Wednesday, 1 August 2012

FDA approves first drug to prevent HIV infection


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the prophylactic use of the antiviral drug Truvada to prevent healthy people from contracting HIV

While there are many methods for preventing HIV transmission that work in principle (abstinence, safe sex, monogamy to some extent), in practice efforts to prevent new HIV infections have reached a plateau - about 50 thousand new cases are reported every year in the United States and no progress has been made on reducing this number for at least 15 years, with the overall rate of infection remaining stable since at least 2004. In response to the almost complete lack of effective prevention methods, the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has now approved the prophylactic use of the anti-retroviral combination drug Truvada, to reduce the risk of people acquiring HIV.

By 2000, hints had appeared that some antiviral drugs, if taken shortly following a potential exposure, might prevent HIV from becoming established in the body. Some thought had been given to seeking a "morning-after pill" that would be taken following a high-risk encounter, with the intent of preventing the HIV infection from becoming established. Unfortunately, the study participants would not follow the study protocols.

“That study brought home to me the fact that people have a hard time starting treatment after exposure,” says Dr. Robert Grant of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology. “You have to admit failure, admit that you failed to protect yourself in some way, and now you need to be rescued by some sort of pills. So for those reasons, we started thinking about pre-exposure prophylaxis as a possibility.”

Pre-exposure prophylaxis is probably most familiar in the prevention of malaria. Malaria is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, which is a host for the microorganism responsible for malaria. The trick is that, even in an area where malaria is endemic, you don't know if the mosquito that just bit you was infected. As a result, you are continually in "at-risk" status owing to the sheer number of mosquitoes in such areas.

People who can afford it now use a pre-exposure prophylactic regime that prevents malarial infection from taking hold in the body. It is difficult to cure malaria, but daily doses of antimalarial drugs taken before and during travel to locations where malaria is ever-present act to prevent infection.

The situation with HIV/AIDS is quite similar. There are people who, by choice or by necessity, are living with chronic exposure to HIV infection. However, one can't tell which exposure might actually result in infection. While physicians are able, in most cases, to hold off the progression of HIV to AIDS, the treatment regimen is difficult and very expensive. Taking a serious look at possible prophylactic treatments seemed a good direction for research.

Truvada (a combination of 300 mg tenofovir and 200 mg emtricitabine) was the first effective HIV antiviral drug combination which is taken once daily. Developed by Gilead Sciences, in 2004 it received FDA approval for treatment of HIV infection when combined with a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor such as Sustiva. Truvada's one-a-day dosing combined with a relatively small group of serious side effects suggested that large-scale clinical studies of Truvada's potential for prophylaxis were called for.

Two large clinical studies of at-risk populations clearly showed that a daily dose of Truvada is quite effective in reducing the risk of HIV infection. The first study was a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical study of some 2,500 HIV-negative gay, bisexual, and transgendered subjects. The second study was a University of Washington clinical study of 4,800 heterosexual couples in which only one partner was initially HIV-positive. Both studies were double-blind, and carried out in several countries. In both cases the prophylactic dosage was one Truvada each day.

The results were very encouraging. In the NIH study, for every subject who became HIV-positive in the Truvada-treated group, two became HIV-positive in the control group. Knowing that compliance was an uncontrolled factor, the researchers examined serum levels of Truvada in the treated group. Among those subjects showing measurable levels of Truvada on each check-in, HIV infection was thirteen times less likely than in the control group.

In the Washington study, the results indicated that a control participant was four times more likely to become HIV-positive than a treated participant. Independent smaller studies were also carried out, but with few exceptions the results were the same - if you take Truvada regularly, your chances of catching HIV are greatly reduced.

As a result of these findings, the FDA has now approve the use of Truvada for adults who do not have HIV but are at risk of becoming infected through sexual contact. The drug is to be taken once daily and used in combination with safer sex practices. The FDA stresses that the drug is not a substitute for safer sex practices.

Clearly Truvada is effective, but is it safe for prophylactic use? Like most drugs, there are a whole panel of relatively minor side effects, most of which are controllable (diarrhea, nausea, headache, disturbed sleep...). More seriously, Truvada is associated with liver and kidney damage, sometimes becoming life-threatening, and with bone thinning. Other problems include rapid progression of a preexisting hepatitis-B infection when Truvada is withdrawn.

