Computer Model May Lead to Improved Anti-HIV Drug Combination Therapies

In a step toward the possibility of replacing drug “cocktails” with a single pill a day, Johns Hopkins and Harvard researchers have developed what they are calling “the first accurate computer simulation to explain drug effects.” To create the simulation, AIDS experts combined data collected during thousands of tests of more than 20 anti-HIV drugs.

“With the help of our simulation, we can now tell with a fair degree of certainty what level of viral suppression is being achieved – how hard it is for the virus to grow and replicate – for a particular drug combination, at a specific dosage and drug concentration in the blood, even when a dose is missed.”

— Robert Siliciano, M.D., Ph.D, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator

The computer model has already helped to explain how and why some patients without evidence of drug resistance fail to see improvements using some treatment regimens. Researchers expect the study findings will help to rule out drug combinations that are unlikely to work and thereby make clinical trials and development of future combination therapies more efficient.

How is technology changing your life for the better?

Learn more at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/jhm-ads083012.php

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/pharmacology_molecular_sciences/faculty/bios/siliciano.html

http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/siliciano_bio.html

http://www.nature.com/nm/index.html

© Tony Leininger and IT for Good 2012. See sidebar for full copyright notice.

Related articles

• Anti-HIV drug simulation offers ‘realistic’ tool to predict drug resistance and viral mutation (esciencenews.com)
• Mathematical model helps design efficient multi-drug therapies (medicalxpress.com)

Low-cost Anemia Screener Connects to Health Workers’ Cell Phones

Concept: To display test results, the HemoGlobe anemia screening device is slipped onto a patient’s finger and connected with a health worker’s cell phone. [Credit: JHU]

It’s estimated that 600,000 newborns and 100,000 mothers in developing countries die of anemia each year. Biomedical engineering undergraduates at Johns Hopkins have developed a low-cost screening device that works with health workers’ cell phones to help combat this devastating disease.

“This device has the potential to be a game-changer. It will equip millions of health care workers across the globe to quickly and safely detect and report this debilitating condition in pregnant women and newborns. The team members realized that every community health worker already carries a powerful computer in their pocket — their cell phone. So we didn’t have to build a computer for our screening device, and we didn’t have to build a display.”

— Soumyadipta Acharya, assistant research professor, Johns Hopkins’ Department of Biomedical Engineering

The noninvasive, “prick-free” device, which goes by the name HemoGlobe, is able to detect and report anemia at the community level. To measure blood hemoglobin levels, the HemoGlobe sensor shines various wavelengths of light through the skin on a patient’s fingertip. The color-coded test results are then displayed on a cell phone’s screen.

The results are also used to create a real-time map that shows the prevalence of anemia, which helps health workers follow-up and distribute additional resources.

How is technology changing your life for the better?

Learn more at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/jhu-uic072412.php

© Tony Leininger and IT for Good 2012. See sidebar for full copyright notice.

Related articles

• Cell Phone Screener To Combat Anemia In Developing World Invented By Undergrads (medicalnewstoday.com)
• John Hopkins Students Win Grant for Saving Lives at Birth (medgadget.com)
• Frontline health workers WORK. So let’s train more! (one.org)

Tweets Provide New Insight into Bullying Behaviors and Roles

Researchers have historically had a difficult time studying bullies and their victims. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are getting a much more in-depth view of bullying by studying interactions on Twitter.

“What we found, very importantly, was that quite often the victim and the bully and even bystanders talk about a real-world bullying incident on social media. The computers are seeing the aftermath, the discussion of a real-world bullying episode.”

 — Jerry Zhu, computer sciences professor, UW–Madison

The researchers have used machine learning to teach computers to comb through more than 250 million public Twitter posts a day. The work has identified more than 15,000 tweets per day related to bullying.

In addition to bullies, victims, accusers, and defenders – bullying roles identified by independent researchers in the early ‘90s – the researchers have identified a fifth role: that of “reporters.”

How is technology changing your life for the better?

Learn more at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/uow-lms080112.php

© Tony Leininger and IT for Good 2012. See sidebar for full copyright notice.

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• Twitter Bullies [Rory Woolridge] (ecademy.com)
• I Think My Child Is A Bully – What Should I Do? (education.com)