EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
First antibiotic stewardship probed in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
The articles address: Impact of prospective-audit-with-feedback program and clinician attitudes toward program.

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012
Wastewater key to quenching global thirst, UCI-led review finds
Parched cities and regions across the globe are using sewage effluent and other wastewater in creative ways to augment drinking water, but 4 billion people still do not have adequate supplies, and that number will rise in coming decades. Wildlife, rivers and ecosystems are also being decimated by the ceaseless quest for new water and disposal of waste. Changing human behavior and redoubling use of alternatives are critical to breaking that cycle.

Public Release: 7-Aug-2012
Clinical trial for rabies monoclonal antibody
A clinical trial for an anti-rabies human monoclonal antibody developed through a partnership between MassBiologics (UMass Medical School) and the Serum Institute of India is enrolling patients. The study, sponsored by the Serum Institute, will evaluate post-exposure prophylaxis following rabies exposure compared to standard treatment. Post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies that includes a monoclonal antibody should provide a more affordable, safer alternative to this world-wide public health problem, which impacts 10 million people a year.

Public Release: 5-Aug-2012

Nature Genetics
Out of Europe
Researchers show that access to clean water might not reduce the incidence of dysentry as a country becomes more developed. As countries become more industrialized, and improve health, lifestyle and access to clean water, the numbers of infections with dysentery-causing Shigella flexneri decline. However, incidence of another form of the dysentery-causing bacterium, Shigella sonnei, increase with these improvements.

Wellcome Trust, Victorian Government

Public Release: 2-Aug-2012

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering
Detecting thyroid disease by computer
Researchers in India have developed an improved expert system for the diagnosis of thyroid disease. They describe details of their approach to screening medical data in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering.

Public Release: 2-Aug-2012
5-year survey confirms Uruguay's world-leading tobacco control strategy is delivering results
The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project today launched a new report on the effectiveness of tobacco control policies in Uruguay. The ITC Uruguay Survey found that the country's world-leading, comprehensive tobacco control strategy has had positive effects on raising awareness of the true harms of smoking, reducing mis-perceptions about "light/mild" cigarettes, reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, and reducing the demand for tobacco products through tax increases.

Public Release: 1-Aug-2012

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Global health researchers urge integrating de-worming into HIV care in Africa
An estimated 50 percent of the 2.1 million children with HIV infections in sub-Saharan African also have worm infestations. Such parasites have many health and child development repercussions, including hastening the progression of HIV. Proven interventions, including routine de-worming among children could effectively be integrated into HIV care. Global health researchers see this as a missed opportunity to treat a neglected tropical disease. School programs are not as effective in carrying out this public health intervention because they miss toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Research Resources, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 1-Aug-2012

Malaria Journal
New research reveals extent of poor-quality antimalarial medicines in South American countries
Two articles recently published in Malaria Journal shed new light on the quality of antimalarial medicines circulating in countries in the Amazon Basin in South America. Researchers from the Promoting the Quality of Medicines program, a cooperative agreement between the US Agency for International Development and the US Pharmacopeial Convention, in conjunction with country partners, coordinated these studies in the context of the Amazon Malaria Initiative.

USAID, US Pharmacopeia

Public Release: 1-Aug-2012

Sleep
Global 'sleeplessness epidemic' affects an estimated 150 million in developing world
Levels of sleep problems in the developing world are approaching those seen in developed nations, linked to an increase in problems like depression and anxiety.

Public Release: 1-Aug-2012

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
New study finds strong evidence of humans surviving rabies bites without treatment
Challenging conventional wisdom that rabies infections are 100 percent fatal unless immediately treated, scientists studying remote populations in the Peruvian Amazon at risk of rabies from vampire bats found 11 percent of those tested showed protection against the disease, with only one person reporting a prior rabies vaccination. Ten percent appear to have survived exposure to the virus without any medical intervention. The findings from investigators at the CDC published by the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference
Early treatment could mean greater earning potential for people with HIV
In a first-of-its-kind health campaign in Uganda, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show that adults with HIV who had less severe infections could work more hours per week, and their children were more likely to be enrolled in school.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2012

PLOS Biology
Vaccine research shows vigilance needed against evolution of more-virulent malaria
Malaria parasites evolving in vaccinated laboratory mice become more virulent, according to research at Penn State University. The mice were injected with a critical component of several candidate human malaria vaccines that now are being evaluated in clinical trials.

