Breaking news from aidsmap.com
1) Judges, lawyers, politicians and advocates unite around the world to condemn criminalization (reported by EJ Bernard) Last year, following an epidemic of new criminal HIV transmission laws in Africa, and an increasing number of prosecutions under existing laws, South African Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron made an impassioned call for “a campaign against criminalisation” in Mexico City. In the past week, Mr Justice Cameron has appeared at meetings in Sweden and Canada to help continue the campaign. Efforts to mitigate the impact of criminal prosecutions are also taking place in Australia. Last Thursday, Australian High Court Justice Virginia Bell helped launch a new criminal HIV transmission guide for legal practitioners produced by New South Wales' HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC). And last Tuesday, Mr Justice Cameron addressed a meeting in Stockholm organised by HIV Sweden to discuss HIV and the criminal law in Sweden and other Nordic countries.
The Schick Foundation lauds these international efforts condemning the world’s criminal justice system’s current approach to HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission. Instead, we vigorously support public health measures that will get patients the treatment that they need without driving them further underground.
2) International AIDS Conference in 2012 will be held in the US if travel ban finally removed
(reported by M. Carter)
Following our previous report on activities aimed toward decriminalizing HIV around the world comes this story from our own.
An international HIV conference will be held in the US in 2012 – but only if the US removes its travel ban on HIV-positive travellers. The International AIDS Society has announced that it will hold the International AIDS Conference in the US capital, Washington, D.C., if the travel ban is finally removed. No international HIV conference has been held in the US since 1990 because of the ban. Since the Reagan presidency HIV-positive non-US citizens have been prohibited from entering the US.
The Schick Foundation condemns this ridiculous ban against allowing HIV patients from entering our country; it is quite frankly embarrassing and hidebound to say the least. We sincerely hope that President Obama will do the right thing and lift this human embargo at last.
3) Inflammation test can predict heart attacks in people with HIV (reported by G. Cairns)
Exciting news from The Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes: a standard test used as a marker for inflammation for 70 years can help identify heart attack risk in patients with HIV as well as in HIV-negative patients. The researchers found that having an elevated CRP level more than doubled the risk of heart attack while having HIV infection slightly less than doubled it. Not surprisingly, then, having both risk factors raised the risk more than fourfold compared with people who had neither raised CRP nor HIV infection.The Schick Foundation extends kudos to the researchers for being open to studying existing tests as a way to assist in diagnosing health risks in HIV patients. With so much current research focused on pharmaceutical and new treatments modalities, it is refreshing to see research that utilizes traditional tests which can be cost conscious, which is especially important during these difficult economic times.
Newsletter for the Schick Research Website for the Week of June 15, 2009
The Epidemiology of New HIV infections and Interventions to limit HIV Transmissions
Buckbinder MD, Topics in HIV, Medicine, May 2009
Getting people to get tested for HIV continues to be a big problem even in the United States. It is the recommendation of the CDC that every person 13-65 get tested for HIV one time per year, and those at higher risk for infection get tested more frequently. The CDC reported that at the end of 2006 there were more than 1 million infected with HIV in the United State and over 200,000 people were unaware of their HIV+ status. The number of HIV infections was highest amongst blacks, then whites, and finally Hispanics.
The age group having the most infections was the group 35-44. Worldwide it has been estimated that only 10% of persons at risk for HIV infection receive HIV testing. A study from Alameda County California Medical Center showed that only 36 % of eligible patients accepted testing. Why do these numbers remain low. A lot of people including members of our foundation believe that a strong factor in this data is that testing + does not lead to any tr eatment in most people as their CD 4 counts are too high. The public health reasons for testing, namely to cut down on Transmission, is unacceptable to many people. People are asking if I have a positive test I should be able to get treatment immediately.
They are becoming more and more knowledgeable about HIV positivity and they recognize that untreated HIV infection is bad not only for the person who tests +, but for their ability to transmit the disease. More and more people are looking at well publicized data that treatment leads to prevention of spreading the disease. There have been models generated that show a 99% reduction in transmission when everyone who is HIV infected gets treated, and even projections that if this were done in resource poor countries after a period of time HIV would be eliminated.
