Annie Lennox Advocating HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention

Submitted by Amit Pathania on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 09:36  - TOPNEWS
http://topnews.us/content/217653-annie-lennox-advocating-hivaids-treatment-and-prevention
 

In her recent American Idol related appearance, where Annie Lennox's performance could be watched live via satellite, she wore a 'HIV Positive' black t-shirt which surprised her fans. People has started speculating that whether Annie have AIDS.

She has been advocating HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention since long. Lennox introduced a four year old little girl with HIV and pneumonia during her Idol Gives Back appearance. The girl’s mother had died from AIDS, leaving her an orphan. She urged the people to support the helpless and vulnerable.
Annie along with the SING Campaign will be supporting the Love Is All We Need Dinner and Auction on World AIDS Orphans Day which falls on 7th May 2010.

The campaign was started by Lennox after she heard that Nelson Mandela has described the African HIV pandemic as ‘genocide’, which is targeting mainly women and children. About 2 million dollars have already been raised and will talk about her ongoing battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the dinner. She will also narrate her experiences in South Africa.

Annie said, “Access to treatment is a basic human rights issue. People do not have to die from AIDS”.

Blogger Review of House of Numbers

Movie Review:

As someone who has followed the scientific debates regarding the cause of AIDS since the early 1990’s, I have reported on many of the controversies and inconsistencies with the existing causation hypotheses. Yes, that is right, there are multiple perspectives as to what causes the syndrome labeled as AIDS, even from within the well funded scientific orthodoxy. This, the film reveals.

Young filmmaker Brent Leung has done a remarkable job of allowing the scientists on all sides of this debate to describe their viewpoints in their own words so that the viewer can decide for himself the credibility or lack thereof of the information presented. How refreshing it is for a documentary film to treat its audience as if it is intelligent and capable of drawing reasonable conclusions, rather than being preached at as if we are all little children.

The calls for censorship of this film are outrageous. Beware those with conflicts of interest who appear offended for the mere suggestion that “they should wash their hands after cutting on cadavers before going into the next room to deliver babies.” Have we learned nothing since the time of Ignaz Semmelweis, much less Galileo?

House of Numbers is an important film at a time where we are rapidly running out of resources to chase a disease that may not actually be a disease at all. Yes, billions of dollars of potentially misallocated research funds are at stake, but so are the lives of potentially millions of immunocompromised inhabitants of planet earth.

If it is possible that conflicts of interest have covered up and prevented other avenues of research into immune dysfunction be explored, wouldn’t you want to know it?

Watch online Movie Trailer free House of Numbers English Hollywood Film.The film Directed by Brent Leung.

In my opinion, a good documentary film reveals many facets of its subject matter in ways that elevate interest throughout. A great documentary film allows its audience to draw its own conclusions. I sat riveted by House of Numbers. Three times. Dare I be so bold to posit that this may be the film to ignite a renaissance of scientific freedom and inquiry devoid of politics and economics?

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Gilead cuts 2010 sales outlook, shares fall

(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) posted disappointing quarterly sales for its core HIV drugs and cut its full-year forecast due to U.S. healthcare reform, sending its shares down more than 3 percent after-hours.

First-quarter sales of AIDS drug Truvada rose 11 percent to $657.8 million, while sales of Atripla, which combines Truvada with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's (BMY.N) Sustiva into a single pill, rose 36 percent to $692.9 million.

However, analysts had expected even higher Truvada sales of $680 million and Atripla sales of $726 million, according to RBC Capital Markets.

The results followed news late on Monday that Gilead had terminated study of an experimental drug for hepatitis C because the drug was causing too much toxicity.

"Their hepatitis C program doesn't look like it's competitive and now you've got a little softness in their HIV revenue," Sanford Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges said, adding that investors may be "heading toward the end of their patience."

The company also lowered its outlook for 2010 sales by about $200 million to a range of $7.4 billion to $7.5 billion, citing the impact of recently passed healthcare reform. The new legislation calls on drugmakers to offer higher price rebates for government-funded health plans.

The biotech company posted a first-quarter net profit of $854.9 million, or 92 cents per share, compared with $589.1 million or 63 cents per share a year earlier.

Adjusting for acquisition expenses, restructuring costs and stock-based compensation, the company said it earned 99 cents a share for the quarter. Analysts had expected 96 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly revenue rose 36 percent to $2.09 billion, while product sales rose 24 percent to $1.79 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.07 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Robin Washington said on a conference call that international government pricing pressures and currency exchange rates could also affect sales.

"During the first quarter we have seen increased evidence of additional international government measures to reduce pharmaceutical expenditures including increased rebates, cancellations, and callbacks of price increases," she said.

Gilead said product sales for the quarter were reduced by $29.4 million due to the impact of U.S. healthcare reform legislation.

Royalty, contract and other revenue more than tripled to $297.8 million from $82.9 million. Gilead derives most of its royalty revenue from Roche Holding AG's (ROG.VX) sales of Tamiflu, which has seen strong demand because of the swine flu pandemic.

J&J said its experimental AIDS drug, known as TMC278, was found to be at least as effective as Bristol-Myers' Sustiva in tests the company plans to submit for regulatory approval in the third quarter. J&J is working with Gilead on a single pill that would combine TMC278 with Truvada.
The company said it expects to file for regulatory approval of the new fixed-dose regimen later this year.

Gilead shares, which closed at $45.07 on the Nasdaq, fell to $43.60 in after-hours trading.

(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Andre Grenon, Richard Chang and Matthew Lewis)

House of Numbers CGI to screen at the Melbourne Int'l Animation Festival

The computer graphics created for House of Numbers has been invited to screen in the 10th annual Melbourne International Animation Festival.

