Activity of an aberrant enzyme

Israeli scientists have developed a simple activity assay for an enzyme linked to the HIV virus life cycle.

Protein kinase enzymes regulate many cellular pathways, including metabolism and cell movement. While the enzymes are essential for normal cellular function, abnormal protein kinase activity has been implicated in a number of diseases. So assays for protein kinase activity and kinase inhibitor screening have great potential use in medical science laboratories.

Now, Itamar Willner and co-workers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed an activity assay for the protein kinase casein kinase II (CK2), a target of some HIV-1 transcription inhibitors.read more

Indian officials on edge over Burma's HIV/AIDS information black-hole

August 31, 2007 - The Burmese military junta's secrecy over HIV/AIDS infection in the country has Indian officials tearing their hair. With the junta's administration concealing facts on the disease programmes to control the spread of the endemic is being seriously jeopardized.

The District Chairman and other senior officials based in Tamu, a western Burma border township have flatly denied the existence of drug users and sex workers on their soil when Indian officials sought cooperation to fight cross-border HIV/AIDS.
read more

Hospitalization rates down for young kids with HIV

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The introduction and widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the United States has led to "dramatic decreases" in hospitalizations among HIV-infected infants and children younger than 5 years old, new evidence suggests.

However, the decrease in hospital use has been less noteworthy among HIV-infected adolescent.
read more

HIV-positive toddler joins protest for being banned from RV park

A 2-year-old boy will join more than 100 AIDS activists convening to the Alabama RV park where he was turned away from using the shared pool and showers because he is HIV-positive. read more

AIDS Activists Rally in S.Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Hundreds of AIDS activists packed the city's cathedral Wednesday to show support for the dismissed deputy health minister they believe was targeted for speaking out about the AIDS crisis and other problems in the nation's health service.

Madlala-Routledge's firing "is a shame for South Africa. It's a shame for our beloved country," said Mpumi Mantangana, a nurse who oversees the treatment of about 2,000 AIDS patients in a poor Cape Town suburb.

"We will never allow ourselves to be silenced by people who are denialists," she said, using a term for people who question the link between HIV and AIDS and play down the extent of the crisis.read more

Woman gets divorce from HIV-infected husband

FUJAIRAH — Upholding the verdict of the lower court, the Shariah Court of Appeal in Fujairah has granted divorce to a woman on the grounds that her husband is an Aids patient.


The court felt that the life of the woman would be in danger if she continued to live with her Aids-affected husband.
read more

Arrest Yields Meth Bust, HIV-Spreading Charges

The arrest of an Arizona man wanted for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender led Montgomery County detectives to what officials describe as one of the larger and more sophisticated methamphetamine labs ever found in the county.

The suspect, Robert W. Lindsay, was also charged with trying to infect a Montgomery detective with HIV because he bit the investigator during a long and bloody tussle, police said.read more