tagged w/ HIV
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Bolanle Ninalowo won the Best of Nollywood Revelation of the Year Award 2010 for his work producing the highly anticipated movie Rebirth. Bolanle, who wrote, produced, directed, and acted in the film, tackled the issue of HIV from infection through redemption, trying to tackle the lack of awareness in the Nigerian film industry while simultaneously creating a portrait of the life after HIV. Yet to be released to the general public, the film was endorsed and premiered by the Lagos State Government on World Aids’ day, December 1st, and has also had screenings in Chicago, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York. In a recent interview, Bolanle commented he next plans to “come back to America and go to the New York Film Academy, and even take courses in script writing. I want to do projects that will cut across the entire world.” We look forward to having you study with us!
http://blog.nyfa.edu/post/2581873999/best-of-nollywood-winner-sets-sights-on-nyfaBolanle Ninalowo won the Best of Nollywood Revelation of the Year Award 2010 for his... more
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A new kind of experimental HIV medicine can halt one of the earliest stages of HIV infection and may lead in future to a novel class of drugs to fight other dangerous viruses, German scientists said on Wednesday.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/Health/68701A new kind of experimental HIV medicine can halt one of the earliest stages of HIV... more
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The associated press reported that the U.S. teen birth rate in 2009 fell to its lowest point in almost 70 years of record-keeping. "Experts" are reported to believe the declined in teen birth statistics is partly due to the recession.
The birth rate for teenagers fell to 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19, according to a government report released Tuesday. It was a 6 percent decline from the previous year, and the lowest since health officials started tracking the rate in 1940.
More info: http://he-ed.blogspot.com/2010/12/heed-share-does-recession-effect-your.htmlThe associated press reported that the U.S. teen birth rate in 2009 fell to its lowest... more
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WARNING: Viewer Discretion Is Advised. May Be Disturbing For Some Viewers. At least we didn t have to watch a bunch of a**holes...WARNING: Viewer Discretion Is Advised. May Be Disturbing For Some Viewers. At least we... more
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Hours after Francisca gave birth to her first child, a midwife came into the recovery room and bluntly informed her that she would never have children again. She had been sterilized, unknowingly, during her cesarean delivery. Francisca was HIV-positive and only 21.She woke up with a healthy, HIV-negative baby boy, and sterile.
She was diagnosed with HIV during routine exams early into her pregnancy in 2002. Throughout her pregnancy no one in the local hospital counseled her on what it meant to be HIV-positive, the potential risks of transmission to her baby or the possibility of sterilization, claims Francisca, which is not her real name because of stigma assocaited with HIV.
“As I was about to give birth, the nurse scolded me, telling me I was irresponsible for having gotten pregnant with HIV, and asking why I hadn’t aborted. It was horrible,” she said.
“Today women with HIV can decide if they want a normal delivery or a cesarean, depending on their condition. But many women, especially in rural areas, don’t know that. Doctors tell them their babies will be HIV-positive if they don’t undergo a cesarean, and they won’t do the cesarean if the women don’t agree to sterilization. That’s how they scare women,” said Sara Araya, head of the women's department at Vivo Positivo.
Cases documented in 'Dignity Denied' reveal that some doctors and nurses were shockingly misinformed about even the methods of HIV transmission, inaccurately advising mothers to use separate eating utensils and bathrooms, misguidedly directing them not to touch their babies – or refusing to touch the women themselves – and, as in Francisca's case, coercing or forcing them to get sterilised.
Government health officials did not respond to repeated requests for interviews.
Coercive and forced sterilizations against HIV-positive women have also been reported in Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, South Africa and Namibia.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101028/forced-sterilization-hiv-aids
http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/dignity-denied-violations-of-the-rights-of-hiv-positive-women-in-chilean-health-facilitiesHours after Francisca gave birth to her first child, a midwife came into the recovery... more
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After a long absence, BACKLINE is back with a look at the recent decision by Pope Eggs Benedict XVI that prostitutes trying to prevent HIV infection could use condoms. Wolf Douglas takes a look at the Catholic Church and how the Pope works in mysterious ways. WHACKO-TV hit the streets of Rome to get a terrific interview with a male prostitute.After a long absence, BACKLINE is back with a look at the recent decision by Pope Eggs... more
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Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment, which introduced stem cells which happened to be resistant to HIV infection.
