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Many U.S. Residents Test Positive For HIV Late In Illness, Few High School Students
Many people who test positive for HIV are diagnosed late in the course of their infection when treatment might be less effective, according to a report published Thursday in CDC"s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Reuters Health reports. The report looked at data on people who were diagnosed with HIV from 1996 to 2005 and found that 45 percent had developed AIDS within three years of their initial HIV diagnosis, 38.3 percent within one year and an additional 6.7 percent within the next two years (Reuters Health 6/25). R. Luke Shouse of CDC"s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said, "This means that they may have unknowingly transmitted HIV. It also means that there is a time when they had HIV when they were not under appropriate medical care, so there are missed opportunities for prevention and care." A separate CDC report also published yesterday found that 22.3 percent of high school students who are sexually active and 12.9 percent of all students have been tested for HIV (Reinberg, HealthDay/KATC.com, 6/25).

With A Doctor's Help Obese Women With PCOS Can Lose Weight
Simple weight-loss advice from a physician and regular follow-up helped obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome lose a substantial amount of weight, a new study found. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society"s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
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Kidney Damage From Medical Imaging Procedures Can Cause Long-Term Health Problems
Kidney injury that can arise after undergoing certain medical imaging procedures increases a patient"s risk of having a stroke or heart attack over the next year or two, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that seemingly minor and reversible kidney damage from these common clinical procedures is a serious health threat.
Endocrinology

Individuals At Risk For Developing Colon Cancer Identified By Researchers

A new study identifies a group of individuals at increased risk for developing colon cancer and holds the promise for developing new tailored cancer treatments. The study in this week"s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is by Sanford Markowitz, M.D., Ph.D., the Markowitz-Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and oncologist at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and colleagues. "The bottom line is that we have found an uncommon but potentially important group of individuals who are born with certain genetic mutations and are at increased risk for developing colon cancer," says Dr. Markowitz, who is also an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "This is yet another step towards identifying who is at increased risk for this deadly form of cancer and it may potentially allow us a greater ability to detect and treat, as well as develop therapies, for cancer." Dr. Kishore Guda, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Markowitz"s laboratory, is lead author on the study. Dr. Markowitz"s laboratory along with colleagues at Johns Hopkins Medical Center analyzed DNA from individuals who are born with mutations that cause defects in the pathways that put sugar groups on proteins. The normal process, called glycosylation, is used to synthesize mucus and is involved in many cellular activities. The individuals with this genetic defect appeared to develop colon cancer later in life. Data was from patients at UH Case Medical Center and Johns Hopkins. A defect in glycosylation is a hallmark of many cancers, but the reason for this defect has been unknown. This study discovered the presence of mutations in a group of enzymes, called GALNTs, which are required for normal glycoslylation. These mutations contribute to alterations in the glycosylation process, and in turn, to the development of colon cancer. "Our findings support the idea that defects in glycosylation, the process for making mucus, can contribute to tumor development," said Dr. Markowitz. "Knowing how these glycosylation enzymes malfunction and contribute to tumor formation may give us another target that can be potentially used to prevent the development of colon and other cancers. Certainly, individuals who have these mutations should be getting screening for colon cancer, so that the disease can be caught during the early stages when it is highly curable." Colon cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., accounts for 50,000 deaths annually. Alicia Reale University Hospitals Case Medical Center


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