HIV Therapy
HIV Treatment Reduces Hunger Concerns
11 years ago
by ADMIN
in HIV Therapy
A study done in Uganda shows that undergoing treatments for HIV reduces the feeling of fear of going hungry in patients. While the medication itself did not put food in the patient’s bellies, and it did not completely remove all concerns, it still begs the question: Why is this the case?
The study revealed a possible cause. Because the antiretroviral drugs improve the body’s efficiency, the patient does not feel the panic that usually sets in when the body is afraid it will not be receiving enough food. Better emotional health and ability to engage in work seems to have this effect on a patient’s overall demeanor.
Over 600 patients at two locations were a part of the study. Receiving treatment caused a high percentage of the patients interviewed to no longer feel as great a concern over difficulties acquiring sufficient food. While the treatment improved the health of the participants, it does not seem that this is what had an effect on the emotional well being of the patients. The most direct effect was a lessening of mental health issues, particularly depression. The end result was less of a concern about how to obtain food.
Was part of this reduction of stress due to the patients receiving food from the clinic as part of the study? No. There was no provision made to give food supplies to the patients. It is believed that the biggest change was due to the fact that increased health meant a greater ability for patients to work. Once they had a steady income—albeit a small one—the HIV patients were much more likely to not stress over finding nourishment.
What this study has shown is a direct correlation between the support given to HIV sufferers in poorer areas and their lessened concerns over going hungry. Getting proper medical attention leads to more productivity, and that puts food on the table, even if it isn’t really enough.
Correlation Between HIV Treatment and Recurrent Malaria
12 years ago
According to the NIH, children with HIV who are receiving treatment are 40 percent less likely to suffer from recurring malaria. The study was done in Uganda using children age six and under. Some were just infants (over 170 of them, in fact). The study group was compared to a group of children receiving a different treatment.
The treatment that stopped malaria from recurring was a protease blocker. It slows the spread of HIV by blocking that particular enzyme. While the treatment seemed to make it less likely for malaria to reoccur, it did not prevent the children from getting the disease the first time.
The children were also receiving drugs to try and prevent them from getting malaria. When blood tests were done on the children, it was noticed that the ones receiving the protease treatment had more of the anti malaria medicine in their system.
This is not the first study that has been done on this particular HIV treatment. Previous research was conducted to prove the effectiveness of the drug combination in slowing the progress of HIV. However, it is not the first drug promoted by the WHO for HIV treatment in poor nations. Why not? For one thing, the treatment needs to be refrigerated. Because of this, medical facilities in many poor nations cannot afford the resources to keep a supply on hand. It also does not taste very good, which makes it more difficult to get children to take it.
Other variables in the study included the children being given a mosquito net to keep them from being infected in their sleep. These nets had mosquito repellent on them. All the children also received a regular supply of vitamins. Clean water was provided, so that water quality would not affect the outcome of the study.
Even with the best efforts of the individuals conducting the study, it was still noted that about two fifths of the children contracted malaria within half a year. The discrepancies, however, began to be noticed in those who survived the first round. Receiving the standard HIV treatment had the same two fifths chance of getting the disease again in the next four weeks. Of the children taking protease inhibitors, only 14 percent contracted the disease again. After two months, there was still a stark contrast in recurrent cases.
Ribosomes Reveal New Target for Antiviral Therapies
12 years ago
by ADMIN
in HIV Therapy
It is tough to catch a target when you don’t know what its next move will be. It is even tougher when the target itself doesn’t know its next move. The unpredictability of RNA virus is what makes them resistant to antiviral drugs. Since every copy the viruses make of themselves is inaccurate, at least to some degree, the antiviral drugs do not know what to search for. It is like a police officer chasing someone based on a description, but the criminal dumps his coat in the trash and gives his hat to a stranger. For example, the only way to go after a disease like HIV is to pump a patient full of different types of drugs to try and wipe out hiding places, thus backing the disease into a corner.
