Infectious Agents and Cancer Blog
The Open Access legal issue
On January 24th an editorial entitled Supporting the advancement of science: Open access publishing and the role of mandates, written by Lisa Phelps, Bernard Fox and Francesco M Marincola, has been published on Journal of Translational Medicine (JTM). It deals with a very relevant issue which could undermine the survival of the Open Access system: the introduction of a new bill at the United States House of Representatives,the Research Works Act (H.R.3699).
Open Access information is a key factor for fast and global diffusion of knowledge, a relevant aspect for socio-cultural matters, but extremely crucial for life science and public health issues. The global village we live in needs global information. If barriers are not able to stop HIV/AIDS sexual spreading (as clearly shown to countries that were proposing VISA qualification approval based on HIV- positivity), much less can be done to stop air-transmitted infectious diseases. As a paradigm the 2000 Ebola outbreak in Gulu (Northern of Uganda), which could be a very clear lesson: a rare event in a remote village could be spread to the whole world in few hours by intercontinental traveling. Only knowledge and determination allowed Dr Matthew Lukwiya to identify the deadly infection and keep on site all the health workers (including western foreigners), otherwise the Ebola outbreak would have gone global.
Are we sure that it is in the interest of any country to keep science confined to a limited number of privileged people within an ivory tower? The fundamental motivation for starting Infectious Agents and Cancer in an Open Access system has been to make sure that any person in the world interested in such field can freely read scientific articles and at the same time to offer to any scientists the possibility to publish their ideas and solid results, particularly from developing countries, where pathogen-related cancers represent a relevant component of the global cancer burden in their population.
Here is reported the JTM abstract, available at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/10/1/13/abstract,
In December 2011 the United States House of Representatives introduced a new bill, the Research Works Act (H.R.3699), which if passed could threaten the public's access to US government funded research. In a digital age when professional and lay parties alike look more and more to the online environment to keep up to date with developments in their fields, does this bill serve the best interests of the community? Those in support of the Research Works Act argue that government open access mandates undermine peer-review and take intellectual property from publishers without compensation, however journals like Journal of Translational Medicine show that this is not the case. Journal of Translational Medicine in affiliation with the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer demonstrates how private and public organisations can work together for the advancement of science.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 16:04 Comments (0)
Twitter: an opportunity for open access journals
Infectious Agents and Cancer relevant links
http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS-InfectiousDiseases/rss
http://viral-oncology.blogspot.com/2011/12/il-progetto-emblem.html
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 17:04 Comments (0)
ASICON 2011: Getting to zero, the Indian strategy
At ASICON Conference (December 16-18, 2011) two interviews have been taken to diffuse the current efforts pursued in INDIA to reach the recent goal established by UNAIDS on AIDS transmission: "Getting to Zero"
and the second interview:
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 10:48 Comments (0)
The EMBLEM study: an interview to Dr Mbulaiteye.
At the recent 8th AORTIC Conference, held in Cairo on Nov 30th-trough Dec 02, Dr Mbulaiteye explained during an interview to ecancer.tv the articulation and the relevance of the EMBLEM study, which is focused on revisiting the etiopathogenesis of Burkitt's lymphoma 50 years following the first studies.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 00:01 Comments (0)
4th ASICON - Lucknow-India, 16-18 December, 2011
The 4th National Conference of AIDS Society of India (ASICON) has been held December 16th through 18th at 
the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow - India, with contribution of 30 International and 40 national speakers articulated in 20 plenary sessions, discussion forums, workshops, abstract & poster sessions.
The Program is available at the Conference web-page and has been focused on several aspects of HIV/AIDS epidemic in India, including AIDS-associated malignancies.
A special issue of the Conference has been to evaluate appropriate preventive measures in particular for Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT), considering that currently only a third of the 23'000'000 deliveries per year are screened for HIV. On the screening issue the special subject "Is India ready for testing all the patients in clinical settings" has been debated by Dr Jyoti Dhar (UK) and Dr I.S. Gilada (Mumbai), who is ASICON Chair and CEO.