The man received bone marrow from a donor who had natural resistance to HIV infection; this was due to a genetic profile which led to the CCR5 co-receptor being absent from his cells. The most common variety of HIV uses CCR5 as its ‘docking station’, attaching to it in order to enter and infect CD4 cells, and people with this mutation are almost completely protected against infection.
The case was first reported at the 2008 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, and Berlin doctors subsequently published a detailed case history in the New England Journal of Medicine in February 2009.
They have now published a follow-up report in the journal Blood, arguing that based on the results of extensive tests, “It is reasonable to conclude that cure of HIV infection has been achieved in this patient.”
The case history
The 'Berlin patient' is an HIV-positive man who developed acute myeloid leukaemia, received successful treatment and subsequently experienced a relapse in 2007 that required a transplant of stem cells.
Doctors chose stem cells from an individual who had an unusual genetic profile: a mutation inherited from both parents that resulted in CD4 cells that lacked the CCR5 receptor. This mutation, called CCR5 delta 32 homozygosity, is present in less than 1% of Caucasians in northern and western Europe, and is associated with a reduced risk of becoming infected with HIV.
This is because all new infecting viruses need to use the CCR5 receptor on CD4 cells when infecting an immune system cell of the CD4 type.
Later in the course of HIV infection another type of virus emerges that can use the CXCR4 receptor instead.
Before the stem cell transplant the patient received chemotherapy treatment that destroyed most immune cells and total body irradiation, and also received immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection of the stem cells.
Antiretroviral therapy was halted on the day of the transplant, and the patient had to receive a second stem cell transplant 13 days after the first one, due to a further relapse of leukaemia.
The patient continued to receive immunosuppressive treatment to prevent rejection for 38 months, and at 5, 24 and 29 months post-transplant colon biopsies were taken to investigate possible graft-versus-host disease in the intestine. At each investigation additional samples were taken to check for signs of HIV infection in the abundant immune cells of the gut wall.
During the 38 month follow-up period the donor CD4 cells repopulated the mucosal immune system of the gut, to such an extent that the frequency of CD4 cells was almost twice as high as in HIV-negative healthy controls, and this phenomenon was also seen in a control group of ten HIV-negative individuals who received stem cell transfers.
The repopulation of CD4 cells was accompanied by the complete disappearance of host CD4 cells, and after two years the patient had the CD4 count of a healthy adult of the same age.
One of the challenges for any approach to curing HIV infection is long-lived immune system cells, which need to be cleared before a patient can be cured. In the case of the Berlin patient CCR5-bearing macrophages could not be detected after 38 months, suggesting that chemotherapy had destroyed these longer-lived cells, and that they had also been replaced by donor cells... (More in the link)Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia... more
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The Rockefeller petrochemical empire has created a major economic force that directly forced and squeezed out almost all naturopathic knowledge from the medical schools in the US.
Natural medicine was suddenly excluded from medical school curriculum as the main underwriters of all medical colleges in the U.S. were based on what the petrochemical drug companies have provided.
However Homeopath David Mayer de Rothschild is against such practices of harming the planet with his ecology plans.
What Can We Do to Save the Planet from Big Pharma?
Please learn to boycott pharmaceuticals:
1.By voluntarily abstaining from using any of there pharmaceuticals products use only Homeopathic remedies
2,Abstain from buying pharmaceuticals use only Homeopathic remedies that heal the body.
3. Stop dealing with a person who is against integrated or homeopathic medicine,
4.Stop pharmaceuticals organizations, as an expression of protest. Polluting the Environment with there products that we don’t need.
Please watch the above video that I made before you make a comment.
ElizabethThe Rockefeller petrochemical empire has created a major economic force that directly... more
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“Boots” is the wonderful music video for The Killers’ new Christmas single, continuing their tradition of releasing a magical Christmas song every year since 2006. “Boots” is a triumphant, heart-wrenching video directed by the major filmmaker Jared Hess, with a solo performance by Brandon Flowers. Proceeds from the song and the video will go to the Product Red Campaign, a charity that supports World Aids Day and raises awareness about AIDS in Africa.
