PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It was December 1979 when Emery Lucier learned the concert he was eagerly awaiting in Rhode Island by British rock band The Who had been canceled over safety concerns. The 17-year-old was so angry he knocked over a chair in his high school classroom.
“I just remember being so upset about the whole thing,” he said.
Lucier, now 50, of Milford, Mass., held onto the ticket, for which he paid $25 ($12.50 for the ticket and $12.50 more for the scalper). On Tuesday, he and nine other people traded in tickets from that canceled show and got new ones for The Who’s final appearance on its Quadrophenia tour in February at the Dunkin Donuts Center, the same venue it was supposed to play 33 years ago.
The venue’s general manager, Lawrence Lepore, said earlier this month he would honor tickets for the 1979 show, which then-Mayor Buddy Cianci canceled after a stampede before a Who concert in Ohio killed 11 people. Any 1979 tickets the venue receives will be donated to the Special Olympics of Rhode Island, which plans an August eBay auction of the 14 tickets turned in on Tuesday.
Ed McConnell, now 50, was a high school student in Pawtucket and planned to attend the concert with about 15 friends. He said he remembers the disappointment when he heard the concert was canceled, and even now can list reasons why it was a bad decision, among them that the concert had assigned seats and not festival seating — which is what was blamed for the stampede in Cincinnati.
“I still don’t agree with it,” McConnell said after trading in his and his brother’s tickets for the show.
McConnell said he met Cianci once and took the opportunity to complain.
Sandy Ball exchanged two tickets that her brother, Stephen, now of Colonial Heights, Va., had waited in line for overnight when he was a college freshman. The tickets have moved 16 times since then with Stephen, who was in the military. Ball said her family remembers the day when he learned the show was canceled.
“We had to talk him off the cliff,” she said.
Barry Belotti, now 53, of Fitchburg, Mass., estimates he’s seen The Who 100 times but still remembers the canceled show in Providence. He had second-row tickets and had bought several other tickets for friends to come along.
“We were pretty upset about it,” he said.
He got a refund on most of the tickets after the show was canceled but kept one as a memento in a binder filled with newspaper clippings about the band and photos of singer Pete Townsend. Belotti said he is planning to see the band play on four or five stops on this tour, one he’s especially looking forward to because it’s playing the 1973 album “Quadrophenia,” which is especially meaningful for him.
“It was very instrumental in my adolescence,” Belotti said. “Townsend’s writing, he was talking about me.”
As for Lucier, he never got a chance to see The Who perform after that canceled 1979 show, until now. He’s held onto the ticket for decades.
After he heard he could exchange his old ticket for a new one, he started digging and found it in a box with about 65 other stubs.
The one for The Who was the only one that wasn’t ripped.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Xinhua Insight: China, ASEAN stress stability, cooperation amid sea disputes
NANNING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should place their strategic priority on maintaining regional stability and deepening economic cooperation despite competing claims in the South China Sea, officials and analysts said Thursday.
"Vietnam, like other ASEAN countries, hopes to continue close cooperation with related nations, especially with China," said Nguyen Thanh Bien, Vietnamese vice minister of industry and trade.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the seventh Pan-Beibu Gulf (PBG) Economic Cooperation Forum, he said China and ASEAN can enhance mutual understanding and trust through deepening cooperation so as to maintain regional stability.
His remarks come as tensions between China and Vietnam have fermented after Vietnam passed the Law of the Sea in June. The law defines the Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea as being within Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction.
China and another ASEAN member -- the Philippines -- have also seen relations deteriorating recently due to competing claims regarding Huangyan Island, prompting concerns that the rows will hamper progress within the China-ASEAN cooperation framework.
"The territorial disputes between China and some ASEAN countries should in no way act as a hindrance," said Dato Mahani Abidin, managing director of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) in Malaysia.
He said multi-level cooperation between China and ASEAN countries has shown substantial progress in recent years.
Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has seen substantial growth in recent years after the launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area on Jan. 1, 2010. ASEAN is China's third largest trade partner following the European Union and the United States.
In 2011, trade between China and ASEAN rose 24 percent year on year to 362.9 billion U.S. dollars, higher than the 22.5-percent growth for China's total foreign trade during the period.
U Win Shein, Myanmar's vice minister of transport, said strengthened regional development and cooperation will help offset impact of the confrontations.
Initiated in 2006, the annual PBG Economic Cooperation Forum has grown into a major sub-regional cooperation platform under the China-ASEAN framework. The PBG Economic Zone covers China's Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.
"The construction of the PBG region has promoted economic cooperation between China and ASEAN, which is in line with the region's interests," U Win Shein said.
A report on the Feasibility Study on Economic Cooperation was unveiled at the forum last year. The report identified priority areas for cooperation and was later approved at the 14th ASEAN-China Summit.
This year, the forum will lay out the PBG Economic Cooperation Action Roadmap and submit a proposal to the China-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and the 15th ASEAN-China Summit to be held later this year for deliberation.
