Why Are There So Many Colors of Poisonous Frogs?

by Helen Fields

ENLARGE IMAGE

Warning signs. In the Peruvian rainforest, poison dart frogs of the genusRanitomeya come in a wide variety of patterns; at bottom left, a clay model mimics a particular variety.

Credit: Mathieu Chouteau

Hopping around in the Peruvian jungle, near the border with Brazil, is a menagerie of tiny poison dart frogs. Their wealth of colors and patterns—some have golden heads atop white-swirled bodies, others wear full-torso tattoos of black and neon-yellow stripes—act as the world's worst advertisement to predators: Don't eat me, I'm toxic. But why have so many designs evolved when a single one might do?

Evolutionary biologist Mathieu Chouteau of the University of Montreal in Canada ventured into the rainforest to find out. He was on the trail ofRanitomeya imitator, a single species of poison dart frog that comes in about 10 different patterns. That variability should be confusing for predators, he says, because the warnings are supposed to be a message to them, and it would make more sense to give them only one design to keep track of.

To figure out what was going on, Chouteau enlisted his girlfriend's help to make 3600 models of frogs, each 18 millimeters long. "It was, like, at least a month of working full-time," he says. They pressed black clay into frog-shaped molds and painted each one in one of two patterns: yellow striped or reticulated, like a giraffe, with green lines. They also made brown frogs as a nontoxic-looking control. Then Chouteau packed the frogs in his carryon baggage and flew to Peru.

The models represent the frogs that live in two different sites: one in the Amazonian lowland and one in a valley at about 500 meters above sea level. The two sites are separated by a high ridge. In one very long day at each site, Chouteau set out 900 of the frogs on leaves along narrow trails used by locals to hunt in the forest. For the next 3 days, he went back and checked them to see whether the soft clay recorded evidence of attacks by birds.

Birds mostly avoided the model that looked like the local frog, but they attacked the model that looked like the frog from the other site, Chouteau reports in the December issue of The American Naturalist. In the high valley, the land of the reticulated frogs, only 7.2% of the model frogs with the reticulated pattern were attacked, whereas 14.2% of the brown models and 26.6% of the yellow-striped models were attacked. The pattern was roughly reversed at the other site.

And that helps explain the diversity of frogs in the rainforest, Chouteau says. Different frog patterns rule at different sites, and birds keep these designs going by weeding out any frogs that deviate from the norm.

"This study shows quite nicely how, once you've got the diversity, it's stabilized," says Chris Jiggins, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. But where the diversity comes from, he says, is "a bit of an outstanding question." It's possible that frogs with a particular pattern are somehow better suited to the environment where they live, but he thinks the differences more likely arise because of drift. Random changes in pattern get established and then keep evolving, making the frogs distinctive. "What's actually kind of surprising is the birds are really going for these frogs," he says. "You'd think, these frogs are so nasty, you wouldn't go anywhere near a poison dart frog." Maybe the rainforest is so diverse that it's always worth trying something, even something brightly colored
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Wanted: Worldly Philosophers

By ROGER E. BACKHOUSE and BRADLEY W. BATEMAN

IT’S become commonplace to criticize the “Occupy” movement for failing to offer an alternative vision. But the thousands of activists in the streets of New York and London aren’t the only ones lacking perspective: economists, to whom we might expect to turn for such vision, have long since given up thinking in terms of economic systems — and we are all the worse for it.

Alain Pilon

This wasn’t always the case. Course lists from economics departments used to be filled with offerings in “comparative economic systems,” contrasting capitalism and socialism or comparing the French, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon models of capitalism.

Such courses arose in the context of the cold war, when the battle with the Soviet Union was about showing that our system was better than theirs. But with the demise of the Soviet Union, that motivation disappeared. Globalization, so it is claimed, has created a single system of capitalism driven by international competition (ignoring the very real differences between, say, China and the United States). We now have an economics profession that hardly ever discusses its fundamental subject, “capitalism.”

