http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In South Africa, people with HIV who start treatment with anti-AIDS drugs (antiretroviral therapy) have life expectancies around 80% of that of the general population provided that they start treatment before their CD4 count drops below 200 (cells per microliter), according to a study by South African researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-treatment-near-normal-life-people-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:00:02 EST news284745277 A study that analyzed data from more than 82,000 veterans suggests that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) beyond what is explained by recognized risk factors, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-hiv-infection-heart.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:05 EST news281616075 People with HIV are less able to recognise facial emotion than non-infected people finds a study published in the launch edition of BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Psychology. Reduction in their ability to recognise fear in others is linked to a similar loss in immediate recall, while those with a lower general neurocognitive performance also had a reduced ability to recognise happiness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-values-ability-emotions-impaired-aids.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:00:03 EST news281125031 HIV-positive patients have a higher incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that appears in the current online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Specifically, basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas occur more than twice as often among HIV-positive individuals compared to those who are HIV-negative. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-reveals-two-fold-higher-incidence-non-melanoma.html Cancer Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:28:30 EST news278677701 Bacterial pneumonia is one of the commonest and most serious infections occurring in people infected with HIV. A metanalysis of cohort and case control studies published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine finds that current smokers with HIV were at double the risk of bacterial pneumonia than non-smoking counterparts, but that when people stopped smoking their risk was reduced. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-bacterial-pneumonia-people-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:00:04 EST news278012579 Offering routine HIV testing to the general population rather than only to high-risk individuals will significantly reduce illness and death, argues Dr. Julio Montaner and coauthors in an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-canada-routine-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:41:34 EST news273159613 (Medical Xpress)—HIV-positive individuals who strictly adhere to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have a significantly lower probability of premature morbidity and mortality as compared to those with suboptimal compliance to HAART, according to a new study from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-adherence-hiv-treatment-significantly-survival.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:36:35 EST news272709381 A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers suggests that, for HIV patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat HIV, there is no benefit from high- vs. standard-dose micronutrient supplementation—and that, in fact, high-dose supplements may cause harm. The study is the first large randomized trial to look at how high-dose multivitamin supplementation affects clinical outcomes among people on HAART. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-benefit-high-dose-multivitamins-hiv-patients.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:00:15 EST news269614593 (HealthDay)—Despite more extensive disease and more adverse prognostic factors, HIV-positive patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) do not have worse outcomes when treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD), according to research published online Oct. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-hiv-status-doesnt-hodgkin-lymphoma.html Cancer Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:00:01 EST news269194460 Overall death rates due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection declined over time between 1993 and 2007 for most men and women by race/ethnicity and educational levels, with the largest absolute decreases for nonwhites, but rates remain high among blacks, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-decline-hiv-deaths-men-women.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:00:01 EST news268913256 People with a rare genetic trait who are infected with HIV progress more slowly to AIDS than others. But even within this group, there are wide variations in time to progression. A new study illustrates in detail how the immune system fights the virus in those subjects who progress more slowly. The research, which could prove useful to efforts to develop a vaccine against HIV, is published in the September Journal of Virology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-insights-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:15:20 EST news267279311 Malnutrition is common among HIV-infected pregnant women even when they receive antiretroviral therapy, leading to low birth weight and other health problems in their infants, according to a recent study conducted by a Cornell University faculty member working with the Makerere University-UCSF Research Collaboration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hiv-infected-women-susceptible-malnutrition-pregnancy.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:35:01 EST news266481287 Between 2000 and 2008, the proportion of HIV-infected patients in the U.S. receiving effective treatment known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) increased, and HIV-infected patients appeared to be less infectious and have healthier immune systems at death, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study was nested in the NA-ACCORD (North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design), which is the largest cohort of HIV-infected adults in North America. The findings are published in the September 4 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hiv-treatment.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:00:01 EST news265890473 Study results released today by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) show additional benefits of early antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV clinical outcomes. Expanded analysis of HPTN 052 study data, presented today at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., demonstrated that early versus delayed ART showed a trend toward delaying the time to both AIDS and non-AIDS primary events and significantly delayed the time to AIDS events, death and tuberculosis. The overall incidence of clinical events was significantly lower in participants treated in the early therapy arm. The new findings show that immediate ART significantly decreased the incidence of clinical events likely due to reversal of immune suppression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hptn-results-reveal-additional-benefits.