While dangerous side effects are uncommon, it is clear that some evaluation is required to choose patients who will gain more from the anti-HIV properties than from the rare but serious side effects. Together with the FDA, Gilead Sciences has prepared a set of selection criteria for candidates for Truvada treatment.
Another issue is that candidates for prophylactic treatment must be HIV-negative. Otherwise, use of Truvada alone will suppress symptoms of HIV, but the level of infection may progress largely unchecked. It can take up to three months for tests to reveal a new HIV infection, so a period of abstinence before starting Truvada treatment seems advisable.

Truvada is expensive - a year of daily doses at present costs US$13,900. To Gilead's credit, it has a program to reduce this cost for people who cannot afford the treatment. It is also licensing Truvada to the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation, whose mission is to bring down the prices of HIV medicines and other products needed for the treatment and prevention of HIV, and to facilitate the development and production of improved formulations, by providing access to intellectual property relating to these products. Gilead is the first pharmaceutical company to cooperate with the patent pool.

HIV/AIDS, while largely treatable in First World countries, is still a massive scourge, especially in Africa. In addition to being one of the poorest countries in the world, the Kingdom of Lesotho, in Sub-Saharan Africa has nearly a 30 percent HIV/AIDS infection rate, with precious few resources to deal with this plague. Whole villages and families have been wiped out. It is to be hoped that we find a way to transfer the remarkable strides in fighting this scourge to those areas of the world that remain defenseless.

Source: FDA

Sports car-inspired design aims to bring hovercraft into the 21st century

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft

Frustrated with what they see as stagnation in the evolution of hovercraft design over recent decades, cousins Michael Mercier and Chris Jones have teamed up in an effort to bring the personal hovercraft into the 21st century. As well as a futuristic, streamlined look inspired by high-end sports cars, the Mercier-Jones concept also purports to be quieter, easier to maneuver, and more environmentally friendly than existing craft.

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft side view 

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft front angle close up

Maneuverability – or lack thereof – has always been one of the big downsides of hovercraft, but the Mercier-Jones team claim their patent-pending directional control system will enable steering and braking ability similar to that of a car. The front, side-mounted fans are said to provide fine tuned control in forward, lateral and reverse directions, with independent control over each side enabling advanced maneuvering capabilities.

The patent-pending directional control system is designed to enable steering and braking ability similar to a car

Taking inspiration from the marine, automotive and aerospace industries, the hovercraft will be constructed using lightweight materials including carbon fiber, aluminum, fiberglass and marine plywood. But by using existing technologies and fabrication methods, they aim to price their entry-level hovercraft at under US$20,000.

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft fan

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft is powered by a gasoline engine and electric motor

The craft would be a hybrid, powered by a gasoline engine and electric motor, the latter increasing efficiency and reducing air and noise pollution levels so that it could be piloted without the need for earplugs.

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft top view 

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft front view 

The Mercier-Jones hovercraft rear view

To raise funds to allow them to construct and test a number of prototypes, Mercier and Jones have turned to crowd-funding site indiegogo, where pledges range from $1, which will entitle you to a ride in one of the first hovercraft, up to $15,000, which will secure (one of three) pre-production models. They are hoping to raise $50,000 by August 22, but the project is off to a slow start with just over $1,000 pledged at the time of publication.

If things gather momentum and they reach their goal, Mercier and Jones plan to have the hovercraft built and test flights underway by May 2013.

The Mercier-Jones video pitch can be viewed below.


Source: Mercier-Jones, indiegogo

Top and best 5 Digital Cameras

Digital Camera, an interesting gadget by which beauty can be captured in frame not only beauty every memorable incidents in our life can be saved as beautiful photos. Now a days the sales of Digital Cameras has decreased drastically due to the rapid change in technology which made high end camera's in an mobile phone. In recent times Nokia has released a 41 Mp mobile ( Nokia pure view ) which is almost equal to an digital camera. How ever digital camera's are the best ones and here are some the top Digital Cameras available in the market with there specifications and price is listed below.