Many economists say that what matters are questions like whether markets are competitive or monopolistic, or how monetary policy works. Using broad, ill-defined notions like capitalism invites ideological grandstanding and distracts from the hard technical problems.

There is a lot in that argument. Economists do much better when they tackle small, well-defined problems. As John Maynard Keynes put it, economists should become more like dentists: modest people who look at a small part of the body but remove a lot of pain.

However, there are also downsides to approaching economics as a dentist would: above all, the loss of any vision about what the economic system should look like. Even Keynes himself was driven by a powerful vision of capitalism. He believed it was the only system that could create prosperity, but it was also inherently unstable and so in need of constant reform. This vision caught the imagination of a generation that had experienced the Great Depression and World War II and helped drive policy for nearly half a century. He was, as the economist Robert Heilbroner claimed, a “worldly philosopher,” alongside such economic visionaries as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx.

In the 20th century, the main challenge to Keynes’s vision came from economists like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, who envisioned an ideal economy involving isolated individuals bargaining with one another in free markets. Government, they contended, usually messes things up. Overtaking a Keynesianism that many found inadequate to the task of tackling the stagflation of the 1970s, this vision fueled neoliberal and free-market conservative agendas of governments around the world.

THAT vision has in turn been undermined by the current crisis. It took extensive government action to prevent another Great Depression, while the enormous rewards received by bankers at the heart of the meltdown have led many to ask whether unfettered capitalism produced an equitable distribution of wealth. We clearly need a new, alternative vision of capitalism. But thanks to decades of academic training in the “dentistry” approach to economics, today’s Keynes or Friedman is nowhere to be found.

Another downside to the “dentistry” approach to economics is that important pieces of human experience can easily fall from sight. The government does not cut an abstract entity called “government spending” but numerous spending programs, from veterans’ benefits and homeland security to Medicare and Medicaid. To refuse to discuss ideas such as types of capitalism deprives us of language with which to think about these problems. It makes it easier to stop thinking about what the economic system is for and in whose interests it is working.

Perhaps the protesters occupying Wall Street are not so misguided after all. The questions they raise — how do we deal with the local costs of global downturns? Is it fair that those who suffer the most from such downturns have their safety net cut, while those who generate the volatility are bailed out by the government? — are the same ones that a big-picture economic vision should address. If economists want to help create a better world, they first have to ask, and try to answer, the hard questions that can shape a new vision of capitalism’s potential.

Roger E. Backhouse, a professor of economic history at the University of Birmingham, and Bradley W. Bateman, a professor of economics at Denison University, are the authors of “Capitalist Revolutionary: John Maynard Keynes.”

Scientists identify gene critical for cell responses to oxygen deprivation

 by Biomechanism 

Caption: Blood vessels (shown in red) in a mouse retina that is missing the p75NTR protein. Black areas indicate a lack of blood vessels in the absence of p75NTR. Dr. Akassoglou's lab found that p75NTR was critical for kick-starting increased blood vessel production during hypoxia. Credit: Natacha Le Moan/Gladstone Institutes

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified a protein that kick–starts the response to low levels of oxygen, suggesting new lines of research relevant to a variety of potentially fatal disorders associated with diminished oxygen supply, including cancer, heart disease, stroke and other neurological conditions that affect millions of people worldwide.

In a paper being published in Molecular Cell, the laboratory of Gladstone Associate Investigator Katerina Akassoglou, PhD, maps out the chain of events that take place during hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a condition that can occur in people with diseases such as heart disease and stroke. It deprives tissues and organs of an adequate oxygen supply.

“This discovery provides a novel understanding of the steps by which cells normally respond to hypoxia, a fundamental biological process that is implicated in many medical conditions,” said Dr. Akassoglou, whose research at Gladstone—a leading and independent biomedical-research organization—investigates the mechanisms of inflammation and tissue repair in the brain.

