Advances in AIDS Drugs, Explosive Sensors, Eye Scanners

By Neil Rubenstein

Observer Columnist

Although not much has been heard about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in recent years three new medications have been developed to keep the disease in check: Atripla, Complera and Stribild. From the "Good News" file, Soval, a possible cure for Hepatitis C which affects 150 million people worldwide and kills more Americans each year than HIV, was recently approved by the FDA.

I am extremely pleased to report new advances could, in the future, reduce the need for airports to mess with passengers' patience. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is developing a sensor that can track trace amounts of chemicals in explosives. The Carnegie-Mellon University has developed an experimental eye scanner that works at 40 feet in three to six seconds. Security officers could use the device to quickly confirm passenger identities.

I know traveling by air is safer than ever before because a TSA agent confiscated a tiny toy gun belonging to the traveler's sock monkey. Perhaps the TSA person thought the two-inch toy pistol was capable of firing eight rounds of poison gas.

Can anybody please tell me where I can buy a necklace made with cloves of garlic? Early next year I just might travel to Oklahoma City -- you know, the place where on the statehouse steps there is a ten commandments monument and now a satanist group wants to have its own statue erected to be an homage to the historic literary Satan.

For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.CulverCityObserver.com by placing Rubenstein in that website's search box.