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People living in Worcester and Middlesbrough in 1949 unwittingly took part in Britain's first sex survey, according to a documentary. A mass-observation project was carried out by British researchers a year after the Kinsey Report appeared in the US.

Instead of the questionnaires used in other places, researchers secretly watched public sexual behaviour, a BBC Four programme reveals on Wednesday.

The results were considered so radical they had to be hidden until now.

'Extra dimension'

Worcester and Middlesbrough were even given the code names of Churchtown and Steeltown respectively.

Thousands of people were asked about their sexual attitudes and behaviour and the results revealed a unique snapshot of the sexual lives of the British population.

A documentary by BBC Four reveals the findings which were buried in the archive of the University of Sussex.

Producer Steve Humphries said Worcester and Middlesbrough added an extra dimension to the study.

"In those times, for people having pre-marital or extra-marital sex there wasn't anywhere to go so it was done publicly in back alleys, parks and back rows of cinemas," he said.

"So the researchers went to these two towns to observe public sexual behaviour."

He said some of those carrying out the survey did abuse their position and propositioned the women in the towns.

"The men did use their position to their advantage and tested the virtue of the local girls," he said.

"It was reported that Worcester was more virtuous than Middlesbrough."

BBC News

The number of gay men in Scotland having unprotected sex has almost doubled over six years, a study says. At the same time, unfounded confidence in the HIV negative status of casual partners has also increased, Sexually Transmitted Infections journal says.

The findings, which reflect trends seen in other UK areas, are based on surveys of 6,500 men in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In 1996, 11% of those surveyed said they had unprotected anal sex - in 2002 the figure was 19%.

Risk taking

Levels of this "risky sex" with casual or multiple partners also increased.

There was also a significant increase in men reporting they "knew" their casual partners' HIV status, despite no increase in HIV testing among the men who reported having unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners.

The likelihood of unprotected sex with casual partners was greater among those men who said they visited gay bars frequently and those who agreed with the statement: "I am less worried about HIV infection now that treatments have improved."

These trends are not limited to the two cities studied, said the report authors.

Professor Graham Hart and Lisa Williamson, of the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at Glasgow University, said gay men in other UK cities were similarly becoming more blase about practising safe sex.

Professor Hart said: "The concern is that whilst there has been marvellous news about the impact of antiretroviral treatments in keeping people alive, there has perhaps become a sense that safe sex is not as important as it was."

Prevention failure

He blamed what he called a prevention failure.

He said a new generation of young gay men were ignorant about the real risks, partly because their peer group is not dying of the disease, thanks to better HIV treatments, and partly due to less focus now on prevention.

He said hard hitting HIV prevention awareness campaigns were needed, similar to those of the 1980s, which included shock tactic TV commercials showing tombstones engraved with the words "Don't die of ignorance", to drive the message home.

"My concern is that this is in great part due to prevention failure. There has been a big redirection towards treatment.

Targeted campaigns

"Monies have not been going into HIV prevention in the way that they had previously, in part to fuel the expense of the drug budget."

He acknowledged that the government was investing significant money to tackle sexual health. But he said efforts needed to be focused on HIV prevention, particularly among gay men, as well as the other sexually transmitted infections.

If not, he warned the consequence could be a rise in HIV infections.

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: "We are committed to tackling this issue."

She said the executive had invested significant money in a number of schemes, including over £8.4m to NHS Boards for tackling blood-borne disease such as HIV this year.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said its national Sexual Health campaign would help to raise awareness of the importance of safe sex amongst a very wide audience and would focus on the top five STIs, including HIV.

"However, we are aware that the highest number of HIV cases in the UK are found in gay men and African communities and it is essential that key messages are communicated to these two groups through carefully targeted campaigns," she said.

She said the department was working with charities on targeted health promotion campaigns rather than a more "generic broad-brush approach that may be off message for these groups".

Will Nutland, of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "This research comes as no surprise given the continued lack of investment in HIV prevention.

