Massive Scale Up in HIV Treatments Access

"We've seen massive access to HIV treatment who had a huge impact on the lives of people around the world," Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, told the press as a new report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) was released in Berlin and Geneva Yesterday, November 21.
Due to significant expansion, even during the financial crisis, about 50% of people who are eligible for antiretroviral therapy now have access to this lifesaving treatments for HIV.
"Even in very difficult financial crisis, the country to produce results in the AIDS response," said Michel Sidibe.
A new report shows that 2011 was a "game changing" year to fight AIDS. As with unprecedented results, there is tremendous progress in science and the political leadership, it says.
UNAIDS World AIDS Day 2011 Report shows HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths fell to their lowest level since the peak of the epidemic:

    * New cases of HIV infection decreased by 21% since 1997.
    * Deaths of AIDS-related diseases has decreased by 21% since 2005.
According to estimates by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) show that 6.6 million (47%) of the 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low-and middle-income countries access to antiretroviral therapy in 2010. This represents an increase of 1.35 million in 2009.
The report also said there were signs that HIV treatment begins to reduce the number of new HIV infections is essential and prevent 2.5 million deaths in 1995.
People living with HIV are living longer and AIDS-related deaths fell by rescue effects of therapy. Estimates in the report show that at the end of 2010 there were approximately:

    * 34 million people living with HIV.
    * 2.7 million new HIV infections each year.
    * 1.8 million deaths from AIDS-related illnesses this year.
Prevention of HIV seems to be making significant progress, the fact that new HIV infections were significantly reduced or stabilized in most regions of the world.
For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 26% from the peak of the epidemic in 1997. And in South Africa, a country with the highest level of new HIV infections in the world, the fall from peak to third.
The number of new HIV infections are also reductions in other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean, where the levels of one-third less than in 2001, South and Southeast Asia, where rates have fallen more than 40% since 2006, and in India where they fell by 56%.
But in some parts of the world, the number of new HIV infections is still rising. These include Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Oceania and the Middle East and North Africa. Elsewhere, it has remained stable.
The report says that it is not just access to treatment, which causes the rate of infection of new HIV cases drop, but also a change in sexual behavior, especially among young people, who tend to have fewer sexual partners, condom use, more and wait longer to become sexually active than their parents' generation.

Promise and danger Nanomedicine

There is a new exciting field of nanomedicine and technological revolution, which promises exciting new ways to diagnose and treat diseases? Or does it herald the release of dangerous nanoparticles or nanorobots nanoelectronic devices that will wreak havoc in the body? A new survey of more than 500 studies on the subject concluded that neither scenario is likely. She appears in the journal Molecular ACS 'Pharmacy.
Duncan and Ruth Rogerio Gaspar explained that nanomedicine - the use of nanotechnology to medical care is often overhyped as a panacea or potential ALLS opasnost.Kontseptsiya debuted with far-sighted that the robots

The use of tears diabetes monitor blood sugar levels

Instead of a cumbersome and sometimes painful routine drawing of blood, patients with diabetes may be able to use their tears, researchers from the University of Michigan reported in analytical chemistry. In animal studies, researchers found that the level of glucose from the tears of rabbits can accurately measure blood glucose (sugar) levels, using the electrochemical sensor device.
Leading researchers, Mark Meyerhoff and team explained that approximately 5% of people worldwide have diabetes. With increasing levels of obesity worldwide, the number of patients with type 2 diabetes, is set to increase significantly.
The researchers, whether they intend to develop a new, painless device that can detect the tear glucose, instead of having to draw blood.
Patients with diabetes may have to draw blood from two to ten times daily to check their blood glucose levels. A significant number of patients with diabetes, not to draw blood as often as they should, because of discomfort and pain it causes. This can lead to poor glycemic control. Long-term poor glycemic control increases in the number of risks and complications associated with the state, especially microvascular complications, which may lead to the development of neuropathy and foot ulcers, retinopathy and other diseases and conditions.Investigators say that in accordance with their findings, the tears can provide as accurate reading as the choice of the fingers and blood directly.
The authors wrote:

    ".... It may be possible to measure glucose levels tears several times a day to monitor changes in blood glucose without the pain of repeated potential invasive blood sampling. "
Their sensor is very sensitive and can reach very low detection limits of 1,5 ± 0,4 mmol of glucose (S / N = 3). This is sufficient to measure tear fluid glucose levels in glucose sensitivity of 0,032 ± 0,02 nA / micron. The capillary tube sensor requires only 4-5 ml of tears, when the needle is inserted into the capillary sensor.
As in the journal, the researchers wrote:

    "The strong correlation between tear and blood glucose levels was detected, suggesting that the measurement of tear glucose measurement of potential noninvasive substitute blood glucose, and a new configuration of sensor could help in further research in this direction."

Nasopharyngeal cancer patients survival benefits of combined chemoradiation

Phase III study showed that the combined radiation and chemotherapy significantly improved 5-year overall survival of patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC: cancer passageway between the nose and throat). The results are published on 4 November in the journal of the National Cancer Institute.
NPC is common in Southeast Asia and southern China, where radiotherapy (RT) was the primary method of treatments. Although the concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) is recommended by the National Cancer Comprehensive Network (NCCN), there is insufficient evidence regarding its effectiveness, and it has not been defined as an endpoint in the initial phase of testing III.
Qui-Yan Chen, MD, Ph.D., Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center at the People's Republic of China, and colleagues conducted a phase III study in order to find out if the combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy offers survival benefit of a person with stage II NPC . The researchers randomly assigned the participants into two groups, 114 patients received radiation therapy while 116 patients received combined chemotherapy and radiation.
After a mean follow-up of 60 months, the researchers found that 22.8% of participants in the group of radiation disease progression, compared with 11.2% in the combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy group. In addition, they found that the 5-year overall survival, distant metastasis-free survival and progression-free survival were statistically significantly higher in the combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy group than the radiation group.
Based on the results of this study that the authors believe this is the first phase III trial comparing RT and CCRT, they come to the conclusion that the NCCN guidelines is warranted. They suggest that at an early stage, perhaps, less distant tumors, and therefore simultaneous chemo-radiotherapy may be more effective in destroying micro-distant metastasis. Although participants who received combined chemotherapy and radiation experienced more toxic side effects than people in the group of radiation therapy was well tolerated in general, when the dose was reduced by chemotherapy.
Chen et al explain:

    "Overall, we believe that the best choice for early stage NPC cisplatin on a weekly dose of 30 mg/m2, both for the optimal effect of chemotherapy to eradicate small tumors and distant to ensure that the NPC patients."