CGI artist Scott Meador and graphics supervisor Jim Lockhart took us inside the body, creating moving imagery of the HIV replication cycle hypothesis. Click here to see a video simultaneously comparing the basic grey 3D model concept, the 3D render, and the final composite.

 Information about the Melbourne Int'l Animation Festival:

Get ready to strap yourselves in for a nine day blast of animation from around the world in the 10th edition of the Melbourne International Animation Festival! This will be your only opportunity in Australia to see such a comprehensive line-up of current animated short films in competition and specially curated programs, that highlight recent productions and absolute gems from the archive. MIAF aims to challenge and inspire audiences with thematic, visual and technical diversity from award winners, outstanding industry veterans and those wonderful newcomers who are exploring their talent on screen for the very first time.

In 2010 MIAF celebrates our 10th anniversary! Woohoo! As well as the regular avalanche of animated goodness covering the best recently released and historical animation, we have three special highlight programs:

10 Years of International Highlights
10 Years of Australian Highlights
10 Years of Late Night Bizarre 
 

We’ve received more than 12,000 entries, screened more than 2,500 films and had some of the most talented animators in the world come and hang with us! These programs will review some of the hits, misses and should-a-beens!! 

Expectant HIV/Aids women to start on ARV earlier - WHO

By Halima Abdallah
Posted Monday, April 19 2010 at 00:00

HIV-positive pregnant women will now start on antiretroviral in the 14th week of their pregnancy, according to World Health Organisation’s revised guideline on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.

The revised guidelines, based on those of 2006, recommend that all HIV-positive pregnant women be given ARVs starting at 14 weeks and continuing through the end of the breastfeeding, to reduce the risk of HIV transmission and improve the infant’s chance of survival. An earlier start to antiretroviral treatment boosts the immune system and reduces the risks of HIV-related diseases and deaths. 

The 2006 guidelines recommended antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the third trimester (beginning at 28 weeks). At the time, there was insufficient evidence on the protective effect of ARVs during breastfeeding. However since then, studies and trials have demonstrated that starting ARV earlier reduces rates of death and disease and increases the efficacy of ARVs in preventing transmission to the infant while breastfeeding.

The latest guideline issued in November 2009, recommends that mothers should continue breastfeeding even when they are positive as they take the drugs with their babies.

“We did a study in National Referral Hospital Mulago and found that the risks of death were higher in those children who were not breastfed because they were prone to diseases like diarrhoea,” Ministry of Health Principal Medical Officer in charge of Child Health Jessica Sabiti said.

The guidelines also recommend that once a mother has selected breastfeeding or providing formula milk, she should do so exclusively and not mix the two. She can choose to boil the breast milk up to 60 degrees, before feeding it to the baby.

“Mixing breast milk and other formula milk enhances transmission because formula feeds causes perforation in the baby’s digestive system when given too early. When the baby is breastfed, the mother’s milk that contains the virus infiltrates the baby’s body through the perforations,” Jessica said.

United States pledges $2.7 billion for Kenya HIV battle

By Jeremy Clarke, Reuters

A health worker at the Kenyatta International Centre on December 1, 2009 during celebrations for World AIDS Day in Nairobi, Kenya. The United States has committed $2.7 billion to help fight HIV infection in Kenya where more than a million people are living with the disease.

Photograph by: Simon Maina, AFP/Getty Images

NAIROBI – The United States committed $2.7 billion on Wednesday to help fight HIV infection in Kenya where more than a million people are living with the disease.

The pledge is part of the largest U.S. foreign aid program devoted to a single disease -- the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- and has been lauded as a bright spot of former President George W. Bush's tenure.

The money, which is to be dispersed over the next five years, represents a 112 percent increase in funding for the program in Kenya, east Africa's largest economy. It is seen by the United States as an enhancement of a successful program.

"Kenya is now the biggest recipient of this program in the world, more than South Africa," U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger told reporters in Nairobi.

He said the agreement with Nairobi meant the government was expected to increase direct budget support for the fight against HIV/AIDS by a minimum of 10 percent annually.

Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said the effect of the HIV virus and AIDS on the Kenyan economy was great.

"Studies done assessing the effect of HIV/AIDS on economic growth in Africa show that we lose about 2 percentage points in terms of growth. This is due to the negative impact of HIV/AIDS impact on productivity of labor," he said.

The program will include caring for more than 550,000 orphans and vulnerable children, as well as helping manage other related co-infections such as Tuberculosis, Kenyatta said.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 72 percent of the world's AIDS-related deaths with 1.4 million last year, while an estimated 1.9 million people in the region were newly infected with HIV.
In Kenya, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 29 percent since 2002.

© Copyright (c) Reuters

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/fp/money/United+States+pledges+billion+Kenya+battle/2347990/story.html#ixzz0lPmlR3dW

 

Groups Protest Segregation of Inmates With H.I.V.

Published: April 14, 2010 - NY Times
By ERIK ECKHOLM

In Alabama, prisoners infected with H.I.V. must wear white armbands and live in special units. In South Carolina, infected men have blue dots on their badges and are housed in a maximum-security prison; female prisoners carry the name of the H.I.V./AIDS dorm on their uniforms. The two states are the last to segregate and put blanket restrictions on H.I.V.-positive inmates and on Wednesday, rights groups called for change, saying the policies violate federal and international guidelines. Infected prisoners’ chances of early release and help in re-entering society are harmed as well, according to a report issued by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch. South Carolina bars them from participating in work-release, for example, and Alabama limits such opportunities. Prison officials in the two states say that segregation is necessary to prevent the spread of H.I.V. and provide specialized medical care.

A version of this brief appeared in print on April 15, 2010, on page A18 of the New York edition.