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:46:28 EST news262539978 (HealthDay) -- Similar racial disparities are seen in HIV infection for men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States and the United Kingdom, according to a study published online July 20 in The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hiv-racial-disparities-men-sex.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:30:01 EST news262008283 A new study by scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute shows, in cell culture, a natural compound can virtually eliminate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in infected cells. The compound defines a novel class of HIV anti-viral drugs endowed with the capacity to repress viral replication in acutely and chronically infected cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-scientists-potent-compound-virtually-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:23:11 EST news261922972 People at high risk of HIV infection can reduce their risk of acquiring the disease by taking antiretroviral drugs, according to Cochrane researchers. In an update of a systematic review first published in 2009, the researchers found that uninfected people in relationships with HIV-infected partners, men who have sex with men and those in other high risk groups are at a lower risk of becoming infected with the virus if they regularly take drugs that are normally prescribed to treat people with HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drugs-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:00:02 EST news261160988 While HIV programs provide lifesaving care and treatment to millions of people in lower-income countries, there have been concerns that as these programs expand, they divert investments from other health priorities such as maternal health. Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health assessed the effect of HIV programs supported by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) on access to maternal health care in sub-Saharan Africa for women who are not infected with HIV. The findings show that, in fact, PEPFAR-funded, HIV-related projects were linked to more deliveries in health facilities. Encouraging more women to deliver in a health facility is essential to reduce maternal and newborn mortality globally. The study is published in the July edition of the journal Health Affairs, a theme issue about the impact of PEPFAR. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-pepfar-hivaids-linked-uptick-babies.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:00:13 EST news261066226 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Fenway Health have found that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) does not completely suppress HIV in the semen of sexually active HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM). The findings, which currently appear on-line in AIDS, could indicate a potential transmission risk in MSM, who are highly susceptible to HIV infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-hiv-infected-men-hiv-haart.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:46:52 EST news252064004 A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by The Wistar Institute, has announced the results of a clinical trial that shows how the immune system can engage in fighting HIV infection if given the right boost. In their study, HIV-infected volunteers suspended their daily antiretroviral therapy to receive weekly doses of interferon-alpha, an antiviral chemical produced by the human immune system. The study provides the first clinical evidence for a means of reducing the persistent amount of HIV in patients and the ability to control HIV without continued antiretroviral therapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-interferon-decreases-hiv-virus-antiretroviral.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:36:36 EST news250356989 Results from two studies presented today at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle demonstrate the importance of identifying and treating HIV-infected infants within the first year of life both to prevent harm to the immune system and to enable normal neurological development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-nih-funded-benefits-antiretroviral-treatment-hiv-infected.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:26:39 EST news250273568 A study of children and adolescents who had been infected perinatally (around the time of their birth) with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) suggests little evidence of an association between specific antiretroviral therapy and the severity of psychiatric disorders, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-hiv-infected-youth-psychiatric-symptoms-functional.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:13 EST news247756029 Routine criminal prosecutions for not disclosing HIV status should be abolished, write three HIV/AIDS experts in an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-abolish-criminalization-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:07 EST news243517029 Among people recently infected with HIV, immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) appears preferable to deferring treatment, according to a new study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online. Although the benefits of ART during early HIV-1 infection remain unproven, the findings support growing evidence favoring earlier ART initiation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-early-art-hiv-infected-patients-treatment.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:03:49 EST news243230615 One of the key decisions faced by people living with HIV, and by their health-care providers, is when to start treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-guidance-antiretroviral-therapy-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:00:07 EST news236267486 Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and GHESKIO (Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes) have shown that early treatment of HIV not only saves lives but is also cost-effective. Results are published in today's edition of PLoS Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-early-antiretroviral-therapy-hiv-shown.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:54:28 EST news235821236 A landmark study by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the University of British Columbia (UBC) shows that patients in Africa receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) for HIV can expect to live a near normal lifespan. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-hiv-therapies-lifespan-africa.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:00:07 EST news230221879 A new study by investigators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has confirmed the existence of a "trial effect" in clinical trials for treatment of HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-trial-effect-hiv-clinical-trials.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:26:06 EST news229796751