MEDIA RELEASE

BLACK GAY RESEARCH GROUP ANNOUNCES  2010 SUMMIT THEME,  KEYNOTE SPEAKER, 
LUCHEON PLEANARY, CALL FOR PRESENTERS & DISTINGUSED AWARDS

For Immediate Release
August 01, 2009

Contact
Dr. LaRon E. Nelson
BGRG Chair
416-978-6949

Mr. Gregory D. Victorianne
2010 Summit Chair
323-387-7742

Atlanta, GA -  The Black Gay Research Group (BGRG) announced that the 2010 BGRG 
Summit will be held on January 20, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Renaissance
Concourse Hotel. The theme for the upcoming summit is, Reclaiming Our Place,
Emerging Research Dialogues on the Lives of Black Gay Men. The summit will
highlight the scholarly and creative/artistic contributions of those who study
the lives of Black gay men from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives.

The keynote address will be delivered by E. Patrick Johnson, Ph.D., Professor
and Chair of the Department of Performance Studies and Professor of African
American Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Johnson
is the author of Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South-An Oral History, which
chronicles the lives of Black gay men who were born and raised and live in the
South. A scholar/artist, Dr. Johnson's award winning work is world renowned and
he is widely regarded as one of the most provocative and important contemporary
scholars in the areas of critical race theory, queer theory and Black GLBTQ
Studies.

"It is critical that we make spaces to have 360 degree scholarly exchanges about
the lives of Black gay men.  Through this summit we are continuing our
commitment to fusing research discourses between the arts, sciences, and
community practice" said Dr. LaRon E. Nelson of the University of Toronto
Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Chair of the BGRG.  "This is the only place in
the world where, in the same venue, people will be able to hear from a major
cultural scholar like Dr. E. Patrick Johnson and hear from the scientists
leading two of the most important HIV prevention trials related to Black MSM".

The Luncheon Plenary session is entitled "The Science Behind HPTN 061 and HVTN
505"  will explore the development and implementation of  two multi-city HIV
behavioral prevention and clinical vaccine research studies currently underway
in the United States in which Black gay men are being recruited for
participation. The plenary will feature the principal investigators of both
studies, who themselves represent diverse disciplinary backgrounds including
social work, public health, epidemiology, and medicine.

The 2010 Summit tracks and panels will include:

*   Untying Tongues: Black Gay Men, Sexuality & Health
*   Black Gay Communities & Creative Cultures
*   Emerging Identities: Black Gay Men & Spirituality
*   Best Practices for Innovative and Culturally Relevant HIV Prevention for
Black MSM
The BGRG will also recognize Black gay researchers and leaders who have
demonstrated excellence in the research and community empowerment during an
evening awards reception at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel.   The awards that
will be presented include:

*   BGRG Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions &
Leadership
*   BGRG Emerging Scholar and Leadership Award
*   BGRG Founders Spirit and Soul Award for Outstanding Contributions in
Services to the Black gay Community
"The research we engage in informs public policy and public policy informs
public programs. This summit will allow us as Black gay researchers to recognize
the outstanding contributions we have accomplished since the 2005 Research
Summit in New York City." said Gregory D. Victorianne, 2010 Summit Chair." "This
is also an opportunity for us to support and embrace one another, but more
importantly, the work that we collectively do is for the generations that follow
us all. Together we can make the difference."

For submission of abstracts, registration, sponsorship, and information, please
contact the Black Gay Research Group at info@... or visit the
official BGRG website at http://www.bgrg-international.org/

The summit coincides with the 2010 National African American MSM Leadership
Conference on HIV/AIDS & other Health Disparities January 21-24, 2010.  For more
information on the National African American Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS
please visit the NAESM website at
http://www.naesmonline.org<http://www.naesmonline.org/>.

The BGRG was founded in 2001 in an effort to strengthen, empower and provide a
network for Black gay researchers and community workers/activists. Its mission
is to advance an agenda of research, policy and service in the interests of
Black gay men.
###

________________________________

Interrupted Journeys:
Lessons from The Lazarus Generation

A strange silence has fallen upon us. Twenty-five years ago, AIDS
emerged full-blown in the gay communities of America, especially the
urban enclaves of San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, and
devastated an entire generation of gay men. Survivors of ground zero,
the "Lazarus generation" of gay men (and fellow travelers), have not
only endured a historically unique, epoch-altering collective
experience, but have returned to life, profoundly transformed in many
ways. Yet, their voices have fallen silent.

As individual memories fade, as myth and reality commingle in the
formation of public memory, passing time compels that long-term
survivors of the Lazarus generation share their wisdom now, with each
other, their gay/queer community, and the world at large. Wounded
storytellers everywhere are encouraged to share their portion of this
common journey, their experiences, insights, observations, hopes and
wisdom.

Interrupted Journeys: Lessons from The Lazarus Generation is an
anthology of original essays, in the form of personal memoir,
narrative fiction and poetry, academic articles (including
theoretical) and professionally-informed studies documenting
explorations of transformation – individual or collective,
psychological, social, spiritual, or political – written by
self-identifying survivors, articulating roughly "then and now"
perspectives. Essays may explore transformations, positive, negative,
or unresolved, newly arising issues such as living with HIV in old
age, the increasing social and sexual divide between poz and neg gay
men, long-term adjustments to financial deprivation, chronic health
conditions (medical or mental), and social death and resurrection, the
rise of new gay archetypes and the transformation of gay tribal
community (AIDS as a marker of tribal membership), or any heretofore
unexplored dimensions. Each essay should be intelligent, engaging,
aimed at a general audience, and articulate insight, compassion, and
wisdom.

