Two H.I.V.-infected lymphoma patients who received bone-marrow transplants and subsequently stopped their antiretroviral drug regimens have been free of the virus and its antibodies for over seven weeks, scientists said at an international AIDS conference on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. The virus usually returns around a month after a patient stops antiretroviral treatment, so doctors will continue to monitor the patients for signs of regression. The Boston cases are similar to the 2008 case of Timothy Ray Brown, a patient from Berlin who received a bone-marrow transplant containing a mutation that confers H.I.V. resistance and who has been virus-free since. The procedure significantly weakened the patients' immune systems prior to the transplant and would have been considered unethical if the patients were not already dying from cancer, The Times reported. The Boston cases are encouraging scientists to genetically engineer patients' cells to be resistant to the virus or flush the virus from the body.
The Department of Education is simplifying the appeals process for applicants denied federal Parent PLUS loans, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The Department of Education's response follows complaints from historically black colleges, where 28,000 applicants were refused loans. Nationally, 400,000 applicants were rejected and only some were eligible for the appeals process. With more denials projected for the fall, colleges have urged the Department of Education to return to its previous lenient standards, which were tightened in October 2011. The Department of Education will now send colleges weekly updates of applicants eligible for appeals and email applicants notifying them of their eligibility. The department does not plan to amend its application process.
Two Massachusetts women who had been wading in the Swift River in the White Mountain National Forest near the picnic and swimming area slipped and were carried over the Lower Falls on Monday, WCVB Boston reported. The body of one of the women was found two miles down the river. The Conway Fire Department rescue team located the second woman, who was clinging to a boulder in the middle of the river, and pulled her back to shore. This is the third rescue made by the Conway Fire Department this season, due to unseasonably heavy rainfall that increased the water level and strength of the river. Rivermere, a new low-income housing apartment complex in Lebanon, has suffered extensive water damage due to floods, causing 17 families to be displaced from the complex so far.
