Vaporized viral vector shows promise in anti-cancer gene therapy

A new lung cancer therapy employing a vaporized viral vector to deliver a cancer-inhibiting molecule directly to lung tissue shows early promise in mouse trials, according to researchers at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Korea. Gene therapy is an area of great promise, bu...

MicroRNA regulation of tumor-killing viruses avoids unwanted viral pathology

Scientists have determined how to produce replication-competent viruses with key toxicities removed, providing a new platform for development of improved cancer treatments and better vaccines for a broad range of viral diseases. Cellular microRNA molecules regulate the stability of mRNA in diff...

CORRECTION: Viral Genetics Pursues Promising New Therapy for Lyme Disease With Grant from Time for Lyme, Inc.

SAN MARINO, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On April 16, 2009 and March 18, 2009, biotechnology firm Viral Genetics, Inc. (Pink Sheets: VRAL) announced "that the company is pursing a promising new therapy for Lyme Disease with funding from Time for Lyme, Inc., and the Turn Corner Foundati...

National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable Observes World Hepatitis Day and Calls for Increased Federal Action

Greater Investments Public Health a Must Federal Leadership Needed to Focus Policy Actions at the Federal Level (PRWEB) - Today, on the second annual World Hepatitis Day , more than 200 viral hepatitis groups around the world have planned observances to raise global aw...

National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable Observes World Hepatitis Day and Calls for Increased Federal Action

Greater Investments in Public Health a Must Federal Leadership Needed to Focus Policy Actions at the Federal Level WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, on the second annual World Hepatitis Day, more than 200 viral hepatitis groups around the world have planned observances to raise...

World Health Assembly Forced to Postpone Decision on Viral Hepatitis

GENEVA, Switzerland, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- - Global Epidemic Kills One Person Every 30 Seconds and One Million People Will Die Before the World Health Assembly Meets Again in 2010 Ahead of the second annual World Hepatitis Day, the World Hepatitis Alliance today called on govern...

Immune exhaustion driven by antigen in chronic viral infection

A main reason why viruses such as HIV or hepatitis C persist despite a vigorous initial immune response is exhaustion. The T cells, or white blood cells, fighting a chronic infection eventually wear out. Researchers at Emory Vaccine Center have demonstrated that exhaustion is driven by how the...

CDC Recommends Flocked Swabs and Copan-Manufactured Viral Transport Media for Collection of H1N1 (Swine Flu) Virus

MURRIETA, Calif., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- As of May 5, 2009, the World Health Organization, has officially reported 1124 cases of Influenza A (H1N1) infection in 21 different countries. As the situation with the novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus continues to evolve, the Centers for Disease Control and Pr...

The Viral Spiral - How A Meme About the Virus May Be More Contagious Than the Virus Itself

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Joon Yun, Director, Palo Alto Institute: The world is slowly recovering from the fear of a swine flu pandemic, a panic that has proved more widespread than the virus itself. Perhaps the original fear of swine fl...

National Public Health Week Begins Today With Launch of Viral Video Campaign

Communities across the Country Join the Observance in Support of Building the Foundation for a Healthy America WASHINGTON, April 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Public Health Association (APHA) today kicks off National Public Health Week (NPHW) 2009, themed Building the Foundation ...

New insights into how brain responds to viral infection

March 31, 2009, New York, NYScientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health have discovered that astrocytes, supportive cells in the brain that are not derived from an immune cell lineage, respond to a molecule that mimics a viral infection using cellular machinery similar to tha...

Trial Vaccine May Protect Against Serious Viral Infection

Women given injection could cut risk for CMV in half, study suggests WEDNESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Women who were given an experimental vaccine for a viral infection that can cause serious problems in babies, known as cytomegalovirus, reduced their risk of infection by 50 pe...

Smile Reminder Showcases Viral Marketing Tool at Chicago Dental Society's Midwinter Meeting

Leading Patient Communication Service introduces vSling for capturing and distributing patient testimonials on the web. LEHI, Utah, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Smile Reminder will highlight their newest practice-to-patient communication feature, vSling, at The 144th Chicago Dental Society Midwint...

