TotallyOz

A new AIDS vaccine tested on more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand has protected a significant minority against infection, the first time any vaccine against the disease has even partly succeeded in a clinical trial. Scientists said they were delighted but puzzled by the result. The vaccine — a combination of two genetically engineered vaccines, neither of which had worked before in humans — protected too few people to be declared an unqualified success. And the researchers do not know why it worked. “I don’t want to use a word like ‘breakthrough,’ but I don’t think there’s any doubt that this is a very important result,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is one of the trial’s backers. “For more than 20 years now, vaccine trials have essentially been failures,” he went on. “Now it’s like we were groping down an unlit path, and a door has been opened. We can start asking some very important questions.” Results of the trial of the vaccine, known as RV 144, were released at 2 a.m. Eastern time Thursday in Thailand by the partners that ran the trial, by far the largest of an AIDS vaccine: the United States Army, the Thai Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Fauci’s institute, and the patent-holders in the two parts of the vaccine, Sanofi-Pasteur and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases. Col. Jerome H. Kim, a physician who is manager of the army’s H.I.V. vaccine program, said half the 16,402 volunteers were given six doses of two vaccines in 2006 and half were given placebos. They then got regular tests for the AIDS virus for three years. Of those who got placebos, 74 became infected, while only 51 of those who got the vaccines did. Although the difference was small, Dr. Kim said it was statistically significant and meant the vaccine was 31.2 percent effective. Dr. Fauci said that scientists would seldom consider licensing a vaccine less than 70 or 80 percent effective, but he added, “If you have a product that’s even a little bit protective, you want to look at the blood samples and figure out what particular response was effective and direct research from there.” The most confusing aspect of the trial, Dr. Kim said, was that everyone who did become infected developed roughly the same amount of virus in their blood whether they got the vaccine or a placebo. Normally, any vaccine that gives only partial protection — a mismatched flu shot, for example — at least lowers the viral load. That suggests that RV 144 does not produce neutralizing antibodies, as most vaccines do, Dr. Fauci said. Antibodies are long Y-shaped proteins formed by the body that clump onto invading viruses, blocking the surface spikes with which they attach to cells and flagging them for destruction. Instead, he theorized, it might produce “binding antibodies,” which latch onto and empower effector cells, a type of white blood cell attacking the virus. Whatever the vaccine does, he said, it does not seem to mimic the defenses of the rare individuals known to AIDS doctors as “long-term nonprogressors,” who do not get sick even though they are infected. They have low viral loads because they block reproduction in some way that is still mysterious. “If we knew what immune response did it, we’d be able to be a lot more efficient in targeting it,” Dr. Kim said. Also, the RV 144 tested in Thailand was designed to combat the most common strain of the virus circulating in Southeast Asia. Different strains circulate in Africa, the United States and elsewhere, and it is not clear that the vaccine would have similar results, even in modified form. The thousands of Thais chosen were a cross-section of the Thai young adult population, not just high-risk groups like drug injectors or sex workers, Dr. Kim said. One of the substances that were combined to make RV 144 is Alvac-HIV, from Sanofi-Pasteur, a canarypox virus with three AIDS virus genes grafted onto it. Variations of Alvac were tested in France, Thailand, Uganda and the United States; it was found safe but generated little immune response. The other, Aidsvax, was originally made by Genentech and is an engineered version of a protein found on the surface of the AIDS virus; it is grown in a broth of hamster ovary cells. It was tested in Thai drug users in 2003 and also in gay men in North America and Europe; it did not protect them against infection, and Genentech spun off the rights to develop the vaccine. In 2007, two trials of a Merck vaccine in about 4,000 people were stopped early; it not only failed to work but for some men seemed to increase the risk of infection. Combining Alvac and Aidsvax was a hunch by scientists: If one was designed to create antibodies and the other to alert white blood cells, might they work together even if neither worked alone? Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, which pushes for vaccines and other forms of prevention, was enthusiastic about the trial data. “Wow,” he said. “This is a hugely exciting and, frankly, unexpected result. It changes our thinking in ways we hadn’t anticipated.” “We often talk about whether a vaccine is even possible,” he added. “This is not the vaccine that ends the epidemic and says, ‘O.K., let’s move on to something else.’ But it’s a fabulous new step that takes us in a new direction.” Mr. Warren said the finding showed the need for large human trials, expensive as they are. Studies in mice and monkeys have not been good at predicting what would work in people, and small human trials in which researchers test results by looking for antibodies in blood have limited value. Dr. Fauci agreed. “This is not the endgame,” he said. “This is the beginning.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/health/r...rss&emc=rss

BigK, you pay for that speed? That is so slow.

