Acupuncture Relieves Side-Effects of Anti-HIV Drugs

January 18th, 2005 Source: India's Choice by NYTimes For an AIDS patient in a poor country lucky enough to get antiretroviral treatment, chances are that the pills that stave off death come from India. Generic knockoffs of AIDS drugs made by Indian manufacturers - now treating patients in 200 countries - have brought the price of antiretroviral therapy down to $140 a year from $12,000.

March 14th, 2005 A discussion on immune system re-education results.

February 27th, 2007 DCA has generated quite an interest in patients with Cancer, many even contemplating self-treatment for cure. The key points we know about DCA so far are: 1.

April 22nd, 2005 New study by 64 renowned scientists standardizes on microarray protocols. Microarrays allow scientists to see how differences in gene expression are linked to specific diseases.

April 18th, 2005 Researchers at St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital are developing a revolutionary new test to diagnose and facilitate treatment of organ rejection in transplant patients.

July 8th, 2005 Merck tried to patent a drug that would reduce heart attack risks for Vioxx (COX-2 selective inhibitors) users, three years before the company withdrew the painkiller drug from the market because of safety concerns. According to government records, the company applied for the patent in 2001.

July 17th, 2005 The European study of patients with Type I diabetes found that short-term treatment lowered insulin dependence by 12 percent and increased insulin-making capabilities for at least 18 months. "The results are very promising.

August 10th, 2006 The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Wednesday it was giving $500 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, by far its biggest grant to the fund, which says it sorely lacks cash. The money, to be given over five years, is the largest private donation to the fund, founded nearly five years ago to serve as the primary financing vehicle for efforts to fight the HIV pandemic, tuberculosis and malaria.

August 3rd, 2005 Symptoms in mice that mimic Parkinson’s disease are reversed by treatment with amphetamines, including Ecstasy, according to a new study by Marc Caron of Duke University, US. The drugs seem to work through a pathway not involving the chemical dopamine, which surprised the researchers since dopamine deficiency is the cause of Parkinson’s.

August 13th, 2005 A cheap drug, enfurvitide, has shown promise in stamping out hidden pockets of HIV in three people who have long been infected with the virus. The result is described by the US scientists as merely a “proof of concept”, but has inevitably sparked talk of a cure for AIDS.

January 20th, 2008 Last Sunday I went to IIT Alumni picnic in Ibiza resort in Kolkata. Check the slideshow (thanks to Siddharth Roy Chowdhury @ SAIL).

May 23rd, 2005 University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers are running two new studies on hepatitis C, which could revolutionise treatment for the virus. It is hoped that one study could lead to cure rates of almost 100 percent in those who have just been infected with the virus.

February 3rd, 2007 Investigators at the University of Alberta have recently reported that the drug DCA is able to cause tumor regression in a number of human cancers growing in animals. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), is being used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and is known to be relatively safe.

April 4th, 2005 NASH, a liver disease that resembles alcoholic liver disease but occurs in patients who drink little or no alcohol. NASH occurs most often in adults over the age of 40 who are overweight or have diabetes, insulin resistance (pre-diabetes), or hyperlipidemia (excess concentrations of fatty materials in the blood).

July 16th, 2005 A multicenter international study chaired by a Joslin Diabetes Center investigator and reported in the July issue of the American Diabetes Association’s journal Diabetes brings hopeful news to the 18 million people in the United States -- and millions more worldwide -- with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Initial results of the Phase III clinical trial demonstrated that 32 milligrams per day of ruboxistaurin (RBX) was well tolerated and may reduce the risk of moderate vision loss, especially in patients with diabetic macular edema.