Aspirin, a drug commonly available, may help prevent HIV

An affordable, globally available drug – low-dose aspirin – could help prevent HIV transmission, scientists say. HIV infection rates remain unacceptably high, especially among young African women. Researchers including those from University of Manitoba in Canada tested the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA or aspirin) and other anti-inflammatory drugs on HIV target cells in a group of Kenyan women who were at low risk for HIV. The pilot study, published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, built on existing knowledge about the role of inflammation in HIV transmission.…

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Obesity can cause cancer. Aspirin pills can protect you from it

Aspirin, a medication used to treat pain, fever or inflammation, could significantly reduce the effects of obesity on cancer, suggests a study on mice. Obesity is a known risk factor for certain types of cancer, including colon, pancreatic and breast cancer. Previous research, too, showed that aspirin could reduce risk of cancer in the digestive tract, though it also caused side effects like gastrointestinal bleeding. The new study, from Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, showed that obesity could enhance cancer development by slowing down the key cancer defence mechanism. “Epithelial”…

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Obesity can cause cancer. Aspirin pills can protect you from it

Aspirin, a medication used to treat pain, fever or inflammation, could significantly reduce the effects of obesity on cancer, suggests a study on mice. Obesity is a known risk factor for certain types of cancer, including colon, pancreatic and breast cancer. Previous research, too, showed that aspirin could reduce risk of cancer in the digestive tract, though it also caused side effects like gastrointestinal bleeding. The new study, from Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, showed that obesity could enhance cancer development by slowing down the key cancer defence mechanism. “Epithelial” cells lining the surfaces…

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Do you use aspirin regularly? It might make colon cancer harder to treat

Daily aspirin use — known to reduce the risk of colon cancer — could also make the disease harder to treat if it does occur, say researchers. The new findings based on mathematical modelling, if confirmed statistically and in the lab, would mean that the aspirin’s ability to ward off colon cancer may come at an unacceptably high cost. Taking aspirin regularly “has been shown to reduce the incidence (of) a variety of cancers,” including of the colon, noted the authors of a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.…

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