Awareness of HIV Risk Has Dropped Among Gay Men Even As Infection Rates Rise

More than 30 years after the dawn of the HIV epidemic, the significance of the infection and awareness for how it’s transmitted has dropped precipitously among young people, especially among gay men, according to new data from the federal government.

National statistics for 2010 show that more than one-quarter of all new HIV infections are among youths ages 13 to 24. Of the estimated 47,500 new infections in 2010, more than 83% are among men.

Almost three-quarters are attributed to sex between men, and half of all new cases are among African Americans, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Statistics.

HIV prevalence among blacks is nearly three times higher than among Hispanics and nearly eight times higher than among whites. Men who have sex with men have prevalence rates nearly 40 times higher than other men,  the authors said.

MORE: HIV Vaccine Under Study May Last a Lifetime

An estimated half of HIV-positive young people are unaware they were infected. The study found that HIV testing was low — only 12.9 percent among high school students and 34.5 percent among people ages 18 to 24. Testing is less common among males compared to females and is lower among whites and Hispanics compared to African Americans.

“More effort is needed to provide effective school- and community-based interventions to ensure all youths, particularly men who have sex with men, have the knowledge, skills, resources, and support necessary to avoid HIV infection,” wrote the authors of the report.

The statistics  are sobering news as World AIDS Day approaches on Dec. 1.

“I think the statistics are alarming and that we should be alarmed,” Chris Collins, vice president and director of public policy at amFAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, told Take Part. “I think that what we in the gay community need to come to grips with is HIV remains our number-one health equity issue. “

MORE: Can HIV Prevention Be Found in a Pill?

In an essay published earlier this month on the amFar web site, Collins and co-author Jeffrey Levi said it’s time to refocus the HIV-prevention campaign among gay men. Young men who have sex with men represent the only group in which HIV incidence appears to be increasing, he says.

The alarming HIV incidence among gay men stands in contrast to the popular perception that the HIV threat is under control. Efforts by the LGBT community in the ’80s and ’90s resulted in an estimated 89 percent decline in HIV transmission over that time period, Collins says.

“I think the advent of life-saving AIDS drugs in the mid ’90s was both a wonderful thing that saved the lives of so many gay people but also meant that the gay community, to some degree, turned to many other challenges — understandably so,” he says.

MORE: More People Than Ever Living with HIV

Since then, efforts to educate a new generation of young people about HIV prevention have faded. The LGBT community is needed to reinforce the HIV prevention message, he says.

“We saw the power of the gay community in the ’80 and ’90s to confront this epidemic and mobilize the public and private sectors to address a problem that was devastating us,” Collins says. “We need to reconnect with our activism and focus from the 1980s and help everyone in the gay community get tested and get access to the care they need.”

AmFar recently published a brief, “Ending the HIV Epidemic Among Gay Men in the United States” that serves as an agenda for progress. The brief calls for utilizing the Affordable Care Act to improve HIV testing and treatment as well as to promote overall better health among LGBT people.

Stigma is another big reason why people with HIV or who are at higher risk for the infection don’t get the healthcare they need, Collins adds.

MORE: FDA Approves Truvada as First HIV Prevention Drug

“We know for sure is stigma is a huge part of the HIV epidemic in the United States,” he says. “It impedes people from learning their HIV status, getting the care they need and talking to their doctors openly.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises the federal government on health policy, earlier this month issued preliminary guidelines calling for routine HIV screening as part of a check-up.  In 2006, the CDC recommended that doctors routinely test all patients for HIV, regardless of risk,  however only people at increased risk for HIV were eligible for free HIV screening. The USPSTF recommendation would mean more people could be tested without having a co-pay.

The task force also recommended that people at high risk for infection be tested at least once a year.

“The recommendation from the commission is a hopeful sign and the kind of thing we need to encourage health providers to offer testing,” Collins says. “We need to have HIV testing readily accessible and routine in all kinds of environments. It ought to be something doctors and nurses regularly offer. For gay men, they ought to be getting HIV tests regularly, not just every couple of years but perhaps every six months.”

MORE: Transgender Healthcare: A Work in Progress

Collins says he expects HIV prevention will re-emerge as a top priority in the LGBT community. The topic will be prominent at the 25th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, in January in Atlanta.

“There are a variety of efforts going on to engage the gay community,” he says. “I think we’re going in the right direction.”

