HIV AIDS

SAN DIEGO -- Older patients with HIV infection have robust responses to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), with no increased risk of metabolic disorders or other adverse effects, according to two studies.

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Pneumococcal vaccine dose not prevent community-acquired pneumonia but can significantly reduce deaths or ICU admissions from it, researchers here reported.

SAN DIEGO -- Adolescents and teenagers with perinatally acquired HIV infection have high rates of neurologic, psychiatric, and cognitive problems that can confound attempts to treat them, investigators reported here.

BORAS, Sweden -- Keeping HIV at bay with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) may also forestall AIDS-related neurodegeneration, investigators have found.

SAN DIEGO -- Once stereotyped as wasting away, HIV patients have joined the rest of America in fighting the battle of the bulge, according to results of a study reported here.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Forecasts that physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia would be practiced disproportionately on vulnerable groups, such as the poor, the elderly, and women, did not prove accurate, according to researchers here.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Adding nicotine replacement to cognitive behavioral therapy helped pregnant women stop smoking, but didn't prevent relapse after the baby was born, investigators here found.

SAN FRANCISCO -- In another setback to the effort to create a preventive vaccine against HIV, a key trial has been halted because of a lack of efficacy, according to Merck and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

NEW YORK -- Inpatients cared for by full-time hospitalists were likely to be discharged almost a day sooner than those in the care of nonhospitalists, but there was no significant difference in readmission rates or mortality, researchers found.

CHICAGO -- As clinical data accumulates, researchers are gaining confidence in a drug that blocks HIV from entering its target cells.

CHICAGO -- The experimental integrase inhibitor elvitegravir induces a swift reduction in HIV levels but needs an optimized background regimen, researchers emphasized.

CHICAGO -- An antibody that blocks HIV entry to its target T-lymphocytes was found to be well tolerated and effective in the first study to test its activity in humans.

AMSTERDAM -- Inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes is independent of obesity, an observation that may partly explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease among patients with diabetes.

CHICAGO -- In patients newly diagnosed with HIV, the novel protease inhibitor darunavir (Prezista) has been found to be as effective as the standard lopinavir (Kaletra).

CHICAGO -- The investigative integrase inhibitor raltegravir (Isentress) can suppress the viral load to undetectable levels in at least half of HIV patients with virus resistant to three drug classes, researchers said here.

My patient is a 39-year-old man who has had burning pain and lack of muscle endurance in his bilateral quadriceps and bilateral deltoids for 4 years.

NEW YORK -- Young gay men are having a sharp increase in new HIV infections here, city health officials said.

BALTIMORE -- The development of HIV-related dementia within the ensuing six or 12 months appears to be signaled by a sharp decline in platelet count, researchers said here.

NEW YORK -- In the wake of a recall in Europe of nelfinavir (Viracept) because of a potentially carcinogenic impurity, Pfizer has issued new guidelines for the anti-retroviral drug's use in the U.S., the FDA reported.

BOSTON -- Supplementing breast milk with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids might reduce the risk of mothers giving HIV to their infants, researchers here said.

LOS ANGELES -- About a quarter of low-income HIV patients feel stigmatized by their health care provider at the first appointment, researchers here said.

LEUVEN, Belgium -- Just because adolescents go to bed, that doesn't mean they stop calling and texting their friends, and that may leave them bleary-eyed in the morning, researchers here reported.

A 47-year-old woman who recently completed adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer has painless cervical lymphadenopathy of 1 to 2 cm. She has no fever, sore throat, cough, or unexplained weight loss, and she denies exposure to ill persons or animals.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Systemic anti-inflammatory agents injected directly into injured or arthritic knees may aid natural repair, according to a study in pigs.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Even in the rural southeast, a high proportion of gay men are using crystal methamphetamine, a drug that promotes risky sexual behavior, researchers said.