scholarly journals What's new about AIDS?

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aileen Gray
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Aids Pandemic ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Aids Virus ◽  
The Media ◽  
Host Parasite

AIDS is often portrayed by the media as an unusual virus. This paper places the AIDS virus in a number of different contexts to demonstrate that the AIDS pandemic is not a unique or a non·repeatable occurrence. Viral characteristics in general, and those of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) in particular, are examined, as are the concepts of viral evolution, human·virus interactions and host-parasite relationships.

scholarly journals Computational Design of Antiviral RNA Interference Strategies That Resist Human Immunodeficiency Virus Escape

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1645-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua N. Leonard ◽  
David V. Schaffer
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Rna Interference ◽  
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Computational Design ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Target Sequence ◽  
Therapeutic Success ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus

ABSTRACT Recently developed antiviral strategies based upon RNA interference (RNAi), which harnesses an innate cellular system for the targeted down-regulation of gene expression, appear highly promising and offer alternative approaches to conventional highly active antiretroviral therapy or efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine. However, RNAi is faced with several challenges that must be overcome to fully realize its promise. Specifically, it degrades target RNA in a highly sequence-specific manner and is thus susceptible to viral mutational escape, and there are also challenges in delivery systems to induce RNAi. To aid in the development of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (anti-HIV) RNAi therapies, we have developed a novel stochastic computational model that simulates in molecular-level detail the propagation of an HIV infection in cells expressing RNAi. The model provides quantitative predictions on how targeting multiple locations in the HIV genome, while keeping the overall RNAi strength constant, significantly improves efficacy. Furthermore, it demonstrates that delivery systems must be highly efficient to preclude leaving reservoirs of unprotected cells where the virus can propagate, mutate, and eventually overwhelm the entire system. It also predicts how therapeutic success depends upon a relationship between RNAi strength and delivery efficiency and uniformity. Finally, targeting an essential viral element, in this case the HIV TAR region, can be highly successful if the RNAi target sequence is correctly selected. In addition to providing specific predictions for how to optimize a clinical therapy, this system may also serve as a future tool for investigating more fundamental questions of viral evolution.

Screening for drugs of abuse: effect of heat-treating urine for safe handling of samples

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 908-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Wolff ◽  
M A Shanab ◽  
M J Sanderson ◽  
A W Hay
Keyword(s):  
Heat Treatment ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Drugs Of Abuse ◽  
Heat Treating ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Aids Virus ◽  
Risk Patients ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Abused Drugs ◽  
The Stability

Abstract Heating urine samples from high-risk patients for 1 h at 56 degrees C is no longer believed to completely inactivate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; AIDS virus). To protect staff who are handling infectious samples such as those from drug-addiction units, heating at a higher temperature may be necessary. We report the stability to heat treatment (at 60, 70, and 100 degrees C) at pH 5.1 and 7.6 of some commonly abused drugs, namely, methadone, pethidine, amphetamine, the cocaine metabolite, benzoylecgonine, and the dextropropoxyphene metabolite nordextropropoxyphene. Heat-treating urine at 60 degrees C for 1.5 h or 70 degrees C for 1 h did not significantly affect the measured concentrations of these drugs. However, heat treatment at 100 degrees C for 1 h reduced the recovery of all the drugs. Benzoylecgonine and amphetamine were most susceptible to the different forms of heat treatment.

scholarly journals Genetic and Stochastic Influences on the Interaction of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 and Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in Identical Twins

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (24) ◽  
pp. 15368-15375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otto O. Yang ◽  
Joseph Church ◽  
Christina M. R. Kitchen ◽  
Ryan Kilpatrick ◽  
Ayub Ali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type ◽  
Virus Type ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Identical Twins ◽  
Viral Escape ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Hiv 1

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) evolves in vivo under selective pressure from CD8+ T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses, which are in turn determined by host and viral genetic factors, such as restricting major histocompatibility complex molecules and the available viral epitope sequences. However, CTL are derived stochastically through the random gene rearrangements to produce T-cell receptors (TCR), and the relative impact of genetic versus stochastic processes on CTL targeting of HIV and immune-driven viral evolution is unclear. Here we evaluate identical twins infected with HIV-1 as neonates from a common blood transfusion, with subsequently similar environmental exposures, thereby allowing controlled comparisons of CTL targeting and viral evolution. Seventeen years after infection, their CTL targeting of HIV-1 was remarkably similar. In contrast, their overall TCR profiles were highly dissimilar, and a dominant epitope was recognized by distinctly different TCR in each twin. Furthermore, their viral epitopes had diverged, and there was ongoing viral phylogenetic divergence between the twins between 12 and 17 years after infection. These results indicate that while CTL targeting is predominately genetically determined, stochastic influences render the interaction of HIV-1 and host immunity, and therefore viral escape and CTL efficacy, unpredictable.

