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　　Studies have shown that the fewer medicines a person has to take the more likely he or she will take them．Last week, a study was released about a new treatment that combines 5 medicines for heart disease in one pill．Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada was the lead investigator．He presented the findings at the American College of Cardiology Conference in Orlando, Florida．

　　The experimental drug is known as Polycap．It contains aspirin, a drug to lower cholesterol(胆固醇)and three medicines to lower blood pressure．The study was carried out at 50 health centers across India．More than two thousand people between the ages of 45 and 80 took part in the study．All had at least one risk factor for heart disease．These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or being severely overweight．

　　The people were divided into 9 groups of about 200 people each．One group took Polycap．The other groups took either a single drug or different combinations of the medicines in the Polycap pill．The study showed that Polycap lowered blood pressure and cholesterol without many side effects．Doctor Yusuf said the single pill, taken once a day, could reduce the average person's risk of heart disease and stroke by about half．The maker of Polycap, Cadila Pharmaceuticals of India, paid for the study．

　　Cardiovascular diseases(心血管疾病)of the heart and blood vessels are the number one cause of death around the world．These diseases kill more than seventeen million people every year．80 percent of them are in low and middle income countries．Doctor Yusuf said the single pill treatment could revolutionize heart disease prevention．People would be more likely to take one pill a day than many pills．And one pill would cost less than several pills．

　　Other heart doctors say heart disease prevention is important but not necessarily with pills．They say patients might be able to get the same results with changes in diet and exercise．

　　Doctors say that more research on Polycap is needed．They say the drug should be tested on thousands more people, including those in different risk, age and ethnic groups．

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　　South African surgeons have carried out the world’s first organ transplant(移植)from one HIV-positive person to another, in a groundbreaking operation that opens the way to saving thousands of lives．The South African government previously hadn’t allowed HIV-positive people to receive transplants or to donate organs-a policy criticized by some people in the medical establishment of a country where one in five adults is HIV-positive．

　　But the policy was ended last year, opening the way for more operations, and possibly giving HIV-positive patients a greater chance of receiving new kidneys(肾脏)than those not infected(感染)with the Aids virus, because there are more potential donors．(捐赠者)

　　"HIV patients are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting an organ and dialysis(透析)．Even when we try to be fair, they are at a disadvantage competing with people with no chronic illness," she said．"This study opens up an opportunity to help them, even gives them a slight advantage, because of the high number of HIV-positive donors．"

　　According to Miller, if the kidney transplants were successful in the long term it would open the way to the use of other organs such as livers, which are particularly vulnerable because anti – AIDS drugs can easily damage them．

　　However, the transplants remain controversial(有争议的)because they almost certainly mean that the recipient will become infected with the virus strain that infected the donor, which may be different from the one they carry and increase their resistance(抵抗)to anti-Aids drugs．

　　There are also concerns that HIV-positive organs could themselves have been damaged by the disease, making them less durable as transplants．

　　But news of the transplants has brought new hope to many．Dr June Fabian, a consultant nephrologist at Johannesburg hospital, said some of her HIV-positive patients stood to benefit from accepting HIV-positive organs．