“Boots” doesn’t go for the usual kind of general Christmas-time uplift: While Flowers details a quaint domestic setting, what we see are heartwarming scenes of a homeless man on the gritty streets of Las Vegas pulling himself up by the bootstraps through the magical art of street performance. Watch the video for “Boots” below; then call someone you love and cry like the 12-year old child inside you wants to do.
This piece includes color photographs, as well as the very inspiring music video.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/a-sentimental-christmas-story-boots/“Boots” is the wonderful music video for The Killers’ new Christmas... more
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Make no mistake the RIGHT for anyone in the United States of America to medicate with marijuana is a direct result of the AIDS epidemic and the loving relationship between two gay men!Make no mistake the RIGHT for anyone in the United States of America to medicate with... more
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Meet my adorable nephew, Usher. It is said that in Sub Saharan Africa, almost 1000 babies born each day are HIV+ and may never live to see their 5th birthday simply because they have unnecessarily been infected through their mothers. This figure is still very high and should be halted. With the strides achieved in medicine, it is possible to have 0 babies born HIV+; Yes, it is possible to have an HIV+ free generation if efforts are upped in the fight against mother to child transmission. I call upon everyone to join the fight. MTCT can be stopped; What are you doing to STOP this?!Meet my adorable nephew, Usher. It is said that in Sub Saharan Africa, almost 1000... more
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World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
By the CNN WIre Staff
December 1, 2010 2:32 a.m. EST
A giant red ribbon hangs on the White House for observance of World AIDS Day.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The estimated number of children with HIV/AIDS in 11 Asian countries increases 46 percent
* The UN says the number of new HIV infections has dropped 20 percent in the past decade
* But the number of new HIV infections outpaces the number of people starting treatment
(CNN) -- As the global community commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday, international health organizations report both promising and sobering trends.
While the United Nations says new HIV infections have declined by almost 20 percent worldwide over the past decade, the estimated number of children living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent between 2001 and 2009, the World Health Organization's South-East Asia office said Wednesday.
"In 2001, an estimated 89,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS," said Vismita Gupta-Smith, public information and advocacy officer for WHO's regional office in New Delhi, India. "In 2009, there are an estimated 130,000 children living with HIV infection," including recent HIV infection, advanced HIV infection and AIDS.
The 11 countries in the region are Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Liste.
But a report by a United Nations program released last month shows some encouraging news, including drops in AIDS-related deaths and new HIV cases.
Data from the 2010 global report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV, compared with the estimated 3.1 million people infected in 1999.
Also in 2009, approximately 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses, compared with the roughly 2.1 million in 2004, according to UNAIDS.
Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25 percent, led by young people adopting safer sexual practices, according to UNAIDS.
"We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and smart choices," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. "Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile -- the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."
But not all the news from the UNAIDS report, which covered 182 countries, was good.
"Even though the number of new HIV infections is decreasing, there are two new HIV infections for every one person starting HIV treatment," UNAIDS said.
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected by the epidemic, with 69 percent of all new HIV infections, according to UNAIDS.
In seven countries, mostly in eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV infection rates have increased by 25 percent.
UNAIDS said in the Asia-Pacific region, 90 percent of countries have laws that obstruct the rights of people living with HIV.
Despite the lower numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, UNAIDS said the demand for resources is surpassing the supply.
"Donor governments' disbursements for the AIDS response in 2009 stood at $7.6 billion, lower than the $7.7 billion available in 2008," UNAIDS said. "Declines in international investments will affect low-income countries the most -- nearly 90 percent rely on international funding for their AIDS programs."World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
By the CNN WIre Staff
December 1, 2010... more
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Truvada is the trade name of a drug manufactured by the California-based company Gilead Sciences Inc which combines two antiretroviral drugs, used to treat Aids.