The paper details how Dr. Akassoglou’s lab discovered the previously unknown biological function of a protein called p75NTR. When activated by hypoxia, p75NTR sets off the cascading series of events that results in increased blood-vessel production to replenish oxygen levels during disease.

Previous research had indicated that hypoxia triggers the activation of a protein called HIF1–alpha—an activation that ultimately leads to more blood vessels and an ensuing improvement in oxygen flow. There has been much interest among researchers in modifying levels of the HIF1–alpha protein to spur blood-vessel production in individuals with hypoxic conditions. But Dr. Akassoglou decided to take a different approach in her research.

By monitoring the responses of mice under hypoxic conditions, Dr. Akassoglou found that hypoxia first activated the p75NTR protein, which then activated HIF1-alpha and set everything in motion.

“What was most striking to us was what happened when we removed the gene that makes p75NTR,” said Natacha Le Moan, PhD, a Gladstone postdoctoral fellow and the first author of the paper. “By effectively silencing p75NTR, the mice’s response to hypoxia was impaired and blood-vessel production decreased.”

“Now that we’ve shown that p75NTR spurs the activation of HIF1-alpha and the production of blood vessels during hypoxia, we can move forward with exploring potential therapies,” said Dr. Akassoglou, who is also an associate professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, with which Gladstone is affiliated. In addition, Dr. Akassoglou is also an associate adjunct professor of pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego.

“Dr. Akassoglou’s trailblazing discovery could enable the development of pharmaceutical therapies for conditions that are caused or exacerbated by reduced oxygen levels,” added Lennart Mucke, MD, who directs neurological research at Gladstone. “This is important news for those who suffer from hypoxia-related illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.”

போட்டிகள் வைத்து பரிசுகளை அள்ளிக் கொடுக்கும் இணையம்

வேலை கொடுப்பவர்களுக்கு நாளும் வரும் வேலையை கூட ஒரு போட்டி போல் வைத்து தினமும் பலவகையான போட்டி நடத்தி ஒவ்வொரு போட்டிக்கும் அதற்கு இணையான பரிசினை வெற்றி பெறுபவர்களுக்கு கொடுக்க ஒரு தளம் உள்ளது. உழைக்காமல் பணம் வேண்டாம், எங்கே போட்டி நடக்கிறது என்று மட்டும் சொல்லுங்கள் நாங்களும் கலந்து கொண்டு வெற்றி பெறுவோம் என்று சொல்லும் அனைவருக்கும் போட்டிகளை வைத்து பரிசுகளை அள்ளிக் கொடுப்பதற்கென்றே ஒரு தளம் இருக்கிறது. வீட்டில் இருந்தே பணம் சம்பாதிப்பது எப்படி?, ஓன்லைன் மூலம் பணம் சம்பாதிக்க வழிமுறை என்ன?, ஓன்லைன் மூலம் வேலை செய்வது எப்படி?, இணையம் வழியாக பணம் சம்பாதிப்பது எப்படி? இன்னும் நம்மவர்கள் கேட்கும் பல கேள்விகளுக்கு இந்த தளம் பதிலாக இருக்கும். இத்தளத்திற்கு சென்று நாம் நம்முடைய பேஸ்புக் அல்லது டிவிட்டர் கணக்கைப் பயன்படுத்தி உள்நுழையலாம், இணையப் பயனாளர்கள் பலபேர் தங்களுக்கு செய்ய வேண்டிய வேலை மற்றும் பணம், எத்தனை நாட்களுக்குள் முடிக்க வேண்டும் என்று கொடுத்துள்ளனர், தினமும் பலவகையான பிராஜெக்ட் இங்கு கிடைக்கிறது, இதில் நாம் எதில் திறமைசாலியாக இருக்கிறோமோ அதில் விருப்பத்துடன் பங்கு பெறலாம். பல பேர் பங்கு பெறுவதில் போட்டி கொஞ்சம் அதிகமாக இருக்கும், ஆனால் வெற்றி பெற்றால் பணத்தை குவிக்கலாம். குறிப்பிட்ட விளம்பரத்தை கிளிக் செய்யுங்கள் மாதம் இவ்வளவு பணம் என்று ஏமாற்றும் கும்பலிடம் இருந்து தப்பிக்கலாம். உதாரணமாக இந்ததளத்தில் இருந்து ஒருவர் தன் நிறுவனத்திற்கு லோகோ வேண்டும் என்று கேட்டிருக்கிறார் என்று வைத்துக்கொள்வோம், நாமும் பங்கு கொண்டு வெற்றி பெற்றால் பணமும் கிடைக்கும், உங்கள் திறமை அவருக்கு பிடித்திருந்தால் அந்த நிறுவனத்தில் வேலையும் கிடைக்கும். இணையதள முகவரி

