When to Take an HIV Test

When to Take an HIV Test

If you are in a high-risk group, get tested now

Below we explain the test that identifies  the HIV antibody that can lead to AIDS.

Who should consider getting test for HIV?

Anyone who has been or is sexually active, anyone who is sexually active and not in a monogamous relationship;; IV drug users and anyone who has received a blood transfusion before the year 1985. Additionally, any person who does not know their HIV antibody status and who feels that they have been at risk for infection with HIV should consider testing.

How is the test given?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have set guidelines, but not all doctors and hospitals follow them. Those guidelines recommend some type of prevention counseling before the test is given. Less than a tube of blood is then drawn. The labwork is done. The patient comes back for results and post-test counseling. At Whitman Walker, if the test is negative, that's the end of it. But the results are positive, the test is repeated three times to make sure it's accurate before telling the patient. Once again, not all doctors and hospitals follow those guidelines; some just draw the blood and send it to the lab.

What is the cost?

There is no charge at Whitman Walker, but the test costs money.

Once someone is exposed to HIV, how long does it take to show up on a test? Should he or she be tested again periodically?

It can take up to six months after the HIV virus enters the body before antibodies are produced. By six months, 99 percent of those infected with the virus will develop antibodies. But 95 percent of those who are infected with the virus will develop antibodies within three months after infection. Because of this window period for antibody development, people who have had unsafe sex or have shared needles three to six months before the test should consider re-testing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that millions of people in the United States are now infected with HIV. HIV infection/AIDS is on of the ten causes of death among people of all ages in the country.  Photo by Elena

Can people run into problems with their health or life insurance companies if they are tested and the results are positive?

Many life insurance companies require an HIV test as a coverage prerequisite. These companies often will not provide life insurance coverage to a person who has tested positive for HIV, Health insurance providers may drop a person from coverage or put a cap on benefits paid.

How confidential are the test results?

Many clinics that provide testing, including Whitman Walker, provide anonymous testing. This method provides no way of tracing who has tested positive. Some clinics provide testing that is only confidential and not anonymous.

What are the lates methods for self-adminstration of tests at home? Are these tests now available? If not, when will they be?

To date, no home testing method has been approved by the Food and Drug administration. Many home collection methods have been developed but are not yet available. Home collection kitrs will allow people to draw blood at home and mail the sample to a central testing center where results can be retrieved with a self-determined code. The conception of home testing has been criticized for many important reasons. In addition to inaccurate and misinterpreted results, home testing methods make it impossible to provide face-to-face counseling. Such counseling is critically important both before and after the test is taken and results are received.

Should newborn babies be tested?

Newborns should be teste if there is concern about the mother's risk of infection. However, because newborns have a quickly changing immune system, a baby with an HIV-positive result may later test negative.

If someone tests positive, what kind of care should he or she seek after the results come back?

Individual who test positive should seek medical attention for treatment as well as counseling as needed.  Individuals should also protect themselves from further infection and protect others from the virus. Precautions include following safe sex guidelines; never sharing needles or other drug works; reducing or stopping alcohol, cigarette, and drug use; eating well and getting plenty of rest and exercising; avoiding infections, especially those passed by sex;; and not donating blood, plasma, sperm, or organs.

Should more people be tested to help curtail the spread of the virus?

Testing is one of the best methods for early detection of HIV. People who are aware of their HIV status can significantly help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by not putting others at risk.

Buying Stock On the Cheap

Buying Stock On the Cheap

If you know what you know, there’s no need to pay full commission.

Discount brokers now account for about a third of individual stock trades. No wonder. While full-service brokerages provide customers with investments advice and other services, discount brokers stick to making trades and offer fewer services, passing the savings on to you. Cost-conscious investors can take a huge chunk out of the commissions they pay on stock trades by using a discount brokerage firm. But you have to know what you want and you have to be comfortable making your own investment decisions.

