Just fer Today,TGIF~~~~

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness! So ya today was friday & it was 22c & partly cloudy.I went & signed in again & as i picked up my carries yesterday,am already to go,only i have no place to go.Home ,thats iy.I wish i could find a woman to enter my life .It would make a big difference i think.Haveing only jerry comin over just doesn’t cut it.I got a letter from franco & of course he asks for cash,nice guy that i am i helped out as i know how it is to be broke in there,=sucks large!So i mailed him 25.He could use it i’m sure.I talked with sylvie today about makin out a calender ahead of time for events for the group.Crafts & movies will be there fer sure.Not sure what else yet,but i’m sure we could arrange some tours at local places.& maybe even pay $$ & check out horse riding or go-cart riding among other fun group things=bolr\wling as well.Well thats all from mefer now,GODBLESS & have a great fall all~~!

Practice safe sex,the life you save could be your own!

Just fer today,Thanks to GOD fer all!

Note created September 17, 2007
So,its monday night & i have to try to get some sleep early as i have to be up at 8:am,Mornings are hard on me.Just feel so shitty in the mornings.Well at least i will know if i am to start meds or wat.was nice out today with the temp hitting 21c & tomorrow is going to be even warmer!!Well folks,have a good night eh!!!!Well am back ,as i cant sleep.Well it seems that each day we learn of new meds breakthroughs in drugs or treatment & other areas as well.We must keep up this war,& it is a war!!!Peace n love NOT Wars n Walls eh folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just fer Today,

So today was a grey day but the sun has made an appearence after all.temp is still only 14 or 15 so it is kinda cool out,but its a great fall day & we live in the most exciting time to be alive in this world.We can do anything or be anything,or at least we are told we can.In real life its alot harder,as theres addictionns & behaviours that have to maintain a social norm,or your classed as a junkie,boozer,homeless,poverty,mental sickness, & all those other terms of endearment we like to use on other less fortunate peoples?>.But just for now,just for today,i am gratefull to my maker,& my saviour,Jehova & Jesus & the Holy Spirit,& i know we are living in what the Holy bible terms as The End Times,& we are going to freak when the real stuff starts,bigger earthquakes,& klasting longer & longer as well.But if there is going to be a new world out of old,then we must withstand the firestorm that it will take to cleans the earth of all its filth.I pray that the holy spirits decends to earth & to everyone,to share in the love of GOD,& to spread that Glory & love outwards AS WELl as inwards.healing man is his ill’s & pains,forever & ever AMEN!!Folks what a marvoulous day that will be,When the saints come marchin in,with Jesus at the head!& its comin sooner then most think it is!!anyways i know i will be screwed as i’m on the methadone,but i give my problems to GOD,& live each day as it comes.Never planning to far ahead,because i feel dazed & confused,unsure,when it should be contentment & sure of self & mind.Well at times i feel both,& none,depending onb the mood i guess.For now i am content & have all i need excpt the love of a woman,& i miss snugleing up to her on a cold winters night,& feeling her body next to mine,smelling her perfumed body…yaya ok enough already….sheesh eh folks?GODBLESS U ALL & peace n ;love not wars n walls eh folks?

Pill boxes Should Be WIDELY USED,Study Says

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!
Pillboxes should be standard issue for HIV patients, study concludes printer friendly version send to friend glossary comment
Keith Alcorn, Monday, September 10, 2007
Using a pill box to organise daily doses of antiretrovirals significantly improves adherence and is associated with a greater reduction in viral load and a higher probability of having an undetectable viral load, researchers from the University of California San Francisco report in the October 1st edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In an accompanying editorial Canadian adherence experts say that pillboxes should be widely used, but warn that in patients with very poor adherence, they may not provide enough reinforcement of adherence to show any benefit.

Pillbox organisers, which may contain separate compartments for each dose or each day of the week, are widely available in North America and Europe, and are distributed free of charge by some pharmaceutical companies.

Pillboxes may help patients to spot when they have missed doses, and are also easily portable, releasing people from the need to carry multiple bottles of medicines when they are away from home.

The San Francisco study looked at the effect of pillbox use on adherence in a cohort of 245 HIV-positive patients largely recruited between 1996 and 2000 from homeless shelters and services targeting the downtown `street` population of the city.