திரைபடங்களின் தரவரிசையை அறிந்துக்கொள்ள

திரைப்பட தரவரிசை தள‌ம் என்றதும் இன்னொரு டாப் டென் பட்டியல் தளம் நினைத்துவிட வேண்டாம். மாறாக புதிதாக வெளியாகும் ஒவ்வொரு படத்திற்குமான ரசிகர்களின் தரவரிசையை வழங்கும் தளம் இது. ரசிகர்களின் ரேட்டிங் என்றால் டிவிட்டரில் திரைப்படம் தொடர்பாக ரசிகர்கள் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளும் கருத்துக்களின் அடிப்படையிலான மதிப்பீடு. புதிய படங்களை பார்த்ததுமே அது பற்றிய கருத்தை குறும்பதிவாக பதிவுசெய்யும் பழக்கம் ரசிகர்கள் மத்தியில் உருவாகி விட்டது. பல படங்களின் வெற்றி தோல்வியை தீர்மானிக்க கூடிய அளவுக்கு தற்போது இவை அமைந்துவிட்டது. டிவிட்டரில் பகிரப்படும் கருத்துக்களின் அடிப்படையில் திரைப்படங்களை மதிப்பிட உதவும் தளங்களும் பல இருக்கின்றன. டிவிட்பிலிக்ஸ் தளமும் இந்த ரகத்தை சேர்ந்தது தான். ஆனால் கொஞ்சம் வித்தியாசமாக படங்களுக்கான ரேட்டிங்கை டிவிட்டர் கருத்துக்கள் அடைப்படையில் முன் வைக்கிறது. அதாவது ஒரு படத்தை ரசிகர்கள் எந்த அளவுக்கு விரும்புகின்றனர் என்பதை மதிப்பிட்டு சொல்கிற‌து. முகப்பு பக்கத்தில் இடம் பெற்றுள்ள படங்களுக்கான போஸ்டரை கிளிக் செய்தால் அந்த படத்திற்கான டிவிட்டர் மதிப்பீடு சதவீத்தில் காட்டப்படுகிற‌து. அப்படியே படம் வெளியான காலம், மற்றும் அதன் நீளம் ஆகிய விவரமும் கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ள‌து. கூடவே அந்த படம் தொடர்பான டிவிட்டர் செய்திகளின் எண்ணிக்கை மற்றும் அன்றைய தினத்தில் எத்தனை டிவிட்டர் பதிவுகள் என்னும் தகவலும் இடம் பெறுகிற‌து. அதன் கீழே படத்தை பிடிச்சிருக்கு என்று சொன்னவர்களின் டிவிட்டர் பதிவுகளும் அருகிலேயே எனக்கு பிடிக்கவில்லை என்று சொனனவர்களின் கருத்துக்களும் வரிசையாக தோன்றுகின்றன. படங்களின் ரேட்டிங் கைகொடுக்கிறதோ இல்லையோ இந்த எதிரும் புதிருமான டிவிட்டர் பதிவுகளை படித்து பார்த்தால் படத்தில் எதை ர‌சிக்கலாம்,என்ன எதிர்பார்க்கலாம் என்ற தெளிவு ஏற்படும். அந்த புரிதலோடு திரையரங்கத்திற்கு போகலாம். நிச்சயம் ஹாலிவுட் பட பிரியர்களுக்கு வரப்பிரசதம் இந்த தளம். இணையதள முகவரி