Question: Why do so few young people get tested for HIV? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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Boehner: Debt talks are 'at a stalemate’

Republican House Speaker John Boehner (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said that despite receiving a counterproposal from the White House as part of a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, no progress had been made between Republicans and Democrats.

"There's a stalemate, let's not kid ourselves," Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, told reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill. "It's not a serious proposal. Right now we're almost nowhere."

The White House on Thursday sent Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to deliver a proposal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff by increasing taxes by $1.6 trillion over the next decade, including $50 billion in stimulus spending for mostly infrastructure and $400 billion in savings in popular entitlement programs such as Medicare.

Republicans rejected it right away. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly laughed in Geithner's face.

"Our original framework still stands," Boehner said the next day, reiterating his opposition to raising tax rates on any income bracket. He added that he remains open to "closing loopholes [and] getting rid of special interest deductions" within the tax code to raise the same amount of revenue.

"I'm not trying to make this more difficult," he said. "You've watched me over the last three weeks; I've been very guarded in what I have to say. Because I don't want to make it harder for me or the president, or members of both parties to be able to find common ground."

While negotiators continue talks behind closed doors, both parties continue to engage in their own public relations tour to promote their own plans. President Barack Obama on Friday traveled to Pennsylvania, and Republican lawmakers plan to meet with small-business owners over the next few weeks.

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Noisy city: Cacophony in Caracas sparks complaints

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — This metropolis of 6 million people may be one of the world’s most intense, overwhelming cities, with tremendous levels of crime, traffic and social strife. The sounds of Caracas‘ streets live up to its reputation.

Stand on any downtown corner, and the cacophony can be overpowering: Deafening horns blast from oncoming buses, traffic police shrilly blow their whistles and sirens shriek atop ambulances stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Air horns routinely used by bus drivers are so powerful they make pedestrians on crosswalks recoil, and can even leave their ears ringing. Loud salsa music blares from the windows of buses, trucks with old mufflers rumble past belching exhaust, and “moto-taxis” weave through traffic beeping high-pitched horns.

Growing numbers of Venezuelans are saying they’re fed up with the noise that they say is getting worse, and the numbers of complaints to the authorities have risen in recent years.

One affluent district, Chacao, put up signs along a main avenue reading: “A honk won’t make the traffic light change.”

“The noise is terrible. Sometimes it seems like it’s never going to end,” said Jose Santander, a street vendor who stands in the middle of a highway selling fried pork rinds and potato chips to commuters in traffic.

Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega recently told a news conference that officials have started “putting an increased emphasis on promoting peaceful coexistence” by punishing misdemeanors such as violations of anti-noise regulations and other minor crimes. That effort has translated into hundreds of noise-related cases in recent years.

Some violators are ordered to perform community service. For instance, two young musicians who were recently caught playing loud music near a subway station were sentenced to 120 hours of community service giving music lessons to students in public schools.

Others caught playing loud music on the street have been charged with disturbing the peace after complaints from neighbors. Fines can run as high as 9,000 bolivars, or $ 2,093.

On the streets of their capital, however, Venezuelans have grown used to living loudly. The noisescape adds to a general sense of anarchy, with many drivers ignoring red lights and blocking intersections along potholed streets strewn with trash.

“This is something that everybody does. Nobody should be complaining,” said Gregorio Hernandez, a 23-year-old college student, as he listened to Latin rock songs booming from his car stereo on a Saturday night in downtown Caracas. “We’re just having fun. We’re not hurting anybody.”

Adding to the mess is the country’s notoriously divisive politics, which regularly fill the streets with marches and demonstrations.

On many days, the shouts of protesters streaming through downtown can be heard from blocks away, demanding pay hikes or unpaid benefits.

And the sporadic crackling of gunfire in the slums can be confused for firecrackers tossed by boisterous partygoers.

It’s difficult to rank the world’s noisiest cities because many, including Venezuela’s capital, don’t take measurements of sound pollution, said Victor Rastelli, a mechanical engineering professor and sound pollution expert at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. But Rastelli said he suspects Caracas is right up there among the noisiest, along with Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Mumbai.

Excessive noise can be more than simply an annoyance, Rastelli said. “This is a public health problem.”

Dr. Carmen Mijares, an audiologist at a private Caracas hospital, said she treats at least a dozen patients every month for hearing damage caused by prolonged exposure to loud noises.

“Many of them work in bars or night clubs, and their maladies usually include temporary hearing loss and headaches,” Mijares said. For others, she said, the day-to-day noise of traffic, car horns and loud music can exacerbate stress and sleeping disorders.

