Sexual activity becomes main route of HIV transmis

Sexual activity has replaced intravenous drug use as the major cause of the spread of AIDS in China, a report from the Ministry of Health said.
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    The shift became evident in October 2007, the disease prevention and control bureau of the ministry said in a report on Thursday. The change was a marked departure from the pre-2003 situation, when intravenous drug use was the dominant means of HIV transmission. g
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U;E)o,F\     According to the report, during the first half of this year, 22,299 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported in the mainland, of whom 4,007 had died.
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    Cumulative infections as of June 30 topped 252,748, including 30,883 deaths. M_~H.r7g
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    The report found the ratio of sexually transmitted infections had risen steadily, with heterosexual and male homosexual transmission climbing to 37.9 percent and 3.3 percent in 2007, respectively, from 10.7 percent and 0.4 percent in 2005, respectively. [CKmE

-g$? M)D@'I+q9FX     The relatively low rate of condom use was to blame, it is said.

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China Completes First Spacewalk

Chinese Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang completed a spacewalk Saturday afternoon, marking a historic breakthrough in the country's ambitious space program, which will eventually lead to the establishment of a permanent space station.
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Donning a 4-million-U.S.dollar homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 in a head-out-first position at around 4:43 p.m. (0843 GMT).~u7H1K~"ll

m(}u1j]/X*Y2V0\ He waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule, video monitors at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) showed.
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C[gq)}*pYuS "Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world," the taikonaut reported to the ground control in Beijing.
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P+}d g oh Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao watched live transmission of the spacewalk from the Beijing control center, breaking into applause with the successful completion of each stage of the maneuver.
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Zhai, who is having his 42th birthday next month, was an air force pilot before enrolled in the manned space program. He grew up in dirt-poor hardship with five siblings in the country's far northeast.-i#?$}B,VhN

h&gX:W9\+MS(~ Minutes after Zhai was outside the capsule, teammate Liu Boming also emerged briefly and handed Zhai a Chinese national flag that Zhai waved in the outer space against the backdrop of the blue planet Earth. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.
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l"o]%rTVm Video monitors at the ground control showed Zhai then slowly leaned towards a test sample of solid lubricant placed outside the orbital module. He took the sample and handed it over to Liu.lh:kN|
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Solid lubricant is widely used in spacecraft. The test sample carried by Shenzhou-7 included 11 types of solid lubricants. Chinese scientists said they hoped to improve the property and lifetime of the materials by studying the samples.3L!o6p r]w7N.F aw+l

e(`7E-a~B [[i] Last edited by Frank_Brown at 2008-9-29 07:27 [/i]]

anything else to report?