There’s no question you can save a bundle using a discount stockbroker to execute your trades. According to the 1995 Discount Brokerage Survey, published by Mercer, Inc. in New York, the average commission among the 10 cheapest discount brokers to trade 100 shares at $50 per share was $29.60. The big three regular discounters – Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Quick & Reilly – have an average commission of $52.70 for this trade, while full-service brokers typically charge $103.

It’s difficult to say which discount brokerage firm offers the best deal, because they set their prices differently. Rates often are based on the total dollar value of a transaction, the number of shares purchased or simply a flat fee for each type of transaction. Sometimes, small commissions and fees for non-routine trades are added on. Large dollar volume trades or trades ordered using a computer or touch-tone phone get further discounts at some firms.

What all this means is that some firms will be cheaper for some trades, and more expensive for others. The American Association of Individual Investors, advises that you choose a broker by first comparing the commissions they charge for the kinds of trades you are most likely to make. Call several discounters directly, or use one of the annual surveys published by Mercer or AAII. Mercer’s is easier to use, because it lists the 30 cheapest discounters in descending order by cost for each of 22 typical trades, while the AAII lists them alphabetically , and for only tree sample trades. But AAII’s list is much more inclusive, covering all 88 discount brokerage firms. Mercer also ranks 110 bank brokers by state and all the independent brokers.

After you have chosen several candidate firms, AAII recommends that you ask for a commission schedule and description of services, fees and bonus discounts. Keep in mind that some firms charge a flat fee to open a new account and charge high fees to wire funds and for copies or reports and bounced checks.

Buying Stock On The Cheap. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

The Big Three Discounters, and some of the others, try to compete with the full-service firms by offering research information, investment recommendations, 24-hour touch-tone service, asset management accounts (with check-writing privileges and ATM Cards), and margin accounts for trading other instruments, such as options, bonds and certificates of deposit, as well as extensive branch networks.

That said, you shouldn’t expect a lot of hand holding. Andre Scheluchin, managing editor of Mercer’s survey, warns investors to keep in mind that discounters have set rates and offer little maintenance of your account. If you want more attention, and more control over the price you pay, then you’re better off with a full-service broker. And, Scheluchin notes, it is not impossible to negotiate a cut in commission with a full-service broker, so you may only pay a little more than with a discounter.

If you want to check out a brokerage before doing business, background information is available from the National Association of Securities Dealers, or from the Central Registration Depositary of your state security agency, listed in the blue pages of the phone book.

No Broker Required. If you make an initial purchase directly from the company offering the stock, you can do away with the brokerage commissions altogether. The American Association of Individual Investors, reports that 17 companies sell stock directly to investors, at commissions of only a few cents a share. Most of these are sold nationwide: Arrow Financial Corp.; Atlantic Energy Corp.; Barnett Banks Inc.; Central Vermont Public Service (not available to residents in certain states); COMSAT Corporation; Dial.Corp.; DQE Co.; Exxon Corp.; First Alabama Bankshares Inc.; Johnson Controls Inc.; Kellwood Co.; Kerr-McGee Corp.; Mobil Corp.; SCANA Corp.; Summit Bankcorp (N.J.) Texaco Inc.; U.S. West Inc.

The top ten deep discounters in 1994: Wall Street Equities; Brown & Company; K. Afhausen and Company; Lombard Institutional; National Discount Broker; R.J. Forbes Group; Pacific Brokerage Services; Kennedy, Cabot & Company; Recom Securities; Barry Murphy and Company.

SIPC: Securities Investor Protection Corp, insures securities and cash up to $500,000. Plus sign indicates coverage beyond $500,000 at no extra charge.

SWEEP: Automatically invests cash balances in interest bearing money market fund until these funds are reinvested. Money market funds usually offer better interests. Than cash balance accounts.

INT: Pays interest on customers’ cash balances. Amounts in parentheses, if any, indicate minimum amount above which interest is paid, if a discount firm offers a sweep account, we do not include information on cash balance interest.

NLMF: No-load mutual funds can be purchased through the firm. Charges may apply, and available funds vary.

IRA: Self-directed IRAs can be set up. Charges may vary.