Several cities have successfully reduced noise pollution, said Stephen Stansfeld, a London psychiatry professor and coordinator of the European Network on Noise and Health.

One of the most noteworthy initiatives, Stansfeld said, was in Copenhagen, Denmark, where officials used sound walls, noise-reducing asphalt and other infrastructure as well as public awareness campaigns to fight noise pollution.

But such high-tech solutions seem like a remote possibility in Caracas, where streets are literally falling apart and aging overpasses regularly lack portions of their guard rails. Prosecutors, angry neighbors and others hoping to fight the noise will have to persuade Venezuelans to do nothing less than change their loud behavior.

For Carlos Pinto, however, making noise is practically a political right.

The 26-year-old law student and his friends danced at a recent street party to house music booming from woofers in his car’s open trunk, with neon lights on the speakers that pulsed to the beat.

When asked about the noise, he answered: “We will be heard.”

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AP freelance video journalist Ricardo Nunes contributed to this report.

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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Lohan arrested in NY, charged also for California car smash

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested outside a New York nightclub on an assault charge early Thursday, police said, while in California, she was charged with reckless driving and lying to police over a car crash in June.

Lohan, 26, was arrested shortly after 4:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) on a third-degree misdemeanor assault charge after punching another woman in the face at a club in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, New York police said.

The charges in California were more serious, and could result in the “Mean Girls” actress having her probation revoked and being sent back to jail.

Lohan’s publicist and attorney did not return calls for comment on Thursday.

Lohan, who has been to rehab, jail and court numerous times since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession, is currently on informal probation, following her January 2011 conviction for stealing a gold necklace from a California jewelry store.

A Los Angeles judge had lifted her formal probation in March but told her to comply with all laws and stay out of trouble.

Police in the beach city of Santa Monica said Lohan was formally charged on Thursday with reckless driving and lying to police after telling them she was not driving the Porsche that smashed into a truck on a busy highway. No one was seriously injured in the collision.

Lohan was also charged with obstructing an officer in his duty. A court date has not been set, Santa Monica police said in a statement.

In New York, Lohan was accused of punching a 28-year-old unidentified woman multiple times in the face, said New York Police Sergeant John Buthorn. The victim sustained “minor, minor injuries,” he said.

The actress was released from police custody later on Thursday morning.

The two incidents come during a rough week for the former child star, once one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood.

Her most recent performance, as screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie “Liz & Dick,” was panned by critics. Cable TV channel Lifetime said Monday that a modest 3.5 million Americans watched the film, which premiered last weekend.

Lohan’s recent visits to New York have been peppered with run-ins with police and public spats.

Last month, police were called to the Long Island home of Lohan’s mother, Dina Lohan, after a loud argument, though no arrests were made. In September, Lohan was arrested in Manhattan after a pedestrian told police her car had struck him in an alley, but charges were not filed.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in New York and Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Xavier Briand and Bernadette Baum)

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Diabetes is a manageable disease

After a family backpacking trip a couple weeks later, he weighed 66.

“It came on pretty quickly,” said Gildon, now 28, reflecting on what led up to his eventual diagnosis: diabetes.

He’s among the 26 million people in the United States with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association, which acknowledges November as American Diabetes Month.

The recently published Diabetes Report Card 2012 from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) listed Oklahoma as having had the highest increase in adult diabetes from 1995 to 2010, with nearly one in 10 Oklahomans having the disease.

Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose, or blood sugar, the CDC’s report explained. With diabetes, the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or is unable to use its own insulin effectively.

Glucose builds up in the blood and causes a condition that, if not controlled, can lead to serious health complications and even death, the report said.

At the time he was diagnosed, Gildon wasn’t familiar with diabetes.

On the way home from that aforementioned backpacking trip, Gildon kept asking his parents to make pit stops every 20 or 30 minutes. He was also thirsty.

Eventually, he started feeling bad. After the family made it home, their physician said Gildon might have flu, then wrote him a prescription.

That evening, he became sicker still, and couldn’t keep water or Sprite down. That’s when his mother took him to the emergency room.

A normal glucose level is in the 80-100 range, Gildon said. That night in the hospital, his hit 999.

Signs and symptoms of diabetes can be subtle and increase over time, said Dr. Laura J. Chalmers with the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma, 4444 E. 41 St.