Yang Mu, a senior researcher at the East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore, attributed booming cooperation to regional stability and continued trade.
He said that although disputes in the South China Sea have existed for a long time, related countries have agreed that a healthy and peaceful environment as well as extensive economic cooperation will benefit the whole region.
Li Fuyu, a Thai journalist who has closely followed ASEAN's development, said the South China Sea disputes represent a very sensitive topic.
"Countries in the Pan-Beibu Gulf region should deepen economic cooperation and downplay the disputes in order to focus on economic cooperation and cultural communication," Li said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China is willing to talk to ASEAN countries about legalizing a code of conduct in the South China Sea, adding that the issue should be discussed and solved peacefully through bilateral talks.
"Solving the problems will require deepened economic cooperation," Yang said.
"Vietnam, like other ASEAN countries, hopes to continue close cooperation with related nations, especially with China," said Nguyen Thanh Bien, Vietnamese vice minister of industry and trade.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the seventh Pan-Beibu Gulf (PBG) Economic Cooperation Forum, he said China and ASEAN can enhance mutual understanding and trust through deepening cooperation so as to maintain regional stability.
His remarks come as tensions between China and Vietnam have fermented after Vietnam passed the Law of the Sea in June. The law defines the Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea as being within Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction.
China and another ASEAN member -- the Philippines -- have also seen relations deteriorating recently due to competing claims regarding Huangyan Island, prompting concerns that the rows will hamper progress within the China-ASEAN cooperation framework.
"The territorial disputes between China and some ASEAN countries should in no way act as a hindrance," said Dato Mahani Abidin, managing director of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) in Malaysia.
He said multi-level cooperation between China and ASEAN countries has shown substantial progress in recent years.
Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has seen substantial growth in recent years after the launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area on Jan. 1, 2010. ASEAN is China's third largest trade partner following the European Union and the United States.
In 2011, trade between China and ASEAN rose 24 percent year on year to 362.9 billion U.S. dollars, higher than the 22.5-percent growth for China's total foreign trade during the period.
U Win Shein, Myanmar's vice minister of transport, said strengthened regional development and cooperation will help offset impact of the confrontations.
Initiated in 2006, the annual PBG Economic Cooperation Forum has grown into a major sub-regional cooperation platform under the China-ASEAN framework. The PBG Economic Zone covers China's Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.
"The construction of the PBG region has promoted economic cooperation between China and ASEAN, which is in line with the region's interests," U Win Shein said.
A report on the Feasibility Study on Economic Cooperation was unveiled at the forum last year. The report identified priority areas for cooperation and was later approved at the 14th ASEAN-China Summit.
This year, the forum will lay out the PBG Economic Cooperation Action Roadmap and submit a proposal to the China-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and the 15th ASEAN-China Summit to be held later this year for deliberation.
Yang Mu, a senior researcher at the East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore, attributed booming cooperation to regional stability and continued trade.
He said that although disputes in the South China Sea have existed for a long time, related countries have agreed that a healthy and peaceful environment as well as extensive economic cooperation will benefit the whole region.
Li Fuyu, a Thai journalist who has closely followed ASEAN's development, said the South China Sea disputes represent a very sensitive topic.
"Countries in the Pan-Beibu Gulf region should deepen economic cooperation and downplay the disputes in order to focus on economic cooperation and cultural communication," Li said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China is willing to talk to ASEAN countries about legalizing a code of conduct in the South China Sea, adding that the issue should be discussed and solved peacefully through bilateral talks.
"Solving the problems will require deepened economic cooperation," Yang said.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
It's been a blast so far
With half the NASCAR season in the books, here are a few things I bet you didn't see coming.
• A Monday night jet dryer explosion during the Daytona 500.
An on-track tweet-up.
• Matt Kenseth moving on down the road.
• A seemingly squeaky-clean guy in A.J. Allmendinger failing a drug test.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. one spot from the top spot.
You never know. Here's a look at those things and a few others that stood out in the first half of 2012:
Craziest crash: Juan Pablo Montoya slamming into a jet dryer truck during a caution in the Daytona 500, causing a massive fireball on the backstretch and a long delay to the race while crews cleaned up the mess.
Surprising tweet-up: The drivers on the backstretch at Daytona after Montoya's fireworks display. Brad Keselowski became Twitter royalty after tweeting pictures of the fire.
Silly-season shocker: Matt Kenseth leaving Roush Fenway Racing, where he has raced his entire Sprint Cup career. And Jack Roush is taking it hard, saying Kenseth is going to "the dark side." It's Roush's dirty little term for Toyota.
Most disappointing moment: Learning last weekend that A.J. Allmendinger failed a drug test. Not this guy. How can it be? But I've seen this so many times over the years with athletes I never would have suspected, so it just doesn't shock me anymore.
Most improved driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was winless and eighth in the standings a year ago. He's second now and finally has that elusive win with his victory at Michigan. Junior has 13 top-10s, tying him with Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson for the most in Cup.
