The Guide to AIDS is succinct review of HIV/AIDS from a human-interest perspective. Chapters focus on some of the common patterns and prevention of HIV transmission and debunks misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. Brief descriptions the human immune system and epidemiology of HIV are included. The cultural component of disease, treatment and living with AIDS is central to much of this guide intended to synthesize, explain and de-mystify HIV and AIDS.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the prime bacterial infection worldwide with 10.4 million infections and a death toll of 1.7 million people in 2016 according to WHO statistics. Tuberculosis is caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, facultative intracellular bacteria able to thrive within otherwise potent innate defense cells, the macrophages. In a world of increasing numbers of infections with drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains, the daunting race between developing new therapeutics and emerging resistant strains will hardly produce a winner. This cycle can only be broken by enhancing population wide immune control through a better vaccine as the only one currently in use, M. bovis Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG). The protective efficacy of BCG against pulmonary tuberculosis in all age groups is dissatisfying and geographically highly diverse with the tropical areas showing the lowest efficacy rates. Despite worldwide vaccination coverage, the impact of BCG on the steep decrease of tuberculosis incidence rates in the developed world seems therefore questionable and can rather be attributed to improved social, housing and nutritional conditions, better health care, surveillance and treatment systems. The last 15 years saw tremendous efforts to improve vaccination strategies against tuberculosis. Different paths of vaccine approaches were followed including genetically improved BCG strains, attenuated M. tuberculosis variants, recombinant viral vectors and subunit vaccine candidates combined with novel more potent adjuvants. With the first novel vaccine candidates being evaluated in clinical phases II and III and initial results chastening the expectations, a critical reassessment of all candidates is inevitable. Here, we assembled experts to review and assess the current status of novel anti-tuberculosis vaccine candidates, their efficacy and prospects for implementation as well as the pitfalls and possible measures for improvement.

AIDS ignores political boundaries, crosses porous borders of poor human choice, pays no customs duties, travels with neither passport nor visa, drives the worlds highways, sails the planets seas, flies through earths airspace, breaks hearts, breaks down immunity, covers truth, spreads myths, promotes ignorance, wrecks homes, grieves children, fathers orphans, leaves widows, chops trees for coffins, exploits poor choices, gnaws away at health, robs the rich, impoverishes the poor, destroys CD4+ counts, baffles scientists, challenges budgets, reduces profits, encourages absenteeism, promotes burials, worships immorality, upholds double standards, exploits women, exploits men, exploits children, flourishes in an apathetic NIMBY (not in my backyard) environment, avoids unified NIOBY (not in our backyard) efforts, evades classical immunity, avoids slumber, takes no vacations, torments the adults in Cape Town and Mumbai, confuses the children in orphanages and on streets, dries no tears, sheds no tears, distributes no handkerchiefs, makes no mortgage payments, slays mortgage payers, robs down payments, kills down payers, evicts tenants, plays Trojan horse, shares freely, terminates employment, drives up insurance rates, drives down population growth, loves drug users, mixes well with alcohol, encourages fear, squelches hope, creates morbid personal histories, changes the history of nations, tortures the present, and ambushes the future.

Vaccines are among the most safe and effective public health interventions to prevent serious disease and death. Because of the success of vaccines, most Americans today have no firsthand experience with such devastating illnesses as polio or diphtheria. Health care providers who vaccinate young children follow a schedule prepared by the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Under the current schedule, children younger than six may receive as many as 24 immunizations by their second birthday. New vaccines undergo rigorous testing prior to receiving FDA approval; however, like all medicines and medical interventions, vaccines carry some risk. Driven largely by concerns about potential side effects, there has been a shift in some parents' attitudes toward the child immunization schedule. The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety identifies research approaches, methodologies, and study designs that could address questions about the safety of the current schedule. This report is the most comprehensive examination of the immunization schedule to date. The IOM authoring committee uncovered no evidence of major safety concerns associated with adherence to the childhood immunization schedule. Should signals arise that there may be need for investigation, however, the report offers a framework for conducting safety research using existing or new data collection systems.

Clinical trials are used to elucidate the most appropriate preventive, diagnostic, or treatment options for individuals with a given medical condition. Perhaps the most essential feature of a clinical trial is that it aims to use results based on a limited sample of research participants to see if the intervention is safe and effective or if it is comparable to a comparison treatment. Sample size is a crucial component of any clinical trial. A trial with a small number of research participants is more prone to variability and carries a considerable risk of failing to demonstrate the effectiveness of a given intervention when one really is present. This may occur in phase I (safety and pharmacologic profiles), II (pilot efficacy evaluation), and III (extensive assessment of safety and efficacy) trials. Although phase I and II studies may have smaller sample sizes, they usually have adequate statistical power, which is the committee's definition of a "large" trial. Sometimes a trial with eight participants may have adequate statistical power, statistical power being the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the hypothesis is false. Small Clinical Trials assesses the current methodologies and the appropriate situations for the conduct of clinical trials with small sample sizes. This report assesses the published literature on various strategies such as (1) meta-analysis to combine disparate information from several studies including Bayesian techniques as in the confidence profile method and (2) other alternatives such as assessing therapeutic results in a single treated population (e.g., astronauts) by sequentially measuring whether the intervention is falling above or below a preestablished probability outcome range and meeting predesigned specifications as opposed to incremental improvement.

Explores environmental factors during fetal development that may contribute to autism It is well documented that in the majority of the cases, an autistic child's brain has acquired the genetic and organismal abnormalities that were initiated during the first trimester of their gestational period. Yet, scientists still don’t know what is causing these abnormalities; this book explains how the human brain develops and what the critical stages are in which a fetal brain may acquire genetic and developmental abnormalities. It presents scientific data supporting previous anecdotal observations to attempt to understand the complex puzzle that is autism. From chemical fragrances to herbicides, synthetic chemicals are abundant in everyday life and this book examines the evidence surrounding these chemicals and their effects, including on the developing human brain and how that might explain certain characteristics observed in autism. Discussing various aspects of potential ASD causing factors, Autism and Environmental Factors brings together as many pieces of the autism puzzle as possible in one place to begin to clarify the picture and spark discussion to ensure a safe environment for everyone, especially our developing children. Discusses the genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to autism Covers how the human brain develops and the critical stages in which a fetal brain may acquire genetic and developmental abnormalities Describes the rapid proliferation of synthetic chemicals in our modern world and the effects on the developing human brain—endocrine-disturbing chemicals that alter DNA, epigenetics, and hormones Written in a clear and accessible style Autism and Environmental Factors is an important book for researchers and students in neuroscience, neuroanatomy, developmental neurobiology and anyone focusing on autism research.

The need for a vaccine against HIV is obvious, but the development of an effective vaccine has met with frustrations. The HIV envelope glycoproteins, residing in the viral membrane, are the sole viral proteins exposed on the outside of virus particles and.