Those signs include being more thirsty, urinating more often, waking at night to drink and go to the bathroom, and weight loss, Chalmers said. The appetite may also be increased, and some people will have nausea and vomiting.

Gildon was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, or type 1 diabetes (T1D), one of the three most common forms of diabetes, according to the CDC. Another, type 2 diabetes (T2D), makes up for about 95 percent of diagnosed diabetes in adults; the third, gestational diabetes, develops and is diagnosed as a result of pregnancy in 2 to 10 percent of pregnant women.

With T1D, the body is unable to produce insulin, a hormone secreted by pancreas to regulate blood sugar, Chalmers explained. Treatment for T1D is insulin.

In T2D, there is insulin resistance, she continued. Treatment for T2D involves weight loss, dietary changes and medications that help the body secrete insulin and overcome the insulin resistance. In some situations, patients with T2D require insulin.

Onset of T1D is typically before age 20 but presentable from approximately 6 months of age into adulthood, Chalmers said.

Annette Jones was 24 and pregnant with her youngest daughter when she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

“When women get gestational, it usually goes away after delivery,” said Jones, alluding to the 2 percent of women who remain diabetic after pregnancy.

Jones has had diabetes for 27 years, more than half her life. Like Gildon, she wasn’t too familiar with diabetes, other than having family members who were diabetic – but she was too young to understand what that meant.

“I knew there was not a cure and that you had to take shots,” she said.

Lori Maisch was 45 when she was diagnosed with T1D. She had lost 25 pounds from May to September that year – “all the yard work I had been doing,” she thought.

Constantly thirsty and going to the bathroom every 15 minutes, even at night, Maisch finally attracted the attention of someone in a doctor’s office: her neighbor, who noticed her “sweet odor.”

“It’s the same scent I smell on patients that have diabetes,” Maisch recalled her neighbor saying. “That prompted me to make an appointment with my primary care physician, be tested and diagnosed.”

More than one diabetes

Misconceptions abound regarding diabetes, Chalmers said.

For example, T1D is treated with insulin and carbohydrate counting, she explained. Patients with T1D should have a healthy diet but are allowed to have cake, ice cream and other sweets within reason – as long as they take their insulin to cover the carbohydrates in the food they consume.

Maisch used to be one of those folks with preconceived notions about diabetes, she said. Since her diagnosis, people assume she has T2D because she’s an adult.

“Then they say, ‘I thought that only happened to children,’ ” she said. “Some will say, ‘Oh, if you eat right and exercise more, you can control it.’ No, that’s type 2 – I am insulin-dependent.”

Or she might have people tell her she can’t have certain foods, like birthday cake, refusing to cut her a slice because “you can’t have it,” Maisch said. “I just need to adjust my insulin to eat it.”

Most people don’t know that there is more than one kind of diabetes, Jones said. Others she’s met don’t think that it’s a big deal because diabetics take insulin.

“They don’t realize the deadly consequences that occur with this disease,” she said. “I have actually had people say to me, ‘You have diabetes? You’re not even fat.’ I could go on and on.”

Sometimes, people with diabetes might have a change in mood, experiencing “highs and lows,” as Maisch said.

“If I am having either, I can come across irritable or out of it,” she said. “I don’t mean to but can’t help it sometimes. I’ve found a lot of people don’t understand that part of the disease.”

Having diabetes can be expensive, too. Even with insurance, the two insulin shots Maisch needs each month are $ 100 each. Plus, she has test strips and syringes to buy. In all, it’s about $ 400 out of her own pocket each month.

“I used to be more impulsive,” Maisch said, “but now am more mindful regarding my meals and making sure I have my T1 pouch – blood glucose monitor, test strips, glucose tablets, insulin, syringe – every time I leave the house.”

It takes planning

Another challenge is always having to be more prepared than the average person.

Like if a buddy of his asks him to go on a spur-of-the-moment bike ride, Gildon has to know what his blood sugar is, possibly take extra food with him in case he takes too much insulin or exercises too heavily.

If he goes on a long trip, he has to think ahead in case his insulin pump breaks – what would he do then? Gildon has to have a back-up plan.

When he’d go on a Boy Scout camping trip, Gildon and his dad crafted a case out of PVC pipe for his insulin so he could keep it in his sleeping bag on freezing nights – and insulin doesn’t freeze.

One of the main challenges for Jones was changing her eating habits, like cutting back on carbs.

“Simplicity is gone,” she said. “I can’t go anywhere – store, work, park, ride my bike – without a plan, a snack or juice, something to treat low blood sugar.”

