(Press-News.org) The World Health Organization estimates that in 2011 there were 216 million cases of malaria and 34.2 million people living with HIV. These diseases particularly afflict sub-Saharan Africa, where large incidence of co-infection result in high mortality rates. Yet, in spite of this global pandemic, interactions between the parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, and HIV-1 are poorly understood. However, a new video article in JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, that describes a novel technique to study the interactions between HIV-1 and P. falciparum in cultured human cells, will allow scientists to explore different parameters of co-infection by the two microbes.
The study is led by Dr. David Richard of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec (CHUQ). Dr. Richard explains, "We don't know much about what is happening at the cellular level when HIV-1-infected immune cells encounter the malaria parasite. Results obtained from the few studies exploring the interaction of these two diseases are sometimes conflicting. We hope that our model will allow us to thoroughly dissect these interactions in a simplified system."
Each disease attacks a different component of human blood, thus disturbing normal immune function. P. falciparum infect red blood cells and cause fever, shivering, vomiting, or convulsions in patients. HIV-1 causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by infecting components of the immune system, including macrophages and helper T cells, and then replicates and destroys the host cells. By studying co-infection at different phases of each disease in vitro, scientists can better understand how different stages of malaria infection and HIV reproduction affect the onset and severity of the other disease. As such, Dr. Richard and his laboratory present a technique that investigates how P. falciparum-infected red blood cells affect the replication of HIV-1 in monocyte-derived macrophages.
Dr. Richard points out that, "by publishing in JoVE, you really see what is happening in the experiment. The visual representation helps succinctly explain a long procedure, and gives you a fuller picture of the schematic complexity." He hopes that this publication will give the scientific community the tools to look at the interactions on a cellular level, which would be an initial step in improving the quality of life for individuals infected by these deadly diseases. "This protocol provides a tool to examine the interactions between P. falciparium and HIV," states JoVE editor Dr. Charlotte Frank Sage, "Publication of the protocol in JoVE will allow researchers around the world to see a detailed demonstration of this system which will help in bring the technology to their laboratories."
INFORMATION:
Richard et. al.: http://www.jove.com/video/4166/an-vitro-co-infection-model-to-study-plasmodium-falciparum-hiv-1
About JoVE, The Journal of Visualized Experiments:
JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the first and only PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing scientific research in a video format. Using an international network of videographers, JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques at top universities, allowing students and scientists to learn them much more quickly. As of July 2012, JoVE has published video-protocols from an international community of nearly 6,000 authors in the fields of biology, medicine, chemistry, and physics.
URL: www.jove.com
To link to this release, please use this link: http://www.jove.com/about/press-releases/41/novel-technique-demonstrates-interactions-between-malaria-parasite
Contact:
Neal Moawed
Academic Liaison & Marketing Associate
The Journal of Visualized Experiments
p. 617.945.9051
e. neal.moawed@jove.com
Novel technique demonstrates interactions between malaria parasite and HIV
2012-08-15
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
'CYCLOPS' genes may serve as an Achilles' heel in tumor cells
2012-08-15
BOSTON--The genomic tumult within tumor cells has provided scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard with clues to an entirely new class of genes that may serve as an Achilles' heel for many forms of cancer.
As reported in the Aug. 17 issue of the journal Cell, the researchers identified 56 such genes, only a few of which had previously been identified as potential targets for cancer therapy. Unlike most such targets, these genes don't cause normal cells to turn cancerous. Instead, they are essential to all cells but have been ...
Denosumab superior to zoledronic acid for breast cancer patients with bone metastases
2012-08-15
PHILADELPHIA — Treatment with denosumab resulted in a greater reduction in skeletal-related events in patients with breast cancer that spread to the bones compared with zoledronic acid, while also maintaining health-related quality of life, according to the results of a phase III study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"Our data indicate that denosumab should be the treatment of choice for the prevention of skeletal-related events and hypercalcemia in patients with breast cancer that has metastasized to the ...
New insights into how vascular networks form in fish brains
2012-08-15
How the intricate network of blood vessels forms within the brain has long fascinated biologists. Though the human brain comprises only 2 percent of body weight it receives up to 15 percent of the cardiac output through this network, or vessel vasculature. The vasculature in the human brain consists of a complex branching network of blood vessels, in total some several hundred miles in length. The network is formed so as to distribute blood efficiently to all brain regions, and abnormalities can lead to various neurological disorders, including strokes, learning difficulties ...
Overweight and obese women more likely to have large babies
2012-08-15
Among pregnant women who did not develop gestational diabetes, overweight women were 65 percent more likely, and obese women 163 percent more likely, to have overly large babies than their healthy weight counterparts. In this study, an overly large infant was identified based on having a birth weight over the 90th percentile for their gestational age at delivery and gender. Gaining excess weight during pregnancy also contributed to having a large for gestational age baby, regardless of maternal weight or whether she developed gestational diabetes.
This Kaiser Permanente ...
Widespread local extinctions in tropical forest 'remnants'
2012-08-15
The small fragments of tropical forests left behind after deforestation are suffering extensive species extinction, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Publishing today in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers carried out a comprehensive assessment to estimate the long-term impact of forest fragmentation and hunting on tropical biodiversity in Brazil.
They studied the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, including the region's largest and least disturbed old-growth forest remnants, and found that remaining habitat fragments had been virtually ...
Couple's therapy appears to decrease PTSD symptoms, improve relationship
2012-08-15
CHICAGO – Among couples in which one partner was diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), participation in disorder-specific couple therapy resulted in decreased PTSD symptom severity and increased patient relationship satisfaction, compared with couples who were placed on a wait list for the therapy, according to a study in the August 15 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights.
"There are well-documented associations between PTSD and intimate relationship problems, including relationship distress and aggression, and studies demonstrate ...
Studies examine health consequences of meltdown, damage to Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan
2012-08-15
CHICAGO – The results of two studies in the August 15 issue of JAMA report on the psychological status of workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan several months after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the amount of internal radiation exposure among residents of a city north of the power plant that experienced a meltdown.
As reported in a Research Letter, Jun Shigemura, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan, and colleagues examined the psychological status of Fukushima workers 2 to 3 months after the disaster for ...
Computer-based screening program for partner violence does not significantly improve quality of life
2012-08-15
CHICAGO – In a study that included more than 2,700 women receiving care in primary care clinics, those who were screened for partner violence and received a partner violence resource list did not experience significant differences for several outcomes, including overall quality of life, general health, and recurrence of partner violence, compared to women who just received a partner violence resource list, according to a study in the August 15 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights.
"Recognition of partner violence as a health and public health problem ...
Blood type may influence heart disease risk
2012-08-15
People with blood type A, B, or AB had a higher risk for coronary heart disease when compared to those with blood type O, according to new research published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, an American Heart Association journal.
People in this study with the rarest blood type — AB, found in about 7 percent of the U.S. population — had the highest increased heart disease risk at 23 percent. Those with type B had an 11 percent increased risk, and those with type A had a 5 percent increased risk. About 43 percent of Americans have type O blood.
"While ...
Online obesity treatment programs show promise
2012-08-15
Computer and web-based weight management programmes may provide a cost effective way of addressing the growing problem of obesity, according to a team of seven researchers who undertook a Cochrane systematic review. The researchers, from Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, USA, found that delivering weight loss or weight maintenance programmes online or by computer helped overweight and obese patients lose and/or maintain weight.
Being overweight or obese can increase a person's risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke ...