antiretroviral drugs

(Microbicide Trials Network) In the first clinical trial of a vaginal ring combining two antiretroviral drugs, researchers from the Microbicide Trials Network are collaborating with the International Partnership for Microbicides to evaluate whether the ring is safe for use in women.

If the ring does prove to be safe, it could be considered for further testing, and eventually be evaluated for its effectiveness as a microbicide for protecting women against HIV infection through vaginal sex.

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) A large-scale clinical trial evaluating whether daily use of an oral tablet or vaginal gel containing antiretroviral drugs can prevent HIV infection in women is being modified because an interim review found that the study cannot show that one of the study products, oral tenofovir, marketed under the trade name Viread, is effective.

(MedPage Today) -- Researchers have found yet another way in which HIV may elude the effects of antiretroviral drugs.

Also in this week's Lab Notes, researchers have found clues to the true cause of an ancient female Pharaoh's demise.

Drugs that suppress HIV in infected people may also help to protect healthy people who take them from getting the virus through sexual contact, two new studies show.

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SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) -- A nutritional supplement can slow the immune system decline in HIV patients not yet treated with antiretroviral drugs, a researcher said here.

(Microbicide Trials Network) Hopeful that some of the same antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV can also prevent it, researchers have enrolled the first participants into a new, large-scale clinical trial testing two approaches of the strategy in women.

The VOICE Study will help determine whether applying a vaginal microbicide gel containing an ARV or taking an ARV pill once a day can reduce a woman's HIV risk.

About 5,000 women in sub-Saharan Africa will take part.

The following will appear in the Mar 14 issue of The Lancet: 

Radioactive Americans today are exposed to seven times more radiation from diagnostic scans than they were in 1980, according to a report from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

Reasons for the increase are thought to include advancement in technology-eg, the development of finer-slicing CT scans-and the rising number of scans being done in doctors’ offices.