Shirdi Sai Baba - Jai Jai Sai Ram

Inside Facebook's Server Room

Preventing HIV Before Exposure

By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan | 

Currently, more than 33 million people worldwide are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Each year, there are nearly 3 million new infections. The growing worldwide burden of this infection, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), has prompted researchers to investigate novel approaches to infection control and prevention. A recent investigation published by the New England Journal of Medicine, which will likely be known as a landmark study in HIV/AIDS research, reported that a daily dose of a prophylactic pill can prevent the spread of HIV before exposure to the virus.

The study, called the iPrEX (Preexposure Prophylaxis Initiative) trial, involved 2499 men and transgender women (born men) who have sex with men. All participants tested negative for HIV at the beginning of the study, but reported engaging in behavior that put them at high risk for exposure to HIV. Half of the subjects received a daily placebo pill, while the remaining half received a combination pill of 2 antiretroviral drugs: emtricitabine and tenofovir. (This combination pill is currently marketed as Truvada and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat HIV infection.) All study participants also received HIV education and testing, as well as condoms, during the study period. They were followed for a median of 1.2 years.

Overall, the rate of HIV infection in the treatment group was 2.88% at the end of the study — 44% lower than the 5.13% infection rate in the placebo group. Participants who were most compliant with taking the prophylaxis pills — doing so on 90% or more of days — experienced a 70% decrease in risk of HIV infection. Medication adherence was reportedly low, though it is not clear why. Study participants who want to continue taking the prophylactic antiretroviral therapy (ART) will be able to do so as part of an 18-month open-label study of preexposure prophylaxis beginning in 2011. Researchers are hoping that an open-label design will improve medication adherence and strengthen the original findings.

An interesting secondary finding in iPrEX was that individuals enrolled in the study self-reported a decrease in high-risk sexual behavior. Whether taking a daily pill served as a reminder of safer sex practices, or the same result will be seen among larger populations or in the open-label study is not clear. Potentially, once the benefit of daily prophylaxis is confirmed, individuals will not engage in safer sex practices, a phenomenon of risk compensation. The authors of iPrEX warn that preexposure prophylaxis should still be considered a back-up plan, and not first-line defense against HIV infection. Additionally, high-risk sexual practices expose individuals to countless infections and conditions other than HIV, for which ART is not effective prophylaxis.

The iPrEX trial was conducted at 11 sites across the United States, South Africa, Thailand, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. The United States’ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health funded approximately two-thirds of the costs of the study. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded the remaining costs.

For the last several decades, HIV prevention efforts were basically limited to behavioral approaches: consistent use of barrier methods of protection during intercourse, a reduction in the prevalence of HIV in the blood supply, decreasing the use of dirty syringes among intravenous drug users, and awareness of HIV status. Safer sex practices with fewer partners have, thus far, proven to be the most effective prevention of the spread of HIV. Education efforts among high-risk groups, primarily men who have sex with men, must begin as early in life as possible to improve knowledge, negotiation, and communication regarding sexual practices.

Prevention of HIV infection for people exposed to the virus, after either occupational or nonoccupational exposure, involves a 28-day course of ART. In order to be effective, ART must be started within 72 hours of exposure to HIV-infected fluids, posing a significant barrier to postexposure prophylaxis.

The iPrEX trial is not the first to suggest preexposure prohylaxis of HIV as a viable infection control option. Early in 2010, South African researchers evaluated the use of a vaginal gel containing tenofovir, and found it decreased the risk of HIV infection among sexually active women by 39%. But, iPrEX is the first to suggest daily pill-popping as an effective mode of HIV prophylaxis. Unfortunately, ART does pose several risks: renal insufficiency and viral resistance. Renal insufficiency was reversible on discontinuation of ART during iPrEX, but this adverse effect could prove especially problematic among individuals with other diseases or chronic conditions. Viral resistance is the most significant concern regarding preexposure prophylaxis. The widespread use of antiretroviral agents has the potential to create new viral infections — not just HIV, but hepatitis, herpes, and other viruses — that are resistant to current treatments.

