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HIV Vaccine Safe Enough To Pass Phase 1 Human Trials

“The first human applied clinical study (SAV CT 01) using a genetically modified killed whole-virus vaccine (SAV001-H) to evaluate its safety and tolerability was initiated in March 2012. This study is a randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled study of killed whole HIV-1 vaccine (SAV001-H) following intramuscular (IM) administration. Infected men and women, 18-50 years of age, have been enrolled in this study and randomized into two treatment groups to administer killed whole HIV-1 vaccine (SAV001-H) or placebo. Sumagen announced today the patient enrollment has progressed smoothly and there have been no adverse effects observed including local reactions, signs/symptoms and laboratory toxicities after SAV001-H injection in all enrolled patients to date. With these interim results, the SAV001-H has proven safety and tolerability in humans and given Sumagen confidence for the next clinical trials to prove its immunogenicity and efficacy evaluation.” [Source].

Just to clarify, Phase I of tasting is to verify whether or not it’s safe to go ahead with Phase II, of which is for seeing if it is effective as a treatment. So passing this stage doesn’t really mean much right now, but let’s hope it manages to go further!

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More on Health…

Child Porn and Freedom Of the Press

“Rick Falkvinge of the Swedish Pirate Party blogs on the subject of freedom of the press and foresees how users of Google glasses could be charged for possession and distribution of illegal porn. ‘Child pornography is a toxic subject, but a very important one that cannot and should not be ignored. This is an attempt to bring the topic to a serious discussion, and explain why possession of child pornography need to be re-legalized in the next ten years.’”

Hatta: We can’t even get Cannabis legalized here, and the arguments for that are much more overwhelming. When children are involved, people shut off their brains.

Christian: Nobody says the way how unwanted possession of child porn is handled in some cases is the right way. But legalizing the possession of child porn in general as an answer is like allowing theft to reduce numbers on crime statistics.

[Source].

Child pornography is such a highly debated topic. When I come across this topic (incl. animated child pornography, etc), a whole ray of people shine out from different sides.

I think most can agree that child porn should not be legal, as the circumstances in order to create such footage or imagery are illegal, in any case.

It also includes youths taking pictures of themselves naked and putting them on the Internet, however. So that poses another issue within this bracket. Such an act would still be illegal, as the possession of child porn is what is in question here.

The questions surround whether banning the possession of it does any help to the victims, as well as the people who are charged (as - in Sweden - for example, you can be charged of the possession of your own nude pictures if you’re under the age of 18).

The article is very interesting. Please read it, if you ever have the time.

Rewiring the Autistic Brain

“Signs of autism — such as impaired social skills and repetitive, ritualistic movements — usually begin to appear when a child is about 18 months old. Autism is thought to result from miswired connections in the developing brain, and many experts believe that therapies must begin during a ‘critical window,’ before the faulty circuits become fixed in place. But a new study (abstract) shows that at least one malfunctioning circuit can be repaired after that window closes, holding out hope that in some forms of autism, abnormal circuits in the brain can be corrected even after their development is complete.” [Source].

BenoitRen: Great, now we’ll be able to fix all of them! We really need that! /sarcasm I for one find this very offensive. It’s like telling all autistics they’re malfunctioning.

Anonymous Coward: Preface: I’m diagnosed with asperger’s, a form of high-functioning autism, and I do a lot of work relating to autism advocacy.

That being said, the language might need a little work, but we don’t try to pretend a person with a deformed arm doesn’t have a deformed arm. … There’s really no question that autism has a physical element. It’s somewhat disingenuous to try to talk as if autism isn’t a “malfunction” in the human body.

If someone is missing a leg, and goes on to lead a normal life anyway, you don’t pretend like it never happened, you stand proud of them for overcoming it. If you want to support those on the spectrum, be proud of those who accept that there’s something malfunctioning in their body and find a way to make life work despite that. Don’t try to pretend like there’s nothing malfunctioning, because the first message that sends is “if you can’t do it, it’s all your fault” and you’d never tell that to a person who couldn’t walk because they had a deformed leg.

I don’t know what’s normal. I don’t know what kind of brain is functioning, so I can’t determine the malfunctioning ones. All I ever seem to gather is that we’re all malfunctioning to various degrees.

I have always agreed with the idea that those with disabilities, developmental disorders, etc, should not be treated as if they cannot live a normal life to any degree. Having bad eyesight is sometimes not considered as a disability by many people, even though they may wear glasses or have to do something else to help them see.