Biggest backslide: Carl Edwards, from one point short of winning the championship a year ago to 11th in the 2012 standings, winless and in serious danger of missing the Chase. The runner-up jinx continues.
Most controversial idea: Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith saying he wants mandatory cautions to spice things up. NASCAR president Mike Helton politely said it's not happening.
Best idea: NASCAR chairman Brian France saying they will consider making some races shorter. It's quality over quantity. The fact is young people aren't watching for three-plus hours.
Least surprising suspension: Kurt Busch. While already on probation, Busch let his temper get the best of him in verbally abusing a reporter, saying his probation kept him from beating the reporter up. Busch said it a little more harshly. Of course, his probation also meant he couldn't say those things, so NASCAR had him sit out a week.
Worst punt: Jacques Villeneuve giving Danica Patrick the old chrome horn on the last lap at Road America when Patrick was headed to a top-5 finish. Villeneuve pleaded innocence afterward, saying his car wheel-hopped and he couldn't stop. Horse hockey. The man is a former F1 champ. He knew what he was doing. Hopefully Patrick gets to repay the favor one day.
Most attention without performance: Everyone knows this one. Whether she is getting wrecked or causing one, it's Patrick. DP is the princess of NASCAR these days, but it hasn't been a stellar year so far. She has one top-10, although she was robbed at Road America and led some laps at Daytona last weekend. She's ninth in the Nationwide standings, which sounds good until you consider only 16 drivers have competed in all events. I'll give her a C+ for performance in a season of A+ attention.
Most improved organization: Michael Waltrip Racing. It has been a long and difficult road for Waltrip to get his team to respectability, but MWR is a group challenging for top-tier status now. Both Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer are in the top 10. Bowyer won at Sonoma. Part-time driver Mark Martin is a big asset for both of them, and Scott Miller is doing an exceptional job running the show.
Still pathetic: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Jamie McMurray is 20th in the standings, and Montoya is 21st. Neither man has a top-5 this year. Team owner Chip Ganassi called the team's 2011 performance pathetic. Well, 2012 doesn't look much better, but McMurray and Montoya say things are slowly improving.
Start-and-park madness: Joe Nemechek. He has started 16 Cup races this season. He finished one, the Daytona 500, which also was the only time he completed more than 20 percent of the laps. I'm not blaming Nemechek. I'm blaming a system that allows this to happen.
Best turnaround: Kentucky Speedway. A stellar effort by everyone involved to make up for the traffic horrors of the track's inaugural Cup race in 2011. Granted, the 2012 race had fewer people, but speedway officials still did a nice job of correcting many of the first-year mistakes.
Best trend: Nationwide Series regulars winning more Nationwide races. Non-Cup drivers have won 50 percent of the Nationwide races this season. It has been nine years since that happened. It's good for NASCAR's future if developmental drivers win races in their own series.
Oddest stat: Keselowski has three victories, five top-5s and eight top-10s this season. He ranks ninth in the standings. Kevin Harvick has no wins, three top-5s and the same number of top-10s, but Harvick is sixth in the standings. What does that tell you? There's too big a penalty for a poor finish and not enough reward for winning.
Best chase to the Chase: The wild-card battle. Four drivers outside the top 10 have a victory, which means two (Kyle Busch and Joey Logano) are in and two (Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne) are out, at the moment. But Newman is only a point behind Logano, and Kahne is two points behind Newman. And another win jumps any of the four to the top of the wild-card pole. Plus, non-winners such as Edwards (11th) and Jeff Gordon (17th) still might secure a spot if they win before the Chase. The wild-card rule is one of NASCAR's best decisions in years.
Best appeal: Hendrick Motorsports receiving a get out of jail free card on its final appeal of the illegal C-post penalty to the No. 48 Chevy team from Daytona. John Middlebrook, the chief appellate officer and the final word on NASCAR penalties, pulled a John Roberts-like surprise. He eliminated the six-week suspensions for crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec and eliminated Johnson's 25-point penalty. So stop calling NASCAR's appeals process a kangaroo court.
Back-to-back I-told-you-so moments: Denny Hamlin won in Week 2 with new crew chief Darian Grubb, showing Tony Stewart he was wrong to let Grubb leave. But Stewart won a week later in Las Vegas with new crew chief Steve Addington, showing his new guy can win, too.
Best name change: Otis to Keelan. Well, Kevin and DeLana Harvick's baby boy really never was Otis. That's what they called him before he was born on Sunday. Keelan has part of both their names -- "Ke" for Kevin and "elan" for DeLana. They went with a K name, but I assume Kyle and Kurt were not options.
• A Monday night jet dryer explosion during the Daytona 500.
An on-track tweet-up.
• Matt Kenseth moving on down the road.
• A seemingly squeaky-clean guy in A.J. Allmendinger failing a drug test.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. one spot from the top spot.
