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HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trial Shut Down

Unfortunately there has been another major setback to the decades-long quest to develop an HIV vaccine. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has announced that it is discontinuing a key vaccine trial.

The experimental vaccine did not prevent HIV infection in some volunteers .... and it made them more likely to contract the human immunodeficiency virus than those who were given a placebo, reports CBS News.

The study, called the "HVTN 505 clinical trial," kicked off in 2009 and had enrolled about 2,500 people in 19 cities. Participants were all men who have sex with men and transgender people who have sex with men. Half received an experimental vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health, and half received dummy, or placebo, shots.

A scheduled safety review on April 22 found that slightly more volunteers who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV. Overall, 41 cases of HIV infection occurred in the volunteers who received the experimental vaccine and 30 cases of HIV infection occurred among the recipients who received the dummy injection. The safety review also showed the vaccine failed to reduce the amount of HIV virus in the blood, called the "viral load," in people who had been diagnosed with HIV and were tracked for 20 weeks of follow-up.

Recent years have seen many well-publicized advances in biomedical prevention technologies such as PrEP, PEP and microbicides. But a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine remains "the goal standard" among HIV/AIDS researchers and the quest has been elusive. At least four major vaccine trials have failed over the developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine have failed since 1983, when human immunodeficiency virus was first identified.

So far, there has been only one modest success: "Announced in September 2009, the U.S.-funded "Thai Prime Boost" trial — the world's largest, with 16,000 volunteers — combined two previously unsuccessful vaccines. But while a medical milestone—the vaccine reduced new infections by almost a third—it was not effective enough."

The development of a preventive HIV vaccine could become a life-saving game-changer across Africa, the Caribbean and Black America where the epidemic has had a devastating impact. The vaccine could become especially critically to Black gay and bisexual men, we reported for EBONY from AIDS 2012.

Blacks represent only 12% of the nation’s population but account for nearly half—some 44%—of all new HIV infections, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Black gay men have become the ‘epicenter’ of the domestic and global epidemic.

The crisis is so severe in some American cities that "one in two Black men who have sex with other men are HIV positive," the report adds. The trend has been particularly “alarming” among young Black gay men aged 13 to 19, according to the CDC. New infections have increased by almost half between 2006 and 2009.

As a final thought: Many Black and Latino Americans already have a substantial degree of cultural skepticism toward vaccines. Much of this is based in some historical fact, such as unethical medical studies, forced sterilizations, etc. These study results only add fuel to the confidence gap.

You May Have Missed:
First HIV Vaccine Called "Milestone"
"Progress in the Fight Against AIDS and HIV [The Root]
"The State of HIV/AIDS in Black America [EBONY]
Black Gay Men "World's Highest" Risk of HIV [EBONY]

REPORT: Baby "Cured" of HIV After Aggressive Drug Therapy

This is fantastic: In what is believed to be a first of its kind, an infant in Mississippi who was born HIV-positive has been reportedly "cured" after very early and aggressive antiretroviral drug therapy.

This "startling development" in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission could impact "how infected newborns are treated and sharply reduce" the number of HIV-positive children, reports the New York Times.

The mother arrived at a rural hospital in the fall of 2010 already in labor and gave birth prematurely. She had not seen a doctor during the pregnancy and did not know she had H.I.V. When a test showed the mother might be infected, the hospital transferred the baby to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where it arrived at about 30 hours old. ...

Virus levels rapidly declined with treatment and were undetectable by the time the baby was a month old. That remained the case until the baby was 18 months old, after which the mother stopped coming to the hospital and stopped giving the drugs. When the mother and child returned five months later, [Dr. Hannah B. Gay] expected to see high viral loads in the baby. But the tests were negative. Suspecting a laboratory error, she ordered more tests. "To my greater surprise, all of these came back negative,” Dr. Gay said.

The protocol will be studied in detail. If this this works in other babies, "it will almost certainly be recommended globally" by the World Health Organization.

There is no vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS. This is only the world's second verified "functional cure" of HIV—a very "rare event in which a person achieves remission without the need for drugs," explains Reuters.

The child's story is different from the now famous case of Timothy Ray Brown, the so-called "Berlin patient," whose HIV infection was completely eradicated through an elaborate treatment for leukemia in 2007 that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection. Instead of Brown's costly treatment, however, the case of the Mississippi baby, who was not identified, involved the use of a cocktail of widely available drugs already used to treat HIV infection in infants.

More on the "Berlin Patient" in my 2011 HIV/AIDS Year in Review for TheBody.com ...

Newborns born HIV-positive via MTCT are extremely rare in the United States but common across the global south. There are usually less than 200 HIV-positive infants born annually in the States ... but 330,000 born annually across the global.

REPORT: Scientists Develop More Accurate and Cheaper HIV Test

British scientists have developed an HIV screening test using nanotechnology that is much more sensitive and a fraction of the cost of existing tests, reports Reuters.

The test [results] can be seen with the naked eye by turning a sample red or blue, according to research from scientists at Imperial College in London published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "Our approach affords for improved sensitivity, does not require sophisticated instrumentation and it is ten times cheaper," Molly Stevens, who led the research, told Reuters. [...]

