LifeGuide [Treatment Horizons] Therapeutic Vaccines May Change the Treatment Landscape for the Better by Jeannie Gibbs Clinical development of HIV therapeutic vaccine candidate, Vacc-4x, will continue after further analysis of Phase IIb study data revealed a significant viral load decrease in patients on the Vacc-4x treatment arm. Even more substantial was the discovery that viral load set points of these patients did not rebound to pre-HAART levels, which usually occurs after antiretroviral therapy (ART) failure. Results of previous studies of Vacc-4x had been so promising [...]

Left Field by Patricia Nell Warren Instead of Dismissing Sexual Violence in Prison and Its Health Effects, Some Are Unlocking Possible Solutions. Rape is a hot topic today. Yet the “moralistic” conservative Republicans sitting in Congress, along with some blue dog Democrats, consider it an outdated issue once raised by feminists, and they seemingly don’t give a hoot about some Americans who are raped. In January, as part of their budget-cutting onslaught, House Republicans introduced HR 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” The [...]

Prolific Artist and Long-Term AIDS Survivor Steed Taylor Opens Up About His Body of Work, and How Spirituality and Helping Others Have Kept Him Alive by Chip Alfred As a young boy in rural North Carolina, Steed Taylor liked searching for clay in the woods and making things from it. Born in a small town outside Fayetteville, his fascination with art began with sculpture and led to an enduring career in various media—painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and public art. Steed, who recently turned fifty-one, is [...]

Hill Country Ride for AIDS depends on a lot of sweat equity and it is committed to not letting that energy evaporate into thin air. The Austin, Texas-based Ride returns an average of seventy-six percent of funds raised to its benefitting agencies. That’s above and beyond the sixty percent suggested by The Wise Giving Alliance, a program of the Better Business Bureau. Breaking away Its dedication to this return on investment all started by breaking away from Pallotta TeamWorks’ Texas AIDS Ride. David C. Smith [...]

Hep C Is Manageable—If You Know the Ins and Outs by Larry Buhl You’ve been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Now what? First, don’t panic. Doctors agree a Hep C diagnosis is not a death sentence. But the virus does require some lifestyle changes and careful monitoring to avoid chronic liver disease. There are a lot of misconceptions in the general public about hepatitis C. We spoke with Lisa Oldson, M.D., an internal medicine physician and medical director for the Analyte Physicians Group in Chicago. Dr. [...]

HIV Has No Face—RCP Has Many by Sean Black “Was your hair free? No. Were your nails free? No. How much would you pay for an HIV test? $20? $10? No, cuz today it’s free.” High school senior Janae Dennis shouts passionately through a bullhorn, encouraging drivers, bicyclists, and foot pedestrians to take advantage of the free rapid HIV testing arranged for and sponsored by a South Florida not-for-profit organization known as The RCP Movement. Standing for Respect Yourself, Check Yourself and Protect Yourself, RCP [...]

Female Condom Campaigns Ring Out Across the U.S. by Chael Needle On March 10, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day invites communities across the nation to get the word out to a population that has been severely impacted by the disease. When it comes to prevention messages, any campaign, formal or informal, worth its salt would set its sights on the female condom. The Female Health Company (FHC) introduced the first FDA-approved female condom in the early nineties and, just last year, introduced a [...]

Keir Gilchrist, Marshall On Showtime’s United States Of Tara, Has A Yen To Keep His Brothers Safe by Dann Dulin In Episode 9 on the second season of United States of Tara, a TV series created by Diablo Cody that follows a suburban housewife who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and her family: Marshall is called into the principal’s office along with his friend, Lionel. PRINCIPAL: As [AIDS] is still a clear and present danger, the county AIDS awareness program has given the school ten [...]

Elizabeth Taylor’s on the line with A&U’s Dann Dulin discussing her impatience with ignorance, her exasperation with President Bush, attending the sick, and basking in the white light [Editor's note: This interview originally appeared in the February 2003 issue of A&U.] “AIDS is my life. I’ve retired from films, and I don’t want to do them anymore,” Elizabeth Taylor asserts firmly in her feminine yet commanding voice, igniting the phone line from her Bel-Air home. As an aside, she adds flippantly: “I did a couple [...]

Napa Valley Comes to Altadena, APAIT (Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team) Health Center’s wine tasting fundraiser, will help make this year a very good year. Enjoy a variety of wines—from cabernet sauvignons to chardonnays—from the vineyards of Bartalotti Wine Company, J. Moss Wines, Midsummer Cellars, and Rosalynd Winery, paired with a menu prepared by Chef Akira Hirose of Maison Akira, Pasadena. Attendees also receive a complimentary bottle of wine and APAIT wine glass. APAIT’s mission is, in part, “to positively affect the quality of life [...]