HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Bristol, Nellie. "Battling HIV/AIDS." CQ Researcher 17.38 (2007): 889-912.
Should more money be spent on prevention?
Two-thirds of the world's 40 million HIV/AIDS cases are in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa, which also has 12 million children orphaned by the disease. In the United States, the toll is heaviest on African-American women. Rich countries and private donors are now spending billions to fight AIDS in developing countries. But only 2 million people in those countries receive life-prolonging antiretroviral medications, while millions more are newly infected. With an HIV vaccine years away, public health experts say a renewed focus on prevention is the best way to stem the epidemic. Prevention turns on two stubborn issues: behavior change and shifts in generations-old patterns of poverty and gender inequality. Meanwhile, President Bush wants to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at $30 billion — double current funding levels. While the program has pumped billions into overseas AIDS programs, AIDS groups want PEPFAR broadened to cover additional health and development issues. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Reference:
Crandall, Keith A. "Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV)." Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. 21 Nov. 2001. New York: Wiley, 2001.

"Key Issue: AIDS." Facts On File World News Digest @ FACTS.com. Summary with links to key news events and overviews of controversial aspects of the topic.

Books:
Engel, Jonathan. The Epidemic : (a Global History of AIDS). New York : Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2006. [Main Collection: RA643.8 .E54 2006]

Fan, Hung. AIDS : Science and Society. Boston : Jones and Bartlett, 2004. [Main Collection : RA643.8 .F36 2004]

Behrman, Greg. The Invisible People: How the U. S. Has Slept Through the Global AIDS Pandemic, the Greatest Humanitarian Catastrophe of Our Time. New York : Free Press, 2004. [Main Collection: RA643.83 .B44 2004]

AIDS : Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego : Greenhaven, 2003. [Main Collection: RA643.8 .A42 2003]

Articles - regular keyword searches on "hiv or aids" produce too many marginal articles, so for greater precision the following are subject keyword searches:

EBSCOhost

• HIV (over 11000)
• HIV/AIDS AND Prevent* (over 3000)
• HIV/AIDS AND Prevent* AND Africa* (over 300)

ProQuest

• HIV (over 6800)
• HIV AND Prevent* (over 2200)
• HIV AND Prevent* AND Africa (over 190)
• World AIDS Day/2007 [December 1, 2007]

Web:
UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Published the 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update 11/19/07.

World Health Organization HIV/AIDS Programme

CDC HIV/AIDS - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Fighting Superbugs

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Fighting Superbugs." CQ Researcher 17.29 (2007): 673-696.
Are disease-resistant bacteria becoming unstoppable? Antibiotics — the wonder drugs of the 20th century — are gradually losing their clout. Bacteria naturally develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs. In recent years, however, overuse of antibiotics has caused a growing number of staphylococcus bacteria to evolve into disease-causing “superbugs” resistant to drugs like methicillin. Hospital patients with MRSA — a potent antibiotic-resistant staph infection — are four times as likely to die as other patients. Moreover, while most superbugs once thrived only in hospitals, new strains outside health facilities are killing healthy people. Adding to the concerns of public-health officials, drug companies are developing few new antimicrobials. Some activists urge strong curbs on all antimicrobial use, including to promote fast growth in farm animals. Others oppose legal requirements for animal or human antibiotics, arguing that voluntary efforts are better able to keep pace with the fast-evolving world of microbes. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Articles:


Encyclopedia of Life Sciences: Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance
Antimicrobial Resistance: Epidemiology

EBSCOhost Search: (SU drug resistance in microorganisms or mrsa or staph*) and (SU research or SU treatment)

ProQuest Search: (staph* or mrsa or superbug*) and SU drug resistance and (treatment or research)

Coal's comeback

Weeks, Jennifer. "Coal's comeback." CQ Researcher 17.35 (2007): 817-840.

Can coal become a clean energy source? Many Americans regard coal as a high-polluting fuel of the past, but today the U.S. is on the verge of a new coal energy boom. Coal-burning power plants generate half the nation's electricity, and that share could grow. More than 150 new coal power plants are planned or under construction, but critics oppose many of them. Coal is cheap and plentiful compared to other fuels, but it also produces air pollutants that contribute to acid rain, smog and climate change and cause thousands of deaths every year. Supporters say technology can make coal a pollution-free energy source in coming decades and that coal could even be used to make liquid fuels as a substitute for oil. But environmental and health advocates argue that the damaging impacts from mining, transporting and burning coal cancel out its value as an energy source. As Congress and the states debate proposals to combat global warming, regulators and businesses weigh coal's energy benefits against its health and environmental liabilities.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Articles:

EBSCOhost Search: (SU coal-fired power plants and SU environmental aspects and GE united states)

ProQuest Search: SU(coal-fired power plants) AND SU(emissions control) AND GEO(united states)

Sputnik, October 1957 - The Space Age Turns 50

Articles

Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "Fellow Traveler." Natural History 116.8 (Oct. 2007): 23-44. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.

Cowen, Ron. "SPUTNIK + 50." Science News 6 Oct. 2007: 216-221. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.

more articles from EBSCOhost

DeGroot, Gerald J. "Sputnik 1957. " American History 1 Dec. 2007: 34-39,6. Humanities Module. ProQuest.

more articles from ProQuest

Siddiqi, Asif. "The Man Behind The Curtain." Air & Space Smithsonian Nov. 2007: 58-63. Recounts the life and accomplishments of Mikhail Tikhonravov, 'godfather of Sputnik.'

"Earth Satellite: USSR Launches 'Sputnik'; Other Developments." Facts On File World News Digest 9 Oct. 1957.

Levy, Edward. "Space Race." Issues & Controversies in American History @ FACTS.com. 30 Mar. 2006. Facts On File News Services.

Articles from the Historical New York Times, 1957.

Book

McDougall, Walter A. ...The Heavens and the Earth : a Political History of the Space Age. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. ACLS Humanities E-Book.