Austin didn’t know what to wear to his first gay dance last spring. It was bad enough that the gangly 13-year-old from Sand Springs, Okla., had to go without his boyfriend at the time, a 14-year-old star athlete at another middle school, but there were also laundry issues. “I don’t have any clean clothes!” he complained to me by text message, his favored method of communication. When I met up with him an hour later, he had weathered his wardrobe crisis (he was in jeans and a beige T-shirt with musical instruments on it) but was still a nervous wreck. “I’m kind of scared,” he confessed. “Who am I going to talk to? I wish my boyfriend could come.” But his boyfriend couldn’t find anyone to give him a ride nor, Austin explained, could his boyfriend ask his father for one. “His dad would give him up for adoption if he knew he was gay,” Austin told me. “I’m serious. He has the strictest, scariest dad ever. He has to date girls and act all tough so that people won’t suspect.” Austin doesn’t have to play “the pretend game,” as he calls it, anymore. At his middle school, he has come out to his close friends, who have been supportive. A few of his female friends responded that they were bisexual. “Half the girls I know are bisexual,” he said. He hadn’t planned on coming out to his mom yet, but she found out a week before the dance. “I told my cousin, my cousin told this other girl, she told her mother, her mother told my mom and then my mom told me,” Austin explained. “The only person who really has a problem with it is my older sister, who keeps saying: ‘It’s just a phase! It’s just a phase!’ ” Austin’s mom was on vacation in another state during my visit to Oklahoma, so a family friend drove him to the weekly youth dance at the Openarms Youth Project in Tulsa, which is housed in a white cement-block building next to a redbrick Baptist church on the east side of town. We arrived unfashionably on time, and Austin tried to park himself on a couch in a corner but was whisked away by Ben, a 16-year-old Openarms regular, who gave him an impromptu tour and introduced him to his mom, who works the concession area most weeks. Openarms is practically overrun with supportive moms. While Austin and Ben were on the patio, a 14-year-old named Nick arrived with his mom. Nick came out to her when he was 12 but had yet to go on a date or even kiss a boy, which prompted his younger sister to opine that maybe he wasn’t actually gay. “She said, ‘Maybe you’re bisexual,’ ” Nick told me. “But I don’t have to have sex with a girl to know I’m not interested.” Ninety minutes after we arrived, Openarms was packed with about 130 teenagers who had come from all corners of the state. Some danced to the Lady Gaga song “Poker Face,” others battled one another in pool or foosball and a handful of young couples held hands on the outdoor patio. In one corner, a short, perky eighth-grade girl kissed her ninth-grade girlfriend of one year. I asked them where they met. “In church,” they told me. Not far from them, a 14-year-old named Misti — who came out to classmates at her middle school when she was 12 and weathered anti-gay harassment and bullying, including having food thrown at her in the cafeteria — sat on a wooden bench and cuddled with a new girlfriend. Austin had practically forgotten about his boyfriend. Instead, he was confessing to me — mostly by text message, though we were standing next to each other — his crush on Laddie, a 16-year-old who had just moved to Tulsa from a small town in Texas. Like Austin, Laddie was attending the dance for the first time, but he came off as much more comfortable in his skin and had a handful of admirers on the patio. Laddie told them that he came out in eighth grade and that the announcement sent shock waves through his Texas school. “I definitely lost some friends,” he said, “but no one really made fun of me or called me names, probably because I was one of the most popular kids when I came out. I don’t think I would have come out if I wasn’t popular.” “When I first realized I was gay,” Austin interjected, “I just assumed I would hide it and be miserable for the rest of my life. But then I said, ‘O.K., wait, I don’t want to hide this and be miserable my whole life.’ ” I asked him how old he was when he made that decision. “Eleven,” he said. Read the rest of the story here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine...rss&emc=rss

Where did you decide to stay on this trip?