Learning to Think Like Leonardo

Learning to Think Like Leonardo

For a preview of where education reform is headed, check this out

Where did the dinosaurs go? How do plants get food? If your child starts asking these questions in kindergarten, he or she has begun the scientific inquiry that will pave the way for the study of science throughout high school. Similarly engaging questions are the hallmark of the standards-setting guidelines being developed by educators involved in everything from math to history of the arts.

Science: In the content recommendations recently drafted by leading scientists and educators in the report National Science Education Standards, scientific inquiry is the key to teaching science in kindergarten through 12th grade. The natural world becomes the textbook, as children observe changes. They can identify sequences of change and patterns – the change from day to night, for example. Teachers supply the connecting facts through demonstrations and discussions. The classroom, as a “community of learners,” relies on students to help each other, collaborating whenever possible to set goals and plan activities and take responsibility for their own learning. At all levels students ought to be able to conceptualize, plan, and perform investigations. For a week-long lesson on sound, for instance, third-grade students design and build a musical instrument. The lesson culminates with a concert.

At the end of an investigation, teachers help students critique their results: How certain are they of their findings? Is there a better way to do the investigation? Should they do the experiment over? What are their sources of experimental error? Under the proposed standards, by the end of high school all students should understand and be able to explain the study of biological evolution, the molecular basis of heredity, interactions of energy and matter, population growth, the role of science and technology in local, national, and global challenges, and a host of other difficult consequences.

Manhattan at night. Photo by Elena

This new content, far from the old spoon-fed fact teaching, is difficult to assess. Tests are discouraged. Teachers are supposed to assess students' depth and breadth of knowledge through their explanations. To carry through their explanations. To carry through with such ambitious change, many teachers may need considerable retraining themselves.

History: No effort to devise content standards has been more fraught with controversy than the recent report on teaching history. In the 271-page National Standards for United States History, Daniel Webster, the famous white male orator isn't mentioned, and Harriet Tubman, the eloquent former slave is. Most history teachers argue that students need to develop a view of history that includes black, women, and Native Americans, even if it portrays a not-so-glorious side of the American story. History, in this recasting, is the story of events, ideas< and places, not a saga populated by great men and just a few good women, as history textbooks have portrayed it in the past.

Staten Island Ferry

Staten Island Ferry 

Sonnet by Emma Lazarus engraved on the statue of Libery pedestal:

The New Colossus:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land, Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A might woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my Lamp beside the Golden door!"

South Staten Island Ferry Terminal in New York. View on New Jersey.

Traveling to New York from Staten Island takes about 25 minutes.

New York City and New Jersey City as seen from the Staten Island Ferry.

The traffic here is rather dense. 

Manhattan approaching.

Statue of Liberty. New York, October 28, 1886. Liberty enlightening the World, better known as the Statue of Liberty, was the gift of the people of France. Designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the copper-sheathed monument measures 151 feet from base to torch and weighs 225 tons.

The sonnet by Emma Lazurus is engraved on the pedestal of the statue and is entitled The New Colossus. It stood for years as a welcome to the immigrants passing through nearby Ellis Island.

The Manhattan Island and a small vessel sailing in front of it.

Verazzano Bridge which links New York to Staten Island.

A clipper or something like that crossing ways with the ferry.

South Port, Staten Island terminal in New York

Helioport by the South Port.

Brooklyn bridge on the left and Brooklyn in the center of this photo.

The Staten Island ferry at the Staten Island Port.

E-Business

E-Business

A.K.A. Electronic Business, Internet Business, Electronic Commerce, Internet Commerce (I-Commerce), Web Commerce, Information Economy, Online Economy, and Financial Global Village.

They say there is no business like show business, but is Internet – business? Prominent sites such as E-Bay and Amazon have been so successful that it seems safe to assume that e-business is indeed a profitable endeavor.

The World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics Website states that there are nearly 2 billion Internet users worldwide. More than one quarter of them use Facebook. Occupying such a notorious place in people’s lives, online marketing opportunities appear endless.