IMPACT Study Demonstrates That Longer Prophylactic Therapy With Valcyte(R) (Valganciclovir Hydrochloride Tablets) Increases Protection Against CMV - the Most Serious Viral Infection Affecting Transplant Patients

Doubling duration of Valcyte therapy provides significant benefit to patients compared to current standard of care for the prevention of CMV disease NUTLEY, N.J., Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche announced today that a Phase III study investigating the efficacy and safety of extended preventativ...

Hepatitis C Therapeutic DNA Vaccine Delivered by Inovio Biomedical's Electroporation Technology Reduces Viral Load by Up to 99.7% : Clinical Data Presented at Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO), a leader in enabling the development of DNA vaccines using electroporation-based DNA delivery, announced today that its partner, Tripep AB, reported positive additional interim results from its ongoing phase I/II clinical study of its therapeutic DNA vacc...

Interferon Reduces, Eliminates Viral Infections in Heart Failure Patients

Study highlights: - Interferon eliminated specific causes of some viruses in heart failure patients, improving their clinical outcomes. - Treatment improved cardiac function and quality of life and showed no apparent safety concerns. NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Giving...

Roche Receives FDA Approval for Hepatitis C Viral Load Test on Its Fully Automated Real-Time PCR Platform

Improved laboratory efficiencies and standardization to personalize patient care PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche Molecular Diagnostics today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the COBAS(R) AmpliPrep / COBAS(R) ...

Analysis of Six Clinical Trials Finds EPZICOM(R) Effective in Treatment-Naive HIV Patients With Both High and Low Baseline Viral Loads

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) announced that a retrospective analysis of six clinical trials found that anti-HIV regimens containing EPZICOM (abacavir + lamivudine) were effective in treatment-naive patients regardless of baseline viral loads. One of...

Union Representing VA Workers Launch Nationwide Radio Campaign, Web Site and Viral Videos for Full VA Funding

AFGE Says McCain Wrong on Veterans Health Care WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) launched a nationwide radio ad campaign raising serious concerns about Senator McCain's commitment to veterans' health care. In addit...

New study shows potential to treat or prevent viral cancers

NEW ORLEANS, La.A new study, presented at the SNM 55th Annual Meeting, shows that radioimmunotherapy (RIT) targeting viral antigens offers a novel option to treator even preventmany viral cancers by targeting cancer cells expressing viral antigens or infected cells before they convert into maligna...

Quest Diagnostics Chooses Roche's Fully Automated, Real-Time HIV-1 Viral Load Monitoring Test For Its Customers in Laboratories Nationwide

INDIANAPOLIS, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche Diagnostics today announced that Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX ), the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, has signed a multi-year agreement to use the COBAS(R) AmpliPrep / COBAS(R) TaqMan(R) HIV-1 Test for HIV vi...

Possible Viral Links to Lung Cancer Risk Uncovered

Two studies find connection between measles, HPV and most common lung cancer FRIDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Although smoking is well-established as an independent risk factor for lung cancer, two new studies suggest that two different viral infections might boost a smoker's alrea...

Specialized white blood cells coordinate first responders to viral infection

Just as fire engines arrive quickly at the scene to save people and property, the cells that fight viruses have to reach the site of an infection promptly to mount a protective response. According to recent studies by University of Washington (UW) scientists, specialized types of white blood c...

Potential viral therapy weapon for difficult cancers is safe and effective in study

CINCINNATI Combining a herpes virus genetically altered to express a drug-enhancing enzyme with a chemotherapy drug effectively and safely reduced the size of highly malignant human sarcoma grafted into mice. This new finding may add to the growing arsenal of so called oncolytic viruses under dev...

Open Biosystems Launches Decode RNAi Viral Screening Pools for Low-Cost Genome-Scale RNAi Screens

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Biosystems, Inc., focused on the commercialization of leading-edge life science research tools for drug discovery, today announced the availability of new Decode(TM) RNAi viral screening pools for multiplexed RNAi screens. This novel offering all...

Vicriviroc Demonstrates Potent and Sustained Viral Suppression Through 48 Weeks of Therapy in Treatment-Experienced HIV-Infected Patients

Results of VICTOR-E1 Phase II Study Presented at 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) BOSTON, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP ) today reported that final results of a Phase II clinical study showed vicriviroc,...