Thanks guys! I do appreciate it. I guess I am getting fucked in the ass. LOL My speed averages about 2M during good times. At bad times it goes down to 0.05 This is at a hotel of course and not my own connection. But, your information on this tells me what the average in USA is. Thanks a lot!

From http://www.thailandvisa.com We are a new site. We are looking to encourage posting in the forum. We are advertising on several other web sites currently and will expand this in the near future. In order to get more posting, we are having a contest for to get a free trip to Thailand. The prize:: A round-trip ticket from your city to Thailand anytime during 2010. We will book this for you for up to 1500 USD. Plus, we will book for you 8 nights accommodations up to 125.00 per night. The way to enter: Make at least 500 posts over the competition period (September 15, 2009 through Feb. 28th 2010). For every member that has 500 posts, they will be eligible for the contest. To qualify, the posts must be reasonable quality. One or two word posts will not count. While this site is dedicated to visa and immigration, there are other forums here as well and all qualify. In March, we will have a drawing and the person whose name comes out of the hat will be the winner. We will have the drawing in a public place with observers to watch the entries and the results. Rules* The prize must be taken before December 31, 2010. There is no cash equivalent offered. If the winner is unable to travel to Thailand the prize will be offered to 2nd place and so on. Judges decision will be final. Administrators and Moderators of Thailand Visa are ineligible. *The competition and its rules are subject to change if circumstances are beyond our control. http://www.thailandvisa.com/forums/index.php?/topic/105-win-a-free-trip-to-thailand

I am having some issues with my Internet speed at the hotels I stay at. Can a few of you go to http://speedtest.net and test your speed and let me know what you are getting? Do you use high speed cable? ADSL? Dial up?

He does say what the thinks. He has said that Joe Wilson's outburst was based on Racism and nothing to do with the Health Care debate. What do you think? Racists? Just plain stupid? Acceptable? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/us/polit...arter.html?_r=1 “I think it’s based on racism,” Mr. Carter said at a town-hall-style meeting at his presidential center in Atlanta. “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.” Mr. Carter, a Democrat, said the outburst was a part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators comparing him to Nazi leaders. “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care,” he said. “It’s deeper than that.” Mr. Wilson’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment. But his eldest son, Alan, defended him, saying, “There is not a racist bone in my dad’s body.”

Growing up in Alabama, I can tell you, it is not worse. It is Drastically better. It still sucks. But, not like when I was a kid. I remember a house being burned down with 2 gay guys in it. I have many other bad memories from that time and that is what kept me in the closet for 27 years. Now, things are different. I can be openly gay there and there is no issue for me. I also see other openly gay guys in my town. I also know of many in the closet and married with children as that is what they had to do to survive. It is not what young people have to do now. Things have gotten better. It is still not good to grow up gay in most places in the south, but it is getting better all the time.

Today, I downloaded To Wong Foo with Patrick Swayze as his death reminded me of that film. I also wanted to show the boyfriend. Being Thai, he understands the concept of ladyboys quite well but not drag queens. The movie was watched by him with many questions and he laughed out loud so many times I cannot count. We both had a great time watching the movie. If you have a Thai BF, buy this and watch it with him. They may find it as enjoyable as we did!

For the IMG, it depends on your age and what medical issues you have had in the past year. I did not need to take a physical. If they ask for one, any one in the last 2 years is OK to send to them.

TomCal suggested I stay at a Sheraton in Porto Alegre. I have never stayed in Sheraton's as they are not part of my points systems I use often. A friend suggested that I contact them and present my status with other hotel chains. I did contact their support and immediately received an e-mail saying if I could give proof to them that I have Platinum with one or more of their competitors, they would be willing to offer me their top tier. I sent the documentation in that day. Less than a week later, I got a welcome letter and confirming my top tier status with their chain until the end of 2010. Thank you Starwood! Thanks TomCal for suggesting this hotel. Has anyone else done this with Hotels? Airlines?