The study was a non-randomised analysis of adherence levels, during which participants underwent unannounced pill counts every three to six weeks at their residence over a twelve-month period. Unannounced pill counts reduced the risk that participants with poor adherence would get rid of pills in order to disguise poor adherence, the authors note.

Adherence in patients not using a pillbox was assessed using an electronic medication monitor on the pill bottle of the most frequently dosed drug in their antiretroviral combination.

The analysis controlled for a wide range of confounding factors, including substance abuse, homelessness, prior adherence, viral load, CD4 count, sex, age, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

During the follow-up period 163 participants used a pillbox for at least one month, and pillboxes were used for 43% of the total person-months of observation accumulated during the study.

Sixty-three per cent were taking protease inhibitor-based combinations, often with high pill numbers, and 42% had a previous history of single or dual nucleoside analogue exposure prior to starting triple combination therapy, indicating a high vulnerability to viral rebound and the development of drug resistance.

The mean adherence rate was 73% during the study. Pillbox use was associated with an improvement in adherence of 4.1% – 4.5% compared to non-users.

Pillbox use was more likely in people with a prior history of good adherence and in women, and became more frequent as the study went on.

Three different statistical methods were used to calculate the impact of pillbox use on adherence, and arrived at an estimate that pillbox use was associated with a 0.34 – 0.37log10 greater reduction in viral load. Pillbox use increased the probability of a viral load below 400 copies/ml by 14.2 – 15.7%.

Multivariable linear regression of the adherence percentage (the difference between current and previous pill counts, divided by the prescribed number of doses for the same period) showed that use of a pillbox organiser had a much greater effect on adherence than once-daily therapy (coefficient of 4.47, compared to 0.78 for once-daily therapy).

In an accompanying editorial Edward Mills of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Curtis Cooper of Ottawa Hospital note that “for the occasionally non-adherent patient (e.g. one who takes 90% of the prescribed medications, with a missed dose every 1-2 weeks) the pillbox intervention may have a fundamentally beneficial impact on preventing the development of antiretroviral drug resistance.”

But they warn that for patients with a low level of adherence, “a 5% improvement in adherence may shift a patient from maintaining drug levels that are too low to generate drug resistance to a sub therapeutic plasma antiretroviral level that is insufficient to fully suppress HIV but is high enough to provide sufficient pressure to produce drug resistance.”

Despite this, they conclude that pillboxes are “a simple and effective intervention and should be widely used.”

Practice safe sex,the life you save could be your own!

Just for Today-Wat Disease to Treat First?HIV or HEP-C??

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SSo i see the hiv-hep-c specialist next week & went for bloodwork today.My last cd4s were 855!!this is very good no. to be at especially if yer HIV+!So i now have a TEAM of health professionals to work with me,before i was alone,all by myself trying to cope,& its another reason i got the HIV Support Group Sudbury started 2yrs ago.Wish we had funding so we could go on special Tours in the Sudbury area,like the cortina boat on ramsey lake,the science centre,art museum,mine museum,well u know wat i mean,places that expand ones horizens,& views.To explore the unknown,to seek out new life,to boldly go where no man has gone before!!!loljk!!Well am in great mood these days.I wish i was with someone,a female someone,to share my good mood with,because u know wat folks?If u R alone,it just doesnt count unless yer with someone to share it with,because if your alone,its joy unshared=joyless!You have to share your feelings with others to make them worthy….or worth it i should say.& Things worth having are things that are hardwon & hard fought for.Only then can you apreciate it for its true value.We dont value things that come easy to us,& maybe we should apreciate things more,Just for today,eh folks?Peace n love not wars n walls!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SO LIVING IN SUDBURY ISNT ALL BAD,ALTHOUGH winters can be harsh,that might change with global warming i think,but ya if anyone needs to be inspired,go to TLC channel & watch the many educational & diocumentrys & all round good stuff to expand yer minds.It always makes me feel alittle better & i find myself in better moods not watching so much violence on TV,as i think too much will just numb your mind to it.So ,live & learn,laugh & love!Peace nlove not wars n walls eh folks~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So ya this weekend was long a boring as i stayed in & didnt go out anywheres or do anything usefull.I am hoping group gets going again soon.

