First large-scale HIV vaccine trial in South Africa opens
A large-scale clinical trial of a candidate HIV vaccine - which previously showed promise in smaller studies in the United States and elsewhere - has now opened in South Africa. The study plans to enroll up to 3,000 HIV-negative men and women, making it the largest African HIV vaccine trial to date.
Conducted jointly by the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the trial is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study vaccine, provided by Merck & Co. Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ), contains copies of only three HIV genes, not the entire virus, so it is impossible for a trial volunteer to become infected from the vaccine.
A simple test permits to distinguish between bipolar disorder and depression
Patients with bipolar disorder experience manic or hypomanic episodes (euphoria) and depression. Type II bipolar disorder (hypomanic) patients are especially difficult to diagnose since their manic episodes are not very marked and they are usually diagnosed as depression patients. Choosing an incorrect treatment can be counterproductive. A study led by IDIBAPS, with the participation of PSYNCRO and 10 more hospital centres and the support of GSK, demonstrates how the HCL-32 test identifies bipolar depression in a simple way and with success above 80%. This work has been done with the Spanish version of this test.
Type II bipolar disorder is an underdiagnosed disease which can be easily confused with depression. Contrarily to what happens in type I bipolar disorder, depressive symptoms and, above all, manic symptoms alternated in this form of the disease are not evident and difficult to identify. In fact, patients suffering from it usually go to the doctor because they are depressed, without thinking that they have also had slight manic episodes (euphoria and other cognition disorders). Medical centre lack tools to identify successfully this pathology, which can take 8-10 years to be correctly diagnosed. Furthermore, antidepressant treatment can be counterproductive in patients with type II bipolar disorder. Dr. Eduard Vieta, of the group Biological Basis of the Psychic Disorder and Nuclear Psychiatry of the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), has coordinated a study in order to validate the Spanish version of the test Hypomania symptom check list (HCL-32), which is being developed in an ample international collaboration.
International study points to new breast cancer-susceptibility gene
A gene whose existence was detected only a couple of years ago may increase women’s risk of breast cancer when inherited in a mutated form, and may contribute to prostate cancer as well, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and colleagues in Finland report in a new study.
The gene, known as PALB2, may play a role in only about 1 percent of breast cancer cases in the select population that was studied (Finnish women), but its discovery sheds light on the complex web of gene interactions that underlies the disease, say the authors of the study, which is being published by the journal Nature on its Web site, http://www.nature.com/nature, and later in a print edition.
New Treatment For Psoriasis Is Highly Effective
A new treatment for psoriasis that targets its key inflammatory mediators (IL-12 and IL-23) is highly effective, according to a study by University of Utah researchers to be published in the Feb. 8 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Current treatments for psoriasis include topical medicines and UV light therapy to treat the symptoms of the disease. Many of these treatments are messy, time consuming, have cumulative toxicities, and are not very effective, according to Gerald Krueger, M.D., principal investigator for the study. Krueger is a professor of dermatology and a Benning Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Robotic therapy helps restore hand use after stroke
A robotic therapy device may help people regain strength and normal use of affected hands long after a stroke, according to a University of California, Irvine study.
Stroke patients with impaired hand use reported improved ability to grasp and release objects after therapy sessions using the Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device (HOWARD).
