The death rates of children with HIV have decreased ninefold since doctors started prescribing cocktails of antiretroviral drugs in the mid-1990s, concludes a large-scale study of the long-term outcomes of children and adolescents with HIV in the United States. In spite of this improvement, however, young people with HIV continue to die at 30 times the rate of youth of similar age who do not have HIV, found researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
NIDA Director Honored By French Government With Top Science Award for Addiction Research
December 15, 2009 | by
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has been awarded the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science. Dr. Volkow will receive the award at a Dec. 17 ceremony at the College of France learning center in Paris.
Amyloid Deposits in Cognitively Normal People May Predict Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease
December 14, 2009 | by
For people free of dementia, abnormal deposits of a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease are associated with increased risk of developing the symptoms of the progressive brain disorder, according to two studies from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. The studies, primarily funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, linked higher amounts of the protein deposits in dementia-free people with greater risk for developing the disease, and with loss of brain volume and subtle declines in cognitive abilities.
NIAID Trial of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Enrolling HIV-Positive Adults
December 10, 2009 | by
HIV-infected adults currently are being recruited to participate in a clinical trial of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine. The study, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health, will enroll approximately 240 men and women between the ages of 18 and 64.
NIH Launches Program to Develop Innovative Approaches to Combat Obesity
December 10, 2009 | by
The National Institutes of Health is launching a $37 million program that will use findings from basic research on human behavior to develop more effective interventions to reduce obesity. The program, Translating Basic Behavioral and Social Science Discoveries into Interventions to Reduce Obesity, will fund interdisciplinary teams of researchers at seven research sites. Investigators will conduct experimental research, formative research to increase understanding of populations being studied, small studies known as proof of concept trials, and pilot and feasibility studies to identify promising new avenues for encouraging behaviors that prevent or treat obesity.
