A team of researchers from the universities of North Carolina and Emory in Atlanta moved one step closer to cure HIV forcing the AIDS-causing virus to reactivate meaning this virus becomes vulnerable to the immune system and medication.
This is a significant achievement as currently this virus hides at undetectable levels in immune cells and cannot be killed.
To shock and kill the virus hiding in immune cells, the team used a drug AZD5582 which forced open cellular pathways in the immune system. At the present moment, the drug was tested only on animals.
Co-senior author on both papers Ann Chahroudi, an associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for Childhood Infections & Vaccines at Emory, says: “AZD5582 was remarkable in its ability to reactivate latent SIV from resting CD4+ T cells, and to induce continued virus production in the blood when monkeys were still receiving daily antiretroviral therapy.”
A new pneumonia-like coronavirus from China emerged in the city of Wuhan with a population of around 11 million people. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified a seafood market as the center of the outbreak. The market was closed on the 1st of January 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak had been caused by a previously unknown type of coronavirus belonging to a family of diseases ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
On the 20th of January, according to the authorities, more than 200 cases recorded and reported about three deaths in China. The virus is present in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen and detected in South Korea in a Chinese person who arrived by aeroplane.
A new study from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Fudan University in Shanghai finds a statistically significant link between drinking tea on a regular basis and lower levels of depression in older adults.
For the study, a team of researchers analyzed data provided by 13,000 people who participated in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2005 to 2014 and found that the benefits of tea drinking are the strongest for male participants aged 65 to 79 who live in cities and are educated, married, and receiving pensions.
Lead researcher of the study Feng Qiushi suggests an explanation: “It is likely that the benefit of tea drinking is more evident for the early stage of health deterioration. More studies are surely needed in regard to this issue.”
A new study from Aarhus University in Denmark examined the effect of sugar intake and found that it altered the reward-processing circuitry of the brain similarly to addictive drugs.
A team of scientists checked the effects of sugar on the brain using a pig model. In the study, minipigs had access to a sucrose solution for 1 hour on 12 consecutive days. After sugar intake, brain scans were made within 24 hours.
After only 12 days of sucrose intake, the scientists could see major changes in the brain’s dopamine and opioid systems.
The lead researchers Michael Winterdahl says: “If sugar can change the brain’s reward system after only 12 days, as we saw in the case of the pigs, you can imagine that natural stimuli, such as learning or social interaction, are pushed into the background and replaced by sugar and/or other ‘artificial’ stimuli.”
According to a new study by the Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles, women’s blood vessels age faster than men’s and that puts them at higher risk of heart disease.
Previously, it was believed that women after the age of 50 have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular condition due to hormone changes triggered by menopause.
A team of cardiologists tracked 30,000 adults for almost 40 years having looked for almost 145,000 blood pressure measurements. The analysis of the received showed that accelerating blood pressure elevation started earlier than in men.
Lead author of the study Susan Cheng comments: “Many of us in medicine have long believed that women simply “catch up” to men in terms of their cardiovascular risk [through the menopause]. Our research not only confirms that women have different biology and physiology than their male counterparts but also illustrates why it is that women may be more susceptible to developing certain types of cardiovascular disease and at different points in life.”
A new study from Qingdao University in China suggests that senior people who have trouble with sleeping at night may have a higher risk of developing cognitive issues or dementia than their peers who fall asleep easily.
For the study, a team of researchers examined data from 51 previous studies that tracked the health of middle-aged and older people living in North America, Europe, and East Asia for several years.
The analysis of the available data showed that participants with insomnia were 27% more likely to have issues with mental health, and participants with sleep inadequacy or insufficient rest were 25% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
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