You never know. Here's a look at those things and a few others that stood out in the first half of 2012:
Craziest crash: Juan Pablo Montoya slamming into a jet dryer truck during a caution in the Daytona 500, causing a massive fireball on the backstretch and a long delay to the race while crews cleaned up the mess.
Surprising tweet-up: The drivers on the backstretch at Daytona after Montoya's fireworks display. Brad Keselowski became Twitter royalty after tweeting pictures of the fire.
Silly-season shocker: Matt Kenseth leaving Roush Fenway Racing, where he has raced his entire Sprint Cup career. And Jack Roush is taking it hard, saying Kenseth is going to "the dark side." It's Roush's dirty little term for Toyota.
Most disappointing moment: Learning last weekend that A.J. Allmendinger failed a drug test. Not this guy. How can it be? But I've seen this so many times over the years with athletes I never would have suspected, so it just doesn't shock me anymore.
Most improved driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was winless and eighth in the standings a year ago. He's second now and finally has that elusive win with his victory at Michigan. Junior has 13 top-10s, tying him with Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson for the most in Cup.
Biggest backslide: Carl Edwards, from one point short of winning the championship a year ago to 11th in the 2012 standings, winless and in serious danger of missing the Chase. The runner-up jinx continues.
Most controversial idea: Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith saying he wants mandatory cautions to spice things up. NASCAR president Mike Helton politely said it's not happening.
Best idea: NASCAR chairman Brian France saying they will consider making some races shorter. It's quality over quantity. The fact is young people aren't watching for three-plus hours.
Least surprising suspension: Kurt Busch. While already on probation, Busch let his temper get the best of him in verbally abusing a reporter, saying his probation kept him from beating the reporter up. Busch said it a little more harshly. Of course, his probation also meant he couldn't say those things, so NASCAR had him sit out a week.
Worst punt: Jacques Villeneuve giving Danica Patrick the old chrome horn on the last lap at Road America when Patrick was headed to a top-5 finish. Villeneuve pleaded innocence afterward, saying his car wheel-hopped and he couldn't stop. Horse hockey. The man is a former F1 champ. He knew what he was doing. Hopefully Patrick gets to repay the favor one day.
Most attention without performance: Everyone knows this one. Whether she is getting wrecked or causing one, it's Patrick. DP is the princess of NASCAR these days, but it hasn't been a stellar year so far. She has one top-10, although she was robbed at Road America and led some laps at Daytona last weekend. She's ninth in the Nationwide standings, which sounds good until you consider only 16 drivers have competed in all events. I'll give her a C+ for performance in a season of A+ attention.
Most improved organization: Michael Waltrip Racing. It has been a long and difficult road for Waltrip to get his team to respectability, but MWR is a group challenging for top-tier status now. Both Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer are in the top 10. Bowyer won at Sonoma. Part-time driver Mark Martin is a big asset for both of them, and Scott Miller is doing an exceptional job running the show.
Still pathetic: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Jamie McMurray is 20th in the standings, and Montoya is 21st. Neither man has a top-5 this year. Team owner Chip Ganassi called the team's 2011 performance pathetic. Well, 2012 doesn't look much better, but McMurray and Montoya say things are slowly improving.
Start-and-park madness: Joe Nemechek. He has started 16 Cup races this season. He finished one, the Daytona 500, which also was the only time he completed more than 20 percent of the laps. I'm not blaming Nemechek. I'm blaming a system that allows this to happen.
Best turnaround: Kentucky Speedway. A stellar effort by everyone involved to make up for the traffic horrors of the track's inaugural Cup race in 2011. Granted, the 2012 race had fewer people, but speedway officials still did a nice job of correcting many of the first-year mistakes.
Best trend: Nationwide Series regulars winning more Nationwide races. Non-Cup drivers have won 50 percent of the Nationwide races this season. It has been nine years since that happened. It's good for NASCAR's future if developmental drivers win races in their own series.
Oddest stat: Keselowski has three victories, five top-5s and eight top-10s this season. He ranks ninth in the standings. Kevin Harvick has no wins, three top-5s and the same number of top-10s, but Harvick is sixth in the standings. What does that tell you? There's too big a penalty for a poor finish and not enough reward for winning.
Best chase to the Chase: The wild-card battle. Four drivers outside the top 10 have a victory, which means two (Kyle Busch and Joey Logano) are in and two (Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne) are out, at the moment. But Newman is only a point behind Logano, and Kahne is two points behind Newman. And another win jumps any of the four to the top of the wild-card pole. Plus, non-winners such as Edwards (11th) and Jeff Gordon (17th) still might secure a spot if they win before the Chase. The wild-card rule is one of NASCAR's best decisions in years.
Best appeal: Hendrick Motorsports receiving a get out of jail free card on its final appeal of the illegal C-post penalty to the No. 48 Chevy team from Daytona. John Middlebrook, the chief appellate officer and the final word on NASCAR penalties, pulled a John Roberts-like surprise. He eliminated the six-week suspensions for crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec and eliminated Johnson's 25-point penalty. So stop calling NASCAR's appeals process a kangaroo court.