Submissions should be 1500 – 4000 words in length, be original or
unpublished work (elaborations or redevelopment of previously
published work acceptable), established authors, scholars, and other
professionals as well as fresh voices are welcome. Diversity of
perspectives and richness of experience encouraged. Deadline:
September 30, 2008.

Contact: Les Wright at leskwright@... or PO Box 460358,
San Francisco, CA 94114. Please query first.
__________
Les K. Wright, PhD, is a writer, educator, photographer, and gay
community activist, and lives in San Francisco. Founder of the Bear
History Project, editor of The Bear Book and The Bear Book II, and
author of numerous articles and essays, his work has appeared in
Hometowns: Gay Men Write about Where They Belong, Bears on Bears,
Queer Sites: Urban Histories of Gay Male Experience, AIDS: The
Literary Response, Queering the Canon: Defying Sights in German
Literature and Culture, and elsewhere.

At present he writes film reviews for CultureVulture.net, pens the
"Bear History" column for A Bear's Life, and teaches writing at Diablo
Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. He also serves ex officio
on the boards of the Billy Foundation as grant writer and of the Bears
of San Francisco as Historian, is involved with the San Francisco Gay
Men's Community Initiative, and recently assumed programming duties
for Ursology, the writers and artists cultural event, held in San
Francisco in conjunction with the International Bear Rendezvous annually.

"Tangled Memories of a Wounded Storyteller: Notes on Bear History and
Cultural Memory," his exploration of trauma, loss, and collective
memory appeared in 2005 in torquere: Journal of the Canadian Lesbian
and Gay Studies Association. Other samplings of his Lazarus generation
writing can be found online at
http://www.mrcforchange.org/onceuponatime.html and at
www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=6775.

Research Advocacy for HIV Prevention: Skills and Challenges for AIDS
Activists
forwarded from AVAC and CHAMP

During the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections (CROI) held in February in Los Angeles, CA, the Community
HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy
Coalition (AVAC) worked with a number of partner organizations to
convene "Research Advocacy for HIV Prevention: Skills and Challenges
for AIDS Activists". We are pleased to announce that the full report
and all of the presentations are now available online at
http://www.champnetwork.org/index.php?name=research.

The one-day training workshop and half-day advocacy strategy session
brought together nearly 100 community advocates and activists from
across the US, Europe and Asia to share information and perspectives
on HIV prevention research.

The sessions offered a unique opportunity for leaders in research,
policy and grassroots communities to come together to share
information and perspectives on HIV prevention research, examined
within a social justice framework. The participants discussed the
complexities of the prevention research agenda, including biomedical,
behavior and social prevention strategies as well as cross-cutting
issues, such as informed consent or partial efficacy. Case studies
and research on the impact of race and discrimination on HIV
prevention sparked discussions on the importance of structural
interventions as well as the overwhelming need for more ethnic and
minority researchers in the field. A panel discussion with
representatives from diverse AIDS communities on advocacy needs and
challenges made two things clear -- prevention is complicated, and
prevention is important.

The overall report (available in both Word and PDF versions) provides
Q&A, debate and analysis that puts the associated slide presentations
in context. We suggest viewing the PowerPoint file side-by-side with
its section in the report.

AVAC and CHAMP hope these materials are helpful, whether you attended
the workshop or not. We also hope to conduct additional sessions and
would be delighted to hear from you if you or your organization are
interested in collaborating with us.

Also, look for the upcoming CROI conference report on AVAC's CROI
conference page and in an upcoming Network update!

Best regards,

CHAMP and AVAC

Josh Thomas
CHAMP - Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project josh@...
917-539-7016

Mitchell Warren
AVAC - AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition
avac@...
212-367-1279

Hi all - this comes from the DC Area HIV/AIDS Community Advisory
Boards for HIV/AIDS Research.

Read the whole letter on the website: http://www.aidsvaccine.org

and PLEASE consider signing on to the letter by filling out the
online form - THANKS!

David Mariner

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It has come to our attention that there are significant
inconsistencies across the DAIDS funded HIV/AIDS Research networks,
and across other NIH funded HIV/AIDS research, in how data is
collected with regards to sex and gender.

Three Washington DC area community advisory boards (CABs) have been
discussing this issue and have written a joint letter on this issue
which we plan to submit to the DAIDS Cross CAB working group for
their consideration. The three CABs are: The Capital Area Vaccine
Effort which serves as the community CAB for the NIH Vaccine Research
Center, The Georgetown University Medical Center CAB which is part of
the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, and the Washington VA Medical Center
CAB, which is part of the International Network for Strategic
Initiatives in Global HIV Trials.

We realize that this is an issue that extends beyond the District of
Columbia. To that end, we are placing the letter online and
encouraging other individuals and community advisory boards to sign
on to the letter before it is presented to the Cross CAB working
Group. This letter will remain on the website until May 11th. It will
then be submitted on May 14th.

We encourage you to print out the letter and related information from
this website and discuss it with your local CAB. We encourage
supportive individuals or community advisory boards to sign on to
this letter on or before May 11th.   You can sign on to the letter by
filling out the form at the bottom of this page.

