{"63967":{"#nid":"63967","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Research Team Probes Cocaine, HIV\/AIDS Drug Interactions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University are\ninvestigating the biochemical mechanisms behind cocaine and anti-retroviral\ndrug interactions in mouse models of AIDS to improve treatment strategies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFunded through a new $5.7 million grant from the National\nInstitute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, the study is\nbeing led on the Georgia Tech side by Eva Lee, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial\nand Systems Engineering and director of the Center for\nOperations Research in Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers agree cocaine injures the heart and predisposes\nusers to HIV\/AIDS because of risky behaviors. The anti-retroviral medicines\nused to treat HIV\/AIDS also may adversely affect the cardiovascular system.\nUsed together, cocaine and anti-retroviral therapy can amplify the injury from\neach.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ELee is working with cardiac pathologist William Lewis, who\nis the principal investigator of the study and a professor of pathology and\nlaboratory medicine in Emory University School of Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe model must be capable of incorporating large amounts of\nheterogeneous data, including genomic, biochemical, physiological and\npathological,\u201d Lee said. \u0026nbsp;\u201cIdentifying\nthe discriminatory features and constructing the predictive systems network\nwill offer fundamental understanding of cocaine, HIV\/AIDS and antiretroviral\nnucleosides interaction at multiple levels. \u2026 This will shed light on promising\navenues for improving treatment strategies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is estimated that more than 34 million Americans have\nused cocaine and more than 1.5 million are habitual users. More than\na million Americans are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor decades, cocaine has been thought to increase the risk\nfor HIV infection, Dr. Lewis said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cHIV\/AIDS, along with the use of cocaine and NRTIs\n[nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors] may lead to cardiomyopathy, a\nprevalent, life-threatening illness,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers want to formulate a testable hypothesis on what\nmechanisms lead to cardiomyopathy and heart failure in AIDS and non-AIDS\nconditions.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University are investigating the biochemical mechanisms behind cocaine and anti-retroviral drug interactions in mouse models of AIDS to improve treatment strategies.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2011-01-31 11:16:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:47","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"49841":{"id":"49841","type":"image","title":"Professor Eva Lee","body":null,"created":"1449175373","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:53","changed":"1475894451","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:51","alt":"Professor Eva Lee","file":{"fid":"127007","name":"txe87354.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":58268,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg?itok=ug_jE04x"}}},"media_ids":["49841"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/shared.web.emory.edu\/emory\/news\/releases\/2011\/01\/cocaine-hiv-aids-drug-interactions-probed-with-5.7m-nih-grant.html","title":"http:\/\/shared.web.emory.edu\/emory\/news\/releases\/2011\/01\/cocaine-hiv-aids-dr..."}],"groups":[{"id":"1317","name":"News Briefs"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11783","name":"college of engineering; ISyE; Eva Lee; Cocaine use; HIV\/AIDS; Emory"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}