Tomato soup 'boosts fertility'
28 Jul 2007, 2039 hrs IST,PTI
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Tomato_soup_boosts_fertility/articleshow/2241090.cms

LONDON: Craving for something sweet and sour at the same time? Don't think twice. Just have a bowl of spicy and creamy tomato soup to satisfy your desire.

Yes, a bowl of hot tomato soup every day can boost fertility among men, according to scientists. Researchers at the UK-based University of Portsmouth have discovered that lycopene, which gives tomatoes their bright red colouring, can turn sperm into super-sperm, sources reported. The conclusion came after the researchers studied the effect of lycopene in the diet on a group of six healthy men, all in their early forties.

They were asked to consume tomato soup every day for two weeks. During these two weeks, scientists claimed that levels of lycopene in the men's semen rose between seven and 12 per cent, which was "significant". The researchers have plans to carry out further studies to discover whether the same boost would be seen in infertile men who generally have lower levels of lycopene in their sperm, the daily quoted a report from the British Journal of Urology.

Though it is not yet known what part lycopene actually plays in fertility, the study suggests that higher levels of the antioxidant may pop up harmful free radicals in the body which increases fertility. Tomato products have beneficial health properties because of the presence of lycopene, but this is the first time they have been shown to boost fertility among men. Other fruits and vegetables that are high in lycopene include watermelon, grapefruit, guava and papaya.

The gateway that bridges India's past and present
http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/07/30/The-gateway-that-bridges-Indias-past-and-present/

Built by the British in memory of those who died fighting for the British Army in World War I, the India Gate monument in the heart of the national capital now holds an eternal flame to salute Indian soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country -- in every way a gate that is a bridge between the colonial past and the patriotic present.

The majestic 1931 monument, designed by Edwin Lutyens who planned what is the core of New Delhi, is the centrepiece of India's National Day celebrations every Jan 26 - the day when the country became a republic in 1950, about two and a half years after its independence on Aug 15, 1947.

The prime minister lays a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti - literally the eternal soldier flame commemorating all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country - before the grand Republic Day parade begins.

The times have changed but the sentiment is still perhaps the same as in 1921 when the foundation stone was laid by the Duke of Connaught and in 1931 when it was dedicated to the nation by the then viceroy Lord Irwin.

It was to salute the 90,000 Indian soldiers who were killed fighting for the British Army during World War I. The memorial, strikingly similar to the Arc de Triomphe archway in Paris, bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Afghan war of 1919.

The Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later. The eternal flame burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who laid down their lives in the India-Pakistan war of 1971.

But India Gate has come to mean more than a memorial to the dead soldier. It has also become a powerful platform for common people to voice their opinion. Candlelight vigils are often organised around the imposing monument to highlight various issues by civil society groups - be it the cause of justice for slain model Jessica Lal last year or HIV-AIDS victims this year.

Many peaceful protests have been organised by the public at India Gate to bring issues to the forefront and give it the necessary attention.

The entire arch of the India Gate stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge moulding. The cornice is inscribed with the Imperial suns while both sides of the arch have 'India', flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914 left) and MCMXIX (1919 right).

The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries but this is rarely done.

The lawns around the place are a place for fun. The elderly stroll lazily, kids frolic on the lush lawns and couples snatch a private moment or two. Framed between the Rashtrapati Bhavan at one end and the India Gate at the other, the vast expanse of green space in the heart of Lutyen's Delhi is where people flock to when the weather is good. Or bad.

When the sun shines down warmly on a cold winter day, or when a soothing breeze wafts through on a hot summer, or just when it is stiflingly hot and some fresh air is all you need, the area around the colonial gate is where people come to.

On most evenings, the complex and its vast lawns resemble a mini carnival with large crowds, ice cream vendors doing brisk business and balloon sellers colouring the lawns.

Hopping off a screeching bus near India Gate, Manohar Joshi was one of the many who decided to spend an evening outdoors. Holding his wife's hand and carrying their son in his arms, he walked towards the stately memorial bustling with people.

"We generally come here on weekends. It is like a fair with hundreds of people talking, laughing and basically having a good time. Then there are vendors selling ice cream and other food items, balloons... it's like a picnic," said Joshi.

Families come by hordes to avoid the maddening rush at shopping malls and multiplexes.

Lots of people spread sheets on the lawns and sit there till late evening, chatting and munching on the goodies they brought in their picnic baskets or bought from hawkers.

