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A new library dedicated to help teachers plan sex and relationship lessons is being launched at Slough and Eton School in Berkshire.

The resources, including books, videos and games, are for teachers leading classes on personal health, social and citizenship education (PHSCE).

A borough council spokesman said Slough had one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the South East.

"By improving education we can teach young people to make informed choices."

David Munkley, commissioner for education, said: "This library will be a fantastic resource for both teachers and school nurses and will play a key role in improving sex and relationship education in Slough."

BBC News

Health and beauty retailer Boots has dropped its plans to stock sex toys in its UK stores. Durex condom maker SSL, which also makes sex toys, had been in discussion with Boots over providing products.

"We have had lots of feedback about it from customers and our own people and we just decided it wasn't for us," a Boots spokesman said.

Boots has been expanding into new lines as it faces rising competition among the beauty and health product sector.

On Wednesday, the retailer said its sales over the Christmas trading period were up 2.6% on a like-for-like basis.

Shops selling sex toys have become more common on UK High Streets.

Ann Summers, which claims 70% of its customers are ABC1 women, has 117 branches and last year had a turnover of £110m ($205m).

BBC News

The anti-impotence drug Viagra could be a good treatment for heart failure, US researchers believe.

A Johns Hopkins team told Nature how they found it effectively treats enlarged hearts - a common feature of heart failure - in mice.

Cardiologists said it was reasonable to presume it would have such an effect.

Viagra was initially designed to be heart drug until scientists found a useful spin off effect on the blood vessels of the penis.

Big hearts

It works by expanding blood vessels to improve blood flow, similar to other angina drugs.

There have been concerns about whether it is safe for men with heart disease on particular medications that work in the same way.

Doctors are told not to prescribe Viagra (sildenafil) along with these drugs called nitrates.

But it appears to be safe in other heart patients.

In the latest study, Dr David Kass and colleagues looked at the effect of Viagra in mice with enlarged hearts.

In humans, this can occur with high blood pressure, which causes the heart's muscular wall to thicken and the heart can eventually fail.

The mice that received Viagra had smaller hearts despite their high blood pressure compared with mice that did not receive the drug.

In a second experiment, Viagra was found to reverse heart enlargement, or hypertrophy, in mice that already had heart failure.

Dr Kass said: "This study shows that sildenafil can make hypertrophy go away."

Therapies

They plan to study the effect in humans and believe it could lead to new treatments for heart failure.

But Professor Peter Sever, of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said there were already effective drugs for heart failure and that Viagra's action was not unique.

Dr Ian Banks of the Men's Health Forum said: "There has always been this feeling that it benefits the heart."

He said it could not be prescribed in this way because it is not licensed for treating heart conditions.

The British Heart Foundation said more studies were needed before the potential benefits of Viagra could be fully understood.

A spokeswoman said: "If you have a heart condition you should check with your doctor before taking the drug.

"Although there are many causes of cardiac hypertrophy, a main one is high blood pressure.

"If you do suffer from high blood pressure, try to reduce the amount of salt you eat, drink only a moderate amount of alcohol, and take lots of exercise."

BBC News

(United Nations) A new global campaign to stop the spread of AIDS uses three animated characters dressed as condoms to deliver a serious message in humorous public service spots in 41 languages: If you're going to have sex, use a condom.

The short spots are being offered free to broadcasters, community groups and universities and have the potential of reaching 80 per cent of the world's population, producer-director Firdaus Kharas said.

"We're using humor to stop the spread of AIDS," he told a news conference, launching the public service announcements that are targeted at young people aged 15 to 24 in places threatened by the epidemic, including India, China, Russia, the Caribbean and central Asia.

"The Three Amigos" - as the cartoon condoms named Shaft, Stretch and Dick are called - are shown in a variety of settings from a spaceship, to a soccer field, to a casino. Twenty different spots are available in each of the 41 languages and they vary in length from 20 to 60 seconds, with some blatantly sexual and others much more restrained to appeal to different audiences.

The punch line in the spaceship spot says: "No condom, No blastoff. Stop the spread of AIDS." The soccer spot says: "You just can't score without a condom." And the spot focusing on a roulette wheel in a casino says: "Not all gamblers realize the odds stacked against them. Don't gamble with your life. Use a condom. Stop the spread of AIDS."

Kharas said the idea for the spots came from his co-producer, South African film writer Brent Quint, who believes as he does that AIDS is "a preventable disease," and that using animated figures and humor can get the message across that condoms are essential for safe sex.

The spots are currently being shown in South Africa, Canada and the Netherlands and have already won 25 international awards and a strong endorsement from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who called them "a powerful communicating tool to encourage people to change their behavior."

"Animated characters are a non-threatening, non-authoritarian vehicle for communication," Tutu said in "an impassioned plea" to broadcasters in the global village, especially in Africa.

