HIV AIDS

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Reconstruction often gets short shrift from general surgeons treating breast cancer, according to researchers here.

LOS ANGELES -- Like a Pap smear, detection of abnormal anal cytology is clinically useful in HIV-positive gay men to predict the presence of anal dysplasia, according to researchers here.

PHILADELPHIA -- There's a checklist for prospective surgical outpatients who are the most likely to wind up being surgical inpatients.

MONTREAL -- White Americans still have longer life expectancies than black Americans, but the gap has narrowed in recent years, researchers here reported.

ROCKVILLE, Md -- The FDA has taken steps to ensure that clinicians and patients are aware of rare bizarre effects associated with sedative hypnotics, including driving or eating while sleeping.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- For a few patients undergoing, weight-loss surgery, a thiamine deficiency may cause memory loss and other neurologic problems, easily correctable when recognized.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA has warned about a norovirus outbreak linked to raw oysters harvested in San Antonio Bay, on the Texas Gulf coast north of Corpus Christi.

LOS ANGELES -- After more than 25 years of battling HIV and AIDS, the U.S. is lagging behind other industrialized nations, said researchers here.

LOS ANGELES -- An intervention costing less than a year could save the lives of thousands of HIV-infected children in Africa, researchers said here.

LOS ANGELES -- A drug for patients infected with hepatitis B virus, an agent that was thought to be inactive against HIV for those co-infected with that virus, may not be so innocuous with HIV after all, investigators suggested here.

IZMIR, Turkey -- Hepatitis B virus testing and immunization should be mandatory for professional or Olympic athletes participating in contact sports, a small Turkish study suggests.

Policy Watch: Using Science, Abusing Science

Editorial: Highlights of a Year in AIDS

Managing Managed Care: Health Literacy, HIV, and Outcomes

Research Focus: Recent Developments in HIV Therapeutics

Antiretroviral Therapy: Darunavir: An Overview of an HIV Protease Inhibitor Developed to Overcome Drug Resistance

Case Report: Cytomegalovirus Encephalitis in an HIV-Seropositive Person

Editorial Comment: Impact of Darunavir for Salvage Therapy

From the Editor's Desk: In This Month's Issue

A 34-year-old woman who was coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C virus complained of acute abdominal pain and generalized pruritus of 3 weeks' duration. She was noncompliant with her antiretroviral medications.

This infection is caused by reactivationof varicella-zoster virus (VZV),which may remain latent in thedorsal root and cranial nerve gangliafor decades. Reactivation oftenoccurs for no apparent reason, althoughstress and immunosuppressionmay increase the risk.

ABSTRACT: A 4-pronged approach that includes patient education, skin and nail care, appropriate footwear, and proactive surgeries can effectively prevent diabetic foot problems. Teach patients with diabetes to examine their feet daily to detect new onset of redness, swelling, breaks in the integrity of the skin, blisters, calluses, and macerated areas. Have them follow a daily foot care regimen that includes warm water soaks and lubrication, and have them keep toenails properly trimmed. Recommend that patients select shoes that fit properly and have sufficient padding and toe box space; have them use inserts, lifts, orthoses, or braces--as recommended-to correct abnormal gait patterns. Finally, if deformities develop, simple proactive surgical procedures can correct these problems before they result in the development of wounds.

Images in HIV/AIDS: HIV-Associated Lymphogranuloma Venereum Proctitis

LOS ANGELES -- An investigational anti-HIV drug called maraviroc, the first CCR5 inhibitor, significantly outperformed placebo in patients who were failing anti-retroviral therapy, according to interim results from two major phase III trials.

LOS ANGELES -- Like the traditional HIV-associated opportunistic infections, the toll of conditions such as heart and liver disease is affected by the immune status of a patient, researchers reported here.

LOS ANGELES -- Raltegravir (MK-0518), an investigational anti-retroviral drug that targets the HIV enzyme integrase, seems highly effective in patients resistant to existing classes of drugs.

LOS ANGELES -- An investigational synthetic hormone significantly reduces visceral fat in patients treated for HIV, researchers reported here.

LOS ANGELES -- Interrupting antiretroviral therapy for HIV patients increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by more than 50% over four years, a British researcher said here.

LOS ANGELES -- Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis -- or XDR-TB -- is appearing in more countries and is estimated to have caused 16,000 deaths in 2005.

HOMBURG, Germany -- There is a quick, reliable way to assess sepsis and overall prognosis in secondary peritonitis, according to researchers here.