Joseph Hall, on behalf of the Washington VA Medical Center CAB
Wayne Dicks, on behalf of Georgetown University Medical Center CAB
Colin Gillespie, on behalf of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort
Zenovia Wright, on behalf of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort
Kofi Akomeah, on behalf of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort.

Find out more at http://www.aidsvaccine.org

CONTACT:
Lisa Rossi
412-916-3315
rossil@...

MICROBICIDE TRIALS NETWORK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWELVE INSTITUTIONS IN AFRICA, INDIA AND U.S. NAMED BY NIH AS
CLINICAL TRIAL UNITS FOR THE MICROBICIDE TRIALS NETWORK

Studies looking at microbicides for HIV prevention in women will take
place at 17 sites in seven countries

PITTSBURGH, March 12 – Twelve institutions today were named by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as HIV/AIDS clinical
trial units (CTUs) for the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), a new
HIV/AIDS clinical trials network established by NIAID last year. The
CTUs, located in Africa, India and the United States, will engage in
multi-center studies spanning 17 locations in seven countries that
seek to determine if topical microbicides can help prevent the sexual
transmission of HIV in women.

Nearly half of the 39.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS are
women, and in Africa, women account for 59 percent of all infected
adults. Young women are especially vulnerable. For instance, in sub-
Saharan Africa, those aged 15 to 24 with HIV outnumber men of the
same age by three to one.

In developing countries, HIV most often is spread through unprotected
heterosexual intercourse, and educational efforts promoting
abstinence, monogamy, and condoms have not been completely effective.
Through its CTUs, the MTN is evaluating the potential that
microbicides, substances formulated as gels or creams, for example,
can reduce or prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other
sexually transmitted diseases when applied topically to the surface
of the vagina.

The MTN CTUs based outside the United States are the National AIDS
Research Institute in Pune, India; the Medical Research Council in
Durban, South Africa; and the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
U.S. institutions named as CTUs that will be conducting MTN trials
exclusively at the international sites with whom they collaborate are
the University of California, San Francisco, which operates in
Zimbabwe, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, both in Baltimore, with
affiliations in Malawi and Uganda, respectively. The University of
Alabama at Birmingham, was granted two CTU awards, one for its
international site in Zambia, and the second for its U.S. site.

The remaining CTUs, all U.S.-based, are Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland; Columbia University in New York City, the
University of Pittsburgh; and the University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia.

Each of these CTUs has affiliated clinical research sites that will
conduct the actual trials, some within the same city or institution
and others at additional locations in the same country or region.
Accounting for those CTUs with more than one clinical research site,
the MTN will be conducting trials at 17 locations in five African
countries, the United States and India.

The MTN's clinical research sites are located in Pune, India;
Llongwe, Malawi (two sites); Durban, South Africa (four sites); Cape
Town, South Africa; Kampala, Uganda; Harare, Zimbabwe (two sites);
and Lusaka, Zambia; as well as in New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia and Birmingham, Ala.

To face the global urgency of the HIV/AIDS epidemic head-on, the MTN
anticipates conducting 17 scientifically rigorous and ethically sound
clinical trials over the next seven years. Some of these trials will
be designed to evaluate microbicides along with other promising
HIV/AIDS prevention approaches, such as oral anti-retroviral
prophylaxis.

"The scope of the crisis requires an aggressive agenda in which the
clinical trial units and clinical research sites play an essential
role. By virtue of being selected by NIH, our CTUs have proved
themselves as the most qualified and the most committed to take part
in an endeavor of such great global importance," said Sharon Hillier,
Ph.D., MTN principal investigator and professor of obstetrics,
gynecology and reproductive sciences and of molecular genetics and
biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and
director of reproductive infectious disease research at the Magee-
Womens Research Institute.

The MTN brings together international investigators and community
partners who are devoted to reducing the sexual transmission of HIV
through the development and evaluation of microbicides and who work
within a unique infrastructure designed to conduct research that will
support licensure of topical microbicide products for widespread use.

Based at the University of Pittsburgh and Magee-Womens Research
Institute, MTN's core operations are supported by a central
laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, a statistical and data
management center housed within the Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS
Research & Prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
and Family Health International, a global organization with expertise
conducting clinical protocols. It receives funding from three NIH
institutes: NIAID, the National Institute of Mental Health and the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

MTN's 12 CTUs are among the 60 U.S. and international institutions
that recently received awards from the NIAID; NIAID expects to fund a
total of 73 CTUs with approximately 145 clinical research sites
within the next several months. Each CTU and clinical research site
will work with one or more of six NIAID HIV/AIDS clinical trials
networks.  In addition to the MTN, they include the AIDS Clinical
Trials Group, the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the HIV Vaccine
Trials Network, the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS
Clinical Trials Network and the International Network for Strategic
Initiatives in Global HIV Trials.

For additional information about the HIV/AIDS clinical trials units,
see http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/CTU07QA.htm . A complete
listing of the newly funded CTUs and clinical research sites are
available at

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/about/organization/daids/Networks/daidsnetwo
rkunits.htm.

For more information about MTN, go to www.mtnstopshiv.org.

Contact Information:

Zenovia Wright                                                

216 374 6683 (mobile)            

zenovia.wright@...                   

