A cross-section of articles we've read this week about HIV/AIDS, STIs and a wide cross-section of structural and systemic factors impacting HIV/AIDS in Black communities.

Science

'Guided Missile' Strategy to Kill Hidden HIV 

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have deployed a potential new weapon against HIV - a combination therapy that targets HIV-infected cells that standard therapies cannot kill.

Study Demonstrates 'Guided Missile' Strategy to Kill Hidden HIV 

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have deployed a potential new weapon against HIV - a combination therapy that targets HIV-infected cells that standard therapies cannot kill.

Study Identifies Population of Stem-Like Cells Where HIV Persists in Spite of Treatment 

Jan. 12, 2014 - Although antiviral therapy against HIV suppresses viral replication and allows infected individuals to live relatively healthy lives for many years, the virus persists in the body, and replication resumes if treatment is interrupted. Now investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard may have found where the virus hides -- in a small group of recently identified T cells with stem-cell-like properties.

Study Identifies Risk Factors for Non-Fatal Overdoses 

Jan. 8, 2014 - Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have identified that injection frequency and taking anti-retroviral therapy for HIV are risk factors for nonfatal drug overdoses among Russians who are HIV positive and inject drugs. Alexander Walley, MD, MSc, an attending physician in general internal medicine at BMC and an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM, is the study's lead author.

Tricky Protein May Help HIV Vaccine Development 

Duke scientists have taken aim at what may be an Achilles' heel of the HIV virus.

Miscellaneous

America's Longest War 

Washington (CNN) - Fifty years ago, in his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "war on poverty."

LaSalle Professor Embarks on Groundbreaking Work in HIV/AIDS 

Baker's dramatic rise to become one of the nation's leading researchers on developing ways to stem the HIV crisis, particularly in minority communities, was hardly predictable.

A Look at Black Gay HIV Activism, Through a Veteran's Eyes 

Part One of a Two-Part Interview with Jeffery A. Haskins.

Obamacare Medicaid Split Creates Two Americas for Poor 

Amber Sanchez, a San Francisco cancer survivor, skipped visiting the gynecologist last year to check a growth on her ovary because she was uninsured. This year, it's at the top of her New Year's plans.

The Secret to Health isn't Health Care 

Thirty-seven years ago, a pair of Boston University social scientists took a close look at U.S. health trends and drew an astonishing insight. America's annual death rate has plummeted since the start of the century, pushing average life expectancy from 48 years to more than 75. But the analysis showed that, contrary to received wisdom, medical treatment had almost nothing to do with it.  

More than 96% of the decline in mortality was attributable to non-medical factors-less poverty, greater literacy, better housing and nutrition. In fact most of the progress (92% to be exact) had already occurred by the time modern medicine and health care spending took off in the mid-1950s.

State Efforts to Block Obamacare are Working, Study Finds 

States whose governments are hostile to Obamacare are also hindering efforts to get people signed up for health insurance, according to a study released Tuesday.