Back-to-back I-told-you-so moments: Denny Hamlin won in Week 2 with new crew chief Darian Grubb, showing Tony Stewart he was wrong to let Grubb leave. But Stewart won a week later in Las Vegas with new crew chief Steve Addington, showing his new guy can win, too.
Best name change: Otis to Keelan. Well, Kevin and DeLana Harvick's baby boy really never was Otis. That's what they called him before he was born on Sunday. Keelan has part of both their names -- "Ke" for Kevin and "elan" for DeLana. They went with a K name, but I assume Kyle and Kurt were not options.
Truvada pill urged for AIDS prevention after promising studies
As the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationweighs approval of a radical new method of AIDS prevention — a prescription pill taken once a day — advocates say the results of experimental trials in sub-Saharan Africa argue strongly for the drug's adoption in the United States.
The pill was developed to treat people already infected with HIV. But studies published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate that it can also prevent heterosexual transmission of HIV, the most common mode of contagion in Africa.
A growing number of doctors in the U.S. are already prescribing the drug to uninfected high-risk patients as an off-label use, and some insurers are covering the considerable expense.
"It's not officially monitored, but its use is on the rise," said Dr. Robert M. Grant of UC San Francisco's Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, who worked on one of the new studies. "We're already starting to see support groups for users."
The blue tablets, which are sold under the brand name Truvada, contain a combination of two antiretroviral drugs called tenofovir and emtricitabine. Researchers began studying Truvada's ability to prevent the spread of HIV to uninfected gay men and heterosexual men and women several years ago; the FDA has said it will make a determination on the drug's use for HIV prevention by Sept. 14.
Publication of the Africa drug trials comes less than two weeks before the International AIDS Conference convenes inWashington, D.C.The results, as well as the FDA's deliberations, are likely to be hot-button issues there, since both advocates and critics of using Truvada for prevention have found ammunition for their views in the studies' findings.
Most notably, the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is vehemently opposed to the drug's approval as a prophylaxis in the U.S. because it says the pill is dangerous, overly expensive and will detract from proven methods of AIDS prevention, such as condom use.
"Our culture is always looking for a quick fix," said Michael Weinstein, the foundation's president. "We want to pop a pill.... Well, there are better methods."
In each of the three trials published Wednesday, test subjects were given Truvada or a placebo. They also received counseling on HIV risk reduction, condom use and other contraceptives. The treatment's success was closely related to whether the subjects used the drug as intended and how strongly they perceived themselves to be at risk of infection.
The study that showed the highest rate of success involved 4,747 married couples in Kenya and Uganda. In each case, one of the spouses had HIV and the other was uninfected. Truvada reduced transmission of the virus by up to 75%, according to the report; the medication was deemed so effective that the study ended early and people on the placebo switched to the drug.
However, a related study that focused exclusively on healthy women in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania — some married, some unmarried — was discontinued early because Truvada failed to significantly reduce infection rates. Although 95% of test subjects told researchers they were taking the pills regularly, blood tests suggested that less than 40% of the women actually did so.
"We hypothesize that the women's perception that they were at low risk for HIV infection may have contributed to the poor adherence," wrote the study authors, who were from the U.S., South Africa, Kenya, Britain and Belgium. Daily pill regimens may have also posed a difficulty for some of the women, though the researchers weren't sure why.
The third study involved healthy single men and women in Botswana ages 18 to 39. Half were asked to take Truvada once a day and the other half took a placebo. Over three years, those who got the medicine were 62% less likely to become infected than those who got the dummy pill, researchers from theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their collaborators reported.
But the study had important limitations. Many volunteers dropped out, which prevented the researchers from determining whether the drug was protective for men and women independently, as it was in the trial involving married couples.
The report also raised questions about Truvada's effect on bone mineral density, as the researchers observed a "small but significant decline." Other side effects, such as nausea, vomiting and dizziness, occurred more frequently in those who took the drug instead of a placebo, but those symptoms lessened after the third month, the authors wrote. The other studies also noted side effects of gastrointestinal problems and fatigue during the first month.
The pills were supplied byGilead Sciences Inc., the Bay Area firm that makes Truvada and is seeking fast-track approval from the FDA.
For study researchers and many AIDS advocacy groups, the take-away message from the three trials was that Truvada could be an effective tool in the battle against AIDS, if used correctly.
"Adherence matters," said Dr. Lynn Paxton, who coordinated the Botswana study at the CDC. "If you don't take the pill, it won't work, no matter what else you do."
Groups like the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, are citing these data as they lobby for the FDA to approve the drug and for the CDC to release guidelines on its use as soon as possible.
