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Stem Cells to Kill HIV?

Jason Shaw — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:00:51 +0000

It may sound a little far fetched, but according to an announcement last Monday, 7th December, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles, have found that stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV !

“We have demonstrated in this proof-of-principle study that this type of approach can be used to engineer the human immune system, particularly the T-cell response, to specifically target HIV-infected cells,” says the lead investigator Scott Kitchen, whose assistant professor of medicine in the department of hematology and oncology at the Devid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, he added ”These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors.”

This is another step forward, coming the just a week or so after the world wore red for World Aids Day on 1st December. Even social networking sites FaceBook and Twitter went #red to mark the day that saw millions around the world raise the public conscious to a killer that just wont go away.

The UK’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, released a video on YouTube via the UK’s WorldAidsDay organisation to show support for activists tackling HIV.

We’ve come so far, we have so far yet to go!

Dutch Views on Gay Marriage

James — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:19:36 +0000

Lisa Belkin interviewed was M. V. Lee Badgett, who is both the director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law and a professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She is also the author of “When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage,” which focuses mostly on data from the Netherlands, where same-sex marriage has been legal for nearly a decade.

My magazine article focused primarily on the effects of same-sex marriage on children. But Badgett has more to say — about the effects of same-sex couples on marriage, and also about the effects of marriage on same-sex couples.

She shared her thoughts in a follow-up email interview:

Q. Why study how gay marriage works in the Netherlands?

A. The Netherlands let same-sex couples marry in 2001, so they have the longest experience for us to see what effects it might have. And like some states here, the Netherlands also had a civil union-like status (“registered partnerships”) before same-sex marriage rights, starting in 1998. So the Dutch have had a long time for things to change — the cultural meaning of marriage, choices about marriage by different-sex couples, and the impact on gay and lesbian people, in particular. Also, Dutch couples have lots of choices for organizing their relationships, so we can see which legal institutions appeal most to couples, whether gay or heterosexual couples.

More at: NY Times Parenting Blog!

Be an Athlete or Fag!

James — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:37:17 +0000

Back in the 80s, I was a UCLA cheerleader who was constantly mistaken for a UCLA football player. I was also a closeted fag, homo, gay guy, bi curious?— whatever you wanna call it. I wasn’t sure. On the inside I was dazed and confused. On the outside I looked like one of you guys.

I played football before I ever dreamed of college cheerleading. Growing up in a sports family in Indianapolis, I played the Big 3 and went up against little league and junior high kids who later made names for themselves, including the late Oakland Raider Stacey Toran.

Read the rest at randyboydblocks.com.