However, it is. And although we can opt for people to have eye surgery, to eradicate their issue, many choose not to do so. I think similar treatments should all be optional. It’s not a necessity if those with these problems are able to live decently regardless.

Regarding people who are parents being faced with the decision to either keep the child the way they are or to put them through surgery (for example) to ‘fix’ things, I suppose that’s up for them to decide.

This argument highly relates to that surrounding the cochlear implant, of which some people get or do give to their children. Some of the deaf community feel it is a threat, of which looks to erase the deaf community or put being deaf under negative light.

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The UK’s New Minister For Magic

“A serious blow to science-based medical practices has been dealt in the UK with the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary. The fortunes of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) are about to be transformed with the help of the magical waters of homeopathic medicine. Top marks to The Telegraph’s science writer Tom Chivers for quickly picking up on talk that the UK’s new health minister, Jeremy Hunt – who replaced Andrew Lansley yesterday in a government reshuffle – thinks that homeopathy works, and should be provided at public expense by the NHS.” [Source].

fuzzyfuzzyfungus: The NHS should begin a program of providing him with a homeopathic salary. The less they pay him, the more motivated he will become!

Desler: No, you just pay him in a currency of significantly diluted value. Zimbabwe dollars should work since they are worth about .0017 GBP each.

There is a debate surrounding whether or not the placebo effect (incl. homoeopathy) should be accepted as, well, medicine. A lot of people say it can ‘work’, but I think a lot seem to also think that this way of going about implementing it is not a good idea. Simply because homoeopathy is an expensive way of going about it.

I think all have decided that it only works due to the placebo effect, however. My concern is over whether or not it will be used for various serious issues. Hell, I’ve heard about people going to hypnotherapists to treat their cancer, when - really - you should be going to a doctor and getting far more appropriate treatment instead.

shapeandcolour: This weekend, activists in Uganda - a country where homosexuality is punishable by death - held their first Pride.  This is the epitome of courage. I have no other words.  It’s not punishable by death… yet. Or else I presume the police would hit the scene and do something immediately, as that kind of activity would certainly be illegal. [Read more here]. But yeah, the Bill is in a later stage of Parliament, meaning it’s looking likely. It’s very sad.
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shapeandcolour:

This weekend, activists in Uganda - a country where homosexuality is punishable by death - held their first Pride. 

This is the epitome of courage. I have no other words. 

It’s not punishable by death… yet. Or else I presume the police would hit the scene and do something immediately, as that kind of activity would certainly be illegal. [Read more here].

But yeah, the Bill is in a later stage of Parliament, meaning it’s looking likely. It’s very sad.

(via the-naut)

Source: advocate.com

Teenager Jarrell Brooks saves a mother and her two other kids from the Dark Knight Shooter

gunmetalskies:

dionthesocialist:

peoplenvyouu:

cynique:

fuckyeahcracker:

Honoring this hero today

hm i wonder why the media’s ignoring him…:/ 

<3

WHOA WHOA WHOA HANG ON JUST A GODDAMN MINUTE. YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THIS STORY HAS A YOUNG, BLACK HERO, BUT THE MEDIA WOULD STILL RATHER GLORIFY A WHITE MURDERER THAN ACKNOWLEDGE A BLACK MAN WHO SAVED LIVES? WTF? WTF? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?

Jarrell Brooks. Remember the name. Honor the badass.

Source: sonofbaldwin

thedailywhat: Overachievers of the Day: An entire class of high school students in China was photographed recently while studying for the Gaokao — China’s National College Entrance Exam with life-and-death implications — while IV drips helpfully delivered “amino acid” concoctions to keep them cramming late into the night. The photos are making the rounds online, but while the Western world reacts with dismay, Sino Weibo commenter 天高任鸿飞 isn’t fazed: “We all experienced this. We can only blame ourselves for lack of physical exercises.” [ministryoftofu]
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thedailywhat:

Overachievers of the Day: An entire class of high school students in China was photographed recently while studying for the Gaokao — China’s National College Entrance Exam with life-and-death implications — while IV drips helpfully delivered “amino acid” concoctions to keep them cramming late into the night.

The photos are making the rounds online, but while the Western world reacts with dismay, Sino Weibo commenter 天高任鸿飞 isn’t fazed: “We all experienced this. We can only blame ourselves for lack of physical exercises.”