Some also get photographs clicked by the professional photographers who roam around.

Several enthusiastic women get their hands and feet decorated with 'henna' by 'professionals' who look out for prospective customers with their henna tubes and a book full of designs.

As evening sets in, people hover around India Gate, soaking in its grandeur and the soft lighting.

"I come for a drive around India Gate every now and then. Although it's flocked by people, it is still such a breather from the overcrowded coffee shops or shopping malls," said Asmita Jain, who works in a public relations firm.

The India Gate stands tall in the heart of Delhi and is a must-see for the thousands of tourists, both domestic as well as international, who flock the capital every year.

China bans AIDS activists meeting
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0729/china.html
Sunday, 29 July 2007 09:57
China has banned a meeting by AIDS activists on the rights of people with the disease.
The conference would have brought together 50 Chinese and foreign experts and activists to discuss how to press the legal rights of people with HIV/AIDS.

But Chinese government authorities told the Asian Catalyst group to cancel the meeting planned for early August in Guangzhou near Hong Kong.

China had 203,527 officially registered cases of HIV/AIDS by the end of April, up from 183,733 at the end of October 2006. Of the latest figure, 52,480 had progressed to full-blown AIDS.
But the UN estimates the true number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country to be around 650,000.

Beijing now backs campaigns to educate citizens on avoiding infection, and victims infected through reckless commercial blood collection in rural Henan province have been given free medicines.

But officials in the one-party state remain wary of local activists and foreign groups pressing legal claims of infected citizens or raising official complicity in the spread of the disease.
Henan has informally blocked patients from suing officials over tainted blood.

The meeting co-organised with China Orchid AIDS Project had invited several experts from South Africa, India, the US, Canada and Thailand.

Planned topics included discrimination, blood safety and setting up a legal aid center for people with HIV/AIDS.

In May, China barred a prominent AIDS and environmental activist couple from leaving the country, accusing them of endangering national security.

Earlier in the year, Henan officials tried to stop a doctor who helped expose the rural AIDS epidemic there from going to Washington to collect a human rights award. They let her go after an international outcry.

Sex education: the good , bad and ugly
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=7adf29eb-ece2-491f-87b8-f41f5f8a1b1b&ParentID=cadd1409-8d45-4f3e-b114-bc6e8d143135&MatchID1=4501&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1122&PrimaryID=4501&Headline=Sex+education%3a+the+good+%2c+bad+and+ugly

Renuka Bisht, Hindustan Times
Email Author
July 30, 2007

In a society in which innuendo and allusion are the preferred modes of communicating sexual desire even for the adults, the notion that adolescents are also sexual beings predictably makes us squirm. Whether it is as parents or as teachers, as aunts or uncles, many of us would rather push this possibility underground into our secretive subconscious.

It’s no wonder then, that the human resource development ministry’s Adolescent Education Programme (AEP) has run into hot water, because its safe sex message forces us to face the reality of sex being on the adolescent agenda. Nine states have already banned the programme; some teachers have been warned that they will be jailed if they take sex into the classrooms while some others have been burning the AEP manual.

A conspiracy of silence

The 2006 Behavioural Surveillance Survey (BSS) found that 8.4 per cent of Indian young people are sexually active. Meanwhile the Madhya Pradesh chief minister has demanded that the AEP curriculum be replaced by classes on Indian culture. With 1.5 crores of our youngsters having sex, can cultural empowerment substitute for safety, for teaching our children how to protect their bodies? Especially when unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are not the only byproducts of the silence surrounding sex.

One of the most shocking stories to hit the capital last week concerned a 10-year-old boy who was being sodomised in his own school by no less than three people, including a teacher. This child was tortured for months before he found the wherewithal to make a public complaint, but his is not an isolated case. A 2007 Ministry of Women and Child Development’s study adds that over 50 per cent of our children are sexually abused. In half of these cases, the abuse is perpetrated by persons in positions of trust and a majority of the children do not report it.

Sex education can overturn this ritual silence, supply our young people with the tools to report and resist abusive behaviors, provide them with a forum for negotiating their fears and feelings honestly, openly. And teachers can adapt the AEP manual to establish communication channels that best suit local conditions, putting their students at ease with subjects – such as the bodily changes induced by puberty – that they are otherwise too squeamish to discuss.

