on a regular basis is not only good for your stress, but helps regulate your hormones, burns calories, can be an affordable evening of entertainment during a recession, and it's FAT FREE! Regular exercise, good personal hygiene and a good sense of self esteem can help boost your sex life, no matter what weight category you fall into!
BMJ. 2010 Jun 15;340:c2573. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c2573. (For the full article)
"...Obese women were less likely than normal weight women to report having a sexual partner in the past 12 months. Obese men were less likely than normal weight men to report more than one sexual partner in the same period and more likely to report erectile dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction was not associated with BMI among women. Obese women aged under 30 were less likely to seek healthcare services for contraception or to use oral contraceptives. They were also more likely to report an unintended pregnancy..."
"...There is a link between BMI and sexual behaviour and adverse sexual health outcomes, with obese women less likely to access contraceptive healthcare services and having more unplanned pregnancies. Prevention of unintended pregnancies among these women is a major reproductive health challenge. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of sensitivities related to weight and gender in the provision of sexual health services..."
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the day: Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth. Safe sex on a regular basis is not only good for your stress, but helps regulate your hormones, burns calories, can be an affordable evening of entertainment during a recession, and it's FAT FREE! Regular exercise, good personal hygiene and a good sense of self esteem can help boost your sex life, no matter what weight category you fall into!
BMJ. 2010 Jun 15;340:c2573. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c2573. (For the full article)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Effective Treatment for HIV
Today's Blog is a repost courtesy of one of our readers:
ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2010) — Researchers at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center have identified two drugs that, when combined, may serve as an effective treatment for HIV.
The two drugs, decitabine and gemcitabine -- both FDA approved and currently used in pre-cancer and cancer therapy -- were found to eliminate HIV infection in the mouse model by causing the virus to mutate itself to death -- an outcome researchers dubbed "lethal mutagenesis."
This is a landmark finding in HIV research because it is the first time this novel approach has been used to attack the deadly virus without causing toxic side effects. Because decitabine and gemcitabine are already FDA approved, researchers believe that if their research is effective in large animal models, it will be much easier to expedite the development of the drugs for human use.
The study is a collaboration between molecular virologists Louis Mansky, Ph.D., and Christine Clouser, Ph.D., of the Institute for Molecular Virology and School of Dentistry, as well as medicinal chemist Steven Patterson, Ph.D., from the Center for Drug Design. The findings were recently published online in the Journal of Virology.
"The findings provide hope that such an approach will someday help the 33 million people worldwide who currently live with HIV," Mansky said.
HIV mutates and evolves quickly. Rather than inhibiting virus growth and replication like current HIV drugs, this new drug combination forces the virus to do just the opposite -- evolve beyond control, to the point of extinction.
"HIV's ability to mutate makes it difficult to target and treat," Mansky said. "We wanted to take advantage of this behavior by stimulating HIV's mutation rate, essentially using the virus as a weapon against itself."
One way to decrease cost and expedite the development of novel drugs is by the use of drug repositioning, the process of taking a drug that is used to treat one medical condition, and using it to treat a different illness.
By examining drugs that are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the researchers hope to expedite the development of this drug combination because the safety profiles of the two drugs are known.
U of M researchers found that the drug concentrations needed to eliminate HIV infection cause no measureable cell toxicity and were effective against HIV cultures at concentrations well below the current levels used for cancer treatment.
Gemcitabine and decitabine have been administered in pre-clinical trials with mice. Initial findings confirm that the drugs are an effective antiviral therapy for HIV.
The researchers are now in the process of modifying the drugs to forms that can be absorbed by the human body when taken orally.
The study was funded by the Center for Drug Design, Academic Health Center and the National Institutes of Health.
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day: please pass on this information!!
ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2010) — Researchers at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center have identified two drugs that, when combined, may serve as an effective treatment for HIV.
The two drugs, decitabine and gemcitabine -- both FDA approved and currently used in pre-cancer and cancer therapy -- were found to eliminate HIV infection in the mouse model by causing the virus to mutate itself to death -- an outcome researchers dubbed "lethal mutagenesis."
This is a landmark finding in HIV research because it is the first time this novel approach has been used to attack the deadly virus without causing toxic side effects. Because decitabine and gemcitabine are already FDA approved, researchers believe that if their research is effective in large animal models, it will be much easier to expedite the development of the drugs for human use.
The study is a collaboration between molecular virologists Louis Mansky, Ph.D., and Christine Clouser, Ph.D., of the Institute for Molecular Virology and School of Dentistry, as well as medicinal chemist Steven Patterson, Ph.D., from the Center for Drug Design. The findings were recently published online in the Journal of Virology.
"The findings provide hope that such an approach will someday help the 33 million people worldwide who currently live with HIV," Mansky said.
HIV mutates and evolves quickly. Rather than inhibiting virus growth and replication like current HIV drugs, this new drug combination forces the virus to do just the opposite -- evolve beyond control, to the point of extinction.
"HIV's ability to mutate makes it difficult to target and treat," Mansky said. "We wanted to take advantage of this behavior by stimulating HIV's mutation rate, essentially using the virus as a weapon against itself."
One way to decrease cost and expedite the development of novel drugs is by the use of drug repositioning, the process of taking a drug that is used to treat one medical condition, and using it to treat a different illness.
By examining drugs that are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the researchers hope to expedite the development of this drug combination because the safety profiles of the two drugs are known.
U of M researchers found that the drug concentrations needed to eliminate HIV infection cause no measureable cell toxicity and were effective against HIV cultures at concentrations well below the current levels used for cancer treatment.
Gemcitabine and decitabine have been administered in pre-clinical trials with mice. Initial findings confirm that the drugs are an effective antiviral therapy for HIV.
The researchers are now in the process of modifying the drugs to forms that can be absorbed by the human body when taken orally.
The study was funded by the Center for Drug Design, Academic Health Center and the National Institutes of Health.
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day: please pass on this information!!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Acupuncture Eases Side Effects of AIDS Drugs
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day: Acupuncture may help relieve bloating, cramping, and appetite loss among HIV-infected people taking potent drug cocktails to keep the virus in check. Since they feel better after acupuncture, people are more likely to take their drugs properly, resulting in better disease control, says researcher Elizabeth Sommers, MPH, research director of the AIDS Care Project/Pathways to Wellness in Boston.
While powerful AIDS drugs are credited with helping HIV-infected people live longer, the drugs often cause a host of digestive problems.
Sommers says that acupuncture is already used to curb digestive side effects in people taking cancer drugs.
None of the participants complained of side effects from the acupuncture.
SOURCES: 3rd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 24-27, 2005. Elizabeth Sommers, MPH, research director, AIDS Care Project/Pathways to Wellness, Boston. Hal Huff, ND, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto.
While powerful AIDS drugs are credited with helping HIV-infected people live longer, the drugs often cause a host of digestive problems.
Sommers says that acupuncture is already used to curb digestive side effects in people taking cancer drugs.
None of the participants complained of side effects from the acupuncture.
SOURCES: 3rd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 24-27, 2005. Elizabeth Sommers, MPH, research director, AIDS Care Project/Pathways to Wellness, Boston. Hal Huff, ND, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
