Harvard World Health News - Stem Cells, Rotavirus, Depression, Drunk Driving and Virginity Testing

[brdgt]

Scientists Grow Stem Cell Lines in New Medium
(Reuters, Jan. 3, 2006)
"Scientists at a laboratory affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a stem-cell culture medium free of animal cells and used it to derive two new human embryonic stem-cell lines. The new work, reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology, is a crucial step in stem-cell research because it will allow growth of these cells without using animal products that can harbor viruses and other potential sources of problems."

Rotavirus Drugs Deemed Safe and Effective
Donald G. McNeil Jr. (The New York Times, Jan. 5, 2006)
"Two new vaccines against rotavirus, the leading known cause of deaths from diarrhea among infants around the world, have proved safe and effective in two of the largest clinical trials in the history of medicine. Studies of the two vaccines, one made by Merck and one by GlaxoSmithKline, are to be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine."
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Parenting and Depression: 'Bundles of...Misery'
Elizabeth Agnvall (The Washington Post, January 3, 2006)
"Just as we're taking down the tree, organizing the new toys and stepping onto the scale comes a study finding that may make us wonder why we do it all: Parents are more likely to be depressed than people who do not have children."
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Tennessee Tries Shame To Stem Drunken Driving
(Associated Press, Dec. 31, 2006)
"A new Tennessee law is enlisting the power of shame to discourage drunken driving -- even though law enforcement, the governor and various experts are calling it an expensive and bad idea. Starting Jan. 1, convicted drunken drivers are required to do 24 hours of roadside cleanup while wearing orange vests emblazoned with the phrase 'I am a Drunk Driver.'"

South Africa: Women's Rights Laws and African Custom Clash
Sharon LaFraniere (The New York Times, Dec. 30, 2006)
"[T]o many advocates of women's and children's rights, [virginity testing] is unscientific, discriminatory and -- to girls who are publicly and perhaps falsely accused of having lost their virginity -- emotionally searing. This month, their arguments persuaded South Africa's Parliament to ban some virginity testing, with violations punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The ban is an example of how sub-Saharan Africa is slowly, but inexorably, enshrining into law basic protections that have long been denied women. But it also hints at the frailty of the movement toward women's rights in the region."
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(BBC World Service had a great story on virginity testing yesterday, btw.)

Comments

[nebulousmaze.livejournal.com]

Are the virginity tests basically only for women? What about male virginity? I wonder if there is any conceivable way to test it.

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

They are only for women. The BBC story went into the issue much more in depth and talked to a medical anthropologists about what these virginity testers are doing (not surprisingly, it's not scientific or accurate), but it also talked about how there are these tent revival-like events that girls participate in and how it is like a nationalistic and religious movement for some of them - that they can save South Africa from AIDS by remaining virgins.

[nebulousmaze.livejournal.com]

Umm. One can be a virgin and get AIDS through blood transfusion of some sort. No? I mean, I am all for sexual discretion, but this fervor seems misdirected.

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

Well - the problem is that in order to stay virgins these girls are having anal sex, which, of course, places them at greater risk.

[nebulousmaze.livejournal.com]

Whoa! That's so stupid! I don't understand how anal sex keeps them a virgin. I guess they extended Bill Clinton's definition a notch higher. May be this is because the so-called virginity tests are only done on vagina and not on any other body part? Eeeks. In any case, this is crazy!