The research, published online in the journal Retrovirology, indicates an existing drug -- miltefosine -- may promote cells being used by HIV as safe-havens to commit "cell suicide."
The drug -- miltefosine also known as Impavido, first identified in Germany in the early 1980s as a potential breast cancer treatment -- is presently used to treat a parasitic infection called leishmaniasis, or sandfly disease.
Past studies by this University of Rochester research team determined the macrophage -- a scavenger cell that normally rids the body of pathogens and other "debris" -- can actually become a "safe-haven" and provide a reservoir for HIV.
Operating from these havens, HIV can go on to make the body vulnerable to infections and progress to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Increased Risk of Lung Disease
Here’s another reason not to smoke, especially for women: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.
The most important risk factor for COPD is long-term cigarette smoking.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a broad term that describes any of a group of illnesses that block airflow through the lungs. The most common are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Signs and symptoms of COPD -- persistent cough, increased mucus production, shortness of breath and frequent colds and respiratory problems -- often develop gradually, and people don’t realize they have the disease until it’s advanced.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The COPD death rate for women rose much faster between 1980 and 2000 than it did for men. In 2000, the number of women dying of COPD surpassed men for the first time. According to recent research, women with the disease experience more breathlessness, higher rates of depression and lower quality of life than men with the disease -- even those women reported fewer years of smoking than men.
The increase in female rates of COPD likely reflects the increase in the number of female smokers since the 1940s, when advertisers began promoting smoking as a symbol of independence for women.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be treated, but not cured. The most important treatment is to stop smoking. For smokers with COPD, quitting smoking reduces subsequent loss of lung function by half and cuts the death rate by nearly half. And some better news for women is that those who quit smoking receive twice as great an improvement in lung function as men.
The most important risk factor for COPD is long-term cigarette smoking.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a broad term that describes any of a group of illnesses that block airflow through the lungs. The most common are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Signs and symptoms of COPD -- persistent cough, increased mucus production, shortness of breath and frequent colds and respiratory problems -- often develop gradually, and people don’t realize they have the disease until it’s advanced.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The COPD death rate for women rose much faster between 1980 and 2000 than it did for men. In 2000, the number of women dying of COPD surpassed men for the first time. According to recent research, women with the disease experience more breathlessness, higher rates of depression and lower quality of life than men with the disease -- even those women reported fewer years of smoking than men.
The increase in female rates of COPD likely reflects the increase in the number of female smokers since the 1940s, when advertisers began promoting smoking as a symbol of independence for women.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be treated, but not cured. The most important treatment is to stop smoking. For smokers with COPD, quitting smoking reduces subsequent loss of lung function by half and cuts the death rate by nearly half. And some better news for women is that those who quit smoking receive twice as great an improvement in lung function as men.
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