scholarly journals A STUDY ON THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF MONOGLYCERIDE OF LAURIC ACID AS ADJUVANT TREATMENT IN PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV INFECTION

CORD ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Eric A. Tayag ◽  
Edna G. Santiago ◽  
Minda A. Manado ◽  
Perla N. Alban ◽  
Dorothy Mae Agdamag ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Safety And Efficacy ◽  
Aids Pandemic ◽  
Persons Living With Hiv ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
The Impact

The AIDS pandemic has caused global concern what with its threat to man’s survival and the enormous cost to prevent and treat the illness. No effective cure is possible but for the last fifteen years, countless studies were made to improve survival, delay disease progression or just improve the quality of life. Various clinical trials were designed to inhibit specific processes that are necessary for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to survive the internal milieu. As important as these discoveries, are the precise methods of measuring the impact of these treatments. Only in the last five years has there been a better understanding of these processes and methods.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus [Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome(AIDS) Virus] in the Athletic Setting

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 640-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Athletic Trainers ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Aids Virus ◽  
Acquired Immunodeficiency ◽  
Immunodeficiency Syndrome ◽  
Theoretical Risk

Because athletes may bleed following trauma, they represent a theoretical risk to others if they are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus [HIV, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus]. Two questions have concerned coaches, athletic trainers, and school administrators: Should an athlete known to be infected with HIV be allowed to participate in competitive sports, and should the universal precautions recommended for health care workers be used when handling athletes' blood and body fluids? The risk of infection from skin exposure to the blood of a child or adolescent infected with HIV is unknown, but it is apparently minute and is much less than the risk of HIV infection by needlesticks from infected patients of approximately 1:250. Although it is theoretically possible that transmission of HIV could occur in sports such as wrestling and football in which bleeding and skin abrasions are common, no such transmission has been reported in these sports. There is one report of possible transmission of HIV involving a collision between soccer players. However, this report from Italy remains undocumented. If an HIV-infected athlete would choose to pursue another sport, this possible risk to others would be avoided; but, in the absence of any proven risk, involuntary restriction of an infected athlete is not justified. Informing others of the athlete's status would probably lead to his or her exclusion due to inappropriate fear and prejudice and therefore should also be avoided. This advice must be reconsidered if transmission of HIV is found to occur in the sports setting.

scholarly journals A Tribute to Jonathan Mann: Health and Human Rights in the AIDS Pandemic

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
International Program ◽  
Aids Pandemic ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
The World ◽  
Acquired Immunodeficiency ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Immunodeficiency Syndrome

It was a characteristically cold, bright morning in Geneva in 1986, and I had just taken the Number 8 bus from the Cornavin to the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO). I wandered into a cluttered and cramped office filled with unopened boxes and scattered papers. Jonathan Mann and a competent Swiss secretary, Edith Bernard, had just moved in. Together, they alone constituted the WHO team that would mobilize the global effort against an emerging plague-the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Jonathan had recently come from Kinshasa where he led Projet SIDA, an innovative international program to reduce the already weighty burden of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Africa.

scholarly journals Antiretroviral Drug Therapy Alters the Profile of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Specific T-Cell Responses and Shifts the Immunodominant Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Response from Gag to Pol

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (20) ◽  
pp. 11543-11548 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Karlsson ◽  
J. M. Chapman ◽  
B. D. Heiken ◽  
R. Hoh ◽  
E. G. Kallas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Drug Therapy ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type ◽  
Virus Type ◽  
Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Antiretroviral Drug ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
And Shifts

ABSTRACT Antiretroviral drug therapy and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) both exert selective pressures on human immunodeficiency virus type 1, which influence viral evolution. Compared to chronically infected, antiretroviral-untreated patients, most chronically infected, treated patients with detectable viremia lack a cellular immune response against the Gag 77-85(SL9) epitope but show a new immunodominant response against an epitope in protease PR 76-84. Hence, mutations induced by antiretroviral therapy likely alter the profile of epitopes presented to T cells and thus the direction of the response. The consequences of dual pressures from treatment and CTL need to be considered in monitoring of drug therapy.

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