The cost of preexposure prophylaxis is also a huge concern. At an annual cost of up to $14,000 for ART, the cost-effectiveness of such modalities are in question, as well as who would pay these costs in the future, if prophylaxis is proved to be effective. As HIV infection rates continue to rise, preexposure prophylaxis may be one option for preventing the spread of infection, but behavioral modifications and education should accompany any such intervention in high-risk populations; the only truly effective prevention to any sexually-transmitted disease, including HIV, is abstinence from high-risk behavior. As clinicians evaluate preexposure prophylaxis to prevent the spread of HIV, they should be prepared for the highly-charged public debate that will accompany this issue.

References

Abdool Karim Q, Abdool Karim SS, Frohlich JA, Grobler AC, Baxter C, Mansoor LE, Kharsany AB, Sibeko S, Mlisana KP, Omar Z, Gengiah TN, Maarschalk S, Arulappan N, Mlotshwa M, Morris L, Taylor D, & CAPRISA 004 Trial Group (2010). Effectiveness and safety of tenofovir gel, an antiretroviral microbicide, for the prevention of HIV infection in women. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329 (5996), 1168-74 PMID: 20643915

Golub SA, Kowalczyk W, Weinberger CL, & Parsons JT (2010). Preexposure prophylaxis and predicted condom use among high-risk men who have sex with men. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 54 (5), 548-55 PMID: 20512046

Johnson WD, Diaz RM, Flanders WD, Goodman M, Hill AN, Holtgrave D, Malow R, & McClellan WM (2008). Behavioral interventions to reduce risk for sexual transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men. Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online) (3) PMID: 18646068

Oster AM Md, Dorell CG Md Mph, Mena LA Md Mph, Thomas PE Phd, Toledo CA Phd, & Heffelfinger JD Md Mph (2010). HIV Risk Among Young African American Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Case-Control Study in Mississippi. American journal of public health PMID:21088266

Ramjee G, Kamali A, & McCormack S (2010). The last decade of microbicide clinical trials in Africa: from hypothesis to facts. AIDS (London, England), 24 Suppl 4 PMID: 21042052

Romanelli F, & Murphy B (2010). Systemic preexposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus infection. Pharmacotherapy, 30 (10), 1021-30 PMID: 20874040

Supervie V, García-Lerma JG, Heneine W, & Blower S (2010). HIV, transmitted drug resistance, and the paradox of preexposure prophylaxis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (27), 12381-6 PMID: 20616092

Weber J, Tatoud R, & Fidler S (2010). Postexposure prophylaxis, preexposure prophylaxis or universal test and treat: the strategic use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV acquisition and transmission. AIDS (London, England), 24 Suppl 4 PMID: 21042050

Grant, R., Lama, J., Anderson, P., McMahan, V., Liu, A., Vargas, L., Goicochea, P., Casapía, M., Guanira-Carranza, J., Ramirez-Cardich, M., Montoya-Herrera, O., Fernández, T., Veloso, V., Buchbinder, S., Chariyalertsak, S., Schechter, M., Bekker, L., Mayer, K., Kallás, E., Amico, K., Mulligan, K., Bushman, L., Hance, R., Ganoza, C., Defechereux, P., Postle, B., Wang, F., McConnell, J., Zheng, J., Lee, J., Rooney, J., Jaffe, H., Martinez, A., Burns, D., & Glidden, D. (2010). Preexposure Chemoprophylaxis for HIV Prevention in Men Who Have Sex with Men New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1011205

Michael NL. Oral preexposure prophylaxis for HIV – Another arrow in the quiver? N Engl J Med. November 23, 2010 epub ahead of print.

