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Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:45 AM PST

AIDS experts cautioned Monday against hype of a cure after doctors in the United States suppressed HIV in a child born with the virus by administering a potent drug cocktail shortly after birth.

The possible breakthrough may hold promise for about 330,000 children the World Health Organisation (WHO) says are born every year with the virus that causes AIDS.

While cautiously optimistic, experts stressed that much remained unclear -- including whether this may have been a freak result.

"The world needs to see this as a proof of concept, but we are not anywhere near implementation" of similar treatment for all newborns at risk, said Harry Moultrie, a paediatric HIV researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, which has a high share of infants born HIV-positive.

"One case does not make an intervention that you can just roll out," said Moultrie, even as he hailed the result "a compelling description of a cure".

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Centre in Baltimore, Maryland, earlier reported they had cured a baby born with HIV.

This was a "functional cure" rather than a full one, as traces of the virus were still present in the child's cells, but at non-dangerous levels.

The baby girl was given a cocktail of three anti-AIDS drugs within 30 hours of being born.

Normally, babies born to HIV-positive women are given a lower, preventative dose of drugs for several weeks, after which full treatment starts upon HIV diagnosis.

In this case, the child remained on antiviral treatment for 18 months. Ten months after treatment was stopped, no HIV was detectable in her blood with standard tests.

"They (the researchers) need to keep a close eye on this child to check that the HIV isn't going to reassert itself further down the line," said Genevieve Edwards of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK-based AIDS charity.

She warned the girl may be one among a handful of people whose immune systems don't need drugs to keep the virus from replicating.

Moultrie added it remained to be seen whether the treatment would work on all strains of the virus.

"This was one child and we are not sure of the generalisability or reproducibility of the result," he told AFP.

"If we give the same intervention to 100 children we do not know what proportion of them will give the same result; it may be five percent, it may be 80 percent."

UNAIDS welcomed the development which "gives us great hope that a cure for HIV in children is possible and could bring us one step closer to an AIDS-free generation."

But it cautioned that more study was needed.

"The important thing to concentrate on is to prevent children getting HIV in the first place," said Oxford University AIDS researcher John Frater.

This is best done through screening pregnant women and putting those with HIV on antiviral treatment to prevent transmission.

Frater stressed that parents must not interpret the news as meaning they can take their children off AIDS drugs.

"It is important not to extrapolate from one single case to others. Plenty of children who would stop therapy would rebound."

If confirmed, however, the American research would be a massive breakthrough in the fight against a disease that has claimed some 35 million lives.

"Up until two or three years ago, the general scientific belief was that a cure for HIV was impossible: that we shouldn't research it or invest in it," said Frater.

"Cases like this tell us that a cure for HIV is not impossible... that this is an area of research that we should concentrate on." WHO statistics show that the bulk, 299,000, of children born with HIV were in sub-Saharan Africa -- about a tenth of them in South Africa in 2011. -- AFPRelaxnews

Even a light workout may benefit sleep

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:36 AM PST

If you want to improve the quality of your sleep, a new study suggests that workouts throughout the week could do the trick. In a poll, participants who said they exercise, even lightly, reported better sleep than their inactive counterparts.

Announced Monday, the US-based National Sleep Foundation released data from its recent poll of 1,000 adults. Among those who exercised during the week, up to 67 percent reported that they had "a good night's sleep" almost every night on week nights.

By contrast, just 39 percent of those who didn't exercise at all reported sleeping well on week nights. In addition, only eight percent of people who exercised vigorously said they had difficulty falling asleep almost every night, compared to 24 percent of non-exercisers.

Another key to better sleep is to get up from your chair, the poll revealed. About 22 to 25 percent of those surveyed who sat for less than eight hours a day reported that they typically had "very good" sleep, compared to just 12 to 15 percent of people who sat for more than eight hours.

However, the poll only found an association and doesn't prove a cause and effect. LiveScience adds that people who exercise also tend to have routines, such as going to bed and waking up at similar times every day, which can also aid sleep.

While health experts have advised not to exercise too close to bedtime, the National Sleep Foundation has changed its recommendation based on the research -- exercising any time of day, unless you're exercising at the expense of sleep, is beneficial to getting your zzzs.

Learn more and access tips on improving sleep -- AFPRelaxnews

Kimchi may help lower cholesterol

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:19 AM PST

A new Korean study suggests that adding kimchi to your daily diet could help keep your cholesterol levels in check.

In a new study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, subjects who ate the fermented cabbage dish daily saw drops in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (or "bad" cholesterol), and fasting blood glucose levels after just one week.

Researchers from Pusan National University in Korea recruited 100 young men for the study. Subjects who ate a huge amount of kimchi (about half a pound) daily saw much greater drops in cholesterol levels than those who ate a small amount, just a half an ounce, every day for a week.

Still, both groups saw benefits, and subjects who had the highest total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels had the largest dips in those readings in both groups.

Kimchi is also touted for being chock full of not only vitamins A, B, and C, but also Lactobacillus, a healthy bacteria known as a probiotic, to aid digestion.

Previous research has found a link between daily doses of probiotics, including Lactobacillus, and reduced cholesterol. In a study presented last year at the American Heart Association's Scientific Session, a study of 127 adults found that daily doses of the probiotic L. reuteri resulted in lower LDL cholesterol levels after nine weeks.

According to the New York Times, some researchers believe that probiotics can bind to cholesterol in the small intestine, thereby preventing it from being absorbed into the bloodstream. However, research is mixed, the New York Times warns, with studies yielding positive findings, including the one last year, tending to be the ones funded by the makers of probiotic supplements. -- AFPRelaxnews

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 5 Mac 2013

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health

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