The author of the next article discussed is an electronic musician, an unlikely resume for a publication of the sort. His biography reveals that he developed academic interest in Internet business to avoid being ripped off by electronic music record companies. Bambury (1998) elaborates on the following Website models:

• mail order
• advertizing based
• subscription
• free trial
• direct marketing
• real estate
• incentive scheme
• business to business
• library
• freeware
• information barter
• digital products and digital delivery
• access provision
• Website hosting
• miscellaneous Internet services
• mixed

On the net, real estate refers to businesses providing space, e-mail and domain name. How the paper differentiates between this model and the Website hosting one remains unclear.

Angehrn (1997) provides some classification parameters about the Interned viewed through a unidemensional lens, the ICDT model (Information, Communication, Distribution and Transaction). The author also draws attention to simple versus advanced, and generic vs. customized, distinctions of Internet based service provider presence in the Virtual Information Space (VIS).

Manhattan, Plaza One. Photo by Elena

Clearly, the exponential growth of the World Wide Web poses unexpected challenges, but also uncovers new business opportunities. In order to remain competitive, firms must innovate and adapt to change. A leveraging ability, coupled with Intranet and Extranet technology, may be tactically vital.

To succeed, businesses need three capabilities: know how, know why and know what, facilitated by Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology (Fahey et al., 2001). Other platforms include the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and the Product Development Management (PDM). Below are some examples of what each system would concentrate on:

Platform/Knowledge	CRM	SCM	PDM
Know What	Customer wants and needs	Changes in supply to keep cost low	New design ideas
Know How	Information	Opération	Coopération
Know Why	Continual adaptation	Why supply matters	Innovation

The goal is to find what drives market development for profitability. Other issues e-business knowledge management tackles are customer solutions, rivals, marketplace strategy, assets and business processes.

Business Essay: E-Business

The purpose of this business essay is to describe electronic business, also called e-business. Indeed, economics is certainly a dynamic social science. Industry, and the way people do business, keeps changing with the times. Business follows the development of technology, which is why electronic commerce is something prevalent today. For example, only in the last thousands of years, most societies in the world transitioned from a barter economy to one based on money. Money became a medium of exchange, and a repository of value, when centuries ago the first bankers would give notes in exchange of gold they kept. Today, private and central banking are the standard in most countries.

Clearly, another major development in economic history has been the Industrial Revolution, with the invention of electricity and machinery. One may argue that the Internet, together with its online transactions, social media and entirely new elements such as the bitcoin, has transformed commerce once again on an unprecedented, international scale. Thus, today most stores have a strong online presence. Large detail commercial undertakings such as Saks Fifth Avenue or Holt Renfrew shopping centres and malls, all have online cart systems, which allow users and shoppers to check out directly online and have the items shipped directly to them, a similar system to EBay in terms of online items being bought through online transactions.

Economic equilibrium. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

So who succeeds in business? A question most who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur have asked themselves at least once. Successful entrepreneurs share many qualities with each other. For example, they say the spirit of entrepreneurship is hardy, that such individuals usually react to challenges by trying harder rather than by giving up. When the going gets though – the though get going, as the saying goes… Fear of failure has stopped many a potential successful businessman, or businesswoman, from pursuing their dreams and realizing their full potential. However, as another saying has it, if you try – then you already have a better chance of succeeding than the person who shies away from difficulties, or even opportunities.

At the end of the day, fear is an emotion. Fear is largely considered a negative emotion and is regulated by the amygdala (a brain structure). Fear is different from anxiety in that anxiety means fearing something unconfirmed, while fear implies a real threat. Still, it remains the result of neurons releasing neurotransmitters into synapses… In contrast, as the saying goes, you will miss 100% of the shots you do not take. After all, if everybody remained too afraid to succeed in business by presenting their own ideas to investors, there would be no Dragons’ Den TV show. However, caution and balance are always warranted in any endeavour, be it in the business world or elsewhere. Thus, the purpose of the present paper was to describe e-business as it applies to entrepreneurship.