Jennifer Gibson, PharmD

Dr. Gibson is a practicing clinical pharmacist and freelance medical writer and editor with experience in researching and preparing scientific publications, developing public relations materials, creating educational resources and presentations, and editing technical manuscripts. She is the owner of Excalibur Scientific, LLC.

Criminalization of HIV Exposure

By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan | 

Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Roughly 20% of these don’t even know they are infected. What is more startling is that nearly 100% of the people infected with HIV don’t know they might be criminals.

Preventing sexually transmitted diseases is a difficult public health challenge, and HIV prevention is no exception. The use of criminal laws to address issues of HIV transmission and exposure are examined in a recent overview of international legal issues related to HIV, published in Future Virology. The authors of the article assert that the laws are misguided public health policy and should be repealed or reformed.

As of 2010, 53 countries had HIV-specific laws that criminalized virus exposure or transmission. Many other countries use existing non-HIV-specific laws related to sexual assault to criminalize virus exposure. The laws have been used to impose harsh penalties on those who have spread the virus, but still leave many question unanswered. What is the degree of responsibility necessary to cause criminal prosecution? Is non-disclosure of HIV status really equivalent to rape, sexual assault, or the intent to cause harm? Do safe sex practices mitigate criminal sanctions?

In the US, 36 states and 5 territories have laws criminalizing HIV transmission exposure through sexual contact or intercourse. Through 2010, 36 HIV-specific laws in the US resulted in more than 350 prosecutions for HIV exposure and transmission; a high percentage of these resulted in imprisonment of the offender.

The authors of the article acknowledge that sex brings out the worst in policy-makers, and many of these laws are the result of moral judgments rather than sound scientific evidence. Criminalization of any vice, be it food, drink, or sex, rarely leads to less of it, and criminalization of HIV exposure has never been shown to prevent the spread of infection. Interestingly, HIV is not nearly as contagious as many other viruses, even sexually-transmitted ones, but in the public’s mind, the virus’s roots in homosexuality, promiscuity, drug use, and sex work earned it regulation based on fear and stigma.

There are surely cases of people infected with HIV who have malicious intent to cause harm to others, but these cases are rare. Most people living with HIV do not intend to knowingly, cruelly inflict harm on others. Human rights advocates, as represented by the authors of the current article, do not support the use of criminal laws to address HIV exposure if there is no significant risk of transmission or when reasonable measures have been taken to reduce the risk of transmission; additionally, after full disclosure of HIV status, if all parties involved consent to sexual contact, criminal intent is not supported.

The authors also claim that criminal HIV statutes undermine public health responses to HIV, making people less likely to accept HIV testing or care, since that would make them culpable in “knowingly” transmitting the virus. Ignorance is a defense in this case, it seems. Additionally, punishing or imprisoning a person infected with HIV does not prevent them from spreading the virus. Situations and living conditions in prisons actually facilitate virus transmission owing to uncontrolled and unsafe sex practices, unsafe tattooing equipment, and drug use.

The authors assert that the criminal justice system should be reserved for administering justice for the most heinous and serious of crimes against society, not improving public health. Criminalization of HIV exposure does not incapacitate criminals, rehabilitate offenders, or prevent future virus transmission. Moral judgments are getting in the way of evidenced-based policy decisions. All of the achievements in removing the stigma associated with HIV over the last 2 or 3 decades are negated by the criminalization of virus exposure. Shared responsibility for safe sex practices and improved prevention education among the most at-risk groups are needed to prevent HIV exposure, not more laws.

The CDC estimates that approximately 50,000 people are newly-infected with HIV each year in the US. What would the criminal justice system look like if each of these people could prosecute the person that infected them? Would society be safer or healthier as a result?