Jones has to have her blood monitor with her at all times, and she checks her blood at least four, sometimes eight times a day.

Like Gildon, she wears a pump 24-7. “It is still better than six to seven shots a day,” Jones said – but added, “I don’t feel free.”

Such adjustments aside, a normal, active life is achievable for most diabetics.

Jones wanted to have another baby after her second daughter, but the doctor said it was “probably best” she didn’t.

“This was 27 years ago, so that mentality has changed now,” said Jones, who has three beautiful daughters.

“God worked everything out,” she said. “Maybe not the way I had planned it, but just perfect anyway.”

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Stop diabetes before it starts

American Diabetes Month takes place each November in order to raise awareness of this disease.

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), it is estimated that nearly 26 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes. Another 79 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

To stop this disease before it starts:

Get moving. Physical activity lowers blood sugar and boosts your sensitivity to insulin. Research shows both aerobic exercise and resistance training can help control diabetes. The ADA recommends a half-hour of mild aerobic activity five times per week.

Eat more whole grains. White bread, white rice and potatoes have a high glycemic index, which can cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. Whole grain foods help with diabetes prevention because they slow down carb absorption.

Limit your sugar intake. Be sure to read nutritional labels and steer clear of anything that lists sugar, sucrose, corn syrup or other sweeteners, such as evaporated cane juice or molasses, as one of the first ingredients.

Stop smoking. According to a Harvard School of Public Health study, smokers are about 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than nonsmokers. New research shows that inhaling secondhand smoke may also lead to an increased risk of diabetes.

Get more sleep. Not getting enough sleep increases hunger, which leads to weight gain and, therefore, raises your risk of getting diabetes.

Check your glucose levels. The ADA recommends blood glucose screening for everyone age 45 and older. Generally, this testing is repeated every three years. But if you have known risk factors (like high blood pressure or obesity), discuss them with your doctor.

For more, visit the ADA’s website tulsaworld.com/diabetes

And to learn more about Hillcrest’s Center for Diabetes Management, visit tulsaworld.com/hillcrestdiabetes

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Support for diabetes

After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and not having a support system in place, Lori Maisch went into action.

She looked at the American Diabetes Association, JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and local support groups.

“I found that there were great meetings for type 2 (diabetes), for children with type 1, but none specifically for adults with type 1,” Maisch said.

So she formed a group called T1Tulsa for adults older than 18 living with type 1 diabetes. They meet once a month. Sometimes they have speakers; sometimes they just visit and learn from one another.

“It is a special meeting for me, as it is the one time month I can look around the room, say anything, and everyone gets it,” she said.

If you’re interested in T1Tulsa, email Maisch for meeting details, [email protected]

Original Print Headline: Diabetes a race that can be won

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Jason Ashley Wright 918-581-8483
[email protected]
Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Abbas: UN vote last chance on two-state solution

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly before a historic vote on Thursday that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."

The Palestinians were certain to win U.N. recognition as a state, but Israel and the United States warned it could delay hopes of achieving an independent Palestinian state through peace talks with Israel.

Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.

Israel's U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that "the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace" and that the U.N. can't break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

Prosor said the only way to achieve peace is through agreements between the parties, not through the U.N.

The General Assembly vote was certain to succeed, with most of the 193 member states sympathetic to the Palestinians. Several key countries, including France, recently announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state.

Jubilant Palestinians crowded around outdoor screens and television sets at home Thursday to watch the United Nations vote.

Palestinians say a successful vote will strengthen their hand in future talks with Israel, which has lambasted the recognition bid as an attempt to bypass such negotiations.

In Washington, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, "I don't think that (the vote) practically will have a huge influence or a major impact on any issue. ... I don't see this as the major consequence. I think the most important urgent need is to open direct negotiations. Even if we cannot agree on a fully fledged peace, probably we can accomplish something, which is better than the status quo."

The U.N. vote would grant Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. With Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu opposed to a pullback to the 1967 lines, this should strengthen Abbas' hand if peace talks resume.

The U.N. bid also could help Abbas restore some of his standing, which has been eroded by years of standstill in peace efforts. His rival, Hamas, deeply entrenched in Gaza, has seen its popularity rise after an Israeli offensive on targets linked to the Islamic militant group there earlier this month.

Thursday's vote was coming on the same day, Nov. 29, that the U.N. General Assembly in 1947 voted to recognize a state in Palestine, with the jubilant revelers then Jews. The Palestinians rejected that partition plan, and decades of tension and violence have followed.

