With more than 7000 new HIV infections each day, there is a tremendous need for a prophylactic HIV vaccine. In this study involving more than 16,000 largely heterosexual subjects in Thailand, a vaccine regimen against HIV showed some efficacy against HIV acquisition but did not have an effect on the subsequent viral load or CD4+ count in those who became infected.

Participants who were at an increased risk for lung cancer were enrolled in a trial to determine whether CT screening reduces mortality from lung cancer. In this study, volume measurements and volume doubling times were used to evaluate the noncalcified lung nodules that were detected by CT scanning at baseline and at years 1, 2, and 4 of the trial. With the use of these volumetric methods, the authors found that the chances of finding lung cancer by CT scanning 1 and 2 years after a negative baseline test were 1 in 1000 and 3 in 1000, respectively.

In this prospective trial of fixed-dose, once-daily, nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors, patients with screening human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA levels of 100,000 copies per milliliter or more were significantly less likely to have virologic failure if they were assigned to tenofovir DF–emtricitabine than if they were assigned to abacavir–lamivudine. These results may lead to changes in current practice and in guidelines for the initial treatment of HIV-1 infection.

This comparative-effectiveness trial assessed clinical outcomes in patients with advanced heart failure who were not candidates for cardiac transplantation and who had a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device as compared with a pulsatile-flow device. The continuous-flow device resulted in better clinical outcomes, but it has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.