Free Republic

So that’s how the Rev. Al stays so thin. Al Sharpton outlined a super specific diet and workout regimen that for years has helped him maintain his 130-pound weight in a Q&A with GQ Thursday. The 64-year-old activist turned MSNBC host’s exercise routine has him up at 4 a.m. seven days a week — and he follows a diet that includes three slices of seven-grain toast a day. “I have to stay at a hotel with a fitness room and that also has seven-grain toast,” he told the magazine. Sharpton was once over 300 pounds, but the controversial activist has...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday it is ending medical research by government scientists using human fetal tissue, a victory for abortion foes that comes despite impassioned pleas from scientists that some health problems can't be studied any other way. Research using fetal tissue that otherwise would be discarded has been funded by the government, under leadership of both political parties, for decades — and has led to life-saving advances including development of vaccines for rubella and rabies, and drugs for the HIV virus. Officials said government-sponsored research by universities will be allowed to continue, subject to additional scrutiny....

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., attempted to make a case for universal health care on Thursday after a tense confrontation over the HIV prevention drug known as PrEP. During a congressional hearing, Ocasio-Cortez pressed Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O'Day on why his company's drug -- Truvada for PrEP -- cost so much more in the United States than in Australia. She later answered her own question on Twitter, saying that the U.S. health care system was to blame. "Spoiler: Because Australia has universal health care," she tweeted. During the hearing, O'Day responded to Ocasio-Cortez by noting how the drug was under...

Officials have accused a doctor of causing the epidemic after repeatedly using a single contaminated syringe. Dr Muzaffar Ghangharo, who officials said is himself living with HIV, has been in police custody since the outbreak began in April but denies the allegations. 'We are working on war footing to examine the suspects as well as those wishing to get themselves tested after a large number of cases were reported from Larkana and other districts,' Dr Memon said. Anger and fear continue to swell in the desperately poor village hit hard by the epidemic, which authorities say could also be linked...

Great news today: My Administration just secured a historic donation of HIV prevention drugs from Gilead to help expand access to PrEP for the uninsured and those at risk. Will help us achieve our goal of ending the HIV epidemic in America!

An end to the Aids epidemic could be in sight after a landmark study found men whose HIV infection was fully suppressed by antiretroviral drugs had no chance of infecting their partner. The success of the medicine means that if everyone with HIV were fully treated, there would be no further infections. Among nearly 1,000 male couples across Europe where one partner with HIV was receiving treatment to suppress the virus, there were no cases of transmission of the infection to the HIV-negative partner during sex without a condom. Although 15 men were infected with HIV during the eight-year study,...

South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg drew some backlash for his stance on mandatory vaccinations. Buzzfeed reported that Buttigieg supports states' rights to mandate vaccinations, but also supports "some exceptions." "The law of the land for more than a century has been that states may enforce mandatory vaccination for public safety to prevent the spread of a dangerous disease. Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent an outbreak," a spokesman for the South Bend mayor told Buzzfeed.

Tests found that the clients recently were infected with the same strain of the virus, "increasing the likelihood that the two HIV infections may have resulted from a procedure at the VIP Spa," the news release said. The spa, which shut down in September after a health inspection, offered "vampire facials," procedures in which plasma is extracted from a client's own blood, then injected into the patron's face, KRQE-TV reported.

US scientists say they used HIV to make a gene therapy that cured eight infants of severe combined immunodeficiency, or "bubble boy" disease. Results of the research, developed at a Tennessee hospital, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The babies, born with little to no immune protection, now have fully functional immune systems. Untreated babies with this disorder have to live in completely sterile conditions and tend to die as infants. The gene therapy involved collecting the babies' bone marrow and correcting the genetic defect in their DNA soon after their birth. The "correct" gene - used...

There’s at least one area of agreement among conservative, centrist and liberal leaders in the United Methodist Church: America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination is on a path toward likely breakup over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT pastors. The differences have simmered for years, and came to a head in February at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 for a proposal called the Traditional Plan, which strengthens bans on LGBT-inclusive practices. A majority of U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBT-friendly options, but they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the...