HIV Vaccine Development Watkins, PhD Topics in HIV Medicine May, 2009
There continues to be a focus on the famous Step trial, the Government Merck trial, that failed as a vaccine to protect people, It was carried out in Africa. Some data has been shown that the expected robust T-cell response which was seen in those patients that got all 3 vaccine infections did not show a robust enough T-cell response to protect people from getting HIV.
Furthermore people in the Step Trial a lready had adenovirus serotype (AdS) neutralizing antibodies and to explain why those patients were more susceptible to HIV infection one only has to look at the fact that these patients when injected with the vaccine that had an Aden-5 vector did not stimulate the necessary boost in neutralizing antibodies as expected.
This is because they already had Adeno-5 vector neutralizing antibodies and did not get the sufficient boost needed for protection. What is needed is another vector or more importantly a live attenuated virus vaccine with a different epitope that includes possibly all genes of the virus, or a DNA vaccine Again there has been little movement in the vaccine area of research since the government put a freeze on funding for vaccines.
The Schick foundation New Pilot Study
Peter Schick Chairman of the Board of the Peter Schick Foundation
In an attempt to eliminate the need for a vaccine and to decrease transmission significantly, our Foundation is instituting a pilot study for the first time studying the effects of a supplement, or botanical, termed BLUE GREEN ALGAE in HIV+ patients who have been virologically suppressed for 6 months by antiretroviral drugs and have undetectable virology loads maintained on antiretroviral therapy.
These people certainty still have low virus in their circulation and their reservoirs like the b rain where the virus hides. We believe with bone marrow stem cells boosted , there is a chance to eliminate the last vestige of the virus . There are published studies that the infected T memory cell's life span is increased with this substance,
There is also data that this substance BLUE GREEN ALGAE enhances the mucosal barrier protecting HIV entry and eliminating microbial translocation which starts the immune activation of HIV. The substance, BLUE GREEN ALGAE also is able to get into the reservoirs.
This supplement increases the circulating stem cells 30% in the circulation and thus the most powerful cell in the immune system stops inflammation so that the main characteristic of HIV infection is eliminated and with it possible elimination of the virus. This study has started accumulating data recently and has its first patient enrolled.
If you want to see this pilot study implemented world wide then Donate to:
The Peter Schick Foundation
1223 Wilshire Blvd. #1007
Santa Monica California, 90403
or donate of the Schick Foundation web site
http://www.schickfoundation.org/ or http://www.schickresearch.com/
Buckbinder MD, Topics in HIV, Medicine, May 2009
Getting people to get tested for HIV continues to be a big problem even in the United States. It is the recommendation of the CDC that every person 13-65 get tested for HIV one time per year, and those at higher risk for infection get tested more frequently. The CDC reported that at the end of 2006 there were more than 1 million infected with HIV in the United State and over 200,000 people were unaware of their HIV+ status. The number of HIV infections was highest amongst blacks, then whites, and finally Hispanics.The age group having the most infections was the group 35-44. Worldwide it has been estimated that only 10% of persons at risk for HIV infection receive HIV testing. A study from Alameda County California Medical Center showed that only 36 % of eligible patients accepted testing. Why do these numbers remain low. A lot of people including members of our foundation believe that a strong factor in this data is that testing + does not lead to any tr eatment in most people as their CD 4 counts are too high. The public health reasons for testing, namely to cut down on Transmission, is unacceptable to many people. People are asking if I have a positive test I should be able to get treatment immediately.
They are becoming more and more knowledgeable about HIV positivity and they recognize that untreated HIV infection is bad not only for the person who tests +, but for their ability to transmit the disease. More and more people are looking at well publicized data that treatment leads to prevention of spreading the disease. There have been models generated that show a 99% reduction in transmission when everyone who is HIV infected gets treated, and even projections that if this were done in resource poor countries after a period of time HIV would be eliminated.
HIV Vaccine Development Watkins, PhD Topics in HIV Medicine May, 2009
There continues to be a focus on the famous Step trial, the Government Merck trial, that failed as a vaccine to protect people, It was carried out in Africa. Some data has been shown that the expected robust T-cell response which was seen in those patients that got all 3 vaccine infections did not show a robust enough T-cell response to protect people from getting HIV.
