HIV news

1. Yet another HIV vaccine bites the dust.. Rather oddly they took another month to discontinue vaccinating volunteers in South Africa. Also the spokeswoman for the trials describes the failure as "a sad day for the industry". Maybe I am mis-understanding her, but that seems quite a self-centred viewpoint to take. It seems there are more than two dozen vaccines being tested for safety in human trials and only one of those is ready for testing its efficacy.
2. A shocking article linked to the discontinued vaccine : people vaccinated with the Merck vaccine may actually be at an increased risk for contracting HIV. Of the more than 3000 volunteers vaccinated with the experimental vaccine- they found 24 cases of HIV infection as compared to 21 in the placebo group. I do not know the significance of the data (and it appears neither do the experts so far)- but Merck and NIAID are quick to reassure the public that the vaccine itself is incapable of causing infection. A spokesperson from the AIDS vaccine advocacy coalition hopes that this data will not scare away future volunteers for prospective HIV vaccines.
3. The CDC now recommends regular HIV testing for TB patients. This follows data from 2005 that show that almost 1/3rd TB cases have not been tested for HIV. Of those tested in 2005 13% were HIV positive.

1. About bras and exercise : apparently most of the bras available nowadays don't really limit breast motion during exercise- hence do not offer adequate support to the breast. Acc. to the article, the most effective are the molded cup/encapsulation bras which limit all types of breast movement.
2. Previvors and preventive Mastectomy : this is a pretty moving story of a young woman with a BRCA1 gene mutation. What would you do if you knew you had a 60 to 90 % chance of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of getting ovarian cancer? If removing your breasts would reduce the risk by 90% and removing your ovaries would halve the risk - would you opt for either..or both or would you wait and watch? Its a longish article- but worth the read.
3. Human or not? : The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a doctor is under no obligation to tell a pregnant woman that she is carrying “an existing human being” before performing an abortion. Somehow I am still annoyed by the article.. The whole concept of being pro-choice is that an informed woman can make decisions that best suit her..is it fair to say that this woman was not or rather did not feel informed enough? On the other hand, it is a moral judgement that should not have to be pushed on to a doctor..And if a doctor was forced to pronounce a fetus of any age human or not (as per his very human capabilities)- then the woman just had to believe him or find another information source. The whole situation is very repeatable and not going away anytime soon..

Free Burma!

Free Burma!

International Bloggers' Day for Burma on the 4th of October

International bloggers are taking action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4.

We are joining this.