And a ticking time bomb

Two decades after the first AIDS cases were reported, it has become the fourth largest killer in the world, with five young people contracting HIV every minute – that’s 7,200 every day. In India, where 15 per cent of the HIV/AIDS patients are actually children under 15 years old, the educational system still exists in a state of denial.Much worse, many schools continue to expel or segregate children because they or their parents are HIV positive.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that sex education can save India’s young people from the AIDS epidemic. According to UNESCO, a good illustration of how responsibly the young behave when they are properly informed is that 60 per cent of them now use condoms the first time they have sex in Western Europe – a six-fold increase since the early nineties.

There is also plenty of evidence to suggest that information about contraception is effective in both delaying the first sexual intercourse and ensuring that adolescents play it safe when they do become sexually active. So it’s time we overcame our timidity about confronting our adolescents’ sexuality, and the story below shows that we have plenty of models to choose from as we make our journey out of silence.

Cultural factors crucial in Aids prevention efforts
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=163605&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

Published: Sunday, 29 July, 2007, 02:28 AM Doha Time
By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK: Dr Anthony Fauci, one of the world’s leading Aids scientists, has warned at an international conference on Aids in Sydney, Australia, recently that the world is losing the battle against the virus. He indicated that, to improve the situation, increased emphasis should be placed into prevention efforts, particularly into the social and cultural circumstances that affect the rate in which the pandemic is growing.

One of the cultural factors that have proven to be significant is cross-generational relationships — that is relationships where there are at least a 10-year difference between partners. Unless this problem is properly addressed, it will have significant social and demographic consequences in the regions most affected by it - in Sub-Saharan countries, the Caribbean and the Middle East, among others.

This ‘sugar daddy’ phenomenon , as it is also termed, accounts a much greater prevalence of the HIV infection among teenage girls than among boys. In several African countries, young girls have up to six times the rates of HIV-infection as do boys of similar ages.

In Uganda, according to a government report, 10.3% of women aged 15 to 24 had HIV/Aids, compared with 2.8% of men in the same age bracket.Women, particularly adolescents and young women, are more vulnerable than men to becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases. One of the reasons is that their reproductive tract tissues are not yet fully developed and therefore are more susceptible to tearing and becoming infected.

What explains the high prevalence of this kind of uneven age relationships between older men and younger women? For one, older men believe that younger women can better satisfy their sexual needs than can older women; and, too, it is a sign of status among their friends to have one or more young girlfriends. In addition, older men believe that younger women are virgins and therefore less likely to be infected.

For young women, taking older men as sexual partners is also a sign of prestige among their peers and a way of paying for luxuries that otherwise they wouldn’t be able to afford, such as mobile phones, clothes and fancy jewelry. In other cases, these relationships provide young women with funds to finance their education.

Many poor families encourage young girls to enter into this kind of relationships in the belief that they will improve their and their family’s economic situations.

This phenomenon clearly illustrates the powerful link between women’s health and women’ empowerment, since young women are frequently unable to negotiate safe sexual relationship with older, more powerful men.

For example, in traditional African societies, because of the respect due to their elders, it is difficult for young women to reject advances by older men. This also places young women at a disadvantage in terms of demanding that their partners use condoms.

The reluctance by men, both young and old, to use condoms is one of the main reasons that fuel the HIV/Aids epidemic. It has been demonstrated that the older the man is with regard to his female companion and the more money it gives her, the less likely he is to use condom. Studies have also shown that the greater the age difference between partners, the more frequent is the practice of unsafe sexual behaviours.

There are many activities now being conducted across Africa to deal with this phenomenon, some of them with the collaboration of the clergy — a critical ally in the fight against HIV/Aids. There are mass communication campaigns to help create a stigma against this kind of relationship. There are also a wide range of education activities aimed at empowering young women by providing them with life skills, micro-credit loans and vocational training.These initiatives should be reinforced through outreach activities with NGOs working in the field to train local health workers to recognise this issue and help address it within their communities. At the same time, there should be increased co-operation between the ministries of health and education to improve the health curricula in schools and to sensitise members of parliament to pass legislation in those countries that have no laws addressing the seduction of minors.

Although many countries have such legislation, it is seldom enforced. Prevention of cross generational sex should be an important part of Aids prevention efforts. Because of its devastating effects on young women, sugar daddy relationships have proven to be anything but sweet.

* Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is the author of Aids: A Modern Epidemic, a publication of the Pan American Health Organisation.