Last year, the CDC issued advice on using Truvada in gay men who are HIV-negative, but the agency has not yet done the same for heterosexuals. On Wednesday, CDC officials urged physicians to wait for those guidelines before prescribing the drug. However, they said that in urgent situations, doctors should follow the cautions and procedures laid out for gay men, including requirements for pre-treatment screening, dosages, periodic testing and counseling.
Truvada's chief critics contend that the drug is prohibitively expensive in the U.S., where an annual supply can cost about $10,000. They also fear it will reduce the use of condoms.
"You have to be really paranoid about your pants falling down to wear a belt and suspenders," Weinstein said.
But Grant, of UCSF, said the drug's detractors were overstating the effectiveness of condoms. Although they are more likely to be used during casual relationships, their use tapers as relationships grow more intimate.
"We need to be realistic about the limits of condom use," he said.
The pill was developed to treat people already infected with HIV. But studies published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate that it can also prevent heterosexual transmission of HIV, the most common mode of contagion in Africa.
A growing number of doctors in the U.S. are already prescribing the drug to uninfected high-risk patients as an off-label use, and some insurers are covering the considerable expense.
"It's not officially monitored, but its use is on the rise," said Dr. Robert M. Grant of UC San Francisco's Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, who worked on one of the new studies. "We're already starting to see support groups for users."
The blue tablets, which are sold under the brand name Truvada, contain a combination of two antiretroviral drugs called tenofovir and emtricitabine. Researchers began studying Truvada's ability to prevent the spread of HIV to uninfected gay men and heterosexual men and women several years ago; the FDA has said it will make a determination on the drug's use for HIV prevention by Sept. 14.
Publication of the Africa drug trials comes less than two weeks before the International AIDS Conference convenes inWashington, D.C.The results, as well as the FDA's deliberations, are likely to be hot-button issues there, since both advocates and critics of using Truvada for prevention have found ammunition for their views in the studies' findings.
Most notably, the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is vehemently opposed to the drug's approval as a prophylaxis in the U.S. because it says the pill is dangerous, overly expensive and will detract from proven methods of AIDS prevention, such as condom use.
"Our culture is always looking for a quick fix," said Michael Weinstein, the foundation's president. "We want to pop a pill.... Well, there are better methods."
In each of the three trials published Wednesday, test subjects were given Truvada or a placebo. They also received counseling on HIV risk reduction, condom use and other contraceptives. The treatment's success was closely related to whether the subjects used the drug as intended and how strongly they perceived themselves to be at risk of infection.
The study that showed the highest rate of success involved 4,747 married couples in Kenya and Uganda. In each case, one of the spouses had HIV and the other was uninfected. Truvada reduced transmission of the virus by up to 75%, according to the report; the medication was deemed so effective that the study ended early and people on the placebo switched to the drug.
However, a related study that focused exclusively on healthy women in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania — some married, some unmarried — was discontinued early because Truvada failed to significantly reduce infection rates. Although 95% of test subjects told researchers they were taking the pills regularly, blood tests suggested that less than 40% of the women actually did so.
"We hypothesize that the women's perception that they were at low risk for HIV infection may have contributed to the poor adherence," wrote the study authors, who were from the U.S., South Africa, Kenya, Britain and Belgium. Daily pill regimens may have also posed a difficulty for some of the women, though the researchers weren't sure why.
The third study involved healthy single men and women in Botswana ages 18 to 39. Half were asked to take Truvada once a day and the other half took a placebo. Over three years, those who got the medicine were 62% less likely to become infected than those who got the dummy pill, researchers from theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their collaborators reported.
But the study had important limitations. Many volunteers dropped out, which prevented the researchers from determining whether the drug was protective for men and women independently, as it was in the trial involving married couples.
The report also raised questions about Truvada's effect on bone mineral density, as the researchers observed a "small but significant decline." Other side effects, such as nausea, vomiting and dizziness, occurred more frequently in those who took the drug instead of a placebo, but those symptoms lessened after the third month, the authors wrote. The other studies also noted side effects of gastrointestinal problems and fatigue during the first month.
The pills were supplied byGilead Sciences Inc., the Bay Area firm that makes Truvada and is seeking fast-track approval from the FDA.
For study researchers and many AIDS advocacy groups, the take-away message from the three trials was that Truvada could be an effective tool in the battle against AIDS, if used correctly.
"Adherence matters," said Dr. Lynn Paxton, who coordinated the Botswana study at the CDC. "If you don't take the pill, it won't work, no matter what else you do."
Groups like the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, are citing these data as they lobby for the FDA to approve the drug and for the CDC to release guidelines on its use as soon as possible.
Last year, the CDC issued advice on using Truvada in gay men who are HIV-negative, but the agency has not yet done the same for heterosexuals. On Wednesday, CDC officials urged physicians to wait for those guidelines before prescribing the drug. However, they said that in urgent situations, doctors should follow the cautions and procedures laid out for gay men, including requirements for pre-treatment screening, dosages, periodic testing and counseling.
