In the cognitive sciences, the capacity to interpret the intentions of others is called “Theory of Mind” (ToM). This faculty is involved in the understanding of language, in particular by bridging the gap between the meaning of the words that make up a statement and the meaning of the statement as a whole. In recent years, researchers have identified the neural network dedicated to ToM, but no one had yet demonstrated that this set of neurons is specifically activated by the process of understanding of an utterance. This has now been accomplished: researchers have shown that the activation of the ToM neural network increases when an individual is reacting to ironic statements. The findings represent an important breakthrough in the study of Theory of Mind and linguistics, shedding light on the mechanisms involved in interpersonal communication. read more..
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Cognitive Sciences-Theory Of Mind-Neural Network-Understanding
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Neutralizing Antibodies-Protective Immunity-HIV
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Biomed Middle East: "New research shows that protective immunity against HIV can be achieved without the presence of virus neutralizing antibodies in the blood. The study, published by Cell Press in the February issue of the journal Immunity, demonstrates that a vaccine which stimulates production of specific anti-HIV antibodies in the vaginal tissue was sufficient to protect monkeys from exposure to live virus. The results may also help to explain why a few individuals who lack anti-HIV antibodies in the blood are able to resist infection, even when they are repeatedly exposed to HIV. ..."We may have been able to recapitulate in a vaccine what a few individuals do naturally." read more..
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Working Mothers Breastfeed-Ghanaian Chronicle-Post Natal Stress-Maternity Leave
[Ghanaian Chronicle]Tamale -The Chronicle has learned that several female workers in both the public and private sectors in the Tamale Metropolis often lose their jobs after going on maternity leave, following their inability to manage their work and the children at the same time. read more..
Uganda: Can Working Mothers Breastfeed Exclusively?
[New Vision]Breastfeeding, especially when done exclusively for the first six months, helps babies develop immunity against many diseases. Unfortunately, work prevents many mothers from exclusively breastfeeding their babies, writes Agnes Kyotalengerire read more..
Weight Loss Success Stories-Weight Loss Success Story-Motivation To Lose Weight
Do you love a good Weight Loss Success story as much as we do? Check out the before and after pics of these big losers: http://ow.ly/cR3Jc
Before & After: Weight Loss Success Stories | Fitbie
Need inspiration and motivation to lose weight? Read weight loss success stories with before and after pictures from Fitbie read more..
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial-Drug Manufacturers-Sexual Behavior-Drug Trials
When a PrEP trial produces poor results, the reaction is often to point the finger at the patient: they didn't take the drugs regularly, 'adherence' was low, etc. The irony of this is that people thought of as good candidates for PrEP are often those who have not successfully modified their Sexual Behavior, or have shown themselves unwilling to do so. If they will not or can not modify their sexual behavior, why would they be more willing or able to modify their drug taking behavior?
Some drug trial reports parcel up the high achievers and exclude the low and medium achievers and call it a 'sub-study' or something similar. But the point of a randomized controlled trial is to make it clear what kind of result can be expected of people taking part, not what kind of result can be expected if everyone behaved as drug manufacturers would wish them to. Given that people don't behave in real life as they do during drug trials, the results for strategies such as PrEP so far have been somewhat encouraging, but not good enough to roll out the strategy.
Even with PrEP, people are encouraged to engage in safe sex, to limit their number of partners, to use condoms, etc. If they can't or won't do some or all of those things, PrEP will not be very effective; but it may not have any positive impact at all. Those behind the trials and those producing the drugs are anxious to portray the strategy as tested and proven, but it is most definitely not, not yet anyhow. One of the main exponents of the strategy tries to persuade us that PrEP is the way to go, but some of his readers are clearly not convinced. And the opposing case raises additional concerns about PrEP, referring to the strategy as 'grasping at straws'.
In countries where HIV prevalence is very high and transmission is highest among low (sexual) risk groups, those engaging in heterosexual sex with one HIV negative partner, PrEP is not going to be feasible. Those who face the lowest risk, but are paradoxically the highest risk group in Modes of Transmission Surveys, are unlikely to be targeted by a PrEP campaign.