Furthermore this year event included publication of Conference Proceedings and assembling of real-time presentation movies. The video film, titled “GETTING TO ZERO: Long Road Ahead for India’s AIDS Programme” (time: 28:30 minutes) is in two parts: Part I and II, available at http://youtu.be/zt8UL136IHs and http://youtu.be/mRBD0D1oGtQ, respectively.
Cultural activities of Indian heritage performed at the Conference:
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 23:10 Comments (0)
8th AORTIC Conference - Cairo - Egypt, 30th Nov-02Dec, 2011
The 8th African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer - AORTIC Conference was held in Cairo - Egypt, form 
Nov 30 to Dec 02, 2011, in the spectacular venue of the Intercontinental City Stars Hotel of Heliopolis.
The Conference, very well organized for scientific as well as social activities, spanned from epidemiologic studies to pathogenetic mechanisms, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic strategies and preventive programs of cancers in the Africa Continent, as from the scientific program.
Besides conventional pathogen-related cancers, major emphasis has been given to breast and prostate cancers, which are conventionally associated to genetic predisposing factors.
Key issues have been the need to establish Cancer registries along with the relevance of implementing cancer screening (particularly for cervical cancer) and palliative care programs, as well as radiation oncology unit.
A special session has been dedicated to the recently NCI-funded EMBLEM project focus on revisiting the Burkitt's lymphoma epidemiology and pathogenesis with the most advanced, newly established technologies. The session has been organized and coordinated by Dr Mbulaiteye, who is the PI of the EMBLEM project, whose aims and activities are detailed at the NCI webpage http://emblem.cancer.gov/collaboration/
An interview to Dr Mbulaiteye by Ecancer.tv is available at IAC Blog page on EMBLEM.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 21:53 Comments (0)
Creating an AIDS-free Generation - The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at NIH
from the NIH VideoCast
The Speech of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Global HIV/AIDS held at NIH, Bethesda, MD on November 8th, 2011
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| Da 08 novembre 2011 |
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 02:32 Comments (0)
The PEPFAR Program in Africa at the IHV Annual Meeting - Baltimore 2011
The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program activities in Africa were reported at the 13th Annual International Meeting of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD on October 30-November 2, 2011.
The PEPFAR Report has been presented on Sunday October 30 in a specific session from 10:30 to 14:00.
The full program is available at the Meeting website
The high quality of clinical and research activities performed in African Countries was highly appreciated by IHV colleagues, such as IHV's Dr. Alash'le Abimiku and Martine Etienne- Mesubi, who are actively collaborating on the project. .
A special thanks was expressed by the University of Maryland's Dr. Joseph O'Neill, Director of the University's Global Programs, to IHV's Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. William Blattner, who lead IHV's significant PEPFAR programs in seven African and two Caribbean nations.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 00:49 Comments (0)
13th International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies (ICMAOI)
The 13th International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies (ICMAOI) is planned for November 7-8 2011 at the Lister Hill Center Auditorium on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland .
The International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies is the only forum that is solely focused on presentation of basic, epidemiologic, and clinical aspects of research on malignancies in HIV-infected and other immunosuppressed individuals. The conference addresses basic and clinical research on viral oncology oncology, immunology, genetics, epidemiology, pathogenesis, drug discovery, early diagnosis, and clinical investigation of malignant diseases in AIDS and other immunodeficiency states including organ transplantation.
The Conference is co-ordinated by Robert Yarchoan - MD and Geraldina Dominguez - PhD,
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 22:59 Comments (1)
Unofficial Impact Factor for Infectious Agents and Cancer
BioMed Central recently released the 2010 IAC unofficial IF of 2.33. An excellent result for a recently established journal.
For any journal to have an Impact Factor it must be tracked by Thomson Reuters (ISI) for three years. Although many BioMed Central journals are tracked by Thomson Reuters, others are still relatively new. For further information the Impact Factor Web Page of BioMed Central should be visited. The listed tables show those journals that are already tracked by Thomson Reuters (ISI) and so already have Impact Factors, and journals that are due Impact Factors for which their unofficial Impact Factors has been calculated. Note that in several cases the figures are artificially low, as they are based on a single year of citation data rather than the usual two.Thomson Reuters (ISI) is currently considering additional BioMed Central journals for tracking. If the journal you are interested in is not currently tracked, you can recommend it to Thomson Reuters (ISI) for tracking.