Nikon D7000:


 
Price 1,029.95$ 
Key Features:
  • 16.2MP CMOS sensor
  • 1080p HD video recording with mic jack for external microphone
  • ISO 100-6400 (plus H1 and H2 equivalent to ISO 12,800/25,600)
  • 39-point AF system with 3D tracking
  • New 2016 pixel metering sensor
  • Scene Recognition System
  • Twin SD card slots
  • 3.0 inch 921k dot LCD screen
  • New Live View/movie shooting switch
  • Full-time AF in Live View/movie modes
  • Up to 6fps continuous shooting

Canon EOS Rebel T3i:

 
Price: 749.99$


Key Features:
  • 18 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor8
  • DIGIC 4 processor with ISO 100-6400
  • Fully articulated 7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 Clear View LCD with 1,040k dots
  • Full HD movie recording with manual control and selectable frame rates
  • Digital zoom in movie mode (3x – 10x)
  • ‘Basic+’ and ‘Creative Filters’
  • Integrated wireless flash control
  • ‘Video Snapshot’ mode for the creation of multi-take movies

Olympus PEN E-PL3:

 
Price: 599.00$ 


Key Features:
  • Updated 12MP Live MOS sensor
  • 120 Hz ‘Fast AF’ focus system with 35-point area AF
  • Clip-on flash (included)
  • Built-in autofocus illuminator light
  • 460,000 dot tilting LCD screen (16:9 aspect ratio)
  • Dual-core TruePic VI processor
  • 1080i60 movies in AVCHD format
  • Shadow tone adjustment control

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V:

 
Price: 329.59$ 

Key Features:
  • 16.2-megapixels
  • 1080p Full HD movies
  • Fully manual controls
  • 3inch, 921k-dot LCD monitor
  • Li-ion rechargeable slim battery
  • 4 GB Sony SDHC Class-4 memory card
  • USB battery charger with power cord

Canon Powershot S95:


Price: 409.00$

Key Features:
  • High-sensitivity 10 MP CCD
  • 28mm wide, 3.8x zoom lens, Hybrid IS
  • Lens Control Ring, Full Manual & RAW
  • 7.5 cm (3.0″) PureColor II G LCD
  • HS System & f/2 lens
  • HD movies, HDMI
  • High Dynamic Range mode
  • Smart Auto
  • Multi-Aspect Shooting
  • Optional Waterproof Case

Top 5 UltraBooks

We are now duly listening about ultra books now and then so what is an Ultra book? An Ultra book may be defined as an high end type of  a laptop specifically defined by Intel Ultrabooks are mainly designed to feature reduced size and weight without compromising performance and battery life. They use low power Intel processors with integrated graphics and uni body chassis to fit larger batteries into smaller cases.
We know that Intel released a $300 million fund to facilitate the development of a new line of notebooks that would shake up the Mac Book Air’s seemingly unbeatable popularity among connoisseurs of slim and exceedinglyportable laptops
So ultra books are being a steady competition to Apple's mac books.an accordance to these events lets have a round up of top 5 Ultra books in the market.

1. Asus Zenbook UX31
The Asus Zenbook UX31 is know to be one of the first ultra books in the market –it has given a birth seed that would ultimately determine the direction of the ultrabook’s development. it has a 13.3 inch display and sleek aluminum finish. The specs are also quite impressive; the Intel Core i7 processor can handle multi-computing tasks remarkably well, but the lack of a dedicated graphics card can be a setback for those who want have heavy 3D gaming. But still, at the MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) of $899.99, the Asus Zenbook UX31 is a great deal.
Technical Specifications
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2677M Processor
Chipset
Intel® QS67 Express Chipset
Memory
DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, OnBoard Memory
Display
13.3" 16:9 HD+ (1600x900) LED Backlight
Graphics
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Storage
SATA3 256GB SSD 
Battery
50 Whrs Polymer Battery
Weight
1.3 kg
Price
$899



2. Dell XPS 13
Dell has given rebirth to the ultra book by its innovative and mac book killing design. The lid has a slightly glossy finish to it, and is, thankfully, fingerprint-resistant. The solid carbon fiber bottom has a special metal flap that covers unsightly product stickers. The keyboard has a nice travel and is conveniently backlit, which is extremely helpful for people who like to type in low light conditions. The 1.6 Ghz Intel processor, paired with a 128GB SSD memory drive, offers a phenomenal computing experience. The Dell XPS 13 has a budget-friendly price of $999.