"Unless more money is invested in relevant and targeted HIV prevention, gay men will continue to take risks with their sexual health and the UK's HIV and STI epidemic will continue to grow."

BBC News

A condoms manufacturing company in China has begun marketing condoms using the brand names of Clinton and Lewinsky.

Spokesman Liu Wenhua, of the Guangzhou Rubber Group, said that as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms.

Liu added the company had chosen to use the Clinton name because customers viewed the 42nd president as a responsible person, who would want to stress safe sex as an effective way to prevent the spread of the HIV virus.

"The names we chose are symbols of people who are responsible and dedicated to their jobs,” Liu Wenhua said. “I believe Bill Clinton cannot be unhappy about this because he’s a very generous man.”

Pomegranate juice may help to slow down the progress of prostate cancer, research suggests. Tests on mice showed the juice dramatically slowed down prostate cancer cell growth.

Pomegranates, native to the Middle East, are packed with healthy anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.

The study, by the University of Wisconsin, appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK.

Every year over 30,000 men are diagnosed and 10,000 men die from it.

Previous research has shown pomegranate extract is effective against tumours in mouse skin.

And scientists in Israel have shown that drinking a daily glass of the fruit's juice can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Wisconsin team first tested the juice on laboratory cultures of human prostate cancer cells.

They found the extract killed the cancer cells - and the higher the dose, the more cells died.

Supplemented diet

Next the team injected mice with human prostate cancer cells. One group was given pure water, and two others received water supplemented with 0.1% or 0.2% pomegranate juice.

Cancer progression was significantly slowed in mice receiving the higher pomegranate dose.

Their blood contained decreased levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a marker commonly used to monitor prostate cancer.

In comparison, tumours grew much faster in animals that were given only water.

Lead researcher Professor Hasan Mukhtar said: "Our study, while early, adds to growing evidence that pomegranates contain very powerful agents against cancer, particularly prostate cancer.

"There is good reason now to test this fruit in humans, both for cancer prevention and treatment."

Dr Chris Hiley, of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: "This is useful research as it might well benefit both men who may get prostate cancer and men who already have it.

"It's still to early to know what, if anything, the science will tell us about potential effects in men, but it is not too soon to point out that diet is plainly significant in the development of prostate cancer.

"As there are sound reasons for adopting a healthy diet with a generally increased intake of fruit and vegetables, why not consider pomegranate, and its juice, as one of the ways of achieving this."

BBC News

The virus which causes Aids may be getting less powerful, researchers say. A team at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, in Antwerp, compared HIV-1 samples from 1986-89 and 2002-03.

They found the newer samples appeared not to multiply as well, and were more sensitive to drugs - some other studies argue they are becoming more resistant.

The researchers, writing in the journal Aids, stressed their work in no way meant efforts to prevent the spread of HIV should be scaled down.

They were only able to compare 12 samples from each time period, and they were unable fully to tease out any effect that drug therapy may have had on the virus.

Hope for future

Researcher Dr Eric Artz said: "This was a very preliminary study, but we did find a pretty striking observation in that the viruses from the 2000s are much weaker than the viruses from the eighties.

"Obviously this virus is still causing death, although it may be causing death at a slower rate of progression now. Maybe in another 50 to 60 years we might see this virus not causing death."

Keith Alcorn, senior editor at the HIV information charity NAM, said it had been thought that HIV would increase in virulence as it passed through more and more human hosts.

But the latest study suggested the opposite is actually true.

"What appears to be happening is that by the time HIV passes from one person to another, it has already toned down some of its most pathogenic effects in response to its host's immune system," he said.

"So the virus that is passed on is less 'fit' each time.

"This would suggest that over several generations, HIV could become less harmful to its human hosts.

"However, we are still far from that point - HIV is still a life-threatening infection."

Similar trend

Dr Marco Vitoria, an HIV expert at the World Health Organization, said other diseases - such as smallpox, TB and syphilis - had shown the same tendency to weaken over time.