[ministryoftofu]

David Cameron wants to...

thekingofthedarkandforgot:

David Cameron wants to censor porn and make it so that ISPs have to have an opt-in service to provide censored web pages to UK customers. This says a lot to me:

    • David Cameron thinks too much about porn
    • David Cameron wants a list of everyone who watches porn
    • David Cameron thinks too much about kids in relation to porn

Make of that what you will..

(via chrismcmahon-deactivated2013031)

Source: under-northern-skies

thedailywhat: Self-Defense Claim of the Day: “I acknowledge the acts, but not criminal guilt.” So Anders Behring Breivik told a Norwegian court this morning, asserting that he had acted in self-defense in killing 77 in July 2011 and that his actions were “cruel but necessary.” He added: “I do not recognize the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism.” Breivik has said he acted against those he considered to be “state traitors” for opening Norway up to multiculturalism and allowing a “Muslim invasion” of Europe. The key issue to be resolved — clearly — during his 10-week trial for terrorism is that of Breivik’s mental health, which will determine whether he is sent to prison or into psychiatric care. [aljazeera]
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thedailywhat:

Self-Defense Claim of the Day: “I acknowledge the acts, but not criminal guilt.”

So Anders Behring Breivik told a Norwegian court this morning, asserting that he had acted in self-defense in killing 77 in July 2011 and that his actions were “cruel but necessary.” He added: “I do not recognize the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism.” Breivik has said he acted against those he considered to be “state traitors” for opening Norway up to multiculturalism and allowing a “Muslim invasion” of Europe.

The key issue to be resolved — clearly — during his 10-week trial for terrorism is that of Breivik’s mental health, which will determine whether he is sent to prison or into psychiatric care.

[aljazeera]

jtotheizzoe: Twitter Tracks Cholera Outbreaks Faster Than Health Authorities Shortly after the 2010 earthquake and hurricane that struck the country, Haiti was (and is) deeply immersed in an outbreak of cholera. Amazingly, social networks accurately tracked the spread of the disease, faster and more accurately than traditional tracking methods. As Rumi Chunara of Harvard Medical School details in CHE: The social media matched the official reports very closely right at the start of the outbreak, in October 2010, and right after another surge when the hurricane hit, in early November. But the reports were ahead of the official records by two weeks. And with Twitter in particular, they identified the geographic locations of the cases “because a lot of people were Tweeting from their phones, right where they saw patients” in villages, Ms. Chunara said. Not all cholera patients go to hospitals to be counted officially, she noted. It’s safe to assume that tracking a disease by social media alone wouldn’t be perfect, and further studies will be required to prove that this is a reliable method by which to base the distribution of medicine and supplies. Even a few days advantage can make a huge difference in an outbreak like this, though. By tracking real-time data, patients could be located and catalogued before they even saw a doctor. I’m fascinated by the blossoming uses of geographic information coming out of Twitter’s API. Just this week, these infographics by Eric Fischer showed up on FastCo.Design. You can practically re-draw traditional maps based on the density and geography of geotagged tweets. The possibilities for real-time information tracking seem endless (for good and evil). Any ideas? (via The Chronicle of Higher Education, photo by AP)
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jtotheizzoe:

Twitter Tracks Cholera Outbreaks Faster Than Health Authorities

Shortly after the 2010 earthquake and hurricane that struck the country, Haiti was (and is) deeply immersed in an outbreak of cholera. Amazingly, social networks accurately tracked the spread of the disease, faster and more accurately than traditional tracking methods. As Rumi Chunara of Harvard Medical School details in CHE:

The social media matched the official reports very closely right at the start of the outbreak, in October 2010, and right after another surge when the hurricane hit, in early November. But the reports were ahead of the official records by two weeks. And with Twitter in particular, they identified the geographic locations of the cases “because a lot of people were Tweeting from their phones, right where they saw patients” in villages, Ms. Chunara said. Not all cholera patients go to hospitals to be counted officially, she noted.

It’s safe to assume that tracking a disease by social media alone wouldn’t be perfect, and further studies will be required to prove that this is a reliable method by which to base the distribution of medicine and supplies. Even a few days advantage can make a huge difference in an outbreak like this, though. By tracking real-time data, patients could be located and catalogued before they even saw a doctor.

I’m fascinated by the blossoming uses of geographic information coming out of Twitter’s API. Just this week, these infographics by Eric Fischer showed up on FastCo.Design.

You can practically re-draw traditional maps based on the density and geography of geotagged tweets. The possibilities for real-time information tracking seem endless (for good and evil). Any ideas?

(via The Chronicle of Higher Education, photo by AP)

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