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Sex Workers In Pakistan Give Recommendations On HIV Prevention To Health Officials
Although the recorded HIV prevalence in Pakistan is relatively low, health officials are concerned that a concentrated epidemic of the virus among injection drug users could carry over to commercial sex workers and other high risk groups in the country, IRIN/PlusNews reports. To address the issue, the National AIDS Control Program and the United Nations Population Fund recently held a meeting, called the National Consultation on HIV and Sex Work, in an effort to improve HIV prevention efforts targeted at sex workers by consulting with workers in the field.Sex workers at the meeting made various recommendations, including HIV testing, referrals and increased efforts to decrease stigma. The Ministry of Health reports that from 2006 to 2007, female sex workers were at a high risk of HIV in 12 cities across Pakistan. A survey of 4,639 female sex workers found that less than 25% reported condom use; 10% had a partner that had used injection drugs during the past six months; and that illiterate sex workers were less likely to use condoms than those with a higher level of education. A female sex worker at the meeting said, "It is very hard for us to convince [partners] to put on a condom, but I feel that a female condom would put us in a position where we can protect ourselves against HIV and sexually transmitted infections." She added that female condoms are not widely available. Legalizing sex work would make it easier for sex workers to protect their rights, another female sex worker at the conference said. She added that often, outreach workers face barriers from police forces. Daniel Baker, UNFPA"s country representative for Pakistan, said that sex workers should have greater involvement in creating and implementing HIV programs. He added, "The female sex workers have to be in there as managers, workers and leaders to benefit in the long run." Safdar Kamal Pasha with UNFPA agreed that the recommendations from sex workers are critical points to address in future programming. "The female sex workers agreed that there should be vocational training and the means for alternative work opportunities for those who want to move out of sex work, as well as those who are past their prime and do not find sustainability in sex work," Pasha said (IRIN/PlusNews, 5/14).
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Versartis Publishes Preclinical Abstracts For Two Product Candidates At 2009 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions
Versartis, Inc., a new company developing novel biologics with enhanced properties for patients with metabolic diseases, published abstracts for preclinical data on its two product candidates, VRS-859 (exenatide-rPEG) and VRS-808 (glucagon-rPEG), at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions annual meeting beginning today in New Orleans.
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Vets Need To Improve Communications Skills To Meet Dog-Owners' Expectations
A small study published in this week"s Veterinary Record reports that veterinarians do not receive adequate training in order to deal with the growing "customer care" expectations of dog-owners.
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Personality Traits Linked To Artistic Taste

Your favourite painting could reveal a lot about your personality, this is a conclusion of a study published today, 23rd July 2009 in the British Journal of Psychology, which found that people"s preferences for painting genres is linked to key personality traits. In the largest study ever conducted into the psychology of art preferences, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and a team from Goldsmiths, University of London, examined the artistic preferences of 91,692 participants recruited through the BBC website, to investigate whether specific personality traits are linked to the liking of particular genres of painting. The participants, aged between 13 and 90, filled out online personality questionnaires and rated their liking for paintings from six artistic movements - abstract, cubism, northern renaissance, Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, impressionism and secular Islamic art. Dr Chamorro-Premuzic said: "We found some interesting patterns of preference between the big five personality traits - openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism - and also when we looked at factors like age and sex." The strongest personality trait linked to art preference was openness - people who scored high on openness gave the highest levels of liking for all the paintings. "This was in line with expectations, as people with high openness scores tend to be imaginative and creative and seek out new experiences, while low scorers are down-to-earth, and more practical in nature," Dr Chamorro-Premuzic continued. "However, they also liked the more conventional artistic movements, like impressionism, less than others. Previous research has shown that openness is linked with unconventional attitudes and counter-conformity, and it seems that the artistic choices of open people reflect this." Results also showed that more conscientious people liked all of the paintings less than most - which supports previous research which found that conscientious people are less interested in art generally. People who scored high on the traits agreeableness and conscientiousness tended to show a preference for impressionism. People high in extraversion liked cubism more than most, and men liked cubism more than women. Male and younger individuals tended to prefer renaissance paintings. Dr Chamorro-Premuzic continued: "Factors like age, upbringing and experience of art will have a large influence on a person"s artistic taste, however regardless of these factors, our findings suggest that certain personality traits lead people to show interest in the arts, and to like certain artistic movements more than others." British Journal of Psychology


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