Technical Specifications

Processor
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2637M processor
Chipset
Intel® QS67
Memory
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz Memory
Display
Elemental Silver Aluminum and 13.3" Hi-Def (720p) True Life(1366x768) WLED Display
Graphics
Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Storage
Up to 256GB Solid State hard drive
Battery
47WHr battery; 6-Cell Li-Polymer
Weight
1.36 kg
Price
$999
 
3. HP Folio 13
The HP Folio 13′s price currently ranges around $900, which could go significantly lower if purchased with an HP coupon code. Released a little late behind competitors such as Acer and Asus (who were the first companies to release ultrabooks), the Folio 13 was HP’s first foray into the Intel-powered, ultra-thin notebook market. It has the standard ultrabook specs, such as a 128GB SSD memory drive, and an Intel Core i5 processor. Its viewing angles can be quite dodgy, but its long battery life will surely attract lots of consumers. 

Technical Specifications
Processor2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Mobile Processor
ChipsetMobile Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
MemoryDDR3 SDRAM, 1333 MHz (1600 MHz downgrade to 1333 MHz), One slot supporting up to 4 GB
Display13.3-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD2 (1366 x 768) BrightView
GraphicsIntel® HD2 Graphics 3000
Storage128 GB mSATA SSD
Battery6-cell (59WHr) Li-Ion battery, HP 65-watt non-smart AC adapter
Weight1.50 kg
Price$900

 

4. Acer Aspire S3
This Ultra book is known to be the cheapest of all known ultra books, it has an Intel Core i5 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. But at a selling price of $699.99, Acer can be expected to compromise a few features here and there. Unlike most ultrabooks that depend solely on SSD for memory, the Aspire S3 comes equipped with a hybrid drive that features 320 GB of standard HDD memory and only 20 GB of SSD.

Technical Specifications

Processor
Core i5-2467M
Chipset
UM67 Express
Memory
4GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3-1333/PC3-10666
Display
13.3" active matrix TFT
Graphics
Intel HD 3000
Storage
320 GB serial AT
Battery
3-cell Li PO
Weight
1.35 kg
Price
$699


5. HP Envy 14 Spectre
This ultra book from HP is tender sleek and ultra thin elegant device. Though it is quite heavier than most ultrabooks (due to its 14 inch display versus the standard 13.3 inch), it is still a great buy at $1300. The Envy 14 Spectre boasts the most brilliant and color-accurate display among its competitors. And it is also one of the sturdiest; the Envy 14 Spectre comes covered with Gorilla Glass which will surely protect the device for a long time.

Technical Specifications
Processor
Intel® Core™ i5 and i7 ULV Processors
Chipset

Memory
4GB or 8GB of DDR3
Display
13" diagonal HD BrightView LED backlit display
Graphics
Intel HD 3000
Storage
128GB mSATA solid-state drive for lightning-fast performance
Battery
Long lasting upto 9 hrs
Weight
1.8 kg
Price
$1300



All Shortcut keys for Windows 8


Windows 8 consumer preview has been launched few months back and now Microsoft has conformed the release date of official Windows 8 on 26 th October 2012. Here are the list of shortcut keys for Windows 8 which helps you to do things faster and in convenient  way on the all new Windows 8 operating system

WINDOWS 8 shortcut keys
  •   Win + Page Up - Move Start screen to left monitor
  •   Win + Page Down  - Move Start screen to right monitor
  •   Win + Enter  - Launch Narrator
  •   Win + Space - Switch input language and keyboard layout
  •   Wind + Shift + V - Cycle through toasts in reverse order
  •   Win + C  - opens Windows 8 Charms menu where you can search, share, and change
  •   Win + D - opens and brings up the old Windows desktop
  •   Win + G - Cycle through Windows 8 desktop gadgets
  •   Win + H -  Share Charm
  •   Win + I - Settings Charm
  •   Win + J - Switch focus between snapped and larger apps
  •   Win + K – Devices charm
  •   Win + L – Switch users
  •   Win + O – Lock screen orientation
  •   Win + P – Windows 8 Projection options
  •   Win + Q – Opens Windows 8 Metro App Search screen
  •   Win + V - Cycle through toasts
  •   Win + W - Opens the Windows 8 settings search app
  •   Win + XQuick link power user commands
  •   Win + Z – Opens the App Bar for the current Metro application