HIV / AIDS News From Medical News Today Latest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.  National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day President, Founder and CEO of Black AIDS Institute, Phill Wilson, released a letter in light of the 12th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, stating that the Institute will be releasing their 8th annual State of AIDS in Black America Report. He comments that "It will highlight a reality that would have been unthinkable not long ago...  Simultaneously Confronting HIV/AIDS, Malaria, And The Need For Clean Water Improves Health At A Lower Cost The great paradox of global health efforts is that regions of the world most plagued by poverty, poor infrastructure and rampant disease are often the most difficult to deliver care to...  When HIV Patients Waver On Meds According to a new analysis of hundreds of recorded office visits, doctors and nurse practitioners typically issued orders and asked closed or leading questions when talking to their HIV-positive patients about adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Attempts at problem-solving with patients who had lapsed occurred in less than a quarter of visits. Take your medicine, Doctor's orders...  News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: Feb. 1, 2012 ONCOLOGY: Answers to age-old questions surrounding fat cell cancer Myxoid round cell liposarcoma (MRCLS) is a cancerous tumor that typically arises in deep fat tissues of the limbs or abdomen. It was shown almost 20 years ago to be characterized by a chromosomal change that generates a fusion protein known as TLS:CHOP...  South Africa Recalls Millions Of Condoms Health authorities in South Africa have recalled more than a million condoms that were handed out in the lead up to the African National Congress centenary celebrations...  Tracking The Birth Of An Evolutionary Arms Race Between HIV-Like Viruses And Primate Genomes Using a combination of evolutionary biology and virology, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have traced the birth of the ability of some HIV-related viruses to defeat a newly discovered cellular-defense system in primates. The research, led by Michael Emerman, Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's Human Biology and Basic Sciences Division, and Harmit Malik, Ph.D...  Antiretrovirals Raise Birth Defect Risk HIV-positive mothers can protected their babies from becoming infected with the virus if they take antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. However, even though these drugs prevent transmitting the disease to the child, they could potentially cause birth defects like cleft lip and palate...  In HIV-Positive Patients, Standard Treatments For Head And Neck Cancer Are Less Effective Radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy is less effective for patients with HIV when compared to the recurrence and overall survival rates in patients who do not have HIV, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM. Treating head and neck cancer in HIV-positive patients is a challenge for oncologists...  Study Compares HIV Saliva Self-Test To Blood Test A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University...  Women Cope Better With HIV/AIDS When They Have The Love Of A Dog Or Cat A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. "We think this finding about pets can apply to women managing other chronic illnesses," said Allison R...  MSU Seeks To Revamp HIV-Prevention Programs In Caribbean While global attention to HIV/AIDS remains strong, a lack of focus on prevention strategies is stonewalling health experts in many developing nations, specifically in the Caribbean...  Aspirin - Ability To Prevent Cervical Cancer In HIV Infected Women According to a study published in the current issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research, aspirin should be assessed for its ability to prevent cervical cancer developing in women infected with HIV. Aspirin has the potential to provide considerable benefit for women in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, regions where death rates from cervical cancer are extremely high...  Aspirin Merits Testing For Prevention Of Cervical Cancer In HIV-Infected Women Research conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center global health investigators and cancer specialists in New York, Qatar and Haiti suggests that aspirin should be evaluated for its ability to prevent development of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women...  News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: Jan. 17, 2012 1. High Doses of Vitamin D Provide No Benefit to Patients with Severe COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the top 10 leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Vitamin D deficiency is present in 60 percent to 75 percent of patients with severe COPD...  A Major Factor Affecting Risk Of Sexually Transmitting HIV Is Viral Load; Condom Use Significantly Reduces Risk The level of HIV-1 in the blood of an HIV-infected partner is the single most important factor influencing risk of sexual transmission to an uninfected partner, according to a multinational study of heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa...  Childhood HIV Drug Shows Promise Raltegravir, an antiretroviral medication that delays the spread of HIV infection provides a new method to treat HIV in children and adolescents. The drug was recently approved (December 21, 2011) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with other antiretroviral drugs to treat children and teenagers between 2 to18 years of age with the disease...  Preventing Mother To Child Transmission Of HIV In Zimbabwe In this week's PLoS Medicine, Andrea Ciaranello of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA and colleagues find, using a simulation model, that implementation of the latest WHO PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) guidelines must take place in conjunction with improving access to PMTCT programs, increasing retention of women in care, and supporting adher...  Guidelines Stress Caution When Combining Anti-Epileptic, HIV Drugs New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease...  Health Departments Receive $339m From CDC To Fund HIV Prevention The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has started handing out money to state and local health departments across the country to help fund high impact HIV prevention activities in 2012. The total amount of money available for 2012, intended to cover the first year of a five-year funding cycle, comes to $339 million, said the federal agency on Wednesday...  Monkey Study Raises Hope Of HIV/AIDS Vaccine Scientists have tested a trial vaccine that protects rhesus monkeys against infection from a potent form of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a distant relative of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS in humans. Monkeys that received the vaccine were more than 80% less likely to become infected when exposed to SIV than monkeys that received a dummy shot...