And given that the majority of HIV positive people in need of treatment are still not receiving it due to cost, infrastructure, political and other reasons, it would be odd to offer the same drugs to people who are still HIV negative. It would seem far better to establish what exactly the risks are and address those risks before throwing yet more drugs at the problem. But PrEP is the way to go if you want to sell lots of drugs to healthy people; if that doesn't work, you'll then have lots of sick people to sell even more drugs to.Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) involves putting HIV negative people on antiretroviral drugs (ARV) with the aim of protecting them from HIV infection. read more..
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment-Morphological Transformations-Integrative Research Program
If you're looking for information on the evolution and function of jaws, a new integrative research program has some answers. Scientists are investigating major adaptive and morphological transformations in the mammalian musculoskeletal system during development and across higher-level groups. read more..
Orbiter images NASA's latest additions to Martian landscape
Late Monday night, an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Curiosity rover and the components that helped it survive its seven-minute ordeal from space to its present location in Mars' Gale Crater. read more..
Planting the seeds of defense: Stress triggers widespread epigenetic changes that aid in disease resistance
It was long thought that methylation, a crucial part of normal organism development, was a static modification of DNA that could not be altered by environmental conditions. New findings, however, suggest that the DNA of organisms exposed to Stress undergo changes in DNA methylation patterns that alter how genes are regulated. read more..
Canadian Medical Association Journal-University Of British Columbia-Learning Disability
Overcoming a learning disability to become a Physician will actually help in being compassionate toward patients, writes a Medical Student of his struggle with a severe reading disability in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Daniel Heffner, a medical student at the University Of British Columbia who will graduate in 2013, has struggled with a severe reading disability that caused laborious reading and poor marks in school until he was diagnosed at age 12. His diagnosis allowed him to realize he could succeed, and he applied himself to overcoming his disability... read more..
Friday, 20 July 2012
Transmission Of Hiv-Male Circumcision-HIV
My first big shock when I started to follow HIV related issues in East Africa was that it was assumed almost all Transmission was sexual in Africa (though nowhere else). Then, to 'work out' how this could possibly generate such massive epidemics, there was also the tendency to go from the number infected, or said to be infected, to the absurdly high levels of unsafe sexual behavior that would be needed to explain high levels of heterosexual transmission of HIV. There has never been any evidence that unsafe heterosexual sex alone could explain Africa's worst HIV epidemics. But all the 'work' to prevent infection appeared to concentrate on sexual transmission.
If not all HIV is transmitted sexually, many interventions that target sexual behavior, whether levels are real or assumed, will fail. Abstinence and other associated campaigns didn't even sound plausible before they were implemented, but enormous amounts of money was ploughed into them. Some equally dubious interventions were dreamed up and most probably also had little positive effect; as for any negative effects, these are unlikely to have been measured, let alone alluded to in the copious self-congratulatory literature that has emerged from what became the extremely lucrative HIV industry.
When circumcision was mooted as a possible intervention, it seemed to suffer from the above problem; it would, at best, protect against heterosexual transmission; it would not protect men who have sex with men, infants who are infected by their mothers or intravenous drug users. Indeed, it turned out that it wouldn't protect women either, and probably increases transmission from men to women. It will not reduce non-sexual transmission of any kind, including that through unsafe healthcare or cosmetic practices. Worse, in the sub-standard health facilities that ordinary Africans are forced to use, mass male circumcision programs might add to the problem, with men being infected in the health facility where the operation is carried out.
But those receiving circumcision related funding continue to insist on the effectiveness of such programs, shouting down any opposition, churning out figures which could be interpreted to show that male circumcision reduce transmission from women to men, but never actually engaging with the opposition. There are now so many problems with male circumcision as a strategy that the whole exercise to circumcise between 22 and 38 million African men should be suspended. There is so much disinformation and consequent misunderstanding that the campaign is unlikely to do any good and is in serious danger of doing a lot of harm. At best, it is just another neo-colonial excess of the kind that probably ensured that HIV would become the pandemic that it now is.
