Culture

Black gay couples tend to practice safe sex but don't talk about it, while white gay couples discuss safe sex but are less likely to engage in it, according to new findings presented at the 19th International AIDS Conference.

An ongoing clinical study in rural Uganda, begun in 2011, suggests that many people infected with HIV/AIDS would take antiretroviral drugs if they were available to them—even before they developed symptoms from the disease.

Led by doctors at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) and Makerere University School of Medicine in Kampala, Uganda, the study is the first to address such attitudes among African patients who are in the early stages of the disease and not yet sick.

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adolescents have experienced an anger attack that involved threatening violence, destroying property or engaging in violence toward others at some point in their lives. These severe attacks of uncontrollable anger are much more common among adolescents than previously recognized, says a new study led by researchers from Harvard Medical School finds.

The elevated risk of cardiovascular disease seen in patients infected with HIV appears to be associated with increased inflammation within the arteries, according to a study that will appear in a special issue of JAMA published in conjunction with the International AIDS Conference. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) found that levels of inflammation within the aortas of HIV-infected individuals with neither known cardiovascular disease nor elevated traditional risk factors were comparable to those of patients with established cardiovascular disease.

PHILADELPHIA – The percentage of HIV patients taking antiretroviral drugs who experienced the full benefit of the drugs jumped from 45 percent of 72 percent during the past decade, a figure that is lower than previous estimates. The findings, considered important for HIV prevention efforts, since patients whose virus is in tight control are less likely to transmit the infection to others, are published this week in JAMA by a team of researchers led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Mathematicians at UC Davis have come up with a new way to crinkle up the fabric of space-time -- in theory. Theory in physics doesn't mean what it used to mean, there is a lot more math sleight of hand. The results are reported in two papers both published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

The color red influences consumers to become more aggressive in online auctions and affects how much they are willing to pay for products as varied as video game consoles and Florida vacation packages, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But the color blue can influence consumers to make lower offers when negotiating directly with a seller.

An innovative, high-tech "smart village" built in Malaysia provides a potential global template for addressing rural poverty in a sustainable environment, say international experts meeting in California's Silicon Valley.

Rimbunan Kaseh, a model community built north-east of Kuala Lumpur, consists of 100 affordable homes, high-tech educational, training and recreational facilities, and a creative, closed-loop agricultural system designed to provide both food and supplementary income for villagers.

New Rochelle, NY, July 19, 2012—To enable greater reliance on renewable biomass resources for power generation, combination approaches such as co-firing of high percentages of biomass with coal offer unique advantages, but also significant challenges.

"Comprehensive and precise characterization of biomass feedstock is important for the development of biotechnology approaches to bioenergy and bioproducts development," says Larry Walker, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

BEIJING, CHINA (21 JULY 2012)—New research released today by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) shows that despite more understanding, more resources, and policy recommendations, women continue to be largely marginalized and ignored or exploited in resource management processes throughout Asia – to the detriment of global climate and poverty reduction goals.

Popeye inspired a generation of growing Baby Boomers to eat their spinach, say marketing gurus. But that is the beauty of being a marketing guru - it doesn't have to be true and, with Popeye, it wasn't. Spinache sales were not higher at all. Regardless, they contend that role models such as Batman can prompt children to develop their own healthy eating habits.

It may pay to invest, but it might be worth more to invest in companies that do not have political ties, says one University of Alberta researcher. That is, if you can find some.

Philadelphia, PA, July 20, 2012 – A new program that trains emergency medical service technicians (EMS) to read electrocardiograms so that they can evaluate patients with chest pain, and expedite treatment for the severe heart condition known as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a serious form of heart attack, has excellent results and should become the standard of care, according to two studies published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

Tampa, Fla. (July 19, 2012) – The search for medical technologies through 'medical travel' can change the lives of patients and their family members, according to medical anthropologists Cecilia Vindrola-Padros and Linda M. Whiteford, who examined the lives of Bolivian and Paraguayan families who traveled to Buenos Aries, Argentina, seeking pediatric oncology care for their children.