Two other citation tracking services (Scopus and Google Scholar) both track citations for all BioMed Central journals.
The SCImago Journal Rank(SJR) is also a free alternative journal citation-metric based on citation information from Scopus.
SJR is currently ranking the IAC journal in the second Quartile of all worldwide journals dealing with Epidemiology (occupying the position number 20) and Oncology (# 78) and in the first Quartile of those focused on Infectious Diseases (#23).
Moreover the IAC journal is now on Twitter at @IAC_journal.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 11:07 Comments (0)
IARC CLASSIFIES RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AS POSSIBLY CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS
PRESS RELEASE N° 208
31 May 2011
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf
IARC CLASSIFIES RADIOFREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AS
POSSIBLY CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS
Lyon, France, May 31, 2011 The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer1, associated with wireless phone use.
Background
Over the last few years, there has been mounting concern about the possibility of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radiofrequency elecromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by wireless communication devices. The number of mobile phone subscriptions is estimated at 5 billion globally
From May 24–31 2011, a Working Group of 31 scientists from 14 countries has been meeting at IARC in Lyon, France, to assess the potential carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. These assessments will be published as Volume 102 of the IARC Monographs, which will be the fifth volume in this series to focus on physical agents, after Volume 55 (Solar Radiation), Volume 75 and Volume 78 on ionizing radiation (Xrays, gammarays, neutrons, radionuclides), and Volume 80 on nonionizing radiation (extremely lowfrequency electromagnetic fields).
The IARC Monograph Working Group discussed the possibility that these exposures might induce longterm health effects, in particular an increased risk for cancer. This has relevance for public health, particularly for users of mobile phones, as the number of users is large and growing, particularly among young adults and children.
The IARC Monograph Working Group discussed and evaluated the available literature on the following exposure categories involving radiofrequency electromagnetic fields:
occupational exposures to radar and to microwaves;
environmental exposures associated with transmission of signals for radio, television
and wireless telecommunication; and
personal exposures associated with the use of wireless telephones.
International experts shared the complex task of tackling the exposure data, the studies of cancer in humans,
the studies of cancer in experimental animals, and the mechanistic and other relevant data
Results
The evidence was reviewed critically, and overall evaluated as being limited2 among users of wireless telephones for
glioma and acoustic neuroma, and inadequate3 to draw conclusions for other types of cancers. The evidence from the
occupational and environmental exposures mentioned above was similarly judged inadequate. The Working Group did
not quantitate the risk; however, one study of past cell phone use (up to the year 2004), showed a 40% increased risk
for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10year period).
Conclusions
Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), overall Chairman of the Working Group, indicated that
"the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a conclusion and the 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between
cell phones and cancer risk."
"Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings," said IARC Director
Christopher Wild, "it is important that additional research be conducted into the longterm, heavy use of mobile phones. Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as handsfree devices or texting. "
The Working Group considered hundreds of scientific articles; the complete list will be published in the Monograph.
It is noteworthy to mention that several recent inpress scientific articles4 resulting from the Interphone study were made available to the working group shortly before it was due to convene, reflecting their acceptance for publication at that time, and were included in the evaluation.
A concise report summarizing the main conclusions of the IARC Working Group and the evaluations of the carcinogenic
hazard fromradiofrequency electromagnetic fields (including the use of mobile telephones) will be published in
The Lancet Oncology in its July 1 issue, and in a few days online.
1 237 913 new cases of brain cancers (all types combined) occurred around the world in 2008 (gliomas represent 2/3 of these).
Source: Globocan 2008
For more information, please contact
Dr Kurt Straif, IARC Monographs Section, at +33 472 738 511, or straif@iarc.fr;
Dr Robert Baan, IARC Monographs Section, at +33 472 738 659, or baan@iarc.fr; or
Nicolas Gaudin, IARC Communications Group, at com@iarc.fr (+33 472 738 478)
Link to the audio file posted shortly after the briefing:
http://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/audio/press_briefings/
About IARC
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. Its mission is to
coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop
scientific strategies for cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and
disseminates scientific information through publicaions, meetings, courses, and fellowships.