Kenya's Nairobi Star is currently doing a great job adding to the obfuscation that seems to pass for scientific journalism. The article 'Study Claiming Cut Does Not Inhibit HIV Rejected' makes a shaky start by incorrectly suggesting the study was not published or that its findings were refuted, or were even addressed by those promoting circumcision. The cited claims from the study are, in fact, correct, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. Interviewing those who would have a lot to lose if the circumcision program was suspended and asking their opinion is easy enough. But is it adequate journalism? Does the public really need more of the selective use of factoids to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a campaign that is likely to be of so little benefit (at best)?
Other countries have less to say about the latest paper, one of several that has managed to get through the HIV industry's censorship process (peer review). Uganda's press has commented on circumcision from time to time, but only to beat the orthodox drum. It is claimed that 600,000 men have already been circumcised under the program since 2009, but it is unclear where this figure comes from. Natu read more..
Saturday, 14 July 2012
The Falls Lake Mountains-Falls Lake Trail Section-Bayleaf Church-Trail Reviews
Falls Lake Trail: Section 4 (Possum Track Rd. to Bayleaf Church Rd.)
Trail Location:Falls Lake State Recreation Area | Wake Forest, NC Trail Distance:
5.6 miles (out & back) Trail Difficulty:
Easy to Moderate Awesome interactive map
See the Falls Lake Recreation Area map page Introduction This review of Falls Lake Trail Section 4 is my second installment in the Falls Lake Mountains to Sea Trail review series. Have a look at this page to see other trail reviews on this site. At the time of this post, Section Four currently serves as the starting point for the marvelous Mountains to Sea Trail 12-Mile Challenge, which you should run if you haven't done so already. Running the Trail As you cross over the threshold from pavement to trail at the Bayleaf Church Rd. trail head, Section Four starts you off with a moderate incline, the kind with erosion barriers. So, the trail is a tad on the wide side here, as far as single-track trails go. But, don't worry, it gets narrow fairly quickly. Over the hill and leveling out, you'll navigate a slightly (slightly) root-ridden portion of the trail through the typical tall trees surrounding Falls Lake. It's nice here and suitable for warming up. As you descend a bit and run along a small stream, you'll notice that it's time to cross that stream and follow the trail up a rather steep hill with some conspicuous technical features challenging your footing. The trail becomes more technical for a little while after this. You'll eventually cross a clearing that looks like it once served as a service road. (Maybe it still does). And, before you know it, you're running under some very light tree cover. The trail is very easy at this point. The sparse tree cover and low-level vegetation gradually becomes overtaken by some uniformly sized and aligned young pine trees. It'll be sort of like running through a tunnel of small pines, which is pleasant if you're not the first person out there cutting through the spiderwebs with your face. (Not an issue in the winter)
More technical trail running awaits as the young pines seem to evolve into old pines with every step you take. Pay attention, because a particularly low level area of the trail becomes somewhat difficult to find as it weaves through what's probably a mini overflow area for another one of the creeks. (Sorry. I should have provided a picture of this critical juncture in the Section Four trail).
The dense forest will give way to another strangely clear, albeit heavily overgrown area of easy footing. And, you'll suddenly arrive at the Possum Track Rd. guard rail. Go left along the rail if you intend to continue along the Falls Lake MST to Section 3. My Favorite Features of Falls Lake Trail Section 4:
- Ferns. There are lots of them along the Section 4 trail. And, I love ferns, especially in the early summer after a rain. They're so vibrant and friendly looking.
- Fun contrast between challenging technical stuff and super easy, flat stuff.
- Some moderate hillage to work those hill-running leg muscles.
- Shade is nice in the summer.
- Parking can be iffy. Even though signs state that the gate will be open on Bayleaf Church Rd. at certain times, it's not necessarily open. Parking outside the gate is easily done, though.
- Spider webs and deer flies are plentiful in the warmer months.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Ferroelectric Materials-Advanced Electronics-Atomic Structure
Scientists have described a technique revealing unprecedented details about the atomic structure and behavior of exotic ferroelectric materials, which are uniquely equipped to store digital information. This research could usher in a new generation of advanced electronics. read more..