If you have to choose for yourself, would you want Beauty or Brains? If you are choosing sex partner, which of the two attributes is the first one you look at? Me, I guess I would prefer to have brains but always look at beauty first. For a second date, the brains aspect really does come into play!

Anyone use Evernote.com? It is a service that allows you to upload notes, photos, documents, snapshots, etc. I have just started using this and have enjoyed it so far as I think a good way to store things I often forget. It has an Iphone app that I have not tested yet. Apparently, you can take a snapshot photo of a business card and it will read it into the site. Has anyone else used this site? Service?

I recently got a great health insurance that covers me worldwide. Part of my policy is that I am out of the USA at least 6 months a year and I always am so that was not a biggie. The total cost was 300 a month with a 1000 deductible. I had posted a link to the IMG website that I used. http://www.imglobal.com/coverage/global/?g...CFRhinAodeSYL_g I had used this company when I would travel outside the USA for a few months and if you only need coverage on trips, it is very inexpensive for short trips and when you travel, many insurance companies will not cover you while you are out of the country for anything other than an Emergency. Some will not even cover that. Check with your company to find out the benefits. For those that are independent contractors, you can apply for Freelancers Union. Go to their website and see the benefits they offer. They have decent plans for NYC and LA.

I really loved him in Dirty Dancing, Ghost and To Wong Foo! Sadly, my favorite movie of him was Roadhouse. I loved it. Tells you what a redneck hick I am. His last TV series was really enjoyable and I got into it. He will be missed!

Apparently Jaycee Dugard is going to appear on Oprah. She is getting 1Million for the appearance. I wish her well. I am sure this will be a win for Oprah and I hope it doesn't do more damage to this poor lady.

I notice on many boards that posters have a desire to be vicious and to be as nasty as they can. Perhaps they are the opposite in real life but to read some of the venom on the posts I find it pretty sad. I have never understood why someone has to stoop to that level. I really don't get it. It is like kicking someone when they are down. We have so much in common with each other that it is a shame that we don't just love the fact that we can hang out and grace each others presence (on the boards or in person) without the knife in the back. Thank you to members of this community for respecting each other. While sometimes things get a little out of hand, those times are rare and far between. It is very very appreciated! And, each poster needs to be thanked for blessing us with his presence. It means a lot to us that you choose to post on this board when there are other boards out there. We will try to continue to keep the board a "venom" free zone. It is OK to debate and to argue but please don't get personal and attack someone because of your views. I read a post on another board tonight and my mouth dropped. Why anyone would post it is beyond me. Yet there it was. Perhaps not a big deal there but thank goodness those of you here have the decency to know limits and appropriate boundaries. Thank you!

I want to buy the BF a gift for Xmas and other holidays and I want something nice as we have been together for almost 6 years. BUT, I don't want to buy anything he can sell, trade, give to family, etc. So, what is left? How can I get him anything that will require him to hold on to it? I know when a gift is freely given one should have the right to do with as they want. But, I am not going to do that with this guy. Now what?

I use 12Call. I have friends with DTAC. What do others have? What do you consider the better value? Better service? Does it vary between the cities? Rates for SMS?

I want to do a nice video for YouTube. I need to get into some of the GoGo bars for some video. I have been told by EVERYONE it is impossible. They say the law. LOL It may be a rule but it can't be a law as I see it for the ladybars all the time. Does anyone know of an owner of a venue in Bangkok that will allow for video inside the bar? I am not looking for the fuck show video. Only the gogo dancers and coyote dancers.

A very scary look into some people's minds. What was the man doing getting the knife? http://www.actionequalslife.com/profiles/blogs/nicholas-snows-controversial

Hilly is the one I gave money to. She is the one I supported. She is the one I wanted. But, we don't always get what we want. So, I took Obama with high hopes.

There is no doubt that the gay community has tons of enemies. Just look at the California proposition. And, as for our friends: What has Obama done for us since being in office? If that is the way your friends treat you...

Did you see Bill's latest New Rules? Absolutely hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSizEF_YMA