Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy
Mothers receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat HIV-1 infection are less likely than untreated mothers to transmit the virus to their newborns through breastfeeding, according to a new study. The findings, now available online in the Nov.
Organic and Natural Beef Cattle Production Systems Offer No Major Difference in Antibiotic Susceptibility of E. coli
More than half of clinic patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) report they also drink heavily. While highly active antiretroviral therapy has helped to reduce HIV-related cognitive and motor deficits, neuropsychological deficits may continue and even be exacerbated by alcohol.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Focusing HIV drug development on immune cells called macrophages instead of traditionally targeted T cells could bring us closer to eradicating the disease, according to new research from University of Florida and five other institutions.
Researchers at the Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana have discovered that the HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs), such as nelfinavir included in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 patients, induce deleterious effects on insulin secretion mediated through the oxidative stress pathway.
Patients taking highly active antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV/AIDS often lose fatty tissues in the face as a result of treatment, making them appear gaunt and emaciated. Silicone facial implants can help these patients achieve a healthier appearance and fuller face. As patients with HIV live longer, they are beginning to seek surgical procedures to help improve their appearance caused by the disease and treatment, the article states. Traditionally, facial wasting syndrome has been treated using the patient's own fat, but frequent adjustments and additional procedures were often required. Custom designed implants tend to remain stable in their position after implantation and retain their original size and structure.
Highly active antiretroviral therapy has been shown to delay progression of AIDS and reduce mortality, yet the optimal time to start it is unknown. Current federal and other guidelines suggest initiating therapy when counts are between 200 and 350 per microliter. Those levels may be too low, however, and therapy begun too late for optimal results, according to a new study of injection drug users. The authors studied both HIV-positive and HIV-negative injection drug users in order to compare data in persons with the same mortality risk category. The expectation was that such a comparison would provide a more accurate picture than heretofore reported of the degree to which the survival rate associated with HAART may be improved to approximate that of an uninfected population.
A government policy of providing HIV-infected citizens with free access to potent regimens of antiretroviral drugs reduced the rate of HIV transmission by 53% in Taiwan, according to a new study. Using public health surveillance data, investigators led by Chi-Tai Fang and Jung-Der Wang of National Taiwan University evaluated how cost-free provision of an anti-HIV regimen known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) affected the evolution of the HIV epidemic in Taiwan. Previous research has shown that HAART, which suppresses the level of HIV, prolongs the survival of HIV-infected individuals and reduces rates of mother-to-child and heterosexual transmission of the virus.
For people with HIV, having a stable partner is associated with slower rate of progression to AIDS or death, finds a study in this week?s BMJ. Researchers in Switzerland followed 3,736 adults with HIV who had started highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) before 2002. Every six months, patients were asked whether they had had sexual intercourse with a stable partner.
AIDS patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma who receive the HAART "cocktail" therapy live much longer than those not treated with the therapy, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas found. A study published in today's issue of the journal AIDS reports that patients treated with HAART ? Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy ? survived at least 22 months, compared with a median of 29 days for those who didn't take the prescription drug regimen.
Social support may play a small but potentially important role in helping HIV-positive people adhere to the complicated schedules for taking their drug "cocktails" to control the virus that causes AIDS. A pilot study of primarily indigent black and Puerto Rican men and women at an HIV clinic in New York City suggested that individuals who had the social support they needed were more likely to take their medications. The pilot project was part of a larger study to assess the efficacy of peer support to enhance people's adherence to their cocktail or Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