Innate Immune System-Synthetic Protein-Illnesses-The Flu
Patients look up their Illnesses online to become better informed and prepared to play an active role in their care -- not because they mistrust their Doctors, a new study suggests. The study surveyed more than 500 people who were members of online support groups and had scheduled appointments with a physician. read more..
Keeping the flu away: Synthetic protein activates immune system within two hours
Researchers may have found the secret to helping the Immune System fight off the flu before it gets you sick. A new study finds that EP67, a powerful synthetic protein, is able to activate the Innate Immune System within just two hours of being administered. read more..
Rakai, Uganda-Circumcision-Implications
Last week, while looking for something else, I ran across a report that has big Implications for HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa: Almost five years ago, a trial of Circumcision to protect men in Rakai, Uganda, reported that intact (uncircumcised) men who waited at least 10 minutes after sex before cleaning their penis were at less risk [...] read more..
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Aggression In Dogs-Pain
Dogs can sometimes suffer sudden episodes of aggression without their owners understanding why. But, in many cases, the cause of these attacks can be Pain that has never been diagnosed or treated. For the first time the study describes the characteristics of this irritability, which can make dogs violent and increase aggression in already conflictive individuals. There are many factors that explain aggression in dogs: the conditions of the mother during gestation, the handling of the puppy in the neonatal phase, the age at weaning, the experiences of the animal during the socializing phase, diet, exercise, genetics and learning techniques based on active punishment during adulthood. However, aggressive behavior also arises from the presence of pathologies and pain in the dog. read more..
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Government Officials-Civil Society Groups-Bangkok, Thailand-Statute Books-HIV
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Open Society Foundations Blog: "These stories stand beside countless others as testament that what is written in the statute books, and what is done by governments and others in the name of the law, can significantly increase the vulnerability of groups that are already at a high risk of HIV and other serious diseases. This week in Bangkok, Thailand, civil society groups that represent sex workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, people living with HIV, women and children, and those seeking access to essential medicines, will sit down with government officials and policymakers from across the Asia-Pacific region to share their experiences of how the law affects their daily lives." read more..
Friday, 15 June 2012
Pediatric Aids Foundation-Multinational Study-Congenital Syphilis-Pregnant Women
[E.G. Pediatric Aids Foundation] This press release details the results of a multinational study on rapid, point-of-care testing of Pregnant Women for Syphilis. Treating and preventing syphilis in mothers and infants could save millions of lives, and help eliminate both congenital syphilis and pediatric AIDS. read more..
Nigeria: 'Don't Reject Women Who Deliver At Home'
[Daily Trust] The FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, Abuja on Wednesday directed health centres and hospitals in the FCT not to reject Women, who delivered their babies at home before getting to the hospital. read more..
Hormonal Contraception-Birth Control Pills-Healthday News-Heart Attacks
WEDNESDAY, June 13 (Healthday News) -- Sweeping new research comparing various forms of hormonal contraception -- including Birth Control pills, vaginal rings and skin patches -- suggests that the risk for heart attacks and strokes is twice as high among users of combined estrogen-progestin versions. read more..
Annals Of Internal Medicine-Intimate Partner Violence-Intimate Relationship-Abusive Behaviors
1. Evidence Review: Screening Women for Intimate Partner Violence May Have Benefits, Few Harms Intimate partner violence, or IPV, includes a range of abusive behaviors perpetrated by someone who is in an intimate relationship with the victim. Abusive behaviors may include physical violence, sexual violence, rape, and psychological aggression - all of which have immediate health effects on the victim. While victims and perpetrators can be male or female, women are disproportionately victimized (up to 5.3 million women are affected each year in the U.S.)... read more..
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Child Hiv Transmission-African Countries-Sexual Behavior-Hiv Prevalence
Despite the monstrous quantities of 'unsafe' sex that Africans are claimed to engage in by UNAIDS and other HIV institutions, HIV is not at all distributed evenly. Prevalence ranges from less than 1% in some African countries, a lot less than in some US cities, to more than 25% of the adult population in others (and even 50% in some demographic groups). Even within high prevalence countries HIV is not distributed evenly. In many African countries the virus tends to be far more common in cities, close to main roads, close to health facilities, among wealthier and better educated people, etc. It is also generally far more common among women than among men.