Truvada's chief critics contend that the drug is prohibitively expensive in the U.S., where an annual supply can cost about $10,000. They also fear it will reduce the use of condoms.
"You have to be really paranoid about your pants falling down to wear a belt and suspenders," Weinstein said.
But Grant, of UCSF, said the drug's detractors were overstating the effectiveness of condoms. Although they are more likely to be used during casual relationships, their use tapers as relationships grow more intimate.
"We need to be realistic about the limits of condom use," he said.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
First Cobra
LAS VEGAS, Nev.--If you've seen one on the road, it was probably leaving you in the dust somewhere. That's because cars made by Shelby are some of America's most powerful, with some boasting more than 1,000 horsepower, and top speeds well higher than most.
This year marks 50 years since Carroll Shelby produced the first Cobra. According to the Shelby museum, located at its headquarters in Las Vegas, Shelby "took the antiquated AC 'Ace' chassis, inserted a new small block Ford engine, and re-engineered the car to handle all the additional power. Weighing only 2,020 pounds, the Cobra easily vanquished sports cars from Jaguar, Chevrolet, Porsche, Aston Martin, and others. And in 1965, Shelby's Cobra team wrested the sports car racing world championship from Ferrari."
This is the first Cobra ever produced, located in the Shelby Museum, and according to the company's vice president of operations Gary Patterson, Shelby America recently turned down a $25 million offer for the car.
This year marks 50 years since Carroll Shelby produced the first Cobra. According to the Shelby museum, located at its headquarters in Las Vegas, Shelby "took the antiquated AC 'Ace' chassis, inserted a new small block Ford engine, and re-engineered the car to handle all the additional power. Weighing only 2,020 pounds, the Cobra easily vanquished sports cars from Jaguar, Chevrolet, Porsche, Aston Martin, and others. And in 1965, Shelby's Cobra team wrested the sports car racing world championship from Ferrari."
This is the first Cobra ever produced, located in the Shelby Museum, and according to the company's vice president of operations Gary Patterson, Shelby America recently turned down a $25 million offer for the car.
Ancient Map Of “America” Found In Germany
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
In time for Fourth of July festivities, Librarians at a German university announced on
Tuesday that they have found a 500-year-old version of a world map that was the first to
have mentioned “America.”
The librarians were unaware of the map’s presence until they found it stashed away inside
an unrelated 16th century Geometry book.
The map doesn’t quite pre-date the 1507 map that Germany officially handed over to the
U.S. back in 2007, which now lies in the Library of Congress in Washington.
The newly discovered map is believed to have been drawn up by German cartographer Martin
Waldseemueller, who died back in 1522, according to the Ludwig Maximilian University of
Munich said.
The new map shows the world divided into twelve segments, which taper to a point at each
end and are printed on a single sheet. When the map is folded out, it can form a small
globe, with three rightmost segments depicting a boomerang-shaped territory named America.
The university said in a written statement that only four copies of the segmental maps were
previously known about. One of the four was sold at an auction for one million dollars
back in 2005.
According to the university, the fifth map was found by a bibliographer, who was revising
the catalogue “in an otherwise unremarkable volume that had been rebound in the 19th
century.”
“Even in our digital age the originals have lost none of their significance and unique
fascination,” Klaus-Rainer Brintzinger, the head of the library, said in the statement. “
We intend to make the map accessible to the public in digital form in time for the Fourth
of July, Independence Day in the USA.”
Waldseemueller helped create the name “America” in honor of explorer Amerigo Vespucci,
who he mistakenly believed discovered the New World.
Sven Kuttner, head of the library’s old books department, said the map was a “sleeping
beauty” in the university’s collection until its recent unearthing.
In time for Fourth of July festivities, Librarians at a German university announced on
Tuesday that they have found a 500-year-old version of a world map that was the first to
have mentioned “America.”
The librarians were unaware of the map’s presence until they found it stashed away inside
an unrelated 16th century Geometry book.
The map doesn’t quite pre-date the 1507 map that Germany officially handed over to the
U.S. back in 2007, which now lies in the Library of Congress in Washington.
The newly discovered map is believed to have been drawn up by German cartographer Martin
Waldseemueller, who died back in 1522, according to the Ludwig Maximilian University of
Munich said.
The new map shows the world divided into twelve segments, which taper to a point at each
end and are printed on a single sheet. When the map is folded out, it can form a small
globe, with three rightmost segments depicting a boomerang-shaped territory named America.
The university said in a written statement that only four copies of the segmental maps were
previously known about. One of the four was sold at an auction for one million dollars
back in 2005.
According to the university, the fifth map was found by a bibliographer, who was revising
the catalogue “in an otherwise unremarkable volume that had been rebound in the 19th
century.”
“Even in our digital age the originals have lost none of their significance and unique
fascination,” Klaus-Rainer Brintzinger, the head of the library, said in the statement. “
We intend to make the map accessible to the public in digital form in time for the Fourth
of July, Independence Day in the USA.”