Penn State University

Public Release: 28-Jul-2012
World Hepatitis Day - EASL calls on the United Nations to join the effort to tackle viral hepatitis
Marking World Hepatitis Day, the European Association for the Study of the Liver calls on the different organizations which make up the United Nations systems to take action to fight against Viral Hepatitis (Hepatitis B and C), a potentially fatal infection of the liver which affects 500 million people.

Public Release: 27-Jul-2012

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
UCLA researchers discover that fluoxetine -- a.k.a., Prozac -- is effective as an anti-viral
Using molecular screening of small molecule libraries, a team of researchers at UCLA from the departments of Pediatrics, the California NanoSystems Institute, and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology has been able to identify fluoxetine (commonly known as Prozac), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, as a potent inhibitor of coxsackievirus replication.

Public Release: 27-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)
Swaziland HIV incidence results announced at AIDS 2012
The results from a nationally representative HIV incidence study in Swaziland indicate that the national rate of new HIV infections is 2.38 percent among adults ages 18-49. This figure, comparable to the 2009 UNAIDS estimate of 2.66 percent for Swaziland adults ages 15-49, suggests that the HIV epidemic in Swaziland may have begun to stabilize in the past few years. The findings of the Swaziland HIV Incidence Measurement Survey were presented today at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington DC.

Centers for Disease Control, PEPFAR

Public Release: 26-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference
Early HIV treatment may improve socioeconomic conditions in rural sub-saharan Africa
Adults with HIV in rural sub-Saharan Africa who receive antiretroviral drugs early in their infection may reap benefits in their ability to work and their children's ability to stay in school, according to a first-of-its-kind clinical study in Uganda that compared socioeconomic outcomes with CD4+ counts -- a standard measure of health status for people with HIV.

Public Release: 24-Jul-2012
Undergrads invent cell phone screener to combat anemia in developing world
Biomedical engineering students have invented a way to use cell phones in developing nations to identify pregnant women with dangerous anemia.

Jhpiego

Public Release: 24-Jul-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Under the right conditions, peptide blocks HIV infection at multiple points along the way
Using model cell lines, a research group at Emory University showed that human neutrophil peptide 1 effectively prevented HIV entry into cells in multiple ways.

Public Release: 24-Jul-2012
President Obama selects Rutgers cell biologist Nihal Altan-Bonnet to receive prestigious award
Cell Biologist Nihal Altan-Bonnet, a researcher who has made significant advances in understanding viral replication in infected cells, is one of 96 young scientists to have received this year's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Altan-Bonnet, whose research is funded by the NIH, is working with industry partners to design and test therapeutics targeting viral replication, to address pan viral effectiveness.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 24-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference
SEARCH study shows 1-year drop in HIV virus levels in rural Ugandan parish after campaign
Population-wide levels of HIV virus dropped substantially between 2011 and May 2012 in a rural part of southwestern Uganda, the site of two community health campaigns led by doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

Public Release: 23-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference

Lancet
Trial signals major milestone in hunt for new TB drugs
A novel approach to discover the first new tuberculosis (TB) combination drug regimen cleared a major hurdle when Phase II clinical trial results found it could kill more than 99 percent of patients' TB bacteria within two weeks and could be more effective than existing treatments, according to a study published today in the Lancet. These results add to a growing body of evidence that the new regimen could reduce treatment by more than a year for some patients.

Public Release: 23-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference
First results of community health campaign in Uganda for HIV and other diseases
A clinical study in a remote region of southwest Uganda has demonstrated the feasibility of using a health campaign to rapidly test a community for HIV and simultaneously offer prevention and diagnosis for a variety of other diseases in rural and resource-poor settings of sub-Saharan Africa.

Public Release: 22-Jul-2012

XIX International AIDS Conference
Clinical study in rural Uganda shows high demand for antiretroviral drugs
An ongoing clinical study in rural Uganda, begun in 2011, suggests that many people infected with HIV/AIDS would take antiretroviral drugs if they were available to them -- even before they developed symptoms from the disease.

Public Release: 22-Jul-2012

Annals of Internal Medicine
Embargoed news from Annals of Internal Medicine
Below is information about articles being published in the July 22 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The information is not intended to substitute for the full articles as sources of information. Annals of Internal Medicine attribution is required for all coverage.

Public Release: 19-Jul-2012

Technology and Innovation
The search for medical technologies abroad
A study published in the current issue of Technology and Innovation -- Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors found that the search for medical technologies through "medical travel" can change the lives of patients and their family members.


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