Nicolas Gaudin, Ph.D.
Head, IARC Communications
International Agency for Research on Cancer
World Health Organization
150, cours AlbertThomas
69008 Lyon France
Email com@iarc.fr
http://www.iarc.fr/
ABOUT THE IARC MONOGRAPHS
What are the IARC Monographs?
The IARC Monographs identify environmental factors that can increase the risk of human cancer. These include
chemicals, complex mixtures, occupational exposures, physical and biological agents, and lifestyle factors. National
health agencies use this information as scientific support for their actions to prevent exposure to potential carcinoens.
Interdisciplinary working groups of expert scientists review the published studies and evaluate the weight of the
evidence tha an agent can increase the risk of cancer. The principles, procedures, and scientific criteria that guide the
evaluations are described in the Preamble to the IARC Monographs.
Since 1971, more than 900 agents have been evaluated, of which approximately 400 have been identified as
carcinogenic or potentially carcinogenic to humans.
Definitions
Group 1: The agent is carcinogenic to humans.
This category is used when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans. Exceptionally, an agent may be
placed in this category when evidence of carcinogenicity in humans is less than sufficient but there is sufficent
evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals and strong evidence in exposed humans that the agent acts
through a relvant mechanism of carcinogenicity.
Group 2.
This category includes agents for which, at one extreme, the degree of evidence of carcinogenicity in humans is
almost sufficient, as well as those for which, at the other extreme, there are no human data but for which there is
evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. Agents are assigned to either Group 2A (probably carcinogenic
to humans) or Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans) on the basis of epidemiological and experimental evidence
of carcinogenicity and mechanistic and other relevant data. The terms probably carcinogenic and possibly carcinogenic
have no quantitative significance and are used simply as descriptorsof different levels of evidence of human
carcinogenicity, with probably carcinogenic signifying a higher level of evidence than possibly carcinogenic.
Group 2A: The agent is probably carcinogenic to humans.
This category is used when there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of
carcinogenicity inexperimental animals. In some cases, an agent may be classified in this category when there
is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidnce of carcinogenicity in experimental
animals and strong evidence that the carcinogenesis is mediated by a mechanism that alsooperates in humans.
Exceptionally, an agent may be classified in this category solely on the basis of limited evidence of carcinogenicity
in humans. An agent may be assigned to this category if it clearly belongs, based on mechanistic considerations, to a
class of agents for which one or more members have been classified in Group 1 or Group 2A.
Group 2B: The agent is possibly carcinogenic to humans.
This category is used for agents for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than
sufficient evidnce of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. It may also be used when there is inadequate evidence
of carcinogenicity in humans but there is sufficient evidence of carcinoenicity in experimental animals. In some
instances, an agent for which there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient
evidence of carcinogenicty in experimental animals together with supporting evidence from mechanistic and other
relevant data may be placed in this grop. An agent may be classified in this category solely on the basis of strong
evidence from mechanistic and other relevant data.
Group 3: The agent is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.
This category is used most commonly for agents for which the evidence of carcinogenicity is inadequate in humans
and inadequateor limited in experimental animals.
Exceptionally, agents for which the evidence of carcinogenicity is inadequate in humans but sufficient in experimental
animals may be placed n this category when there is strong evidence that the mechanism of carcinogenicity in experimental animals does not operate in humans.
Agents that do not fall into any other group are also placed in this category.
An evaluation in Group 3 is not a determination of noncarcinogenicity or overall safety. It often means that further research is needed, especially when exposures are widespread or the cancer data are consistent with differing interpretations.
Group 4: The agent is probably not carcinogenic to humans.
This category is used for agents for which there is evidence suggesting lack of carcinogenicity in humans and in
experimental aimals. In some instances, agents for which there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans
but evidence suggesting lack of carcinogenicity in xperimental animals, consistently and strongly supported by a
broad range of mechanistic and other relevant data, may be classified in this group.
Definitions of evidence, as used in IARC Monographs for studies in humans
The evidence relevant to carcinogenicity from studies in humans is classified into one of the following categories:
Sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity: The Working Group considers that a causal relationship has been established between exposure to the agent and human cancer. That is, a positive relationship has been observed between the exposure and cancer in studies in which chance, bias and confounding could be ruled out with reasonable confidence.