But this new study looks at whether it could be used to prevent HIV infection in the first place.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
We need to know if we get similar results in women as well as in heterosexual men, which we have reason to believe we will”
End Quote Dr Anthony Fauci Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Almost 2,500 gay or bisexual men were randomly selected in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and the United States. Half were given the pill, half were given dummy tablets.
All the men were also given condoms and counseling on safe sex.
What the researchers found after about a year of testing was that the drug appeared to cut male-to-male HIV transmission by 44%, when the group taking the pill was compared with the placebo group.
Those who took the pill regularly were deemed to have reduced their risk of infection further, by up to 73%, and blood tests were run to confirm this relationship between pill-usage and protection levels.
The research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the federal US body, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The pills were donated by their manufacturer.
NIAID director, Dr Anthony Fauci, conceded more work needed to be done, but called the results impressive.
"This has been done in men who have sex with men. We need to know if we get similar results in women as well as in heterosexual men, which we have reason to believe we will," he told the BBC.
"We also need to get a long term view of were there any toxicities. We didn't see anything that was significant but we need to follow that for a long period of time."
Questions and concerns
The trial does of course raise questions and concerns. Is it possible, for instance, that the results were skewed by greater condom use in the group that took the pill; and won't such findings encourage some men to dispense with condoms altogether in favour of a drug?
There is also the issue of prohibitive cost of Truvada, which retails in the US for around $36 a day, and which makes the drug unaffordable to many possible users.
Dr Fauci argues that the two groups were fully randomised and says that drugs can only play a complementary role in the war on HIV. Condoms and fewer partners, he said, remain the first line of defence.
"We're hoping that if this does become a useable tool in prevention, then the associated counselling will complement the effect of the drug and stop people becoming cavalier about it and say 'now I have a pill I don't have to worry'.
"That's exactly the opposite of what we want to happen. We want to add something rather than have it replace something."
Sir Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, called the trial results "potentially significant".
"It's vital that we expand the ways we can prevent HIV transmission, particularly amongst those most at risk," he said in a statement. "This trial proves that HIV treatment will have an impact on prevention, but that it's not ready for widespread use yet.
"Three major hurdles are still going to be its cost, the risks of drug-resistant strains of HIV developing and taking a drug treatment every day."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11820963Truvada is the trade name of a drug manufactured by the California-based company... more
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The result is hailed as the first major AIDS-prevention breakthrough. Research was conducted on 2,500 high-risk gay men, but experts believe further study will show effectiveness in other groups.
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In a finding that is being widely hailed as the first major prevention breakthrough in the AIDS era, researchers have shown that taking a single daily pill containing two HIV drugs can reduce risk of contracting the virus by an average of 44% — and by more than 70% if the subjects take most of their pills.
The study involved nearly 2,500 high-risk gay men, but experts hope that the results will be applicable to other populations considered at risk for contracting the virus. Several studies are already underway to determine if that is the case.
The findings, reported online Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, come only a few months after an African study showed that a microbicidal gel can help protect women from contracting the virus and a little more than a year after a vaccine trial suggested that it may eventually be possible to raise antibodies against the virus.
"To see all these prevention strategies come together, we can begin to see an end to the epidemic," said A. Cornelius Baker of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. "The National AIDS Strategy introduced by the president in July called for reducing the U.S. epidemic by 25%. … If we can prove this works and get this strategy into the communities, we can reach that goal much quicker than we had anticipated and move even further to more goals."
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was the major sponsor of the study, cautioned, however, that "No single prevention strategy is going to be effective for everyone, and it is important to note that the new findings pertain only to … men who have sex with men."
Experts agreed, however, that there is no reason to think that it would not be successful in other groups, although it must be tested.
The new strategy is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, and that is an approach that has been used successfully in certain other diseases. Malaria or tuberculosis drugs, for example, are frequently prescribed to people entering areas with high transmission rates. Antiretroviral drugs are also used to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to infants during and after birth and in an effort to prevent infection after accidental exposure in hospitals and laboratories.
The new study, called iPrEx, was conducted by an international team headed by Dr. Robert M. Grant of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology at UC San Francisco and Dr. Javier R. Lama of Investigaciones Medicas en Salud in Lima, Peru. They enrolled 2,499 men and transgender women who have sex with men at 11 sites in six countries.