Capital Area Vaccine Effort                 

www.aidsvaccine.org   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1^st, World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day Reception Honors Local Volunteers

DC Area HIV/AIDS Trial Participants Help Make New Treatments & Prevention Strategies Possible.

WASHINGTON, DC – Marking World AIDS Day in the Nation's Capital, a reception will be held at the Wilson Building honoring HIV/AIDS trial participants in the DC Metropolitan Area.  This event is sponsored by the Capital Area Vaccine Effort (CAVE), Family Connections, Georgetown University Medical Center Clinical Trials Unit, NIH Vaccine Research Center, US Military HIV Research Program, and the Washington VA Medical Center.

Capital Area Vaccine Effort (CAVE) member Zenovia Wright comments: "HIV/AIDS trial participants play an integral role in not only the discovery of new treatments for those living with HIV/AIDS, but also in the search for a vaccine or microbicide to prevent the spread of the virus." 

Hundreds of DC residents are currently participating in HIV/AIDS clinical trials across the city, but new volunteers are always needed.  HIV Negative volunteers may be eligible to participate in trials investigating new prevention approaches including vaccines and microbicides.  HIV positive volunteers may be eligible for trials investigating new medications or treatment strategies. 

Information about current volunteer opportunities will be available at the reception.  All interested DC residents are invited to participate in this event, which begins at 6:45 PM in the main hearing room of the Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW).  Those interested can RSVP online at www.aidsvaccine.org.

Wright continues: "For their time and invaluable contribution to humanity we thank them and hope to meet many more like them in the near future."

Capitol Area Vaccine Effort is a volunteer panel of individuals from the general public and from the diverse communities affected by AIDS. CAVE is organized to assist and advise HIV Vaccine Research in the DC area.  CAVE serves as the Community Advisory Board to the NIH Vaccine Research Center HIV Clinical Trials.

For more information about CAVE, visit: www.aidsvaccine.org    

For more information on HIV preventive vaccine research, visit www.bethegeneration.org

###

FEATURED ARTICLE

FDA Schedules Discussion on Blood Donation Guidelines
http://researchadvocates.org/article020.htm

The Food and Drug Administration will be conducting a public workshop entitled
"Behavior-Based Blood Donor Deferrals in the Era of Nucleic Acid Testing [NAT)."
The workshop will provide an opportunity for public discussion on the scientific
basis for current blood donation guidelines, including the ban on blood
donations from gay men.

Check out the rest of the article and remember, even if you can't attend the
meeting, you can still make your voice heard by submitting written comments.

I haven't been able to post much on www.researchadvocates.org lately because of
other projects/commitments, but I will still continue to add to the site as time
allows.

Cheers!

DM

DAVID MARINER
http://www.davidmariner.com

A fo ben, bid bont
He who would be head let him be a bridge
Welsh Proverb

NIH NEWS
************************************************************
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006

Media Contact: Laurie K. Doepel
(301) 402-1663
niaidnews@...



International HIV/AIDS Trial Finds Continuous Antiretroviral Therapy
Superior to Episodic Therapy

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),
part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced that
enrollment into a large international HIV/AIDS trial comparing
continuous antiretroviral therapy with episodic drug treatment guided
by levels of CD4+ cells has been stopped. Enrollment was stopped
because those patients receiving episodic therapy had twice the risk
of disease progression (the development of clinical AIDS or death),
the major outcome of the study.

NIAID made the decision to halt enrollment in collaboration with the
study's Executive Committee and following a recommendation received
from an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). The
DSMB, charged with regularly evaluating data and safety issues during
the multi-year trial, conducted a review of the interim study data in
early January.


The trial, known as Strategies for Management of Anti-Retroviral
Therapy, or SMART, was designed to determine which of two different
HIV treatment strategies would result in greater overall clinical
benefit. HIV-positive volunteers were assigned at random to either a
viral suppression strategy, in which antiretroviral therapy (ART) was
taken on an ongoing basis to suppress HIV viral load; or a drug
conservation strategy, in which ART was started only when the levels
of key immune cells, called CD4+ cells, dropped below 250 cells per
cubic millimeter (mm3). Volunteers in the drug conservation group
were taken off ART—with the aims of reducing drug side effects and
preserving treatment options—whenever their CD4+ cells were above 350
cells/mm3. (For more details see http://www.smart-trial.org ).

The trial involved an international collaboration of 318 clinical
sites in 33 countries. It began enrollment in January 2002 and had
successfully recruited more than 90 percent of its target of 6,000
participants: as of January 11, 2006, when enrollment was stopped,
5,472 volunteers had joined the study.

At the time of the DSMB review, the average follow-up was
approximately 15 months. The analysis revealed that participants on
CD4+ cell-guided episodic treatment faced more than twice the risk of
disease progression relative to participants on continuous ART.
Furthermore, there was an increase in major complications such as
cardiovascular, kidney and liver diseases in the participants on the
drug conservation arm.  These complications have been associated with
ART, and it was hoped that they would be seen less frequently in
those patients receiving less drug.

Although the risk-to-benefit ratio of drug conservation over the
longer term remains uncertain, the DSMB recommended that enrollment
into the trial be halted in light of the findings to date, and the
SMART Executive Committee and NIAID agreed with the recommendation.
Upon reviewing the results, the Executive Committee also conveyed to
local study investigators its recommendation that it would be prudent
to re-initiate therapy in ART-experienced patients in the drug
conservation arm. All study physicians and participants are being
notified of the findings and recommendations.

