New
biomarker discovery brings HIV vaccine a step closer
London: The vaccine for HIV being developed by the Norwegian
vaccine company Bionor Pharma could soon be a reality as researchers have found
that median HIV viral load reduction more than doubled among participants with
high anti-C5/gp41732-744 antibody levels.
Further analysis of a Phase II study
of therapeutic HIV vaccine candidate Vacc-4x revealed a potential biomarker
associated with participants who experienced a more profound viral load
reduction after receiving the vaccine.
If confirmed, the biomarker may be able to predict which
patients will benefit most from the therapeutic HIV vaccine candidate Vacc-4x.
"In spite of very effective drugs against HIV, these
need to be taken daily and have significant side-effects," said professor
Angus Dalgleish, of St George's, University of London in Britain.
"The ability to replace this daily medication with a
vaccine that allows several months of being off-medication, not to mention the
enormous financial gains that would be delivered to health services, is a step
closer with these preliminary results," Dalgleish added.
St George's, University of London has had a long-standing
collaboration with Bionor Pharma in a project to study HIV-associated immune
activation that drives disease progression.
Based on St George's work within this field, Bionor Pharma
has developed a peptide (C5/gp41732-744) that can be used to detect antibodies
against a part of the HIV envelope glycoprotein.
The presence of antibodies to this part of HIV has been
associated with slowed disease progression in the absence of combination
antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The results of this exploratory, ad
hoc, subset analysis by St George's, University of London and Bionor Pharma
were announced at the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
19.07.2014
Divorce can
lead to high blood pressure
New York: Just had a divorce and facing persistent sleep
problems? Check your blood pressure as you may be at the risk of potentially
harmful increase in blood pressure, says a study.
In the initial few months after a
separation, sleep problems are probably pretty normal and this is an adjustment
process that people can typically cope with well.
"But sleep problems that persist for an extended period
may mean that you are potentially becoming depressed, leaving you susceptible
to health problems," said David Sbarra, an associate professor of
psychology at University of Arizona, US.
The study looked at 138 people who had divorced their
partner about 16 weeks before the start of the study.
Participants were asked to report on their quality of sleep
and their blood pressure was also measured.
"We saw changes in resting blood pressure were
associated with sleep problems three months earlier. Earlier sleep problems
predicted increases in resting blood pressure over time," Sbarra noted.
In addition, researchers found that the longer sleep
problems in people persisted after their separation, the more likely those
problems were to have an adverse effect on the blood pressure.
According to Kendra Krietsh, Sbarra's former student and now
pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology at University of Florida, US,
people who have persistent difficulties sleeping after a divorce should find
new ways to relax at bedtime.
The study is to be published in a forthcoming
issue of the journal Health Psychology.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
19.07.2014
What the mind can conceive and believe, and the heart desire,
you can achieve
No comments:
Post a Comment