Other research has found HIV prevalence to be higher in areas where diseases such as schistosomiasis (bilharzia) and malaria are higher. However, as these both tend to be higher among less wealthy people with lower levels of education and in rural, as opposed to urban areas, there is more than a suggestion that HIV transmission may have widely varying risk factors. Yet UNAIDS and friends tend not to dwell on most forms of non-sexual risk in Africa.
As David Gisselquist writes in the Don't Get Stuck With HIV website: "Unlike Western countries, where almost all HIV transmission occurs outside families, a lot of HIV transmission in Africa happens within families – mother-to-child and spouse-to-spouse transmission together account for an estimated 45% of new infections." Not only is a lot of HIV not transmitted sexually, but a lot is not transmitted through 'unsafe' sex. Many of these couples where at least one partner is infected have no sexual risks. Hundreds of thousands of new infections every year occur through these two routes.
In Africa, then, the main groups are those at risk of mother to child transmission and married couples, especially couples where one partner has been infected. It's as likely to be the female as the male partner, but how does the index partner become infected, the first in the couple? Sex, says UNAIDS, but sex with whom, how much sex and what kind of sex? Heterosexual sex is not an efficient means of transmitting HIV. Gisselquist is suggesting that the focus of international HIV reduction efforts in African countries should address these and other risk groups, where sexual risk is very likely to be low but HIV prevalence is high; this could cut as many as 700,000 transmissions annually.
A serious set of risk factors could arise from unsafe healthcare and perhaps even unsafe cosmetic services. It's not just that conditions in healthcare and cosmetic facilities in African countries are primitive but also that many people are not aware that such risks exist; if they are not aware of the risks, they will not know that they need to avoid them, nor how to avoid them. But if they are aware, they will also realize that a person's HIV status is not a reliable indication of their sexual behavior. This should reassure some who have been brainwashed to associate HIV with 'immoral' behavior; many women, especially, have been beaten by their partners, ostracized by their communities and even killed because of the incorrect association of HIV with sexual behavior.
The HIV industry does talk a lot about the importance of HIV testing. But they also put people off testing where being positive has such terrible consequences. If people were to know that there were other, non-sexual risks, the stigma associated with testing and with having (or being thought to have) HIV should reduce. People who know their status don't tend to take risks, neither sexual nor non-sexual; but they must also be advised of the non-sexual risks. Those who are infected non-sexually can be involved in sexual transmission just as easily as those who are infected sexually. But in the current climate of sex-obsessed HIV policies, they are unlikely to know about non-sexual risk.
Prevention of mother to child HIV transmission is vital if the mother is already infec read more..
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide-Nitrogen Fixation-Cryptogamic-Growths
In cities, the presence of algae, lichens, and mosses is not considered desirable and they are often removed from roofs and walls. It is, however, totally unfair to consider these cryptogamic covers, as the flat growths are referred to in scientific terms, just a nuisance. Scientists have discovered that these mostly inconspicuous looking growths take up huge amounts of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and nitrogen and fix it at the earth’s surface. Cryptogamic covers are responsible for about half of the naturally occurring nitrogen fixation on land and they take up as much carbon dioxide as is released yearly from biomass burning. These new findings will help to improve global flux calculations and climate models, in which up to now the carbon and nitrogen balance of the cryptogamic covers have been neglected. read more..
Success Story-Social Change-Zimbabwe-HIV
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RadioVop Zimbabwe: "'The modelling showed it couldn't just be the natural curve [of the epidemic]; the decline was too dramatic,' he told IRIN/PlusNews. 'The modelling suggested it was also due to behaviour change and behavioural data also suggested a change, but what was missing was the all important `why'.' According to Halperin, Zimbabwe's success story points to the power of social change and the need for more detailed analyses of HIV success stories in Africa. He compared it to the role of partner reduction in the fight against HIV in Uganda, which promoted a reduction in concurrent partners as the key focus of its HIV prevention campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s." read more..