Story By: Talk of the Nation

As the search for cheap, safe and non-carbon emitting sources of energy continues, a band of scientists say the answer may be nuclear reactors fueled by thorium. Others caution that thorium reactors pose waste and proliferation risks. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the pros and cons of thorium reactors.

Karachi: Sri Lanka has dropped plans to host a limited overs series between Pakistan and Australia in August as it clashes with the island’s Premier League, Pakistani cricket officials said Saturday.

"It’s disappointing," Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmed, told AFP.

"Initially the SLC (Sri Lankan Cricket) offered to host the series and we stopped negotiating with others."

Since Sri Lanka told Pakistan of its decision Friday, Pakistan had started negotiations with other countries about hosting the series, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia, he said.

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The Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba has said his survival from sudden cardiac arrest was "more than a miracle", but his case has highlighted the limitations of screening for hidden heart problems. He was examined several times but nothing was picked up.

I have been looking at efforts to detect these abnormalities, which kill 12 young people in the UK every week.

The clinic has won praise from another leading specialist in this field, Dr Amanda Varnava, from St Mary's hospital in London. But she says the value of genetic testing remains limited, at least for the time being.

"I think that's hugely exciting and that programme is certainly a very welcome development, but I have to say at the moment it's still research."

Dr Varnava also carries out cardiac checks on players for several premiership football clubs. She says the game's authorities should consider a more systematic and rigorous approach to screening.

"What we're not doing is further testing such as exercise testing, looking at the ECG under stress. And we're not looking at the heart monitor over 24-hours to see if we can pick up any extra beats that may give us a clue to future problems. Those are the additional tests perhaps we should be thinking about"

For the wider population the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) says the immediate priority must be an extension of basic screening. This would focus on family history, a physical examination and an ECG – followed up if necessary by ultrasound.

A cardiology consultant for CRY, professor Sanjay Sharma, says the charity has been inundated with requests for screening in the last few weeks.

"What we're saying is that there should be an infrastructure that's available, that people know about, and they can go and seek help or tests in this area so that they are well-informed and can protect themselves from catastrophe.

He says this should be offered to all 14-35 year-olds, and he points to the success of wider screening in Italy, where he says sudden cardiac deaths have fallen by 90% in 25 years.

The Department of Health in England says it is keeping this issue under review.

Back at the Royal Brompton clinic I joined Rishi as he was told that tests so far indicated he did not have HCM. Dr Prasad told him to carry on playing football, "as long as it's not for Arsenal!"

"I am not one of those who can really express the way I prepare for a character. How I work on my character is very instinctive and very organic. Everybody has a very different way of working on their character," the 52-year-old said.

"It’s research and instinct and how I feel, it’s a part of my personality also. It’s a mixture of so many things," he added.

Kapoor is currently shooting for Shootout at Wadala. His last release Tezz saw him as an anti-terrorism officer.

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Activision Blizzard says the number of subscribers to its World of Warcraft online video game has stabilised.

The publisher said the seven-year-old title had 10.2 million members at the end of March – the same as at the turn of the year.

That supported its claim to be the most popular subscription-based title of its kind.

World of Warcraft (WoW) had lost nearly 1.8 million players over the previous 12 months.

The announcements were made following the release of the publisher's first-quarter earnings.

Its net income for the three months was $384m (£234m), a 24% drop on the previous year.

It linked the fall to the decline in the number of people playing WoW – its most profitable business – as well as the fact that its most recent Call of Duty first-person shooter game was experiencing lower sales than its predecessor.

However, it noted that revenue of $1.2bn for the period was better than expected and raised its forecasts due to what it described as a "highly innovative product line".

This includes the forthcoming WoW Mists of Pandaria expansion pack, which introduces a new continent populated by martial-arts-skilled pandas and their pets.

"We expect to see increased engagement with the launch," said Michael Morhaime, chief executive of the firm's Blizzard division.

The release should help WoW compete with its newer big-budget rival, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which lost about a quarter of its subscribers between February and April.

Both titles face challenges from MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online.

The company also highlighted next week's launch of Diablo 3.

Activision said that the horror-themed role-playing game had already set a new pre-order record for its Blizzard unit.

The sequel features an auction house in which users can trade objects with other players using real-world currency. Activision can take a cut of each sale, potentially creating a significant new revenue stream.

The company also said it had high hopes for November's release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, as well as a Call of Duty "micro-transaction game for China", for which details remain scant.

It added that it thought a "new universe" from developer Bungie – creator of the Halo series – could also become a "potential mega-franchise", but did not give any further details.

Story By: by The Associated Press

The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of federal advisers Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.

In a series of votes, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the daily pill Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner.

The FDA is not required to follow the panel’s advice, though it usually does. A final decision is expected by June 15.

Gilead Sciences Inc., based in Foster City, Calif., has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe it as part of a drug cocktail to repress the virus.

While panelists ultimately backed Truvada for prevention, Thursday’s 12-hour meeting highlighted a number of concerns created by the first drug to prevent HIV. In particular, the panel debated whether Truvada might lead to reduced use of condoms, the most reliable defense against HIV. The experts also questioned the drug’s effectiveness in women, who have shown much lower rates of protection in studies.

Panelists struggled to outline steps that would ensure patients take the pill every day. In clinical trials, patients who didn’t take their medication diligently were not protected, and patients in the real world are even more likely to forget than those in studies.