Follow-up visits will continue for all participants in the SMART
trial while the study team considers plans for longer follow-up.

The investigators will analyze the SMART study data in detail to gain
insights into the reasons for the increased risk.

"SMART is one of the largest HIV/AIDS treatment trials ever
conducted," notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The study
reflects an extraordinary global collaboration among hundreds of
dedicated AIDS clinicians and thousands of their patients, all of
whom should be commended for their exceptional achievement in
contributing to this pivotal HIV/AIDS treatment study."

"This trial was designed to help physicians and their HIV-positive
patients identify the best approach to treatment management," adds
Wafaa El-Sadr, M.D., M.P.H., M.P.A., of the Harlem Hospital Center
and Columbia University in New York City, one of the principal
investigators for the trial. "We were surprised to learn that in the
short term, episodic antiretroviral therapy carries such an increased
risk without evidence of sparing patients the known side effects
associated with ART."

The University of Minnesota's James Neaton, Ph.D., another principal
investigator and chief biostatistician for the trial, notes, "The
SMART trial reached a conclusion much earlier than we expected. That
is the significant value and potential power of conducting such a
large trial."

The SMART study was coordinated by four international centers: the
Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit in London; the
Copenhagen HIV Program in Denmark; the National Centre in HIV
Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of New South
Wales in Sydney, Australia; and the Terry Beirn Community Programs
for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA) in Washington, DC. The
statistical and data management center was based at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Fred Gordin, M.D., of the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC, the
CPCRA director, says, "It is gratifying when the fruits of such hard
work by so many individuals and the faith put in the investigators by
the volunteers results in important data concerning the use of ART."

David Cooper, M.D., D.Sc., of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology
and Clinical Research at the University of New South Wales, the
Sydney international coordinating center director, notes, "SMART is
an example of how a large group of investigators around the world can
work together to obtain an answer to an important HIV treatment
question."

Further information concerning the study findings can be found in a
Questions and Answers document below. An earlier NIAID news release
describing the initiation of the SMART trial can be viewed at
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2002/smart.htm.



NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health, an agency
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports
basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections,
influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of
bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and
immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and
allergies.

###

News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are
available on the NIAID Web site at <http://www.niaid.nih.gov>.




NIH NEWS
************************************************************
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
A Large International HIV/AIDS Study Comparing Two Strategies for
Management of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (The SMART Study)

1.      What is the SMART trial?

The Strategies for Management of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (SMART)
trial is a large international trial designed to determine which of
two distinct HIV treatment strategies yields a better clinical
outcome over the long term. The trial enrolled HIV-positive
participants with CD4+ cell counts of more than 350 cells per cubic
millimeter (mm3) of blood. (CD4+ cells are a type of infection-
fighting white blood cell and are a primary target of HIV.)
Volunteers were randomized to receive one of two antiretroviral
treatment (ART) strategies: continuous drug therapy, designed to
suppress viral load as much as possible (the viral suppression, or
VS, arm); or episodic ART (the drug conservation, or DC, arm). The
use of ART in the DC arm was determined by the participant's CD4+
cell count:  trial participants in the DC arm began ART when CD4+
cell counts fell below 250 cells/mm3, with the aim of suppressing
viral load and increasing the CD4+ cell count, and discontinued ART
when counts were above 350 cells/mm3.

Enrollment in SMART began in January 2002
(http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2002/smart.htm). Full
enrollment of 6,000 participants was expected to take 3 to 5 years.
As of January 11, 2006, when enrollment was stopped, more than 90
percent of the volunteers had been enrolled.

2.      What were the rationale and primary objectives of the SMART
trial?

Widespread use of ART in economically developed countries has
resulted in a significant decline in HIV-related illness and death.
However, ART effectiveness may wane over time as the virus becomes
resistant to drugs. There are also short- and long-term toxicities,
as well as cost and quality-of-life issues, associated with lifelong
ART. Therefore, a randomized clinical trial was implemented comparing
the use of CD4+ cell-guided episodic ART (DC strategy) with
continuous ART (VS strategy).

The SMART trial was designed to compare the DC strategy with the VS
strategy for progression to AIDS or death over a minimum follow-up
period of 6 years for each patient. It was hypothesized that the DC
strategy would result in lower rates of disease progression and
serious toxicities as compared to the VS strategy in the planned
follow-up period ranging from 6 to 9 years.

3.      Who is conducting this study and where?

The Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS
(CPCRA, http://www.cpcra.org) was funded by the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National
Institutes of Health, to conduct the study.  The CPCRA is conducting
this study, known as CPCRA 065, in collaboration with the Copenhagen
HIV Programme in Denmark (CHIP, http://www.cphiv.dk); the Medical
Research Council Clinical Trials Unit in London (MRC,
http://www.ctu.mrc.ac.uk); and the National Centre in HIV
Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of New South
Wales in Sydney, Australia (NCHECR,
http://web.med.unsw.edu.au/nchecr).  As of January 11, 2006, 5,472
volunteers had been enrolled at 318 sites in 33 countries.  Sites are
located in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Morocco, New Zealand,
Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain,
Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.

