Gay Men Not Granted Right to Donate Blood

Gay men have not been granted the right to donate blood.
This past Thursday and Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability reviewed the quarter-century-old donor policy which bars any man who has had sex even once with another man since 1977 from ever giving blood.
The Advisory Committee has decided to continue with the restrictions which were begun in the early days of the HIV- AIDS crisis as it became clear that gay men were at increased risk of getting and transmitting HIV.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., gave his testimony to the blood advisory committee, calling the policy discriminatory. Gay activist groups and the American Red Cross advised lifting the ban, perhaps changing to a one-year ”deferral,” or waiting period, on donations after male-to-male sex.
The Advisory Committee at the end of the two-day meeting felt the science did not support lifting the ban. Surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that MSM likely to donate have an HIV infection rate 15 times higher than the general population.
MSM also have an increased risk of having other infections that can be transmitted to others by blood transfusion. For example, infection with the Hepatitis B virus is about 5-6 times more common and Hepatitis C virus infections are about 2 times more common in MSM than in the general population.
Today, the risk of getting HIV from a transfusion or a blood product has been nearly eliminated in the United States due to improved procedures which include donor screening for risk of infection and laboratory testing.

Water Safety Information Issued For Private Water Supply Wells

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued guidance today on the safety of wells and private water sources that have been subjected to flooding. If the well casing is submerged in floodwater, DO NOT USE THE WATER. Water from submerged wells cannot be safely sanitized. When floodwaters recede, small quantities may be disinfected until the well can be properly chlorinated.
After floodwaters recede, wells can be disinfected with chlorine. A convenient form to use is sold commercially in grocery or other stores as liquid chlorine laundry bleach. Most of these products contain 5.25 percent solution or more of sodium hypochlorite when fresh, and is equivalent to 5 percent available chlorine.
As water is used pressure drops, and at a preset limit the pump turns on creating a short surge. A pump not running for a period of time due to a power loss is no different than the family leaving the home for a period of time and not using water. Unless there is some risk factor compounded by the power outage there is minimal risk of contamination during the outage.
Other factors of concern that could compound with an outage to negatively influence water safety may include:
* Known system problems, such as line breaks or system leaks;
* Past system problems, including a history of unsafe samples;
* Hoses left in stock watering tanks, swimming pools, or other unsafe water sources without a backflow prevention device at the time of the outage;
* The loss of power disables a water disinfection system, such as a UV light or chlorination system. Private well users uncertain as to the functioning of their disinfection system after the outage, or the quality of water stored during the outage, should contact a water service professional (system installer) or local health department; and
* The pump is damaged due to the power surge and must be pulled and replaced.
NOTE OF CAUTION: Fragrance-free chlorine, whether used as sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite is a strong oxidizer and should only be used strictly following label directions. Avoid skin or eye contact and after chlorination flush the system completely, preferably through an outside tap into a non-grassy area before consuming, bathing, using for laundry, or use in an aquatic environment (fish tanks).
All homeowners using private wells are encouraged to test the water at least once a year, regardless of any power interruption. For homeowners who do not know the past history of their well or who have lingering concerns about their water quality they may choose to have their well tested at this time.

Angry People Look for Rewards

A study that has just come out has found that negative emotion that surround anger influences people to look for rewards, rather than focus on threats.
For people with negative emotions such as fear primarily focus on perceived threats and although anger is a negative emotion, feeling angry makes people want to seek rewards, a goal that is normally pursued by those feeling happy or excited.
Past research shows that emotion affects what people pay attention to. If a fearful or even an anxious person is offered a choice of a rewarding picture, or a threatening picture, they’ll spend more time looking at the threat than at the rewarding picture.
Nobody is clear whether those reactions occur because the emotions are positive or negative, or because of something else, says Brett Q. Ford of Boston College, who wrote the study with Maya Tamir, also of Boston College, and four other authors.
She says, “Emotions can vary in what they make you want to do. Fear is associated with a motivation to avoid, whereas excitement is associated with a motivation to approach. It can make you want to seek out certain things, like rewards.”
Ford focused on anger for her study. She had participants write for 15 minutes about one of four memories in their past which included a time when they were angry, afraid, excited and happy, or felt little or no emotion. A five-minute piece of music reinforced whichever emotion the participant had been assigned.
She then had the participant examine two side-by-side pictures. An eye-tracking device monitored how much time they spent looking at each picture.
Angry people spent more time looking at the rewarding pictures which suggests that this kind of visual attention bias is related more to how an emotion motivates someone than whether it’s positive or negative. Looking at something is the first step before the thoughts and actions that follow, says Ford.
“Attention kicks off an entire string of events that can end up influencing behavior.”
The angry people were not the only ones that looked at the rewarding photos. People who felt happy and excited also looked more at the rewarding photos. What Ford noticed was the two groups might act differently. An angry person might be motivated to approach something in a confrontational or aggressive way, while a happy person might go for something they want in a nicer way by collaborating, being sociable and friendly. What researchers know is that angry people look for rewards.