Despite evidence of substantial comorbidity between psychiatric disorders and substance involvement, the extent to which common genetic factors contribute to their co-occurrence remains understudied. In the current study, we tested for associations between polygenic risk for psychiatric disorders and substance involvement (i.e., ranging from ever-use to severe dependence) among 2573 non-Hispanic European–American participants from the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment.

The world is in the grip of a global crisis that kills the equivalent of the populations of Philadelphia, Kampala or Prague - around 1.6 million each year.

Scientists say they are a step closer to providing effective treatments for three "neglected" diseases after making a chemical which can kill the parasites that cause the illnesses.

One drug can treat three deadly and neglected infections - Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness - animal studies show.

Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness affect 20 million people worldwide and lead to more than 50,000 deaths annually. The diseases are caused by infection with the kinetoplastid parasites Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma brucei spp., respectively. These parasites have similar biology and genomic sequence, suggesting that all three diseases could be cured with drug(s) modulating the activity of a conserved parasite target. However, no such molecular targets or broad spectrum drugs have been identified to date.

The vast majority of systemic bacterial infections are caused by facultative, often antibiotic-resistant, pathogens colonizing human body surfaces. Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus predisposes to invasive infection, but the mechanisms that permit or interfere with pathogen colonization are largely unknown. Whereas soil microbes are known to compete by production of antibiotics, such processes have rarely been reported for human microbiota.

NEW DELHI: Health may soon be declared a fundamental right of every individual, similar to education, if the draft National Health Policy proposed by the ministry goes through.

WHO recommends combinations of an artemisinin derivative plus an antimalarial drug of longer half-life as treatment options for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum infection. In Africa, artemether–lumefantrine is the most widely used artemisinin-based combination therapy, whereas artesunate–mefl oquine is used infrequently because of a perceived poor tolerance to mefl oquine. WHO recommends reconsideration of the use of artesunate– mefl oquine in Africa.

HIV persists in a small pool of latently infected cells despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). Identifying cellular markers expressed at the surface of these cells may lead to novel therapeutic strategies to reduce the size of the HIV reservoir. We hypothesized that CD4+ T cells expressing immune checkpoint molecules would be enriched in HIV-infected cells in individuals receiving suppressive ART.

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The country has developed the biggest programme of antiretroviral therapy in the world. Now scientists are exploring the long-term consequences of the drugs.

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