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Showing posts with the label Lancet

100,000 HIV infections stopped by safe-sex scheme

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English: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I'm not sure if I would be glad with this kind of story... I mean, I find this simply a workaround to the root cause, rather than stopping the issue from the source. Just my 2 cents worth... ----- Posted: 11 October 2011 PARIS: A scheme in six Indian states that concentrated safe-sex campaigns on a few niche groups prevented 100,000 HIV infections over five years, according to estimates published in The Lancet on Tuesday. The so-called Avahan project was launched in 2003 in Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu , along with the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland , using a massive grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . These states, with a total population of 300 million, had the highest prevalences of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in India at the time. Avahan's goal was to boost prevention among prostitutes and their customers, gays, i...

Female hormonal contraception linked to higher HIV risk

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Posted: 04 October 2011 PARIS: Women who use hormonal birth control are roughly twice as likely to become infected with HIV or pass on the AIDS virus to their partner, according to a study published on Tuesday. The research was carried out among 3,790 heterosexual couples in Africa where one partner had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while the other was uninfected. The findings, if confirmed, could have huge repercussions for policies on contraception and HIV prevention. The authors say it strengthens the need for safe-sex messages, in which the condom is promoted as a shield against the AIDS pathogen. The couples were monitored for an average of 18 months during which 167 individuals became infected, 73 of them women, according to the paper appearing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases . Transcribed into a benchmark of prevalence, HIV transmissions were 6.61 per 100 person-years in couples where women used hormonal contraception, compared to 3.78 per 100 person-...

DNA test could reveal incest

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Okay, so it is said. The DNA test could accidentally reveal incest , but I would disagree in all points that the incest is accidental, eh? Who says that our science today is no longer discovering new things? And while this discovery on DNA test 'revelation' thing is new, the thing about incest is not. Read on, and find out more. ----- Posted: 11 February 2011 PARIS: DNA tests designed to pinpoint development disorders in children can also inadvertently reveal whether a child was conceived through incest, a letter published by The Lancet on Friday warned. Doctors led by Arthur Beaudet at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas , said the discovery opens thorny ethical and legal problems for clinicians. The test, known as DNA microarray analysis , looks for patterns of single changes in the genetic code that can point to known disorders. But the patterns can also reveal details about the donor's parentage without the parents having to undergo a test...