Researchers have found that among men, microbiomes differed based on whether they have sex with men or women. Gut microbiomes may differ based on whether men have sex with men or women, and the specific community of microbes in the guts of those who have sex with men are apparently associated with a higher risk of HIV.

FREDERICK, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A Maryland man was knowingly transferring HIV to women he met on dating apps, according to officials. The Frederick Police Department said 34-year-old Rudolph Smith, of Frederick, was taken into custody on Monday after a 21-month long investigation. Authorities said they received a tip that Smith was actively having sexual relations with multiple women knowing that he was HIV positive.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis use to protect against HIV infection was associated with higher infection rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new study. An analysis in Australia found more than 2,900 sexually transmitted infections were diagnosed in nearly half of the study's participants from when they started using PrEP. Nearly 3,000 gay and bisexual men were given access to the medication. The study found infections per participant ranged from zero to 12. The study, published Tuesday in JAMA, found 25% of study participants had multiple infections that accounted for 76% of all infections diagnosed. The incidence of infections increased...

Two gay rights organizations filed suit Thursday in federal court in Tucson challenging the legality of what some call Arizona’s “no promo homo” law. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Equality Arizona and an unnamed Tucson gay student, says the law “facially discriminates against non-heterosexual students on the basis of sexual orientation and places them in an expressly disfavored class.” At issue is a section of the state education code that prohibits instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle” or “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style” when teaching about AIDS and HIV. That, according to attorneys, is unconstitutional because it...

Surgeons in Baltimore have performed what’s thought to be the world’s first kidney transplant from a living donor with HIV, a milestone for patients with the AIDS virus who need a new organ — and one that could free up space on the transplant waiting list for everyone. Nina Martinez of Atlanta traveled to Johns Hopkins University to donate a kidney to an HIV-positive stranger, saying she “wanted to make a difference in somebody else’s life” and counter the stigma that too often still surrounds HIV infection. […] “Here’s a disease that in the past was a death sentence and...

For the second time, doctors appear to have put HIV into “sustained remission” with a stem cell transplant — effectively curing the recipient. Their work, which was published in Nature and will be presented at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle on Tuesday, may encourage scientists working on new gene therapies based on similar principles and give hope to those living with the infection. The case comes nearly 10 years after Timothy Ray Brown announced he was the so-called “Berlin Patient” — the first person who was functionally cured of HIV and able to stop taking...

A federal judge ordered the Department of Defense to halt the pending discharge proceedings against two HIV-positive members of the U.S. Air Force, LGBTQ legal group Lambda Legal said Friday. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema approved a preliminary injunction because "the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in preventing their discharge through the lawsuit," according to a statement from Lambda Legal. Brinkema rejected the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss, allowing the airmen to continue serving until their case goes to trial. “This is a major victory in our fight to ensure everyone living with HIV can serve their country without discrimination,”...

Jemitias Denhere shakes his head as he explains why, despite being a specialist in soil management and crop production, he specializes in beef livestock. The district agronomist -- plants specialist -- owns 27 hectares of land in the Mwenezi area of southern Zimbabwe, a particularly arid location. Here, farmers endure extreme weather challenges such as drought and flash flooding -- and, thus, some of the highest food shortages. His cattle can exist on the little grass that remains during dry times, but to produce crops without irrigation is risky -- so he decided against it. "One year, you win; one...

When South Africa opened its books on the atrocities of the apartheid era in the 1990s, a tantalizing series of faded documents reignited one of the continent’s enduring mysteries. The records suggested that a white militia, operating with the support of the C.I.A. and British intelligence, orchestrated the 1961 plane crash that killed the United Nations secretary general, Dag Hammarskjold. Twenty years later, a team of documentary filmmakers set out to investigate the shadowy militia, known as the South African Institute for Maritime Research, and to determine whether it had really assassinated Mr. Hammarskjold. What they uncovered, if it is...

Study recruited young men over Craigslist and Grindr The National Institutes of Health is spending over $1.7 million on a virtual reality game for young men who have sex with men. "Tough Talks" is a virtual simulation that allows young gay men to practice how to tell their partner they have HIV, using virtual reality technology. A technology training company—Georgia-based Virtually Better, Inc.—as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies are creating the game. Sixty-seven percent of young gay men do not disclose their HIV status to...