Furthermore people in the Step Trial a lready had adenovirus serotype (AdS) neutralizing antibodies and to explain why those patients were more susceptible to HIV infection one only has to look at the fact that these patients when injected with the vaccine that had an Aden-5 vector did not stimulate the necessary boost in neutralizing antibodies as expected.
This is because they already had Adeno-5 vector neutralizing antibodies and did not get the sufficient boost needed for protection. What is needed is another vector or more importantly a live attenuated virus vaccine with a different epitope that includes possibly all genes of the virus, or a DNA vaccine Again there has been little movement in the vaccine area of research since the government put a freeze on funding for vaccines.
The Schick foundation New Pilot Study
Peter Schick Chairman of the Board of the Peter Schick Foundation
In an attempt to eliminate the need for a vaccine and to decrease transmission significantly, our Foundation is instituting a pilot study for the first time studying the effects of a supplement, or botanical, termed BLUE GREEN ALGAE in HIV+ patients who have been virologically suppressed for 6 months by antiretroviral drugs and have undetectable virology loads maintained on antiretroviral therapy.
These people certainty still have low virus in their circulation and their reservoirs like the b rain where the virus hides. We believe with bone marrow stem cells boosted , there is a chance to eliminate the last vestige of the virus . There are published studies that the infected T memory cell's life span is increased with this substance,
There is also data that this substance BLUE GREEN ALGAE enhances the mucosal barrier protecting HIV entry and eliminating microbial translocation which starts the immune activation of HIV. The substance, BLUE GREEN ALGAE also is able to get into the reservoirs.
This supplement increases the circulating stem cells 30% in the circulation and thus the most powerful cell in the immune system stops inflammation so that the main characteristic of HIV infection is eliminated and with it possible elimination of the virus. This study has started accumulating data recently and has its first patient enrolled.
About the foundation:
If you want to see this pilot study implemented world wide then Donate to:
The Peter Schick Foundation
1223 Wilshire Blvd. #1007
Santa Monica California, 90403
or donate of the Schick Foundation web site
http://www.schickfoundation.org/ or http://www.schickresearch.com/
Newsletter For June 1st
Obstacles that HIV antibodies face in blocking HIV infection
--from a Caltech press release dated 4/22/09
Twenty-five years after the AIDS epidemic spawned a worldwide search for an effective vaccine against HIV, progress in the field has been effectively stalled. A team of researchers from Caltech theorize that this is at least partially influenced by the fact that the body's natural HIV antibodies simply don't have a long enough reach to effectively neutralize the viruses they are meant to target.
Y-shaped antibodies are best at neutralizing viruses (blocking their entry into cells and preventing infection) when both arms of the Y are able to reach out and bind to their target proteins at more or less the same time. In the case of HIV, antibodies than can block infection target the proteins that stud the surface of the virus; the proteins stick out like many spikes from the viral membrane. But an antibody can only bind to two spikes at the same time if those spikes fall within its span -- the distance the antibody's structure allows it to stretch its two arms.
The authors of the study state that when both arms of an antibody are able to bind to a virus at the same time, there can be a hundred to a thousand-fold increase in the strength of the interaction, which can sometimes translate into an equally dramatic increase in its ability to neutralize an antigen.
Having good neutralizing antibodies is the hallmark of an effective vaccine and the above theory may demonstrate why HIV vaccines have so far failed.
Reported by Joshua Klein, graduate student at Caltech and first author of the paper at the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
http://mr.caltech.edu/press_releases/13252
Identifying specific molecules that can block the means by which HIV spreads : A report from an international team based at Rice University, Houston, TX
--from the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 5/24/09
Rice University's Andrew Barron and his group have identified specific molecules that could block the means by which the deadly virus spreads by taking away its ability to bind with other proteins. In a unique collaborative effort, research groups from five institutions -- two in Greece, one in Germany, one in Italy and the Texas team -- came together through e-mail contacts and conversations over many months, each working on differing facets of the problem. Not only have all the groups not met in person, but even more surprisingly, their research to date has been completely unfunded.