MIGENIX Reports Preliminary Celgosivir Viral Kinetics Study

VANCOUVER, and SAN DIEGO, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - MIGENIX Inc. (TSX: MGI, OTC: MGIFF), a clinical-stage developer of drugs for infectious diseases, has received preliminary four-week interim results from a Phase II viral kinetics study in hepatitis C virus ("HCV") treatment-naive patie...

Is it pancreatitis in acute abdominal pain in acute viral hepatitis?

Hepatitis viruses have a strong tropism for hepatocytes; viral antigen also has been detected in pancreas and gallbladder. Acute pancreatitis is common in Fulminant hepatic failure but rarely reported in acute viral hepatitis. 124 patients with acute viral hepatitis over a three year period we...

Mayo Clinic Proceedings article explores possible link between obesity and viral infections

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Experts dont dispute the important role that diet and activity play in maintaining a healthy weight. But can poor eating habits and a less active lifestyle fully explain the prevalence of obesity in the United States today? That question has led some researchers to ask whether ...

Key Viral Change Could Help Bird Flu Spread

An altered protein would let it thrive in upper airway, scientists say THURSDAY, Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've spotted a crucial step the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus must take in order to spread easily in humans. Since H5N1 first appeared in 1997, there have been more ...

DNA damage response confers a barrier for viral tumorigenesis

Kaposis sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus and an etiological agent for Kaposis sarcoma (KS). KSHV infection is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa where KS is nowadays the most common malignancy, due to widespread infection with KSHV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Importantly, ...

Pill box organizers increase HIV patients' adherence and improve viral suppression

Inexpensive pill box organizers are an easy, successful, and cost-effective tool to help patients take their medications as prescribed, according to a new study of low-income urban residents living with HIV infection by authors from the Berkeley School of Public Health and the University of Califo...

Body's Defence Mechanism Against Viral Disease Discovered

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers say that they have discovered the defence mechanism whereby "memory" T cells protect the body from viral diseases. Published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, their study shows that lymph nodes are not just organs where ...

Ancient Viral Defense may Explain Susceptibility to HIV: Study

A gene that protected man from an ancient retrovirus that infected chimps and other primates millions of years ago may be one reason why our species is susceptible to HIV, said a study released Thursday. The gene appears to have been instrumental in protecting man against a four-million-year-old v...

Abbott's RealTime Hepatitis B Viral Load Test Receives CE Marking in Europe

Represents first and only molecular test capable of detecting and measuring all known forms of hepatitis B genotypes, providing a valuable tool for physicians in managing patient therapy. Abbott and Celera, an Applera Corporation business, announced today that Abbott has received CE marking...

Oral Anti Viral Tamiflu A Cost Effective Treatment

According to modelling research presented by Beate Sander, University of Toronto, Canada, a stockpile of Tamiflu sufficient to cover 65% of a countrys population could cut deaths by approximately half. Treatment with the oral antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and prophylaxis for people exposed to inf...

China Claims Viral Outbreak Contained

Around 900 persons in the Shangdong province of eastern China have been afflicted with hand, foot and mouth disease, but the outbreak has since been contained, state news agency Xinhua has reported. About 470 patients had recovered by Friday last and another 393 people mostly children we...

Resistance Already Emerging in First Months of Treatment Despite Viral Load Decline

The emergence of drug resistance is already detectable in the first months of HIV treatment even if viral load is falling, and is especially pronounced// in people who experience slower viral load declines, a small, intensive German study has found. As selection of drug-resistant virus correl...

Triple ARV Prophylaxis Reduces Viral Load in Breast Milk

A combination of AZT, lamivudine, and nevirapine (AZT/3TC/NVP) taken from week 28 of pregnancy and up to one month after delivery resulted in significantly reduced HIV levels in breast milk// as compared to the HIV levels found in the breast milk of women who were not treated prophylactically. ...

Selenium Supplements May Suppress HIV Viral Load

An article in the January 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, shows that taking daily selenium supplements appears to increase// the level of the essential mineral in the blood and may suppress the progression of viral load in patients with HIV infection. ...