The new sensor works by testing serum, a clear watery fluid derived from blood samples, in a disposable container for the presence of an HIV biomarker called p24. If p24 is present, even in minute concentrations, it causes the tiny gold nanoparticles to clump together in an irregular pattern that turns the solution blue. A negative result separates them into ball shapes that generate a red colour.

The new test has the potential to dramatically improve HIV/AIDS testing and treatment in the developing world—and lower infection rates, too. The need is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

According to 2010 data from the World Health Organisation, about 23 million people living with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa out of a worldwide total of 34 million.The virus is also spreading faster and killing more people in this part of the world. Sub-Saharan Arica accounted for 1.9 million new cases out of a global total of 2.7 million in the same year, and 1.2 million out of the 1.8 million deaths.

[The scientists] said they plan to approach not-for-profit global health organisations to help them manufacture and distribute the new sensor in low income countries.

The news comes only weeks after the inroduction of OraQuick, the nation's first over-the-counter, rapid in-home HIV test. That could have dramatic potential in the Black community and particularly among Black men who have sex with men (MSM). Blacks make up some 56 percent of all so-called late testers—people who are diagnosed with AIDS within one year of their HIV diagnosis. Late testers have less chance to benefit from lifesaving medications and are considered "extremely infectious."

The number of new HIV infections in the United States has remained “relatively stable” at approximately 50,000  per year between 2006 and 2009, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was published in August 2011.

But there have been a soaring number of seroconversions among Black men who have sex with men.  The trend has been particularly “alarming” among Black MSM aged 13 to 19, according to the CDC. New infections have increased by 48 percent between 2006 and 2009. New infections rates are much higher in some cities—such as Milwaukee, where an estimated 42 percent of Black gay/bi men could be infected.

See our report for EBONY "New Data Show Black Gay Men Face "World's Highest" Risk of HIV" and our series "Reversing the Alarming HIV Increase Among Black Gay Men Part 1" and "Part 2".

Some Background:
Black Gay Men Face "World's Highest" HIV Risk [EBONY]
FDA Approves Truvada for PrEP
SF First City to Offer PrEP to Gay Men
Leading HIV Groups Call on FDA to Approve PrEP
Preparing for PrEP
"Alarming Increase" in HIV Young Black Gay Men
Daily Drug Reduces HIV Transmission
HIV a Rite of Passage for Young Black Gay Men?
1 in 3 Black Gay Men HIV Positive; 60% Unaware
"Alarming" HIV Rates Young Blk Gay Men in Miss.
CDC: 42% Black Gay Men in Milwaukee are HIV+
HIV "Epidemic" Among Black Gay Chicago Men

WATCH LIVESTREAM: Venus Transit

You're looking at a screencap of the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. It started at 604PM/ET and you'll only get one chance of seeing this in your lifetime. AFTER THE JUMP watch the livestream from NASA.

The Venus transit is described as "one of the rarest events in the heavens." This is only the sixth such event in recorded history. "It won’t do so again until 2117, making this the last transit of Venus for nearly everyone alive today." adds the Washington Post.

AFTER THE JUMP watch the NASA livestream.

PHOTOS: 747 and Exhaust Contrails

PHOTOS: Rod McCullom

For some science slash aviation porn: Lensed a few images on Monday of the jet engine exhaust contrails from a 747. These are plumes of condensed water vapour crystallized by the extreme cold. It usually can be seen above 25,000 feet.

The images are lensed with a Canon SX30 in a modified AIRPLANE setting in AUTO. The focal length is 878mm.

The plane was traveling very fast and the contrails quickly dissipated. Obviously it's very difficult to get a clear and focused still image of an airplane at that height but here ya go. Not bad for 20-something thousand feet.

PHOTOS: Moon, Clouds, Lunar Halo

PHOTOS: Rod McCullom

In today's space porn: A few images of the moon and clouds, which at night appears as black smoke. These are from Sunday when the moon was still in its waxing gibbous phase.

The images are handheld—no tripod this time—Canon SX30 in AUTO exposure and NIGHT/MOON settings. The focal length is 637mm to approx 3000mm. There is no cropping or editing.

There has been a full moon for two evenings but there's been a heavy night cloud cover in this area. Above is the visual from the ground taken last night. You can see the clouds and the halo.

The images are AUTO exposure and SPORTS setting. Here is the moon, a wisp of clouds and the lunar halo, a thin ring of millions of tiny ice crystals in cirrus clouds.

The focal length is approx 750mm to 2400mm. The farther you extend the telephoto lens, you lose the clouds and the halo.

VIDEO: Pawlenty Claims "Science is in Dispute" on Homosexuality

PHOTO: AP

Earlier this week, former Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty expressed his admiration for Lady Gaga "even though she’s a little unusual." The anti-gay Republican presidential candidate admitted that he enjoys her LGBT anthem "Born This Way" but claims that scientists are "in dispute" over a genetic cause of homosexuality.

From the transcript:

GREGORY: Is being gay a choice?

PAWLENTY: The science in that regard is in dispute. I mean, the scientists work on that and try to figure out if it's behavioral...