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2011). HIV surveillance–United States, 1981-2008. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 60 (21), 689-93 PMID:21637182

Csete, J., & Elliott, R. (2011). Criminalization of HIV transmission and exposure: in search of rights-based public health alternatives to criminal law Future Virology, 6 (8), 941-950 DOI:10.2217/fvl.11.74

Dodds C, Bourne A, & Weait M (2009). Responses to criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission among gay men with HIV in England and Wales. Reproductive health matters, 17 (34), 135-45 PMID: 19962647

Dodds C, Hammond G, Weatherburn P, Hickson F, Keogh P, Reid D, Henderson L, & Jessup K (2008). Homosexually active men’s views on criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission are related to HIV prevention need. AIDS care, 20 (5), 509-14 PMID:18484317

Dodds C, & Keogh P (2006). Criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission: people living with HIV respond. International journal of STD & AIDS, 17 (5), 315-8 PMID: 16643681

Mears A (2007). The criminalization of HIV transmission in England and Wales: a brief review of the issues arising. Current opinion in infectious diseases, 20 (1), 47-53 PMID:17197881

Prejean J, Song R, Hernandez A, Ziebell R, Green T, Walker F, Lin LS, An Q, Mermin J, Lansky A, Hall HI, & HIV Incidence Surveillance Group (2011). Estimated HIV incidence in the United States, 2006-2009. PloS one, 6 (8) PMID: 21826193

Image via Dan Bannister / Shutterstock.

Jennifer Gibson, PharmD

Dr. Gibson is a practicing clinical pharmacist and freelance medical writer and editor with experience in researching and preparing scientific publications, developing public relations materials, creating educational resources and presentations, and editing technical manuscripts. She is the owner of Excalibur Scientific, LLC.

Women After Sex

By Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan | 

First there was mystery. Why do women want to cuddle and men want to hit the road (after sex), then there was brain scanning and evolutionary psychology, and the mystery was no more. According to a groundbreaking study from theJournal of Sex Research, it would seem that when it comes to post-coital behaviors, men and women could well belong to different planets.

The study begins by presenting the evolutionary perspective of sexual behaviors that we are all more or less familiar with — males have more reproductive power than females, hence, it is an instinctive thing for the preservation of the species that they should frequently seek multiple partners, instead of long-term relationships.

The study becomes much more interesting when scientists start asking men and women, including college girls and boys, who willingly enter into the short-term sexual relationship/one-night-stand arena on a regular basis, how they behave after sex.

According to the results, even girls who are having a one-night-stand want to cuddle and kiss and become anxious about what their male partner is thinking of them, or whether they still find them attractive. On the other hand, the interviewed men largely declared that they usually wanted to eat, urinate or sleep after sex.

Overall, our study demonstrated that post-coital behaviors related to pair-bonding after sex seem to be initiated and preferred by females far more so than by males, and this was the case for not only long-term, but also for short-term, mating.

Interestingly enough, men were found to initiate kissing primarily before sex, while it was mostly women who were responsible for it after sex. The conclusion seems to be that men would be using kissing as a road to sex, while women would be using it as a an emotional display with bonding purposes.

Even when these patterns are obviously not exclusive and genre differences are nowhere near clear-cut in this area, according to the study’s findings, women will bond, while men will satisfy their immediate sexual and non-sexual needs. It would seem that not all of women´s liberation can change what is written in our genetic codes.

References

Hughes SM, & Kruger DJ (2011). Sex differences in post-coital behaviors in long- and short-term mating: an evolutionary perspective. Journal of sex research, 48 (5), 496-505 PMID: 20799133

Campbell, A. (2008). The Morning after the Night Before Human Nature, 19 (2), 157-173 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-008-9036-2

HASELTONU, M., & BUSS, D. (2001). The affective shift hypothesis: The functions of emotional changes following sexual intercourse Personal Relationships, 8 (4), 357-369 DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2001.tb00045.x

Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA

Ms. Pamoukaghlian holds a Masters in Creative Writing. She has directed two documentaries shot in psychiatric wards, which were shown at psychiatric conferences all over the world. She is currently finishing her first feature film, about a 75-year old man who competes in the Decathlon, a co-production between Hollywood and Uruguay.