So what do you do if you can’t fight an RNA virus? You could try attacking the host cells. The only problem with that is keeping the host safe while you do it. It’s not really a cure if it kills you. Ribosomes, however, may hold the key to cornering fatal viruses like rabies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published results on November 19th that are promising.
Ribosomes have always been believed to sort of be on autopilot just doing their thing, which happens to be making proteins. Amy Lee and Shawn Whelan are challenging that role and claim that ribosomes translate specific proteins which would connect them with virus replication. The study involved examining how mRNAs (messenger RNAs) are translated into proteins by host cells that are infected with RNA viruses. The pair discovered a particular protein on the surface of ribosomes that is crucial to virus RNA translation, but is irrelevant to most mRNAs. It is named rpL40. Targeting this protein could inhibit RNA virus reproduction without hurting host cell’s ability to produce good proteins.
At the present time, there is no treatment for the deadly virus, rabies. This is being presented as the first possible way to counteract that fatal virus. Initial screening using the vesicular stomatitis virus, a relative of rabies, showed that while the virus relied heavily on the rpL40 protein, only about 7 percent of mRNAs did. The class of virus that relies most heavily on this protein also includes the measles virus.
While there are no drugs yet to target rpL40, a number of research groups are now exploring this theory developed by Lee and Whelan.
Study Shows High-Dose Multivitamins Don’t Benefit HAART Patients
12 years ago
A new study was conducted at Harvard University which shows that HIV patients who are receiving HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) don’t get any more benefits from a high-dose multivitamin than they would from a regular dose. It is the first time that a study has been done on such a large scale to see the difference in results of HAART clinical trials when combined with different amounts of vitamin intake.
The Journal of the American Medical Association recorded the study in its October 17, 2012 issue. The reason for the test was to compare results with other studies that showed these high doses slowed disease progression in individuals not being treated with HAART. While HAART is a big step in treating HIV, it still does not completely repair the immune system, and takes a number of months before it becomes effective. Thus, researchers wanted to see if the vitamins could boost the results.
The study was conducted on a group of over 3,400 patients over the course of 2 years. Half of the patients received ultra high doses of vitamins such as B, C, and E, while the others received a regular dose.
There are several ways to measure HIV progression. Among these are BMI, CD4 count, hemoglobin level concentration, and plasma viral load. According to the study, the high dose vitamin takers experienced the same progression of the disease and mortality rate. In fact, there may be detrimental effects as ALT enzyme levels are raised which can possibly result in liver problems and other complications.
While high doses of vitamins are both safe and somewhat effective for HIV patients who are not being treated with HAART, the opposite seems to be true of those receiving this medical treatment. Primarily the test has proven to researchers that more studies must be done.
Micro nutrients help to maintain our body’s immune system and are thus being researched to help those with immune disorders like HIV/AIDS. Future studies will consider that perhaps in this case, less really is more.
HIV Coinfection with Hepatitis C Virus
12 years ago
by McMeeking
in HIV Therapy
Chronic Hepatitis C infection is now the leading cause of death after AIDS-related complications in HIV infected individuals in the United States. HIV coinfection exacerbates Hepatitis C virus disease leading to more rapid progression to cirrhosis, liver cancer and mortality. This is felt to be due to impaired T-cell immune responses to Hepatitis C in HIV positive patients.
Until now, the standard of care led to cure rates in only 20 percent of coinfected patients. However, the approval last year of two new agents called protease inhibitors are showing a great deal of promise in studies currently under way with cure rates possibly reaching 80-90 percent in some studies.
It is now standard of care for all HIV patients to be screened for Hepatitits C coinfection with the hope that therapy will cause a marked improvement in morbidity and mortality.
Going forward, due to the shortage of physicians currently trained to treat hepatitis C, HIV providers will have to be the treaters for their coinfected patients and treat not just their HIV but also their Hepatitis C infection.