4.      What is the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, and how does it
monitor this study?

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) is an independent
committee composed of clinical research experts, statisticians,
ethicists, and community representatives.  The DSMB reviews data
while a clinical trial is in progress to ensure the safety of
participants.  The DSMB may recommend that a trial, or part of a
trial, be stopped if there are safety concerns or if the trial
objectives have either been achieved or are unlikely to be achieved.
The DSMB looks at analyses that are not available to the
investigators or to anyone else. The SMART study was monitored at a
minimum annually by an NIAID DSMB.

5.      What were the results of the most recent DSMB review?

The DSMB for the SMART trial reviewed interim data from this study in
early November 2005 and in early January 2006. At the time of their
January review, the average follow-up was approximately 15 months;
some patients had been followed for approximately 3.5 years. The data
at the last review indicated that volunteers in the DC arm of the
trial had more than twice the risk of progression to AIDS or death
compared with individuals in the VS arm.

6.      What actions were taken by the DSMB and the SMART Executive
Committee?

On January 10, 2006, the DSMB informed the Executive Committee that
there was an increased risk of disease progression in the DC group,
and that it appeared very unlikely that the DC arm would be found to
be superior to the VS strategy in the planned follow-up period of the
trial.  The DSMB recommended that enrollment into the trial be
stopped and that steps be taken to minimize risks to patients.  The
SMART Executive Committee decided to recommend to site investigators
that treatment-experienced patients in the DC arm who were not taking
ART be re-started on therapy.

On January 11, 2006, the Executive Committee informed the SMART trial
investigators of 1) the increased risk of disease progression  and
other clinical events in the DC arm; 2) treatment recommendations for
patients in the DC arm; and 3)  the decision to stop enrollment.

Study participants are currently being notified of the findings and
recommendations.

7.      What does the SMART Executive Committee recommend for study
participants?

Individuals currently enrolled in the VS arm of the study will
continue to receive care from their primary care physician and will
continue with the VS strategy as defined in the study.

Participants in the DC arm who are currently on ART will be advised
to stay on treatment. Those participants in the DC arm who are
currently off ART, but who have taken ART in the past, are being
advised to review with their physicians the option to re-start ART.
While the long-term risks and benefits of the DC arm remain
uncertain, the short-term information indicates that it would be
prudent to re-start ART.

Because the study findings do not address the question of when to
start ART, it is advised that the decision to initiate ART for those
participants in the DC arm who have never been on ART should be based
on local treatment guidelines on when to initiate ART.

Follow-up visits will continue for all participants in the SMART
trial while the study team considers plans for longer follow-up.
Data collection (such as case report forms and laboratory reports)
will continue for all enrollees as specified by the trial protocol.

8.      How might these new findings affect the management of HIV
disease?

The current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected
Adults and Adolescents (Oct. 6, 2005)  state: "Several clinical
trials have been conducted to better understand the role of treatment
interruption in these patients, yielding conflicting results. The
Panel [the Panel on Clinical Practices for Treatment of HIV Infection
convened by DHHS] notes that partial virologic suppression from
combination therapy has been associated with clinical benefits, thus
interruption is generally not recommended unless it is done in a
clinical trial setting."

The data from the SMART trial provide evidence that episodic use of
ART based on CD4+ cell levels as used in the study is inferior to use
of continuous therapy for treatment-experienced patients and thus
should not be routinely recommended.

9.      What were some of the key baseline characteristics of the
trial participants?

The overwhelming majority (95 percent) of SMART participants have had
some experience with ART (a median of six years of ART use prior to
enrollment).
Median baseline and nadir CD4+ cell counts of study participants were
598 and 253 cells/mm3, respectively.
Seventy percent of the participants had an HIV viral load < 400
copies/milliliter at baseline.
The average age of enrollees at study entry was 46 years.
Twenty six percent of the participants are women.
Thirty-one percent of participants are black, and 69 are white or of
another race or ethnicity.
Fifty-five percent of participants were enrolled by sites in the
United States, 26 percent by sites in Europe, and the remainder from
the other countries.


###

Media inquiries can be directed to Laurie K. Doepel at 301-402-1663,
niaidnews@....

News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are
available on the NIAID Web site at <http://www.niaid.nih.gov>.

From: "Johnson, Alissa A" <ajohns2@...>
Date: Mon Dec 05 19:05:20 CST 2005
To: Alissa Johnson <ajohnson@...>
Subject: Cross-Network website launched


Cross-Network committee and working group members:
We are pleased to announce that the cross-Networkcoordination website
www.studysource.org is now live and hasbeen launched publicly. As a
member of one or more of the committees andworking groups, you have
access to the Members area. For the time being, the login to the
Members
  areais hanc and the password is studysource. The website will of
course
  continue tobe built out to adapt to the needs of the cross-Network
coordination efforts.Over the next few months we plan to add
interactive
  functionality such asbulletin boards and a version control system
for
document development. As theportal is further developed members will
be
given individual passwords thatwill restrict access to the
collaborative
  areas of the working groups andcommittees they are involved in.
Your comments and feedback, either through the websitesurvey or
directly
  to us, helps us continue to build a better service for you.It is our
hope that the website will be a useful tool for us all as we work
tobetter coordinate our activities. ?
~Alissa
- Alissa Johnson
ProjectCoordinator
Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
1100 Fairview Ave. N.,LE-500
Seattle, WA 98109-1024
voice: 206-667-1719
fax: 206-667-6366
email: ajohns2@...

WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Weekly AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

Seven Principles of Ethical Clinical Research
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article019.htm

Our understanding of what constitutes an ethical trial
has changed over time and continues to evolve. In the
past sixty years, there has been much discussion and
debate among researchers, ethicists, elected officials,
and community members to develop clear standards for
clinical studies. A number of documents have been
written on the subject. Each of these documents has
played an important role in furthering our
understanding of what makes clinical research ethical,
and they are all well worth reading and discussing in
their own right.

The seven principles for ethical clinical research have
been taken from these writings. They provide a framework
to use when reviewing clinical studies.


As always, please let me know what's happening at your
local CAB and how I can help.

Best,

David Mariner

Seven Principles of Ethical Clinical Research
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article019.htm


DAVID MARINER

Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
dmariner@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...

A fo ben, bid bont He who would be head let him be a bridge Welsh Proverb

Hello all - I would like to invite anyone interested in joining me
this Wednesday evening via teleconference line for a complimentary
event.  Below is the press release I am sending out.  Conscious is a
lesbian who is also HIV positive and working to get out the word that
lesbian women need to practice safe sex too!  This is a great
opportunity for you to make a personal connection with Conscious and
learn about her life story.

If you are interested in attending, there is a small fee but I'll
comp you if you email me at barb@... and say...

"I'm a member of yahoo's Aidsresearchadvocacy Listserv and I'd like
to attend the Conscious talk"

Your only cost would be any long distance charges for attending.
Here's the press release:

PRESS RELEASE

JOIN BARB ELGIN (COACH SAPPHO) ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2005, AS SHE
INTERVIEWS CONSCIOUS, WHOSE COMPELLING AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS THE FOCUS OF
THE UPCOMING SHOWTIME/L WORD PRODUCED FILM "GETTING UNSTUCK" STARRING
THE RAPPER EVE

For Immediate Release.

For more information, please contact: Barb Elgin. Phone: (866) 396-
BARB. Email: barb@....

(OCALA, FLORIDA) -- SEPTEMBER 23, 2005 -- Barb Elgin, CEO and Founder
of Coach Sappho(tm), a life coaching firm for lesbian women, has
invited Conscious, (whose recently-penned autobiography "Getting
Unstuck: Girl to Girl You Can Be Infected Indeed" is being made into
a Showtime movie by the producers of the L Word television series) to
join Ms. Elgin along with members of Coach Sappho's 'Creating a Life
I Love' Club, for a live telephone interview and discussion on
Wednesday evening, September 28, 2005 at 8pm EST.

Barb reports that she met Conscious at GayDays 2005 in Orlando,
Florida, bought Conscious' book and couldn't put it down. "Conscious'
life story," according to Ms. Elgin, "is about surviving, against all
odds, and how getting real heals, when one is brave enough to go
there. Conscious has that courage and hers is a story everyone should
hear." Ms. Elgin will be interviewing Conscious during Coach
Sappho's 'Creating a Life I Love' Club's Wednesday evening tele-
group. She will interview Conscious for about 30 minutes and then
will open up the program for 25 minutes of questions and discussion
between participants and Conscious. Non-club members are invited to
attend as well.  To attend, call Barb Elgin at 866-396-BARB.

Coach Sappho(tm), a division of BE A Success Enterprises, LLC, was
founded in 2001 by Barb Elgin.  Ms. Elgin was born, raised and
received her graduate education in Baltimore, Maryland.  Prior to
starting BE A Success, she worked in a variety of professional
positions in behavioral healthcare, including private practice
psychotherapy, employee assistance, care management and clinical
management.  Ms. Elgin reports that Coach Sappho's email lists
include lesbian women and allies from over 40 states and 10
countries. The majority of http://www.CoachSappho.com 's services and
events are offered by telephone and on the Internet, enabling easy
access and opportunities to pursue personal, career, relationship and
business goals in a convenient, supportive and resourceful
environment. Ms. Elgin says her goal for every lesbian woman she
coaches can be summed up in the statement: "I'd like to see every
lesbian woman 'go for' the life she dreams of without letting her
own 'inner critic' and the world stop her". Ms. Elgin also coaches
organizations to become more sensitive to the 'coming out' and career
development needs of lesbian employees and managers.

For more information about http://www.CoachSappho.com, please contact
Barb Elgin at P.O. Box 1411, Summerfield, FL 34492-1411, by telephone
at (866) 396-BARB or by email at barb@....

Greetings,

Attached is the information on how to apply to be on the Adult AIDS Clinical
Trials Groups Community Constituency Group.  I encourage anyone who is
interested to apply.  If you have any questions, please drop me a line or
contact Allegra Cermak at the AACTG (acermak@...).

Thanks!

David


DAVID MARINER

Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
cleanair@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...


A fo ben, bid bont He who would be head let him be a bridge
Welsh Proverb

WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Weekly AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

Using Cell Phones in Houston
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article018.htm

This is an old article, but I still love it.  It shows how
some very creative and innovative site staff found a way
to enroll and retain hard to reach trial participants.

Using cell phones as a retention tool may not make sense
at your local site.  Still, for me the point is that
whatever you hear about a certain group of people being
'hard to reach' or 'hard to retain', when people put there
minds together and think outside the box, often times
they can be reached and included in research.