Waldseemueller helped create the name “America” in honor of explorer Amerigo Vespucci,
who he mistakenly believed discovered the New World.
Sven Kuttner, head of the library’s old books department, said the map was a “sleeping
beauty” in the university’s collection until its recent unearthing.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Kavita Bhartia unveils an ‘India Unseen’
The foundation of her Autumn Winter 2012-2013 collection unveils an opulent and luxurious India, still unseen by many.
Her attempt to delve into the treasure chest of textiles unlocks the art of many unexplored crafts into her distinctive modern cuts. The line up, fashionable in appeal yet retaining the age-old techniques, brings to the fore the hidden styles of old Indian cities.
Autumn in India: Copper coloured leaves strewn all over the ramp and twilight lighting created just the perfect ambience for the season and soon walked in the models wearing rich hues and articulate accessories. The scene further kicked into life as a melodious composition of ghungroos and the tabla began to play, again reminding us of the artistic India.
Designs, colour and fabric: With the help of master artisans, Kavita Bhartia explores distinctive embroidery techniques and plays with colours that rule the season. Beautiful gold hues fused with a black base, sunset orange married to charcoal grey, and soft sand olive and blues were some of the colour blends hard to be missed. "We've sourced Zardozi from ancient India and layered one print on to another. We travelled to Rajasthan and the bazaars of Old Delhi to buy Gotas", says Kavita.
What further accentuated the garments were their innovative ensembles - fan pleated printed tunic with embroidered yoke, green kalidar kurta with textured yoke, grey black ankle grazing tailored jackets with peacock textures on collar, full length tattered and embroidered black dress with churidar sleeves, and Nehru-collared shirts and printed jumpsuits. "My idea is to design clothes that have a global appeal yet exude India's rich textile heritage. I believe in dressing the world but retaining a sense of Indian-ness into my garments", she added.
The stand out garment was the black printed sari with glitzy golden borders and an equally glittery sequin blouse. Small beads of various kinds and makes have been introduced into the fabrics to create different moods of modern designs. Embellishment and sparkle have been carefully rendered into the designs so as to ensure a subtle glam look. Gold and silver threads interwoven sporadically into the base fabrics and dotted sequins bordering the cuffs and collars ensure a neat finishing.
Accessories: Large, heavy hoops coated in exquisite Zardozi and Gota work completed the fiery contemporary yet calm traditional ensemble. Other accessories included a butterfly brooch and an armlet, both replete with Gota work, sling-on and pouch bags.
Kavita summed up by saying, "I like clothes that fit well and hence I've used blends of georgette and chiffon that bring out the beautiful Indian structure. Also, asymmetrical hems and layering creates the magic".
Her attempt to delve into the treasure chest of textiles unlocks the art of many unexplored crafts into her distinctive modern cuts. The line up, fashionable in appeal yet retaining the age-old techniques, brings to the fore the hidden styles of old Indian cities.
Autumn in India: Copper coloured leaves strewn all over the ramp and twilight lighting created just the perfect ambience for the season and soon walked in the models wearing rich hues and articulate accessories. The scene further kicked into life as a melodious composition of ghungroos and the tabla began to play, again reminding us of the artistic India.
Designs, colour and fabric: With the help of master artisans, Kavita Bhartia explores distinctive embroidery techniques and plays with colours that rule the season. Beautiful gold hues fused with a black base, sunset orange married to charcoal grey, and soft sand olive and blues were some of the colour blends hard to be missed. "We've sourced Zardozi from ancient India and layered one print on to another. We travelled to Rajasthan and the bazaars of Old Delhi to buy Gotas", says Kavita.
What further accentuated the garments were their innovative ensembles - fan pleated printed tunic with embroidered yoke, green kalidar kurta with textured yoke, grey black ankle grazing tailored jackets with peacock textures on collar, full length tattered and embroidered black dress with churidar sleeves, and Nehru-collared shirts and printed jumpsuits. "My idea is to design clothes that have a global appeal yet exude India's rich textile heritage. I believe in dressing the world but retaining a sense of Indian-ness into my garments", she added.
The stand out garment was the black printed sari with glitzy golden borders and an equally glittery sequin blouse. Small beads of various kinds and makes have been introduced into the fabrics to create different moods of modern designs. Embellishment and sparkle have been carefully rendered into the designs so as to ensure a subtle glam look. Gold and silver threads interwoven sporadically into the base fabrics and dotted sequins bordering the cuffs and collars ensure a neat finishing.
Accessories: Large, heavy hoops coated in exquisite Zardozi and Gota work completed the fiery contemporary yet calm traditional ensemble. Other accessories included a butterfly brooch and an armlet, both replete with Gota work, sling-on and pouch bags.
Kavita summed up by saying, "I like clothes that fit well and hence I've used blends of georgette and chiffon that bring out the beautiful Indian structure. Also, asymmetrical hems and layering creates the magic".
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