NAIROBI, 23 September 2011 (PlusNews) – Computer gamers, glow-in-the-dark cats and neutralizing viruses sound like the stuff of science fiction but they may be the key to eliminating HIV. More than 33 million people are infected with HIV globally, and while combination antiretroviral therapy is enabling people to have near-normal life spans, a cure has so far evaded researchers. IRIN/PlusNews lists three recent developments in HIV research: Computer gamers – The authors of a recent study published in the journal, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, say they challenged players of a computer game known as Foldit – where gamers “fold”... Continue Reading
“Life is like a coin. You can spend it any which way you wish, but you only spend it once“ “I remember it just like yesterday when the doctor broke the news to us. In my heart I yelled out to the Lord, asking why me? I was achieving good grades at school, had just been elected as Deputy Head Boy. Something I had always dreamt about, then it all came crashing down, all my hopes were dashed and my dreams had to wait“. This was 15-year old Kagiso Itumeleng Nkuna’s personal story that he shared at the South African... Continue Reading
September 2011, Cape Town: The cold, hard, hairless reality is that one in three South Africans will develop Cancer at some point in their lives. This is in the context of what the actual figures might represent if a reliable Cancer and mortality registry existed in South Africa… but it doesn’t says lobbyist Linda Greeff. Projections from the World Health Organisation show that Cancer related deaths worldwide will exceed the combined deaths caused by malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS by 2030. This makes Cancer one of the greatest threats to our society and a heavy future burden on the recently announced... Continue Reading
African representatives at the AIDS Vaccine Conference are questioning the continent’s commitment to the search for HIV vaccine. Participants at the conference in Bongkok, Thailand, say Africa has the capacity to contribute to global war against the epidemic, but the story has been different. Sub-Sahara Africa accounts for 70 per cent of the world’s new infections, coming behind South and South-East Asia. Out of 779 delegates attending the conference, 110 are from Africa, 26 of them on sponsorship. Only 35 out of the 352 abstract presentations and three of 21 posters at the conference were independently submitted by African researchers.... Continue Reading
At least 400 tonnes of uncollected garbage, blamed on inaccessibility to some quarters, accumulate in Douala every day. In countries where waste is not wasted, tonnes of energy are generated for use in hospitals and laboratories for warming, and in kitchens where it replaces the conventional cooking gas. A significant proportion of cheap energy can be available for such uses if the tons of waste and garbage produced by Douala households were to be recycled, or simply transformed. Yet, waste continues to be a source of public health concerns in the economic capital. Of the 1200 tonnes of waste said... Continue Reading
