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.

Dengue is the most prevalent arboviral disease in humans and a major public health problem worldwide. Systemic plasma leakage, leading to hypovolemic shock and potentially fatal complications, is a critical determinant of dengue severity. Recently, we and others described a novel pathogenic effect of secreted dengue virus (DENV) non-structural protein 1 (NS1) in triggering hyperpermeability of human endothelial cells in vitro and systemic vascular leakage in vivo.

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.

Original Source

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

Original Source

A large number of diseases have been grouped together as ‘rare diseases’, because we do not know much about them. There is no consensus on the definition of a rare disease. This is because, obtaining reliable statistical estimates of the frequency of occurrence of a rare event, such as prevalence of a rare disease, requires an inordinately large sample size, collection of which costs prohibitively large amount of money. (Editorial)

Original Source