Frequent playing of the spots "has the potential to capture the imagination of young people through humor, the portrayal of situations to which they can easily relate and the portrayal of characters who express what in a normal situation would be too embarrassing to speak of," he said.

"The Three Amigos" was conceived and written in South Africa. The characters, props and layouts were designed and created in Canada, and the background and animation was done in India, Kharas said. More than 320 people volunteered their time and expertise to the project to support the campaign against AIDS, he said.

Kharas expressed hope that with spots now available in Arabic, Hindi, Cantonese, Mandarin, and a host of other languages, the audience will grow and the HIV and AIDS epidemic will eventually start to decline. He said there may be more video spots, and he and Quint are already working on radio spots.

by Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

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The Roman Catholic Church in Spain has acknowledged that condoms could play a role in the global fight against Aids.

The comments mark an apparent shift from traditional Roman Catholic teachings which ban condoms because they are a form of contraception.

But a spokesman for Spanish bishops said the use of condoms and practising sexual restraint appeared to be the best strategy to tackle the disease.

He added that this was backed by the most recent scientific research.

"The Church is very worried and interested by this problem, and its position is backed by scientific proposals such as the one published in the prestigious magazine the Lancet," Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino said.

"The time has come, the Lancet magazine says, for a joint strategy in the prevention of such a tragic pandemic as Aids, and contraception has a place in a global approach to tackling Aids."

Influence

His statement followed a meeting with Health Minister Elena Salgado.

According to Spanish government figures there are more than 120,000 adults living with HIV/Aids in Spain, where the disease has caused 42,149 deaths. It is estimated that eight people a day become infected with the virus in Spain.

Correspondents say the comments by the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops' Conference could avoid a clash between the Catholic Church and the socialist government - which promotes the use of condoms and has announced that it supports a new law allowing homosexual marriage.

The Roman Catholic Church remains a powerful voice in Spain.

The Vatican has not issued a definitive statement on the use of condoms, but many of its officials oppose campaigns promoting them.

Last year the European Union criticised a Vatican paper that claimed that HIV - the virus which leads to Aids - can pass through latex condoms and cause infection.

BBC News

Schools will be encouraged to hold lessons exploring the achievements of gay men and women throughout history as part of the first gay history month.

The project, to be held in February, will highlight the hidden history of household names who would probably today identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, such as William Shakespeare, who was rumoured to be bisexual, and Florence Nightingale, who few people know was a lesbian.

Other events covered during the month will include talks on the early years of gays and lesbians in British television and discussions of the history of the British LGBT Muslim movement. Pupils will also study modern gay icons such as Freddie Mercury and Sir Ian McKellen, alongside more historical gay and bisexual figures such as Isaac Newton and Alexander the Great.

The voluntary initiative, modelled on the successful black history month held each October, is being backed by the government and has been given a grant by the Department for Education and Skills. It will be officially launched at the Houses of Parliament on February 7.

Jacqui Smith, the government minister responsible for equality, said: "I hope that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender groups and their supporters across the country will take the opportunity to participate in the month and organise LGBT events in their areas. I believe the month will be important in helping to drive the culture change to create a more inclusive society. It will also be a great opportunity to uncover some hidden LGBT histories."

The scheme was designed by Schools Out! - a group campaigning for LGBT equality in schools - to get gay issues onto the curriculum. They will also encourage libraries, theatres, sports clubs and councils across the country to hold events.

Nigel Tart, from Schools Out, said: "Since the 80s, LGBT issues have been squeezed out of subjects like history, English and drama. Today's students only encounter them, if at all, in relation to bullying, sex education and Aids. LGBT history month is our first major project to reclaim our place in the curriculum."

It is not know how many schools will be involved in the project but Stephen Twigg, minister for school standards, said the government would be encouraging schools to sign up.

Luke Layfield

The Guardian

A Romanian town is experiencing a baby boom - nine months on from Valentine's Day.

Maternity doctors from Iasi said at first they didn't realise why the number of births had doubled.

But then they did some calculations and worked out nine months had passed since February 14.

Dr Mircea Onofriescu, from the Cuza Voda Maternity, told Romania Libera newspaper: "We noticed that since the beginning of November many children were born at our hospital.

"If we normally had 10 to 12 babies a day, the last weeks brought us 20 or even more per day.

"We tried to explain this phenomenon and made some research among the new mothers. They confirmed our idea - most of the babies were conceived around February 14 - Valentine's Day."

Hospital officials said the peak of the boom was reached in the first week of November when 140 babies were born in Iasi.

Natalia, a new mother, said: "I remember my husband brought me so many flowers for that special day. I didn't believe we could have a baby but it happened and we are very happy for that."

Ananova.com

Campaigners are waiting to find out if they have won their fight to stop a second sex shop opening in their town.