Israel has stepped back from initial threats of harsh retaliation for the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition now, but government officials warned that Israel would respond to any Palestinian attempts to use the upgraded status to confront Israel in international bodies.

The Palestinians could gain access to U.N. agencies and international bodies, most significantly the International Criminal Court, which could become a springboard for going after Israel for alleged war crimes or its ongoing settlement building on war-won land.

However, in the run-up to the U.N. vote, Abbas signaled that he wants recognition to give him leverage in future talks with Israel, and not as a tool for confronting or delegitimizing Israel, as Israeli leaders have alleged.

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Associated Press writer Wendy Benjaminson in Washington contributed.

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Rapper PSY wants Tom Cruise to go ‘Gangnam Style’

BANGKOK (AP) — The South Korean rapper behind YouTube’s most-viewed video ever has set what might be a “Mission: Impossible” for himself.

Asked which celebrity he would like to see go “Gangnam Style,” the singer PSY told The Associated Press: “Tom Cruise!”

Surrounded by screaming fans, he then chuckled at the idea of the American movie star doing his now famous horse-riding dance.

PSY’s comments Wednesday in Bangkok were his first public remarks since his viral smash video — with 838 million views — surpassed Justin Bieber‘s “Baby,” which until Saturday held the record with 803 million views.

“It’s amazing,” PSY told a news conference, saying he never set out to become an international star. “I made this video just for Korea, actually. And when I released this song — wow.”

The video has spawned hundreds of parodies and tribute videos and earned him a spotlight alongside a variety of superstars.

Earlier this month, Madonna invited PSY onstage and they danced to his song at one of her New York City concerts. MC Hammer introduced the Korean star at the American Music Awards as, “My Homeboy PSY!”

Even President Barack Obama is talking about him. Asked on Election Day if he could do the dance, Obama replied: “I think I can do that move,” but then concluded he might “do it privately for Michelle,” the first lady.

PSY was in Thailand to give a free concert Wednesday night organized as a tribute to the country’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 85 next month. He paid respects to the king at a Bangkok shopping mall, signing his name in an autograph book placed beside a giant poster of the king. He then gave an outdoor press conference, as screaming fans nearby performed the pop star’s dance.

Determined not to be a one-hit wonder, PSY said he plans to release a worldwide album in March with dance moves that he thinks his international fans will like.

“I think I have plenty of dance moves left,” he said, in his trademark sunglasses and dark suit. “But I’m really concerned about the (next) music video.”

“How can I beat ‘Gangnam Style’?” he asked, smiling. “How can I beat 850 million views?”

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Associated Press writer Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report.

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A Minute With: Pop star Ke$ha on new album “Warrior”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Ke$ ha made a name for herself with infectious dance-pop hits but the singer-songwriter is stepping out of her Auto-Tune comfort zone on “Warrior”, out this week.

Ke$ ha, 25, stormed the charts with hit songs about drinking, partying and having a good time, such as “TiK ToK” and “Your Love is my Drug” from her 2010 platinum-selling album “Animal”.

Ke$ ha talked with Reuters about the pressures of following up the success of her first album and responding to her critics.

Q: Did you feel additional pressure while working on this album after the success of your debut, “Animal”?

A: “Everybody keeps asking me about pressure, and I think a lot of other people maybe are feeling pressure about this record, but I just want to make a good record. If I sat around trying to make a number one record, I’d just be too consumed with that. I just want to make an awesome, kick-ass record that I love and that my fans love.”

Q: Was there anything that you weren’t happy with on the first album and that you wanted to change for the second?

A: “I just wanted to make sure my entire personality was presented more accurately. I feel like people really got to know the super-wild side of me but then sometimes a more vulnerable side. I didn’t really feel comfortable expressing it. So this time I kind of forced myself to express a little bit more vulnerability, less Auto-Tune, less vocal trickery. It’s a little more raw.”

Q: You received a lot of criticism for your use of Auto-Tune, masking your true singing voice. Was that a valid criticism for you, when many others use it?

A: “I remember having this conversation with my producer, and him saying, ‘We’re using a lot of vocal tricks,’ and I said, ‘People will get to know me as my career goes on, I just want it to sound really weird and cool and clubby right now, and super electronic.’ I made a conscious decision to use Auto-Tune for effect, as ear candy, and vocoders and chop up my words.

