http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—Treatment with selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) is associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of breast cancer, especially for the first five years after treatment, according to research described as the first comprehensive analysis, published online April 30 in The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-comprehensive-analysis-serms-breast-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:30:01 EST news286548043 Study results presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) show that a series of community efforts can increase the number of people who get tested and know their HIV status, especially among men and young people with HIV who might otherwise transmit the virus to others. The study was also able to demonstrate a modest 14% reduction in new HIV infections in the intervention communities compared to the control communities. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-ways-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:00:07 EST news281624141 A novel head-to-head study looking at differences in how the antiretroviral (ARV) drug tenofovir gets absorbed in the body as either an oral tablet or a vaginal gel found tenofovir gel can achieve substantially higher concentrations of active drug in vaginal tissue than the oral tablet, suggesting that tenofovir gel should be highly effective in protecting women against HIV transmitted through vaginal sex. Yet, as unequivocal as the study's results may be, they have not been borne out in HIV prevention trials to date, leading the researchers to believe that effectiveness of tenofovir-based products depends on factors other than ARV tissue concentrations alone. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-tenofovir-gel-drug-absorption-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:08:15 EST news278788086 Daily baths with an ordinary antibacterial cleanser can safely reduce the risk of dangerous bloodstream infections in critically ill children, according to a trial conducted in five pediatric hospitals and led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. A report on the findings of the research—the first of its kind in children and one of the largest infection-prevention trials to date—will be published online Jan. 26 in the Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-daily-antiseptic-slash-bloodstream-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278335094 A leading international expert on autism at the University of Leicester has been involved in contributing to a major new study of global health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mental-health-lags-global-lifespan.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:37:56 EST news274970270 When the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052 investigators released their landmark study results last year showing that treatment can reduce HIV transmission by 96% in serodiscordant couples, questions were raised about the cost of early antiretroviral therapy (ART) and if it should be universally implemented. Data presented today at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. show that treatment as prevention is "very cost-effective". Using an HIV microsimulation model (CEPAC-International) to further expand analysis of HPTN 052 data, study investigators were able to project the clinical impact, costs, and cost-effectiveness of early ART. They found that this strategy increases survival, prevents costly opportunistic infections, averts early transmissions and is very cost-effective. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-analysis-hptn-results-cost-effectiveness-early.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:40:43 EST news262618833 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 Researchers at ICAP's Harlem Prevention Center (HPC) joined the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) today to announce study results that showed disturbing rates of new HIV infections occurring among black gay and bisexual men in the U.S. (also known as men who have sex with men, or MSM), particularly young black MSM. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-icap-concerningly-high-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:25:48 EST news262265131 Study results released today by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) show disturbing rates of new HIV infections occurring among black gay and bisexual men in the U.S. (also known as men who have sex with men, or MSM), particularly young black MSM. The HPTN 061 study showed that the overall rate of new HIV infection among black MSM in this study was 2.8% per year, a rate that is nearly 50% higher than in white MSM in the U.S. Even more alarming, HPTN 061 found that young black MSM—those 30 years of age and younger—acquired HIV infection at a rate of 5.9% per year, three times the rate among U.S. white MSM. The overall infection rate among black MSM in this U.S study is comparable to the rate seen in the general populations of countries in sub-Saharan Africa hardest hit by the HIV epidemic. HPTN 061 was a large multi-site study of HIV and black MSM conducted in six U.S. cities, and the first to determine the rate of new HIV infection among such a large prospective cohort of U.S. black MSM (referred to as HIV incidence). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hptn-greatly-elevated-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:22:02 EST news262264916 In a new study by ICAP at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, researchers are assessing a novel approach to encourage newly diagnosed HIV positive people to seek care and adhere to HIV treatment. The unique study in the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) gives people who test HIV positive a coupon for a gift card to claim after they complete clinic visits and laboratory tests. Patients who adhere to HIV treatment regularly can decrease the amount of HIV in their blood, leading to viral suppression. Study participants who achieve viral suppression also receive gift cards as a reward and motivation for a maximum of four times a year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-incentive-hiv-patient-treatment.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:24:09 EST news261764642 In the battle against HIV/AIDS conditions on the frontlines are constantly in flux as treatment, research and policy evolve. The landmark HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052 study, which established that antiretroviral treatment in people who are HIV positive decreases the likelihood of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners, was no exception. One year after publication the study serves as a case study of ethical challenges faced at every stage of the research trial process in the new paper "Establishing HIV treatment as prevention in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 randomized trial: an ethical odyssey," published in the June 2012 issue of Clinical Trials. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-lessons-ethical-odyssey-hiv-trial.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:02:03 EST news258894113 A new report by American Cancer Society scientists says new data showing aspirin's potential role in reducing the risk of cancer death bring us considerably closer to the time when cancer prevention can be included in clinical guidelines for the use of aspirin in preventative care. The report, published early online in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, says even a 10% reduction in overall cancer incidence beginning during the first 10 years of treatment could tip the balance of benefits and risks favorably in average-risk populations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-evidence-aspirin-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:10:22 EST news253206590 It is fairly common for clinical research participants to receive payment for expenses such as travel and parking. What has raised ethical questions are payments or incentives given to encourage people to participate in research or to use a specific health intervention or care plan as part of the research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-cash-payments-health-ethical-misplaced.html Health Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:00:08 EST news252082531 Study results released today indicate that the HIV incidence rate for US women living in areas hardest hit by the epidemic is much higher than the overall estimated incidence rate in the US for black adolescent and adult women. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-hiv-black-women-higher-previously.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:35:48 EST news250490141 The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hiv-scientific-breakthrough-year-science.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:00:09 EST news243779772 Using HIV treatment drugs to reduce the risk of spreading the AIDS virus may be even more effective than thought, according to new analysis from a landmark trial presented here on Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-hiv-drugs-effective-thought.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:23:38 EST news230207007 Today, researchers from two major HIV prevention trials announced favorable results of an approach called oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. One of these trials, the Partners PrEP Study, has provided the strongest evidence yet of PrEP's effectiveness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-voice-action-results-trials.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:25:41 EST news229767927 Sulforaphane, one of the primary phytochemicals in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables that helps them prevent cancer, has been shown for the first time to selectively target and kill cancer cells while leaving normal prostate cells healthy and unaffected. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-safety-cancer-targeting-ability-nutrient-broccoli.html Cancer Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:58:13 EST news226839451