If your ever feeling depressed ,just turn your tv to TLC,& there you’ll see the most amazing,loving peoples on earth!True angels,each & every one of them,in their own way touching the lives of peoples around them,& touching peoples that watch their stories.So many courageous kids,living with everyday problems & taking it 1 day at a time.Conjoined twins story is another great story of 2 persons in the same body.& how they over -come lifes everyday challenges,to triumph & shine as angels of love,& overcoming stigma & discrimination to stand tall & be proud for beinf so different yet the same as each of us.Each with their own thoughts & feelings,Each with diff ambitions & goals .Inspiraing+ to say the least.As there are many dif stories,each person going through trials of life & handleing it just fine & even better after they get their operations they so desperatly need.

New Evidence on How Anti-bodies Fight HIV

How Antibodies Fight HIV: New Evidence
— By furthering scientists’ understanding of the molecular mechanisms that separate the minority of successful HIV antibodies from the majority of ineffective antibodies, the work may have implications for future attempts to design an HIV vaccine. The study was published on September 6, 2007,
“This study is part of the effort to understand how protection against HIV occurs,” says Dennis Burton, a professor at The Scripps Research Institute. “If we really understand this, then we can design tailor-made vaccines in a way that has never been done before.”

Although vaccines have long been used with great success to prevent diseases, scientists are still learning about the exact mechanisms of how vaccines work and how the antibodies that vaccines prompt the body to create can neutralize a pathogen. The spread of HIV, which is resistant to most antibodies the body produces against it, has made fully understanding this method of action more urgent.

With this in mind, Burton and colleagues sought to tease apart the action of the b12 antibody-one of the rare antibodies that protects against the HIV virus. The antibody, first identified by Burton, Scripps Research Professor Carlos Barbas III, and colleagues in 1992, originally came from the bone marrow of a 31-year-old male who had been HIV positive without symptoms for six years.

In the current study, researchers created mutated versions of b12 to see what effect various changes would have on the antibody’s effectiveness.

“Hopefully, we can work backwards towards a vaccine, using b12 and the very few other really great, broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV that have been found,” says Scripps Research Senior Research Associate Ann Hessell, who was first author of the Nature paper jointly with Lars Hangartner, a Scripps Research postdoctoral fellow.

Results from the new study suggest the importance of antibody activity against both infected cells and free virus for effective protection. As well as simply binding to HIV, protection was dependent upon the ability of antibodies to interact with immune cell Fc receptors.

Fc receptors are found on the surface of immune cells, such as natural killer cells. The Fc receptor binds to the Fc region of an antibody after an antibody binds to a pathogen, targeting the pathogen for attack by the immune system. Although Fc receptor function was known to be important for the function of antibodies against other diseases, a role in protecting against HIV had never before been demonstrated.

Burton’s team examined the ability of two antibodies mutated from b12, dubbed KA and LALA, to prevent infection using the SHIV/macaque model, in which macaques are challenged with a hybrid human-simian virus that infects the model but is recognized by human antibodies. The KA antibody contained a mutation that prevented it from interacting with the complement cascade, a major component of the immune system responsible for destroying invading pathogens. The LALA antibody contained a mutation that rendered it unable to interact with either the complement pathway or the Fc receptor.

In both mutants, the site where the antibody binds to free-floating virus was unaltered, allowing the researchers specifically to investigate the importance of the complement cascade and Fc receptor system for preventing infection.

“We saw that the KA antibody, which could still bind to the Fc receptors on the immune cells but not to the complement cascade, protected the animals from becoming infected just as the wild type b12 antibody,” says Hessell. “In contrast, the LALA group became infected much like the controls.”

The results provide the first evidence that the Fc receptor, but not the complement cascade, is important to the function of the b12 antibody in preventing HIV infection.

Additional in vitro experiments revealed that the wild type and KA antibodies, but not the LALA antibody, blocked infection more efficiently in the presence of other effector cells of the immune system.

“Our results are fully consistent with the antibody doing two jobs,” says Burton, “job one, stick to the virus; job two, recruit immune cells to come and kill infected cells.”

In addition to Burton, Hessell, and Hangartner, authors of the study, “Fc Receptor But Not Complement Binding Is Important in Antibody Protection Against HIV,” are Meredith Hunter and Preston A. Marx of Tulane University; Carin E.G. Havenith, Frank J. Beurskens, Joost M. Bakker, and Paul W.H.I. Parren of Genmab (Utrecht, The Netherlands); Gary Landucci and Donald N. Forthal of University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine; and Caroline Lanigan of The Scripps Research Institute.

Practice safe sex,the life you save could be your own!

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safe sex folks!!

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