Study Shows HIV Remission Is Possible for Children Started on Very Early Antiretroviral Therapy

Research co-led by an investigator at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center shows that four children born with HIV who were safely removed from antiretroviral therapy (ART) continued to have undetectable levels of the virus for about a year or more without treatment. The children were among 54 newborns who were given very early treatment within the first 48 hours of life — rather than within weeks or months, as is typical.
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Measles: How to Spot it, When to Seek Care and Importance of Vaccination

As the Measles outbreak continues to grow in Florida, Francesca Torriani, MD, infectious disease specialist with UC San Diego Health is available to discuss symptoms to look out for, when to seek medical care, and the importance of vaccination. Biography…

Prof. Dr. Thanyavee Puthanakit, National Outstanding Researcher in Medical Science, with Clinical Research on the Treatment and Prevention of HIV in Youth

Prof. Dr. Thanyavee expressed her appreciation and honor for receiving the Outstanding Researcher Award.

New Community Partnership Model Boosts Inclusion of Participants into HIV Cure-Directed Research

Scientists have long used community advisory boards to engage communities and provide feedback on studies, but this model has limitations. Now, Wistar Institute researchers are sharing how a more inclusive model for community engagement can lead to deeper insights and greater community participation in HIV research.

Gender, race and socioeconomic status are associated with comorbidity in people with HIV who smoke

High rates of smoking among people with HIV are associated with high rates of comorbid health problems – which are associated with characteristics including gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, according to a study in the July issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC). The official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Rensselaer Researcher Uses Pressure To Understand RNA Dynamics

Just as space holds infinite mysteries, when we zoom in at the level of biomolecules (one trillion times smaller than a meter), there is still so much to learn.Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Catherine Royer, Constellation Chair Professor of Bioinformatics and Biocomputation at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and professor of biological sciences, is dedicated to understanding the conformational landscapes of biomolecules and how they modulate cell function.

Penile HIV Infection is Effectively Prevented by Antiretroviral Treatment

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine’s International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases have developed a new approach for the detailed evaluation of HIV infection throughout the entire male genital tract, HIV acquisition via the penis and the efficient prevention of penile HIV infection. The study was published in mBio by the American Society of Microbiology.

A readily available dietary supplement may reverse organ damage caused by HIV and antiretroviral therapy

MitoQ, a mitochondrial antioxidant that is available to the public as a diet supplement, was found in a mouse study to reverse the detrimental effects that HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) have on mitochondria in the brain, heart, aorta, lungs, kidney and liver.

CDC-UNC Collaboration Yields Potential Long-term HIV Protection

Since 2017, the lab of Rahima Benhabbour, PhD, MSc, associate professor in the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been working with a research team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others at UNC to develop an injectable implant that can release HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications into the body for a long period of time.
Their latest research, published in Nature Communications, shows that the team’s latest formulation can provide up to six months of full protection.

SLU Researcher Receives $1.76 Million NIH Grant to Create STAR, an HIV-Focused Experiential Research and Capacity Building Program for Students and Young Researchers

Using a crowdsourcing framework utilized over the past five years, Juliet Iwelunmor, Ph.D., professor of global health and behavioral science and health education at Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice, is taking what she learned from empowering youth in Nigeria to identify young people in the United States who aim to become the next generation of HIV researchers, leaders and innovators in the field.

Moffitt Cancer Center Joins Weill Cornell Medicine and University of North Carolina to Improve HIV-Related Cancer Care Abroad

Moffitt Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have received a $3.5 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to improve screening and preventative treatment of cervical cancer for women living with HIV in low-resource countries.

Commonly used antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV and hepatitis B reduce immune cells’ energy production

New UCLA-led research suggests that antiretroviral drugs called TAF and TDF directly reduce energy production by mitochondria, structures inside cells that generate the power that cells use to function. Both drugs led to reduced cellular oxygen consumption rates, a measure of the ability of the mitochondria to produce energy, compared with controls.

Lung Cancer Screening Has the Potential to Reduce HIV Deaths

This World AIDS Day, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, is calling on the health care community to increase lung cancer screening for people with HIV who are current or former heavy smokers and may be at high risk for developing the disease. As HIV- infected individuals have high smoking rates, smoking cessation should also be encouraged.

Addressing stigma is critical to containing the monkeypox outbreak

Inaccurate media coverage of the monkeypox outbreak has resulted in misinformation about the many ways it can be spread, resulting in stigma (shaming and biased attitudes) toward people who develop the disease. Nurses play a key role in delivering appropriate care related to monkeypox by creating safe spaces for affected individuals regardless of sexual behaviors, race and ethnicity, gender, or co-infections. These conclusions come from two papers in the November/December issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC), the official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Mount Sinai’s Yvette Calderon, MD, MS, Elected to National Academy of Medicine for Contributions to Emergency Medicine

Yvette Calderon, MD, MS, Chair of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. With her election, Mount Sinai has 26 faculty members in the NAM.

Gut bacteria may contribute to susceptibility to HIV infection, UCLA-led research suggests

New UCLA-led research suggests certain gut bacteria — including one that is essential for a healthy gut microbiome – differ between people who go on to acquire HIV infection compared to those who have not become infected. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal eBioMedicine, suggest that the gut microbiome could contribute to one’s risk for HIV infection, said study lead Dr.

Researchers Receive $4.2M Grant to Improve PrEP Access and Prevent New HIV Infections

Bronx county has the country’s fifth-highest rate of HIV diagnosis—but the lowest rate in New York State for use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medications that are extremely effective in preventing HIV infection. Physician-researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System have received a five-year, $4.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to compare two strategies for improving PrEP access and use in the Bronx.

State-level Earned Income Tax Credit linked to reduction in high-risk HIV behavior among single mothers

UCLA research finds that a refundable State-level Earned Income Tax Credit (SEITC) of 10% or above the Federal EITC was associated with a 21% relative risk reduction in reported behavior that could put single mothers at high risk for becoming infected with HIV during the previous year. Also, a 10 percentage-point increase in SEITC was linked to a 38% relative reduction in the same reported high-risk behavior the previous year.

Additional Antibody Mediated Prevention (AMP) trials data published in Nature Medicine

An embargoed study published in the Aug. 22, 2022 issue of Nature Medicine identifies a new biomarker that appears effective as a surrogate endpoint to reliably predict the ability of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to prevent acquisition of HIV-1, the most common type of the virus that causes AIDS. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) are defined by their ability to neutralize multiple genetically distinct viral strains.

New insights into HIV latent cells yield potential cure targets

In a presentation today at AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference in Montreal, scientists with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center (VRC) and their collaborators described how their use of cutting-edge technology revealed new insights into cellular reservoirs of HIV and what those observations could mean for the next steps in HIV cure research. NIAID is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Sylvester Plays Pivotal Role in Practice-Changing Anal Cancer Prevention Study Published by NEJM

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published the results of a study by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School and other investigators on anal cancer prevention in people living with HIV (PLHIV) that will likely establish a…