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Patients with HIV infections are 4 1/2 times more likely to die suddenly from cardiac arrest than people without HIV, even if the virus is under control and they appear relatively healthy, according to a UCSF study.

The report, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that sudden cardiac death - which occurs when the heart unexpectedly stops beating - was the second-most common killer among HIV-positive patients. AIDS was the most common cause of death.

Researchers involved in the 10-year study believe no single cause is involved but say HIV patients and their doctors need to be more vigilant about being screened and treated for heart disease risks like high blood pressure and high cholesterol as their lives are being extended by antiretroviral drugs.

"Cardiac disease is a big issue as these people are living longer," said Dr. Zian Tseng, a UCSF electrophysiologist and lead author of the study. "HIV providers need to be aware of the risk of these patients dying suddenly."

Over the past two decades, the treatment of HIV has changed dramatically with the success of antiretroviral drugs. The medications can, in many people, suppress the virus to the point where it's undetectable in a patient's blood, and doctors have begun to see HIV infection as a chronic condition and not a death sentence.

But the trade-off is that the virus does damage over time, and perhaps so do the drugs used to treat it. Add to that the fact that HIV patients were slow to adjust to the idea that they could live much longer on the drugs, said Dr. Priscilla Hsue, director of the HIV Cardiology Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital and an author of the UCSF study.

They were reluctant to stop lifestyle choices that contributed to heart disease, such as smoking or heavy drinking, she said. But patients, and their doctors, are beginning to understand, and their thinking is changing, Hsue said.

"Now they're thinking, 'I could live another 25 years if I take care of myself,' " Hsue said. "And I'm really hammering on stop smoking, take blood pressure medication, watch your cholesterol."

The study looked at 2,860 HIV-positive patients who were treated in San Francisco General Hospital's HIV/AIDS ward from 2000 to 2009. In that period, 230 died - 57 percent of them from AIDS, 13 percent from sudden cardiac death, 11 percent from other natural diseases, and 19 percent from suicides, overdoses or unknown causes.

Notably, 86 percent of all cardiac deaths among those patients were sudden. In the general population, the number of sudden deaths is about half of those who have heart-related deaths.

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Study: Sudden heart death high among HIV patients

Scientists at the US Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have harnessed the energy producing power of a harmless phage virus.

According to Forbes.com, "The scientists coated a postage-stamp-sized electrode with specially engineered, harmless viruses that, when tapped, generated enough electricity to power a small LCD display."

The power produced by the resulting viruses didnt generate a huge amount of electricity, Forbes.com noted. In fact they produced, "just six nanoamperes, the equivalent of about one-quarter the voltage supplied by a AAA battery but it was a start."

More from GlobalPost:Nigeria's silent killer: its energy shortage

In the group's abstract published in Nature Nanotechnology they said, "we develop a phage-based piezoelectric generator that produces up to 6 nA of current and 400 mV of potential and use it to operate a liquid-crystal display. Because biotechnology techniques enable large-scale production of genetically modified phages, phage-based piezoelectric materials potentially offer a simple and environmentally friendly approach to piezoelectric energy generation."

The scientists explained Piezoelectricity is, "the accumulation of a charge in a solid in response to mechanical stress."

In short, a harmless virus produces energy by converting mechanical energy into electricity. In the future, every time you take a walk, the movement of your feet could be transformed into electricity to charge your cell phone by paper thin sheets of the virus in the sole of your shoe.

Corresponding author Seung-Wuk Lee said in a statement, "More research is needed, but our work is a promising first step toward the development of personal power generators, actuators for use in nano-devices, and other devices based on viral electronics."

The group shared their findings in a video.

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Scientists harness virus energy (VIDEO)

By Michele A. Berdy

Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708)

, , : Words, words, words

Im apretty upbeat person, someone who can usually find thesunny side ofany situation or atleast thefunny side. But I have toadmit that thepast few days have gotten even me down.

Andtheyve gotten me worried about my Russian-language ability. I listen tospeeches andread transcripts, andI seem tounderstand all thewords just fine. But they dont make sense tome.

Take Dmitry Peskov, press secretary forPrime Minister President Vladimir Putin. First he said publicly that 6 (the police should have been tougher onMay 6). I found that odd. What about following thelaw andusing appropriate force?

But then, according toJust Russia Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, Peskov clarified his first statement: . . (That was said too delicately. Thedemonstrators livers ought tobe smeared onthe asphalt forevery wounded OMON riot policeman.)

When did it become OK forpublic figures touse that kind ofviolent language? Was he misquoted? If he was, why hasnt he complained?

Andthen I just dont get this statement fromPutins press service: , , , - (Noting his responsibilities tofinalize Cabinet appointments tothe new Russian government, President Putin expressed regret that he wouldnt be able toattend theGroup ofEight summit atCamp David.)

I get thewords, but I dont get it. If theres one person onthe planet who knows what duties await anew Russian president, its Vladimir Putin. So why did he go along with theoriginal idea ofholding themeeting atCamp David toaccommodate him if he wasnt sure he could attend?