"There is a natural trend to reach an 'equilibrium' between the agent and the host interests, in order to guarantee concomitant survival for a longer time," he said.

However, Dr Vitoria stressed that the latest findings should not lull people into a false sense of security.

"This kind of change cannot be adequately measured in years, but in generations," he told the BBC News website.

He also questioned whether it was possible to draw firm conclusions from such a small study.

Will Nutland, of the charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "This latest study adds to the debate on an apparently confusing and contradictory issue.

"Some studies suggest recent strains of HIV are more sensitive to drugs while others claim strains are becoming more resistant.

"The study adds to the body of evidence but HIV is showing no signs of dying out in the near future."

BBC News

Married women are more likely to have sexual problems than married men or single women, research suggests. Researchers from University College London analysed data from a survey of 11,000 adults, giving a snapshot of what is happening in UK bedrooms.

Juggling caring for small children with maintaining a sexual relationship was highlighted as a problem by many.

The Sexually Transmitted Infections journal study also found communication issues were linked to sex difficulties.

The Natsal survey involved men and women aged between 16 and 44 who were interviewed between 1999 and 2001.

Women were significantly more likely than men to say that they had experienced a short or longer term problem with their sex lives over the past year.

Suffering in silence

Married or cohabiting women were more likely to have problems than single members of their gender, as were mothers with young children at home.

Problems cited by married women included not feeling like they were in control of decision-making in their lives, not using a reliable form of contraception, having small children around the house and not being able to talk to their partner.

But men who were married or cohabiting were significantly less likely to say they had sexual problems compared with single men.

Men who drank more than the recommended weekly units of alcohol, and those who had had a sexually transmitted infection within the previous five years, were more likely to report problems with their sex lives.

Experts suggest the link with STIs might be that some can cause pelvic pain, premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction.

Having a chlamydia infection may also link to feelings of stigmatisation, guilt, regret and "dirtiness" in men.

The quality of the first sexual experience was identified as important for both genders, with those reporting a poor first experience more likely to report subsequent problems.

Partnership issues

Dr Catherine Mercer, of the UCL Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research, told the BBC News website: "Some of the results we have found are logical.

"But this is the first time we have data which we can use to develop appropriate advice and to give options.

"This is representative data from the UK population - it's not just people attending STI clinics."

She added: "It's communication which was seen to be really important. A lot of people weren't able to talk about sex with their partners.

"Sexual dysfunction isn't always an individual's problem. It may be about a partnership issue."

David Goldmeier and colleagues, of the Jane Wadsworth Sexual Function Clinic at St Mary's Hospital, London, writing in Sexually Transmitted Infections, said: "Despite its prevalence, sexual dysfunction is often endured in silence.

"Studies in both the US and UK suggest that as many as 54% of women and 35% of men have problems, but fewer than 11% of men and 21% of women seek help."

They said the study gave an in-depth view of the sexual complaints in society.

BBC News

A total of 305 million condoms, purchased by the Chinese government with special funds for HIV/AIDS prevention, has been sent to local Centers of Disease Control(CDC) across the country, a condom producer has said.

This is the first time for the government to purchase condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention with special fund allocation.

The condoms will be further delivered to hotels and public entertainment places, the condom producer said Tuesday.

The government signed its first order for condoms with China's largest condom producer, Gaobang Latex Products Manufactory based in south China's tourist city Guilin, believing that the wide use of condoms is an effective way for HIV/AIDS prevention.

So far, 42 hotels in Guilin have received the government's free offer.

"Before an effective AIDS bacterin come out, condom is the most effective and economical way to prevent the disease from spreading through sex," said Tao Ran, a member of China Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Fund.

"If people could get a condom as convenient and natural as buying a Chinese cabbage, the AIDS prevention function carried by condom could finally imbue into people's lives and change their biases," he said, implicating that at present, condom is still hardly accepted by the masses.