GREGORY: What do you think?

PAWLENTY: Well, I defer to the scientists in that regard.

GREGORY: So you, you think it's not a choice. That you are, as Lady Gaga says, you're born that way.

PAWLENTY: There's no scientific conclusion that it's genetic. We don't know that.

There is actually very little "dispute" among health and medical professionals. "All major medical professional organizations agree that sexual orientation is not a choice and cannot be changed, from gay to straight or otherwise," reports Think Progress.

Pawlenty has promised to reinstate 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  if elected president. Pawlenty also vetoed a bill that would have allowed same sex partners the right to make burial decisions

Perhaps Pawlenty believes that promoting his anti-gay credentials will help him in the socially conservative Iowa Republican  Straw Poll. Pawlenty has been polling poorly in Iowa and experts believe a poor showing on August 13 could "doom" his presidential campaign.

Via Think Progress, watch the clip WHEN YOU JUMP ...

Homophobic, Climate Change Denialist Sacked from Oil Spill Panel

The Department of Energy has dumped a controversial physicist and self-described "proud homophobe" from the panel of “extraordinarily intelligent” scientists appointed to solve the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Jonathan I. Katz, a physics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, was sacked after his anti-gay writings surfaced over the weekend and became a "distraction."

OutQNews reports:

"According to a Department of Energy spokesperson, Jonathan I. Katz is no longer a member of the scientific team tasked with finding solutions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The team was put together by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Stephanie Mueller told OutQ News: 'Dr. Chu has spoken with dozens of scientists and engineers as part of his work to help find solutions to stop the oil spill. Some of Professor Katz’s controversial writings have become a distraction from the critical work of addressing the oil spill. Professor Katz will no longer be involved in the Department’s efforts.'"

Katz is the author of several polemical blog posts, such as "In Defense of Homophobia" where he calls himself a "proud homophobe." AMERICABlog noted that one of the "best scientific minds" in the country blamed 'sodomites" for the deaths of "innocent people" who became HIV positive and wrote:

"Unfortunately, the victims are not only those whose reckless behavior brought death on themselves. There are many completely innocent victims, too: hemophiliacs (a substantial fraction died as a result of contaminated clotting factor), recipients of contaminated transfusions, and their spouses and children, for AIDS can be transmitted heterosexually (in America, only infrequently) and congenitally. The icy road was lined with unsuspecting innocents, who never chose to ride a motorcycle. Guilt for their deaths is on the hands of the homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers who poisoned the blood supply. These people died so the sodomites could feel good about themselves."

The  anti-gay professor—who also mocks the developmentally disabled—is a climate change denialist and once said "global warming is probably good for humanity." Probably not the best appointment for an Administration that wants to pass a climate change bill. BP is probably sorry to lose this "extraordinarily intelligent" mind, tho.

Much more at AMERICABlog, which also posted a petition calling for Katz's resignation ...

PHOTOS, VIDEO: More Lava, Less Ash Flowing from Iceland Volcano

Some good news to report on Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano that began erupting April 14. More smoke and a small amount of lava is now flowing from the volcano. The ash plume that disrupted air traffic across Europe last week is now too small to reach jet streams, scientists report.

Reuters Mobile:

"There is a very little lava and ash production," Johannes Tomasson at Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said on Sunday. Flowing lava probably means less ash from now on because the ash was produced by lava melting through the Eyjafjallajokull glacier on top of the volcano, Tomasson said.  A scientist who flew over the volcano on Saturday estimated about 10-20 cubic meters of lava per second was coming out of the volcano's crater, state radio reported. Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson of the University of Iceland said although the lava was not yet visible, signs of the flow were apparent. "The northern crater is active with sporadic explosions when the lava comes in contact with ice," he said.

These images captured over the weekend. Watch new footage of the lava explosions AFTER THE JUMP ...

Meanwhile: Lava production from the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier means that flooding continues to remain a problem for parts of the Icelandic countryside.

Most tourists stranded by the volcanic ash crisis should be home by Monday, officials say. The week of airspace closures prompted the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II with about 100,000 flights canceled. And a change of wind direction meant the island's main airports closed over the weekend for the first time. The international airport near Reykjavik has been closed since Friday.

Looming on the horizon: Iceland's Meteorological Office is concerned this eruption could trigger the nearby and much larger Katla volcano.

More photos, footage of mountainside flooding and new footage of the lava explosions AFTER THE JUMP ...

Spectacular Photo: Volcanic Ash Clouds Blanket Rural Iceland

Spotted this stunning image of a car driving through ash fallen from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The volcanic ash clouds have "blanketed parts of rural Iceland," reports The New York Times.

Reuters adds:

"Icelandic police banned all access to the glacier and the foothills in the area as well as a 1-km radius around the eruption site and said considerable ash fall had been reported in areas around the volcano. According to geologists with Iceland's Civil Protection and Emergency Management department of the State Police, a massive cloud of ash engulfed the surrounding countryside, limiting visibility to just a few meters in parts of the sparsely populated area."

Beautiful, surrealistic ... and apocalyptic.