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the word’s worth: Mixing messages

elexis AG / Key word(s): Enterprise/ elexis AG: Press Release concerning the Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2012 DGAP-Media / 16.05.2012 / 15:41 =-------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Release concerning the Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2012 * Outlook for 2012: Stable performance for sales and earnings * Switch to the General Standard planned * Dividend of 0.27 euros per share approved * New Supervisory Board elected Wenden, 16 May 2012 At today's Annual General Meeting 93,74 percent of the capital of elexis AG was represented. Siegfried Koepp, Chairman of the Management Board, emphasised in his speech the strategic importance of continuing to extend the Group's technology leadership. Despite the subdued economic outlook, elexis AG will continue to invest in new products and groundbreaking innovations. Technological advantage remains the key to success and profitable growth. The Group expects that incoming orders, sales revenue and profits will remain stable compared to the previous year. One result of the innovation initiatives was the new products presented at the 'drupa' trade fair in May 2012 that provided impressive proof of elexis's technology leadership. Numerous new developments are also being pursued in the other product areas. Further technological opportunities are currently being examined with feasibility studies in the 'New Products' profit centre that was established in 2011. The Management Board also referred to the ad-hoc announcement of 16 May 2012 and explained that it intended to apply to switch from the listing on the Prime Standard of the regulated market to the General Standard of the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This switch will reduce the additional costs involved with the listing on the Prime Standard. The elexis share had already left the SDAX on 19 September 2011 as it no longer met fundamental eligibility criteria. Supervisory Board and Management Board At the Annual General Meeting the acts of the members of the Management Board and the members of the Supervisory Board in office in 2011 were ratified for the past financial year with a clear majority. The shareholders re-elected the current members of the Supervisory Board, Ulrich Harnacke, Dr. Kay Mayland, Dr. Joachim Schnbeck and Eckhard Schulte. As a result of the amendment to the Articles of Association that was made in December 2011, four shareholder representatives were elected to the Supervisory Board. There were also changes among the employee representatives on the Supervisory Board. Klaus Kramer, former Works Council Chairman of BST International GmbH, has retired and left the Supervisory Board. He is succeeded by Horst Backhaus in this role. Georg Keppeler has also left the Supervisory Board due to its reduction in size. We thank the members departing at the end of this Annual General Meeting, Karl Heinz Gorgas, Klaus Kramer, Georg Keppeler and Willi Loose, for their dedication over the past few years. Dividend distribution The shareholders followed the proposal of the Management Board and Supervisory Board and approved the distribution of a dividend of 0.27 euros per share for the past financial year. This equates to a total payment of 2.484 million euros. Auditor BDO AG Wirtschaftsprfungsgesellschaft, Dsseldorf, was elected by the shareholders as the new auditor for the 2012 financial year. Amendments to the Articles of Association The proposed amendments to the Articles of Association concerning the remuneration structure for the members of the Supervisory Board and the other amendments to the Articles of Association were accepted. The speech made by the members of the Management Board at the Annual General Meeting and the voting results can be viewed in German at http://www.elexis.de. Shares of elexis AG are listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE 000 508 500 5). End of Media Release =-------------------------------------------------------------------- 16.05.2012 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at http://www.dgap-medientreff.de and http://www.dgap.de =-------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: elexis AG Industriestrae 1 57482 Wenden Germany Phone: +49 (0)2762 612 - 130 Fax: +49 (0)2762 612 - 135 E-mail: eicke@elexis.de Internet: http://www.elexis.de ISIN: DE0005085005 WKN: 508500 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Dsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart End of News DGAP-Media =-------------------------------------------------------------------- 170377 16.05.2012

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2012 09:41 ET (13:41 GMT)

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elexis AG: Press Release concerning the Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2012

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner Tom Yeager said Monday night that he has not been contacted by Virginia Commonwealth University or the Atlantic 10 with any news that the Rams are switching conferences.

CBSSports.com reported Monday citing "industry sources" that VCU is joining the Atlantic 10 in 2013.

VCU has acknowledged considering a change in conference affiliation, but Yeager told The Associated Press from New York City he would think it incumbent on VCU or the Atlantic 10 to call to tell him that a change was coming.

"I presume that would be the protocol," he said.

Pamela D. Lepley, VCU's executive director of university relations, said in a text message to the AP on Monday there was "nothing new to say."

School President Michael Rao and his top advisor did not return phone messages.

Yeager said if the Rams do leave, but remain in the CAA for one more year, league bylaws state they would not be eligible for the conference tournament and would forfeit as much as $5 million in shares due them over the next six years for victories in the NCAA tournament. They also would be leaving a conference that plays its tournament about a mile from VCU's home arena.

George Mason and Old Dominion also have acknowledged considering changing leagues. But George Mason announced Friday that its decided to stay in the CAA. Old Dominion, which is considering moving to Conference USA, has made no announcement of its decision and officials have said they would have no additional comment until a decision has been made.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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CAA commissioner: No word on VCU move to A-10