The borough council in Weymouth, Dorset, will consider an application to open the store at a meeting of its planning committee on Thursday.

Some 49 residents have lodged formal objections to the plans for a shop in King Street, many on moral grounds.

Darker Enterprises, which runs 85 sex shops in England and Wales, has applied for a licence to open the new branch.

In April the company opened the first sex shop on the Isle of Wight, while in 2003 it was refused permission to open a store in Glasgow after 450 residents objected.

BBC News

Scientists have developed a machine to separate out healthy sperm from that which is damaged and unlikely to be of use in IVF.

The shoebox-sized device is based on the principle that the sperm with the most negatively charged membranes are likely to have the least DNA damage.

It filters out sperm with a type of DNA damage linked to infertility and a raised risk of childhood cancers.

Details of the Australian invention are published by New Scientist magazine.

The developers say the DNA damage the device is designed to weed out is particularly associated with older fathers, heavy smokers and people who have been exposed to pollution in the workplace.

At present, fertility clinics centrifuge semen to increase the concentration of the densest sperm and raise the odds of fertilising an egg.

But it is a time-consuming process and does not identify damaged sperm. It also subjects sperm to a degree of stress.

Voltage

The new machine, called Gradiflow, has been developed by Professor John Aitken and Chris Ainsworth of the University of Newcastle in New South Wales and its commercial partner Life Therapeutics of Sydney.

It consists of two chambers separated by a filter. After the sperm is injected into the first chamber a voltage is applied across the filter to move sperm to the second chamber.

In preliminary tests, using semen from medical students, the 20% of sperm that made it into the second chamber had only half as much DNA damage as the sperm left behind.

Other tests suggest it also works well when sorting the semen of men with fertility problems.

It will be further tested in two clinical trials of women undergoing IVF in Australia later this year.

Dr Moira O'Bryan, of the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development in Melbourne, told New Scientist: "It is so simple.

"I've never seen anything like it before. You turn it on, the sperm move across and there you go.

"Only time will tell, but it might take some of the subjective nature out of picking good sperm."

Professor Ian Craft, director of the London Fertility Centre, said there was evidence to suggest that DNA damage - or fragmentation - was linked both to a lower IVF success rate, and a higher risk of miscarriage.

"If it works, this device sounds like a nice idea," he said.

BBC News

Scientists suggest people with more copies of a certain gene are less likely to become infected with the HIV virus or to develop Aids.

The US National Institutes of Health team say their finding could lead to a screening test to determine someone's susceptibility to HIV/Aids.

The gene the researchers studied is one which helps the body to fight the HIV virus.

The research was published online by the journal Science.

The gene encodes CCL3L1, a protein which blocks HIV which also interacts with CCR5 - a receptor protein that HIV uses as a doorway to enter and infect immune system blood cells.

'Individual risk'

The scientists analysed blood samples from more than 4,300 HIV-positive and -negative African-Americans, Europeans and Hispanic-Americans to determine the average number of copies of the CCL3L1 gene in each group.

It was found that there was significant variation. HIV-negative African-American adults had an average of four CCL3L1 copies, while HIV-negative European- and Hispanic-American adults had around two and three copies respectively.

The researchers say this does not mean European Americans are more prone to HIV/Aids than the other groups studied.

Instead, they say they found individuals with fewer CCL3L1 copies than their population's average were more susceptible to infection and rapid progression to Aids, and therefore people with a larger than average number of CCL3L1 copies were less at risk.

It was found that each additional CCL3L1 copy could reduce the chances of acquiring HIV by up to 10.5%.

Below-average numbers of CCL3L1 copies were associated with an increased risk of rapid Aids onset of between 39% and 260%.

Genetic factors

This is not the first research to suggest people's genes could determine their susceptibility to HIV/Aids.

One study even suggested that people whose mother and father were both descended from ancestors who survived the bubonic plague in the seventeenth century appeared to be immune to HIV.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research, said: "Individual risk of acquiring HIV and experiencing rapid disease progression is not uniform within populations.

"This important study identifies genetic factors of particular groups that either mitigate or enhance one's susceptibility to infection and disease onset."

He added: "These differences in the immune system might result in medical approaches to thwart HIV/Aids or other infections that vary among groups."

Michael Carter, patient information editor at the UK's National Aids Manual, said: "The field of genetics is likely to be a fruitful area of research into how we can prevent and treat HIV/Aids.

"It will be particularly important in treatment, where we will be looking at tailoring treatments dependent on people's genetic make-up."

He said doctors could already assess whether a patient was likely to experience side-effects from a particular treatment based on their genetic profile.

Yusef Azad, director of policy and campaigns at the National Aids Trust, said: "The research published today could well be an important step forward.

"We need the global community to provide the political commitment and funding necessary to ensure that all such avenues are fully pursued."

BBC News