A statement that there is sufficient evidence is followed by a separate sentence that identifies the target organ(s) or tissue(s) where an increased risk of cancer was observed in humans. Identification of a specific target organ or tissue does not preclude the possibility that the agent may cause cancer at othersites.
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity: A positive association has been observed between exposure to the agent and cancer for which a causal interpretation is consideed by the Working Group to be credible, but chance, bias or confounding could not be ruled out with reasonable confidence.
Inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity: The available studies are of insufficient quality, consistency or statistical power to permit a conclusion regarding the presence or absence of a causal association between expoure and cancer, or no data on cancer in humans are available.
Evidence suggesting lack of carcinogenicity: There are several adequate studies covering the full range of levels of exposure that humans are known to encounter, which are mutually consistent in not showing a positive association between exposure to the agent and any studied cancer at an observed level of exposure. The results from these studies alone or combined should have narrow confidence intervals with an upper limit close to the nullvalue (e.g. a relative risk of 1.0). Bias and confounding should be ruled out with reasonable confidence, and the studies should have an adequate length of follow up. A conclusion of evidence suggesting lack of carcinogenicity is inevitably limited to the cancer sites, conditions and levels of exposure, and length of observation covered by the available studies. In addition, the possibility of a very small risk at the levels of exposure studied can never be excluded.
In some instances, the above categories may be used to classify the degree of evidence related to carcinogenicity in specific organs or tissues.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 21:53 Comments (1)
Origins of XMRV deciphered, undermining claims for a role in human disease
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Origins of XMRV deciphered, undermining claims for a role in human disease Delineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses. Subsequent infection of lab experiments with XMRV formed the basis of the original association. Reporting in Science, Vinay Pathak, Ph.D., and his research team from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with other researchers, described experiments that provide an understanding of when and how XMRV arose and explain the original, incorrect association. XMRV stands for xenotropic murine leukemia virus–related virus. This study is being reported in the same issue of Science as another study of XMRV (Knox et al.) that finds a lack of association between the virus and CFS even in the same patients from a 2009 study. “Taken together, these results essentially close the door on XMRV as a cause of human disease,” said John Coffin, Ph.D., special advisor to the NCI director, and professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, a coauthor of the paper with Pathak. Murine leukemia viruses are retroviruses that cause cancers and other diseases in mice. They are divided into different classes, one of which is xenotropic murine leukemia viruses. Although viruses in this class cannot grow in or infect cells from most mice, in the laboratory they can infect cells from other species, including human cells. XMRV was first reported in samples from a human prostate tumor in 2006, and has been reported to be present in 6 percent to 27 percent of human prostate cancers. Later research reported XMRV in the blood of 67 percent of people with CFS. The assertion that XMRV is circulating in the human population has been challenged by several studies that have failed to detect XMRV in multiple sets of specimens from people with prostate cancer or CFS and healthy controls. To try to resolve the degree of association between XMRV and human disease, Pathak, who led these studies at NCI in its Viral Mutation Section, Coffin, and their colleagues examined human prostate cancer cells which contained XMRV, as well as the tumors from which these prostate cell specimens arose after they were grafted into mice. Grafting human tumors, called xenografts, into mice is a common way to study disease when it might be unsafe to test new treatments or methods in humans. Upon careful examination in this new study, it was shown that initial prostate tumor xenografts did not contain XMRV but later tumors that had been derived from them did, demonstrating that XMRV was not present in the original human tumor as previously supposed. Instead, the virus appears to have infected tumor cells while they were in mice. In addition, the mice that were used for xenografting the prostate tumor cells contained two previously undescribed viruses, PreXMRV‐1 and PreXMRV‐2. Each of these viruses has a stretch of over 3,200 nucleotides, the basic building blocks of DNA, which is nearly identical to XMRV, differing by only a single nucleotide. Genetic comparison of the PreXMRV‐1 and PreXMRV‐2 sequences revealed that each one has non-overlapping stretches that are nearly identical to XMRV. Pathak, Coffin, and their colleagues postulate that recombination between