Using computer simulations, researchers tested more than 100 Carbon fullerene, or C-60, derivatives (originally developed for other purposes) to see if they could be used to inhibit a strain of the virus, HIV-1 PR, by attaching themselves to its binding pocket. Using simulations to narrow down a collection of fullerenes to find the good ones is the least time-consuming low-cost procedure for efficient, rational drug design. A long time ago, people noticed that C-60 fits perfectly into the hydrophobic pocket in HIV, and it has an inhibitory effect. It’s not particularly strong, but there is definitely a viable potential for studying and using this type of technology. The Schick Foundation especially lauds the group for their innovative research approach.
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/International-team-tracks-clues-to-HIV-8504-1
Breaking News from The Schick Foundation
The Schick Foundation may form a partnership with Power Organics of Shasta, California to study the effects of Blue Green Algae in prospective clinical trials.
The Schick Foundation is planning to launch a landmark pilot study looking at the effects of Blue Green Algae on HIV+ patients whose virus has been suppressed via ART for at least 6 months.
If you want to see our unique and ground-breaking protocols flourish and succeed, please contribute to The Peter Schick Foundation, 1223 Wilshire Blvd. #1007, Santa Monica CA 90403. Donations may also be made directly through our websites: www.schick-foundation.org and http://www.schickresearch.com/.
--from a Caltech press release dated 4/22/09
Twenty-five years after the AIDS epidemic spawned a worldwide search for an effective vaccine against HIV, progress in the field has been effectively stalled. A team of researchers from Caltech theorize that this is at least partially influenced by the fact that the body's natural HIV antibodies simply don't have a long enough reach to effectively neutralize the viruses they are meant to target.
Y-shaped antibodies are best at neutralizing viruses (blocking their entry into cells and preventing infection) when both arms of the Y are able to reach out and bind to their target proteins at more or less the same time. In the case of HIV, antibodies than can block infection target the proteins that stud the surface of the virus; the proteins stick out like many spikes from the viral membrane. But an antibody can only bind to two spikes at the same time if those spikes fall within its span -- the distance the antibody's structure allows it to stretch its two arms.
The authors of the study state that when both arms of an antibody are able to bind to a virus at the same time, there can be a hundred to a thousand-fold increase in the strength of the interaction, which can sometimes translate into an equally dramatic increase in its ability to neutralize an antigen.
Having good neutralizing antibodies is the hallmark of an effective vaccine and the above theory may demonstrate why HIV vaccines have so far failed.
Reported by Joshua Klein, graduate student at Caltech and first author of the paper at the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
http://mr.caltech.edu/press_releases/13252
Identifying specific molecules that can block the means by which HIV spreads : A report from an international team based at Rice University, Houston, TX
--from the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 5/24/09
Rice University's Andrew Barron and his group have identified specific molecules that could block the means by which the deadly virus spreads by taking away its ability to bind with other proteins. In a unique collaborative effort, research groups from five institutions -- two in Greece, one in Germany, one in Italy and the Texas team -- came together through e-mail contacts and conversations over many months, each working on differing facets of the problem. Not only have all the groups not met in person, but even more surprisingly, their research to date has been completely unfunded.
Using computer simulations, researchers tested more than 100 Carbon fullerene, or C-60, derivatives (originally developed for other purposes) to see if they could be used to inhibit a strain of the virus, HIV-1 PR, by attaching themselves to its binding pocket. Using simulations to narrow down a collection of fullerenes to find the good ones is the least time-consuming low-cost procedure for efficient, rational drug design. A long time ago, people noticed that C-60 fits perfectly into the hydrophobic pocket in HIV, and it has an inhibitory effect. It’s not particularly strong, but there is definitely a viable potential for studying and using this type of technology. The Schick Foundation especially lauds the group for their innovative research approach.
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/International-team-tracks-clues-to-HIV-8504-1
Breaking News from The Schick Foundation
The Schick Foundation may form a partnership with Power Organics of Shasta, California to study the effects of Blue Green Algae in prospective clinical trials.
The Schick Foundation is planning to launch a landmark pilot study looking at the effects of Blue Green Algae on HIV+ patients whose virus has been suppressed via ART for at least 6 months.
If you want to see our unique and ground-breaking protocols flourish and succeed, please contribute to The Peter Schick Foundation, 1223 Wilshire Blvd. #1007, Santa Monica CA 90403. Donations may also be made directly through our websites: www.schick-foundation.org and http://www.schickresearch.com/.
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