Official statistics show that among China's 840,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, 45 percent get infected through drug injection, 25 percent through blood transfusions and 30 percent through unsafe sex, a factor which has been rising steadily.

Health experts called for carrying out "100 percent" condom useprograms (CUP) in China.

The country is carrying out CUPs in provinces such as Hubei, Yunnan and Jiangsu and planning to cover other regions like Fujian and Beijing. Such measures, carrying the slogan "No Condom, No Sex," are designed to ensure condom provision.

But the issues of how to ensure condom quality and reasonable pricing are also the obstacles in the campaign, according to Zhao Pengfei, program officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) China office.

Xinhuanet

Parents cannot be relied on to teach their children about sex, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman has said. Steve Webb said all children should receive sex education at school - and parents should not be allowed to stop them attending the lessons.

Teaching about relationships should start earlier in life, in an effort to reduce the UK's high teenage pregnancy rate, he added.

And this had to be more than watching a "grainy film" in a biology lesson.

Professor Webb said more research was needed on teenagers' "changing attitudes" to sex.

Parents' attitudes

He told a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Blackpool: "I'm opposed to children being taken out of sex education.

"We all know parents with whom sex education just isn't going to happen."

Prof Webb said the UK's pregnancy rate for girls under the age of 16 was 30 in 1,000, while it was just six in 1,000 in the Netherlands.

He argued that modern attitudes to alcohol, with teenagers drinking more, could be having an effect.

Prof Webb said sex education provision was still "patchy".

School nurses

At some schools it had not improved since his own boyhood, when a biology teacher "showed a grainy video of teenagers with no clothes on jumping into a swimming pool".

Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said more school nurses were needed to provide sexual advice to pupils.

There were currently only 2,140 - one for every 14 schools.

Dr Malone said: "It's just not enough. There's no way to have a public health system unless we are working on the lifestyle choices of young people."

BBC News

Police officers are using condoms as their latest weapon in a campaign to tackle crime. West Midlands Police are giving out the promotional condoms, which bear the message "protect your valuables", to students at the region's universities.

A spokesman said many students bring a range of equipment with them, such as laptops and mobile phones, which are attractive to thieves.

The condoms will help young people to think about crime prevention, he said.

Thousands of students are due to begin their studies this month.

The condoms are part of a range of merchandise created for them.

One message reads: "Size doesn't matter... thieves will steal your phone, laptop, ipod or car... so protect your valuables'.

The condoms are available from the University of Birmingham, Aston University, the University of Central England, Coventry University, the University of Warwick, the University of Wolverhampton and Newman College of Higher Education.

Other merchandise includes computer screen wipes, car ice scrapers, personal attack alarms, pens, key rings and bottle openers.

BBC News

Several Chinese health workers have reportedly been arrested or sacked over claims that they forced people to have abortions or sterilisations. China's state-owned media said the abuses had come to light in Linyi city in the eastern province of Shandong.

US magazine Time said last week that some 7,000 people had been sterilised against their will in Shandong.

Human rights groups often accuse China of forcing sterilisations and abortions - a charge Beijing denies.

China brought in a one-child policy 25 years ago in a drive to curb population growth.

Urban couples are offered strong incentives to have no more than one child, while rural families are allowed up to two.

However, the government does not authorise health workers to carry out forced sterilisation and abortions.

China is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.3 billion people.

'Detention'

China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said it had received "successive complaints" about illegal practices in Linyi.

"Some persons concerned in a few counties and townships of Linyi did commit practices that violated law and infringed upon legitimate rights and interests of citizens while conducting family planning work," a statement from the commission said.

It did not give any further details and there no explicit mention of abortion or sterilisation.

It is not known how many health officials were jailed or dismissed for their actions.

Chen Guangcheng, an activist who has championed the rights of couples that have complained of forced abortion or sterilisation, said he was detained for 30 hours this month by officials claiming to be police from Linyi.

He is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that the authorities had forced couples who had two children to undergo sterilisation, while women expecting a third child were forced to undergo abortions.

BBC News