these viruses generated XMRV in human cells while the cells were being grown in a mouse sometime between 1993 and1996 and infected the prostate tumor cells. Recombination between virus genomes in a cell infected by more than one virus is common. Based on this genetic analysis, the scientists concluded that XMRV was not present in the original prostate tumor samples but arose only after they had been put into mice. The probability that an identical recombination event occurred independently is about 1 in 1 trillion, making it extremely unlikely that XMRV arose from another source. The researchers concluded that the association of XMRV with human disease is due to contamination of samples with virus originating from this recombination event. “After the reports of XMRV in human prostate cancer, and later of XMRV in people with CFS, retrovirologists all over the world were excited to explore its role in human infection and disease. The results published today are not what we would have expected, but due to the time and resources dedicated to the understanding of this virus by researchers at NCI and NIH as well as others, scientists can now concentrate on identifying the real causes of these diseases,” said Pathak. References: NCI leads the National Cancer Program and the NIH effort to dramatically reduce the burden of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI Web site at www.cancer.gov or call NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
www.cancer.gov
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 NCI Office of Media Relations
(301) 496-6641
ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov
Paprotka et al. Recombinant Origin of the Retrovirus XMRV. Online Science. May 31, 2011.
Knox et al. No Evidence of Murine-like Gammaretroviruses in CFS Patients Previously Identified as XMRV-infected. Online Science. May 31, 2011.
For a Q&A on XMRV, please go to http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/qa/2011/xmrv_qa.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 19:18 Comments (0)
19th International “AIDS, Cancer and Public Health” Conference at St. Petersburg State University, 24-26 May 2010
The 19th International “AIDS, Cancer and Public Health” Conference was held at St. Petersburg State University on the 24th through 26th of May 2010.
The meeting has been organized annually by Professor Andrei Kozlov, director of the Biomedical Center in St. Petersburg, to consolidate efforts of leading Russian and international scientists and experts engaged in different aspects of fighting HIV/AIDS. Topics discussed during the Conference include TB, the eradication of smallpox and the prospects for eliminating other diseases, and efforts to discover vaccines against HIV and certain cancers.
The Conference has been announced by CDC International news and The Body The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource.
http://www.aidsconference.spb.ru/
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 20:59 Comments (0)
12th International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies (ICMAOI)
The 12th International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies (ICMAOI) was held at the Lister Hill Center Auditorium on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on April 26–27, 2010.
The International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies is the only forum that is solely focused on presentation of basic, epidemiologic, and clinical aspects of research on malignancies in HIV-infected and other immunosuppressed individuals. The conference addresses basic and clinical research on viral oncology oncology, immunology, genetics, epidemiology, pathogenesis, drug discovery, early diagnosis, and clinical investigation of malignant diseases in AIDS and other immunodeficiency states including organ transplantation.
The Conference program successfully, co-ordinated by Robert Yarchoan - MD and Geraldina Dominguez - PhD, has gathered together >40 fantastic lectures by some of the world's leading scientists, including those from developing Countries. Conference Proceedings, including all Abstracts contributed to the Conference, have been published as supplement of the IAC online Journal.
The list of recent and upcoming events is available at the NCI Office of HIV and AIDS Malignancy - OHAM
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 18:57 Comments (0)
4th European Congress of Virology, 7-11 April 2010, Cernobbio - Italy
The 4th European Congress of Virology was held on April 7th through 11th at Villa Erba in Cernobbio (Italy).
The Conference has been the first combined event organized by the newly established European Virology Society. More than 1'300 participants gathered in Cernobbio and several aspects of Virology have been discussed spanning from H1N1-2009 epidemiology to viral oncogenesis. A summary of the conference has been published on the July issue of Expert Review of Vaccines to elucidate social and scientific highlights of the Conference.
Organizers have paid a special tribute to several scientists from USA as well as from Europe to improve links between research groups from the two Atlantic sites. Further pictures have been published on Picasa and are available at
ESV past events and ESV Congress Calendar are available at the ESV website http://www.eusv.eu/.
Posted by Franco Buonaguro at 12:53 Comments (0)