Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles
Burdock Root

NBCH Releases Report On Health Plans' Performance For Cardiovascular Disease Care And Prevention
Today the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) released a national report on efforts of health plan programs to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) care and prevention. NBCH used data from eValue8(TM), the nation"s leading standardized Request for Information (RFI), a tool utilized by employers and coalitions to measure and compare health plan performance.
generic viagra online
Law Firm Appointed To Boost Fight Against NHS Fraud
A new partnership between NHS Counter Fraud and law firm Capsticks will strengthen support to health bodies seeking to recover NHS funds lost to fraud.
News of the day
New AHRQ Study Finds Mixed Evidence On Use Of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation For Treating Atrial Fibrillation
A procedure that sends targeted energy into the heart through a catheter can be used to treat a common type of irregular heartbeat, but little is known about the treatment"s long-term benefits and the best methods and circumstances for applying it, according to a new report funded by HHS" Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Medical Devices

The Mystery Of Why HIV Patients Are More Susceptible To TB Infection Solved By Harvard Scientists

A team of Harvard scientists has taken an important first step toward the development of new treatments to help people with HIV battle Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection. In their report, appearing in the July 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology they describe how HIV interferes with the cellular and molecular mechanisms used by the lungs to fight TB infection. This information is crucial for researchers developing treatments to help people with HIV prevent or recover from TB infection. "HIV/TB co-infection is a critical global health problem, especially in developing countries," said Naimish Patel, M.D., lead researcher on the study and Instructor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. "We hope that these findings will lead to further studies and possible new therapies for treating or preventing tuberculosis in HIV disease." Patel and colleagues made their discovery by extracting immune cells called "alveolar macrophages" from the lungs of otherwise healthy, asymptomatic HIV-positive patients as well as from people who did not have HIV. In people who are HIV-positive, the macrophages have a decreased response to the TB bacterium when compared to people who did not have HIV. To learn why, the scientists examined lung specimens from the HIV-positive patients and found increased levels of a molecule called IL-10, which elevated the amount of a protein called "BCL-3" in alveolar macrophages and that reduced their ability to ward off TB infection. "HIV and TB represent two of the most significant health challenges in human history and the combination of the two infections is particularly devastating because HIV dramatically increases the severity of TB infection," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "There are still many unknowns about how HIV reduces the ability of the body to combat other infections. This study sheds light on co-infection with HIV and TB, which up to this point, has perplexed scientists and physicians alike." Cody Mooneyhan Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009