Gates' high school pal leaves a record gift
Seattle Times Feb 25, 08 6:07 AM CST
(Newser)
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One of the first five Microsoft employees has left $65 million of his estate to gay rights groups, the Seattle Times reports. Ric Weiland, who helped high school friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch Microsoft, committed suicide in 2006 at age 53. His donation is believed to be the largest estate gift ever given to the country’s gay and lesbian community.
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Sex-crazed partygoers get free condoms, morning-after pills
AFP Jan 29, 08 11:35 AM CST
(Newser)
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As Brazil prepares to indulge in the 5-day party known as Carnival, the president is spearheading a campaign to get samba-crazed revelers to practice safe sex and drink in moderation. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Brazilians to have fun in his weekly radio address, AFP reports, but reminded them that "the next week we have to work and look after our families."
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7th-longest-running Broadway show closing June 1
New York Times Jan 16, 08 11:51 AM CST
(Newser)
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Rent is preparing to close up shop and move out of the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, its home since 1996. The cutting-edge rock adaptation of La Bohème was written by Jonathan Larson, who died at the age of 35 of an aneurysm the night of the final dress rehearsal. Larson peopled the musical with personalities he knew in the pre-gentrified East Village who were energized by youthful irreverence and exuberance, and shattered by AIDS.
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Survivors hit with 'old age' health problems
New York Times Jan 6, 08 6:02 AM CST
(Newser)
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Revolutionary drug cocktails mean AIDS sufferers are living much longer, but as they age they're suffering from medical problems that significantly lower the quality of those extended lives, the New York Times writes. AIDS survivors are struggling with illnesses usually associated with much older people, including cancers, kidney failure, lung problems and depression, doctors are finding.
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Frontrunner spot draws close scrutiny of his record
New York Times Dec 9, 07 9:23 AM CST
(Newser)
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As candidate Mike Huckabee pushes to the front of the GOP contender crowd, he is coming under fire for his record as Arkansas governor. Critics point to both Huckabee's push for the parole of a convicted rapist who murdered after being released and his call for people with AIDS to be quarantined, the New York Times reports.
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New testing method discovers infection spreading faster
Washington Post Dec 1, 07 6:22 AM CST
(Newser)
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AIDS is spreading faster among Americans than had been thought, the Washington Post reports. A new method of testing that distinguishes recent infections from older ones shows that the number of people becoming infected each year in the US is 50% higher than previously estimated, for an average of 60,000 rather than 40,000 new cases.
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Study subjects with immunity to common virus saw increased risk with vaccine
Washington Post Nov 8, 07 1:08 PM CST
(Newser)
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A promising AIDS vaccine that failed in trials—actually increasing rather than reducing risk of infection—turned out to be ineffective in people who had immunity to a common cold virus, developers reported yesterday. The Merck vaccine contained an altered version of that virus, and study subjects with existing immunities to it saw increased risk of contracting HIV, the the Washington Post reports.
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Deciphering feline genome could help with HIV, blindness research
BBC Nov 2, 07 6:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A 4-year-old Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon has become the first of her species to have its DNA sequenced, the BBC reports. Cats now join dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people as mammals with decoded genomes. Cinnamon’s sequence could shed light on hundreds of human illnesses; cats can suffer from hereditary blindness and a feline version of HIV.
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'Unnerving' how long it existed 'below radar'
Los Angeles Times Oct 30, 07 4:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The AIDS virus reached America through Haiti, not directly from Africa, and far earlier than has been suspected—the 1960's, not the early 1980's, researchers have discovered. Scientists analyzed 25-year-old blood samples and used what they know of the virus' mutations to construct a rough timeline of the progression of the disease, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
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Hundreds of trial volunteers being notified in South Africa
Wired Oct 25, 07 6:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A once-promising AIDS vaccine being developed by Merck may actually increase the risk of contracting HIV, the Washington Post reports. In South Africa, 19 people who received the vaccine in a trial contracted the virus, as opposed to 11 who received a placebo. South African researchers have begun warning hundreds of participants of the findings.
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Thailand bank fights aids with free hand outs
Reuters Oct 2, 07 11:10 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Some unusual withdrawals will be taking place later this month as Thailand's Kasikorn Bank begins giving away free condoms, branded with the bank's logo, at its 600 branches. Called "Condoms for Confidence," the campaign to combat the spread of AIDS seeks to alleviate embarrassment felt by many in conservative Thailand. “Women who buy condoms from convenience stores always get a strange look,” a health official told Reuters.
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But now the secretive philanthropist spills the beans behind his generosity
New York Times Sep 29, 07 10:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Chuck Feeney’s foundation gave $458 million in grants last year—third only to Ford and Gates—but very few know the secretive philanthropist’s name. Having thus far shielded himself from fame, Feeney gets some star treatment in a new biography that sheds light on his good deeds and spartan lifestyle, reports the Times —in a profile quietly buried in Wednesday’s edition.
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Mozambican archbishop charges plot to kill Africans
BBC Sep 27, 07 12:19 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Catholic opposition to condom use as an AIDS preventive in Africa took a bizarre turn yesterday when a respected archbishop in Mozambique charged that condoms imported from Europe had been deliberately infected with HIV. Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio made his comments at an Independence Day celebration and reiterated them to the BBC.
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Clinical trials suspended after dismal results for most promising vaccine
New York Times Sep 22, 07 8:25 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Heavy hopes riding on an HIV vaccine were dashed as the vaccine proved so ineffective in a clinical trial that manufacturer Merck has ended the trial early. The vaccine had shown promise in animal and small-scale human tests but neither prevented nor reduced the severity of infection in a large-scale trial, the New York Times reports.
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Medicine marches on, leaving behind some ailments that defy understanding
LiveScience Sep 14, 07 10:21 AM CDT
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Doctors have successfully performed a face transplant, but the cure for the common cold still eludes them. LiveScience ponders the diseases that got away. AIDS Alzheimer's disease The common cold
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