“The trouble is adherence, but I don’t think it’s our charge to judge whether people will take the medicine,” said Dr. Tom Giordano of Baylor College of Medicine, who voted in favor of the drug. “I think our charge is to judge whether it works when it’s taken and whether the risks outweigh the benefits.”

Panelists stressed that people should be tested to make sure they don’t have HIV before starting therapy with Truvada. Patients who already have the virus and begin taking Truvada could develop a resistance to the drug, making their disease even more difficult to treat. The experts grappled with how to protect patients while avoiding hurdles that could discourage them from seeking treatment.

“If we put up too many hoops to jump through, there will be people who don’t make it through those hoops,” said Daniel Raymond, the panel’s patient representative.

Truvada first made headlines in 2010, when government researchers showed it could prevent people from contracting HIV. A three-year study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 percent, when accompanied by condoms and counseling. Last year another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 percent in heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not.

Because Truvada is on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure. FDA approval would allow Gilead Sciences to formally market its drug for that use.

But Truvada’s groundbreaking preventive ability has exposed stark disagreements on prevention among those in the HIV community. While Truvada’s supporters say the drug is an important new option, critics worry that the drug could give users a false sense of security, and encourage risky behavior.

During the meeting’s public comment period, FDA panelists heard from more than two dozen doctors, nurses and patients who said patients would not take the drug as recommended every day, in addition to using condoms.

“Truvada needs to be taken every day, 100 percent of the time, and my experience as a registered nurse tells me that won’t happen,” Karen Haughey told the panel. “In my eight years, not one patient that I’ve cared for has been 100 percent adherent.”

Other speakers worried that wide scale use of Truvada would divert limited funding from more cost-effective options. Truvada sells for about $900 a month, or just under $11,000 per year. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which opposes approval of Truvada, estimates that 20 HIV-positive patients could be treated for the cost of treating one patient with preventive Truvada.

“Truvada for prevention will squeeze already-constrained health care resources that can be better spent on cheaper and more effective prevention therapies,” the group states in a petition to the FDA.

The FDA is legally barred from considering cost when reviewing drugs. Medicare and Medicaid, the nation’s largest health insurance plans, generally cover all drugs approved by the FDA and many large insurers take their cues for coverage from the government plans.

An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs. AIDS causes the body’s immune system to breakdown, leading to infections which are eventually fatal. Gay and bisexual men account for the majority of cases nearly two-thirds.

The number of new HIV infections in the U.S. has held steady for 15 years at about 50,000 per year. But with no vaccine in sight and an estimated 240,000 HIV carriers unaware of their status, doctors and patients say new methods are needed to fight the spread of the virus.

Nick Literski, a federal worker in Seattle, has been taking Truvada for HIV prevention for more than a year. His partner is HIV-infected and his doctor prescribes the drug as a precautionary measure, even though it is not yet FDA-approved for that use. Literski pays a $40 monthly co-pay for the once-daily pill.

FDA approval of the drug for prevention would be “a huge step forward” in the fight against AIDS, he said in an interview Thursday. But he said rejection would be devastating, threatening gay relationships like his that involve one partner who is HIV infected and one who isn’t.

“Many HIV-positive men end up ending their relationships with HIV-negative men out of fear of infecting their partner,” Literski said, and he worried about that happening to him before he started using Truvada.

Editor’s note: Anne Geddes is one of the world’s most iconic photographers. Her work has been published in 83 countries and her books have sold more than 18 million copies. Her latest project, “My Pregnancy: A Woman’s Story,” is available on iTunes.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate to photograph thousands of children, and within these images I’ve always tried to convey the purity, beauty and innocence of the newborn. I truly feel that they represent the very essence of our existence and when they are with me in my studio they always bring joy to my heart.

The vulnerability of the newborn — without care, nourishment, love and attention they cannot survive — is a fact of life.

Every mother reading this will remember the moment when she first gazed into the eyes of her baby. Out of that fog which can constitute childbirth, we are not only automatically transported into our new lives as mothers, but that essential nurturing instinct instantly becomes part of us, as we promise ourselves that we will do everything we can to protect the new life we have created.

And after giving birth, we as women become members of the vast sisterhood of mothers — a universal oneness; a shared experience to which we can all relate.

As the global advocate for the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign, and as a part of my commitment to support the Every Woman Every Child initiative, this Mother’s Day I ask all mothers to pause for a moment.

Spare a thought for another mother in the world who feels exactly the same way about her own child as you do about yours, yet is helpless to protect them against common diseases such as measles, pneumonia, diarrhea or polio.

Ultimately Shot@Life aims to help save the lives of the 1.5 million children under the age of 5 who die every year from diseases that are entirely preventable by vaccines.

Please don’t be overwhelmed by these statistics — within your heart just imagine one child and one mother.

It is very difficult for any parent in a developed country to comprehend that $20 can save the life of a child. Put yourself in another mother’s shoes. If someone were to say to you, “I can save the life of your child for $20,” what would your response be?

Shot@Life aims to save the lives of 1,000 children by Mother’s Day, and I think we can achieve this goal.

If just 1,000 people gave $20 each in celebration of Mother’s Day, we could save the lives of 1,000 children. How hard can it be? A thousand children saved, and the pain of a thousand mothers eased.

Collectively, our babies are a compelling and persuasive symbol of hope and the transforming power of unconditional love. Let’s make sure that all of our children live to realize their potential. Together we can all make a difference.
To help reach our Mother’s Day goal, click here.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Anne Geddes.