“This time around, I have heard so many different people say I can’t sing, it’s quite frankly irritating, so I … made a five-song acoustic EP (‘Deconstructed’, out on December 4) that’s kind of like my middle finger to all those people that said I couldn’t sing, and there’s more of my voice on this record. You know, haters are going to hate, you just have to do what you want to do.”

Q: Talk us through some of the collaborations on “Warrior”. There’s quite a variety, such as with Iggy Pop and Ben Folds.

A: “Ben Folds is a friend of mine. He gave me a giant glitter grand piano that’s in my house, so that one was natural. The Flaming Lips was probably surprising for a lot of people because we’re two super-different genres of music but we had the most fun and we made so many songs, it was super insane. We’re like best friends, we text everyday now, so that kind of came naturally. The one that I really have been working on for years was a collaboration with Iggy Pop. He’s one of my favorite musicians and artists of all time, so that was super exciting for me, because I respect him so much.”

Q: You’ve written tracks for Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears, and you’ve written all the songs for “Warrior”. What did you want to bring out in your lyrics this time round?

A: “I definitely wanted to maintain the irreverence, because that’s why my fans like me. It’s because I’m super honest, not always PG rated … but I didn’t want to let the haters somehow cramp my style or get the best of me, so I maintain my irreverence … I also really wanted to show the other side of my personality, which kind of is more nerve-wracking to show people, being a real person and the vulnerable side of my personality and voice. So there are tracks on this record that are super vulnerable and were hard even to write. I had to force myself to sit down and write these songs.”

Q: You’ve carved a distinctive image and also just launched your latest collaboration with Baby-G watches. How do you want to evolve your career in the future?

A: “I think that with this record, I really wanted to show that there are no rules or boundaries in art, at all, like I sing and I can use crazy Auto-Tune vocoders and I can rap and I can do a song with Iggy Pop. You can do all these things that make sense. You don’t have to just be one thing, like, you don’t adhere to any sort of stereotype or any boundaries or any rules, so for me it’s really fun to break down these boundaries.”

Q: You came in at the forefront of the electronic dance music explosion in the pop charts two years ago. Why do you think EDM is doing so well?

A: “Dancing is one of the ways we, as adult human beings, still get to play and it’s socially acceptable. Little kids play all the time, but as we grow up, we’re supposed to just not play anymore, so our version of that is going out and dancing, and I think it’s one way people are still visceral and animal-like.”

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Dale Hudson)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Cialis impotence drug helps muscular dystrophy patients

LONDON (Reuters) – Eli Lilly‘s erectile dysfunction drug Cialis can correct abnormal blood flow in patients with a certain type of muscular dystrophy and could in future be used to slow progression of the disorder, researchers said on Wednesday.

The findings suggest that while Cialis can’t cure the condition, known as Becker muscular dystrophy, it could be used as a treatment to slow or prevent muscle weakening and help patients retain more function for longer.

Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is an inherited disorder that involves slowly worsening muscle weakness of the legs and pelvis. It is mostly found in boys and occurs in about 3 to 6 out of every 100,000 births.

Patients with BMD often have difficulties with walking that get worse over time. There is no cure for the condition, and by the age of 25 to 30 many patients are unable to walk.

In a small study involving men with the disorder, researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in the United States took measurements when volunteers’ forearm muscles were either rested or lightly exercised with a handgrip.

They found that almost all the patients had defective blood flow when they exercised. This lack of blood flow may contribute to muscle fatigue and weakness, the researchers wrote in a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

But after giving some of the patients a single oral dose of Cialis and comparing them to others given a placebo, or dummy pill, the scientists found that normal blood flow was restored to the muscles of 8 out of 9 patients who got the drug.

Like other erectile dysfunction drugs, Cialis, known generically as tadalafil, dilates blood vessels and is designed to increase blood flow. In the impotence drug market, it is a longer-acting alternative to Pfizer’s blue pill, Viagra.

Sales of Cialis for erectile dysfunction brought in $ 1.875 billion for Eli Lilly in 2011, up 10 percent on 2010.

While using the drug in BMD may be a possibility in future, the researchers cautioned that doctors should not prescribe it for this indication until more, larger studies have been conducted to show whether the improved blood flow has a meaningful effect on dystrophic muscles.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Sexual Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Behind the curtain of the Great and Powerful Grover

(Michael D'Antuono/www.artandresponse.com)

WASHINGTON -- If aliens landed in Washington, D.C. right now, they might assume in their search for a terrestrial leader that a bespectacled man called "Grover Norquist" controlled the planet's most powerful nation. They might also conclude that this person had magical powers.

