Alefacept still useful in psoriasis; 1 in 9 remit.
WAIKOLOA, HAWAII -- Alefacept, the first biologic agent to gain approval for treatment of psoriasis, still has a limited role to play. 'About one in nine patients will have a home run with this drug. They have ... sustained remission for a long period after the last...

AIDS not a general pandemic.
New York -- Since HIV/MDS first intruded on the public consciousness in the 1980s, a whole industry has grown up around it, a self-serving industry with a special talent for avoiding the truth. The fervent connivance of the media resulted in the disease being presented to the public as...

Lipoid proteinosis (Urbach-Wiethe disease): a case report from India.
Abstract Lipoid proteinosis (Urbach-Wiethe disease) is a rare autosomal-recessive anomaly that primarily affects the skin and the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract in children. It is caused by hyaline deposits in tissues. Hoarseness secondary to laryngeal involvement is frequently the first presenting feature. It is important...

Made-for-TV crisis communication.
There was a controversy about dangerous side effects of a vaccine. The controversy was bogus but that is not the point. The reporter interviewed an anti-vaccine activist whose statements at best were incorrect and at worse lies; however, she was media savvy and very photogenic (well made-up). ...

Oral Vitamin D boosts peptides in AD lesional skin.
KYOTO, JAPAN -- Supplementation with oral vitamin D boosted chronically low levels of the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin in the lesional skin of atopic dermatitis patients in a controlled trial, reported Dr. Tissa R. Hata. These promising results of an initial 28-patient, 3-week, proof-of-concept study provide the rationale...

Reauthorization of U.S. global program on HIV/AIDS applauded.
One of the largest global public health endeavors in history, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR, garners its share of both praise and criticism. Most health advocates agree, however, that the U.S. HIV/AIDS program has--and will continue--to save lives and prevent suffering. ...

MRSA infections are seen in patients on anti-TNF therapy.
PARIS -- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections have been reported for the first time in patients with rheumatoid arthritis being treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors. In a poster presented at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology, Dr. Jack Lichtenstein noted that he had observed that several of...

AIDS plague detailed; David Ho speaks to WPI freshmen.
Byline: Jacqueline Reis WORCESTER - The facts weren't the point of Dr. David Ho's talk last night, but they were staggering, nonetheless. HIV/AIDS, "arguably the worst plague in human history," has infected about 60 million people worldwide and killed 25 million since its discovery. ...

Agilent Microarrays Chosen by WTCCC for Human Genome Copy Number Variation Study.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-8 August 2008-Agilent Microarrays Chosen by WTCCC for Human Genome Copy Number Variation Study(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Agilent Technologies announced that the Weome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) will standardize the world's largest human genomic copy number variation (CNV) study on Agilent microarrays....

Innovative Biosensors Adds to Its Scientific Advisory Board.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-8 August 2008-Innovative Biosensors Adds to Its Scientific Advisory Board(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Innovative Biosensors (IBI), a company developing rapid, ultra-sensitive tests to detect harmful pathogens for both the clinical and biodefense markets, announced the expansion of its Scientific Advisory Board. ...