Half were given a daily dose of Truvada, a pill containing the AIDS drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir, and half a placebo. Truvada was chosen because it is effective, has few side effects and is already used by more than 1.5 million people worldwide. Subjects were followed for an average of 14 months, and given counseling about using condoms and safe sex practices.
The researchers observed 36 HIV infections in the group taking Truvada, compared to 64 in the control group taking placebo, a reduction of 43.8%. The reduction in risk, however, was very sensitive to how regularly the subjects took the medication. For those who took it on more than 50% of the days, as determined by pill counts and other measures, the risk fell by 50.2%. For those who took it 90% or more of the days, the risk fell by 72.8%.
Side effects of the drug were mild, and included nausea in the first month, small increases in serum creatinine and unintentional weight loss.
The subjects will be followed for another 18 months to monitor for long-term effects. In a separate study now underway, the drug is being tested in women. In separate arms of that study, researchers are also testing tenofovir only and a gel containing tenofovir.
More information is available at the trial's official website: iPrExNews.comThe result is hailed as the first major AIDS-prevention breakthrough. Research was... more
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Editor's Note: I would recommend that you do some research about any new medication on the market, even those approved by the FDA considering the close relationship which exists between the FDA and the Pharmaceutical industry. A revolving door exists between many drug companies and the FDA. I also recommend that you watch the video below in which a scientific researcher admits that AIDS was developed by the U.S. during the development of the polio vaccines.
Regulators have warned Gilead Sciences Inc. about direct-to-consumer print advertising for its HIV drug, Truvada.
The Food and Drug Administration said Gilead's ad for Truvada touts the drug as "better or more effective than has been demonstrated." It asked Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) to "immediately cease" the ads.
Specifically, the FDA takes issue with ads that show photographs of a woman who takes Truvada as part of her HIV combination therapy — at graduation, in an office setting and as a married woman sitting on a sofa — and appears to be happy and in good health. The headline above the images states, "HIV doesn't have to change the hopes and dreams I have now." Among the claims below the images is the line, "With once a day Truvada for my HIV, I can plan for long-term success."
"The print ad is false or misleading because it overstates the efficacy of Truvada, makes unsubstantiated claims and minimizes the risks associated with the drug," the FDA regulatory review officer Aline Moukhtara said in a letter to Joyce Acbay, Gilead's director of regulatory affairs.
The FDA said the "totality of these claims and presentations misleadingly suggests" that patients using Truvada can manage their HIV-1 RNA levels, or viral load, and increased CD4 cell count on a long-term basis. That, however, "has not been demonstrated by substantial evidence or substantial clinical experience," the FDA said.
Gilead does note in the ad — "in small, non-prominent font," the FDA said — that Truvada was evaluated "through 3 years of a clinical study" and "proven over the long term … in 3 years of a clinical study."
"However, this contextual information does not mitigate the overwhelming impression created by the prominent images and claims in the print ad, which suggest that patients can expect long-term treatment success with Truvada as they achieve their hopes and dreams, such as graduation, a career and marriage," the FDA said in its letter. "Any of these goals can easily take more than three years to accomplish."
Biogen Idec also was warned by the agency for a webcast promoting the multiple sclerosis therapy Tysabri.
Read more:
http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/fda-gilead-ad-for-truvada-misleading.htmlEditor's Note: I would recommend that you do some research about any new... more
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A six-year-old HIV-positive child named Along has been collecting wood to support himself since both of his parents died from the deadly virus.
He receives 70 yuan of subsistence allowance per month from the local civil bureau plus periodical material supplies from kindhearted people, but he still lives alone without a guardian.
Heartbreaking photos at link
http://english.sina.com/china/p/2010/1110/347635.htmlA six-year-old HIV-positive child named Along has been collecting wood to support... more
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Separated during a brutal attack on their village during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Pastor Murekezi and his future wife would not see each other again until years later at a refugee camp. Once married, the couple has since decided to follow a higher calling to become leaders of the Free Methodist Church outside of Ndola, Zambia.Separated during a brutal attack on their village during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994,... more
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