As always, please let me know what's happening at your
local CAB and how I can help.

Best,

David Mariner



DAVID MARINER

Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
dmariner@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...

A fo ben, bid bont He who would be head let him be a bridge Welsh Proverb

WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Weekly AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

Planning Your CAB Meeting
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article017.htm

How did your last Community Advisory Board meeting go?  How
could it have been better?  All of us spend a LOT of time
in meetings, but we don't always take the time to make sure
those meetings are as efficient and as productive as possible.
This week's handout has some great tips planning your next
CAB meeting.

NEW: FREE RESEARCH ADVOCATES E-MAIL ADDRESS
http://researchadvocates.mail.everyone.net
- - - - - - - - - -
You can show your support for this project with your
own @researchadvocates.org e-mail address.  Just click on
the 'e-mail' link on any page of the website to set up
your own free, web-based e-mail account.

REMINDER: ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THIS PROJECT
- - - - - - - - - -
I would like to put together a small group of AIDS research
activists to serve as a sort of advisory committee for
www.researchadvocates.org. This would start out as a small
e-mail group, and might possibly evolve into quarterly or
monthly conference calls. If you are finding this website
useful and would like to see shape the future of this
project, please drop me an e-mail at david(at)temenos(dot)net
for more information.


As always, please let me know what's happening at your
local CAB and how I can help.

Best,

David Mariner



DAVID MARINER

Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
dmariner@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...

A fo ben, bid bont He who would be head let him be a bridge Welsh Proverb

WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Weekly AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

The Importance of Participant Diversity in HIV Clinical Trials
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article016.htm

This article was written by Gail Broder.  Gail is the Community Education
Domestic Projects Manager of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).  A lot of
the articles on the site so far are related to diversity issues in one way or
another.  If you or someone in your CAB (Community Advisory Board) is wondering
"Why do I keep hearing about the need for women and minorities to participate in
HIV research?", then this article will be a great resource.   If you have an
article you would like to see published on the website, please let me know.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THIS PROJECT

I would like to put together a small group of AIDS research activists to serve
as a sort of advisory committee for www.researchadvocates.org.  This would start
out as a small e-mail group, and might possibly evolve into quarterly or monthly
conference calls.  If you are finding this website useful and would like to see
shape the future of this project, please drop me an e-mail at
david(at)temenos(dot)net for more information.

REMINDER: YOUR CAB MISSION STATEMENT AND BYLAWS

Has your local Community Advisory Board recently worked on a mission statement
or bylaws?  If so, please send them to me!  I'm going to be posting several
sample mission statments and bylaws of local CABS on the website and would love
to include yours.

As always, please let me know what's happening at your local CAB and how I can
help.

Best,

David Mariner



DAVID MARINER

Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
dmariner@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...

A fo ben, bid bont He who would be head let him be a bridge Welsh Proverb

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Weekly AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials and the Transgender Community
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article012.htm

I think it's very unfortunate that given everything we know about the difference
between birth sex and gender identity, the majority of HIV/AIDS research fails
to collect this information.

I hope you'll read this fact sheet and give the issue some consideration.

LIVE ON THE WEB THIS SUNDAY

If you have questions, please join me for a live internet broadcast Sunday at
7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.  I will be a guest on TransFM online radio
(www.transfm.org) discussing this topic.

As always please let me know what's going on at your local CAB and how I can
help.

Best,

David Mariner


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net

This week's AIDS Research Community Handbook Article is now online:

HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials and Youth
http://www.researchadvocates.org/article011.htm

As some of you know, I worked at Advocates for Youth for five years, so this is
an issue I care a lot about.  I hope this handout helps you start a discussion
about youth in your local CAB.

If you haven't reached out to youth organizations in your community before, you
could start by sending them this handout and inviting them to a CAB meeting, or
offering to do a presentation for them.

If you don't know what youth organizations exist in your community, you can
search the Advocates for Youth database at:

http://advocatesforyouth.org/youth/peered/searchgroups.asp

As always please let me know what's going on at your local CAB and how I can
help.

Best,

David Mariner

DAVID MARINER
Silver Spring Office
Phone (301) 628-3390 | Fax: (301) 628-3306
dmariner@...

Washington DC Office
Phone (202) 797-4424 | Fax: (202) 797-4430
dmariner@...

Home
Phone (301) 588-3645 | Mobile (301) 437 2309
david@...

A fo ben, bid bont
He who would be head let him be a bridge
Welsh Proverb


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net


_____________________________________________________________
Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net

Welcome Uganda,

      I am a man from Ohio, who has joined an organization to mentor
newly infected people. I hope this don't sound condescending, but, I
think of you, on the African continent often, and wish you the best.
I
pray that everyone in this world, will soon be granted the same care
we
Americans receive.  It is horrific to be denied care, simply because
of
where you are born.  I am so thankful for our medical system, and
yet,
there is guilt because others suffer so. I feel helpless also,
because
I am not able to give of myself like I once did.  How are conditions
with you?

      Please accept my sincere best wishes with your operations in
Uganda, and know that others are with you - in their hearts...and
welcome to the AIDS Research Advocacy site.

Am 29 years old from Uganda, working with AIDs Information Centre, we
carry out Testing and Counselling, with a number of research units too,
am glad to be part of the AIS Research advocacy