The misunderstanding wouldn't necessarily be their fault.

Grover Fever has swept the nation's capital this week, shortly after thousands of politicos waddled back into the city after a Thanksgiving break. After years of notoriety in Washington but near obscurity elsewhere, Norquist is becoming a household name around the dinner table.

The Colbert Report recently devoted a feature to Norquist, portraying the 56-year old Harvard graduate as a omniscient creature whose power knows no bounds. Norquist has been all over cable news shows and the subject of lengthy pieces in prestigious newspapers and magazines. Outside Washington's Metro stations this week, hawkers handed out free tabloid dailies bearing the image of his face. Politico devoted an entire hour to him at a newsmakers breakfast Wednesday morning.

His name is on the lips of top Democrats in Congress who blame him for single-handedly bringing the United States of America to an immediate standstill. Norquist is "one obstacle standing between Congress and compromise," Democratic Senate Majority Harry Reid exclaimed from the Senate floor Tuesday morning.

His crime? Norquist has convinced more than 1,000 politicians to sign a pledge never to raise taxes through his organization, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). But with Congress now debating how to avoid the so called "fiscal cliff"  -- a series of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to kick in January 1st if a budget deal isn't reached with President Barack Obama -- some Republicans appear to be wiggling away from Norquist's grip.

A few GOP lawmakers have voiced a willingness to eliminate deductions within the tax code, which, without offsetting tax cuts elsewhere, would technically violate the pledge. One of the possible pledge violators, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, called Norquist a "lowlife" and said his wife would "knock his head off" after Norquist compared the taxpayer pledge to King's marriage vows.

But Norquist is like a bearded Lernaean Hydra who only grows more powerful the more you attack him. The evidence? A majority of Republicans have not joined the rogue moderates publicly, reinforcing the narrative that they remain under Norquist's binding spell.

But Norquist isn't necessarily the most powerful conservative activist in town. And many conservatives don't always move in lockstep with him, which is clear in the current debate over the fiscal cliff.

While there is a consensus among Republicans against increasing marginal tax rates for the sake of a deal, the disagreement lies in whether to eliminate deductions and close loopholes in the tax code.

Norquist insists that eliminating the loopholes without offsetting them by tax cuts would violate the pledge, but others say the deductions violate conservative principles by inserting the hand of government into the market.

"We look at things differently than Grover does," Chris Chocola, president of the free-market  group The Club for Growth, told Yahoo News. "We have always been advocates of lowering the marginal rate, broadening the base, eliminating what we think or market-distorting tax credits and loopholes."

Chocola said the approach would produce benefits that could please both parties: It would force companies that manipulate the system of loopholes to pay more in taxes and increase revenue by growing the economy.

Matt Kibbe, who heads the tea party organizing network FreedomWorks, agreed that any deal that scrapped the thousands of tax code loopholes would be progress.

"An ideal tax code doesn't choose favorites and it shouldn't matter that you have a great lobbyist in Washington, D.C," Kibbe said. "I think all conservatives generally support fundamental tax reform--they don't like the idea that GE gets a special credit for green energy or that some other company gets different treatment from anyone else."

Despite the differences, Norquist remains the man in the spotlight. He seems to be enjoying every minute of it, using the opportunity to promote his organization and raising his own profile.

On Wednesday, Norquist presided over a gathering of conservative activists who piled into a massive conference room at ATR's Washington office. The hump-day confab, known as "The Wednesday Meeting," puts what Hillary Clinton famously called "the vast right-wing conspiracy" in one room for an hour and a half every week.

The meeting is strictly off the record, but reporters can attend if they agree not to disclose details of the discussion.

On each chair in the room, representatives stacked press releases, pamphlets and articles promoting their organizations. From ATR, everyone received a full-page, color picture of former Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose bid for a second term was foiled after he agreed to raise taxes. It was a warning for anyone who might be thinking of breaking the pledge.

This week's meeting was standing room only, and Norquist, wearing a headset microphone, was in his element, roaring through presentations. Seated at the head of the table, he called on activists, think-tankers and members of Congress to share how they are promoting the conservative movement.

Despite his image as a puppeteer who controls the strings of Republican lawmakers, Norquist is not so much the Secret Master of the GOP as he is the Grand Facilitator of the coalitions that hold it together.

In the meantime, he doesn't seem to mind the confusion.

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