Some OBs unclear on HIV testing requirements

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Although virtually all obstetrician-gynecologists recommend HIV testing to all their pregnant patients, some are unaware of their state requirements for recommending such testing, according to a report in the Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Several organisations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have recommended that all pregnant women be screened for HIV, using an opt-out approach, as part of routine prenatal care, the authors explain. With the opt-out testing strategy, the woman tested unless she explicitly refuses. She is provided information on HIV and told that a test will be performed as part of a battery of standard tests. She is also informed that she has the right to decline testing.

The opt-in testing approach requires an explicit request for an HIV test. After a woman has received HIV information, she is asked if she wants an HIV test. She is tested only if she specifically agrees and, in most cases, signs and an informed consent form. Dr. Jay Schulkin and colleagues from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, DC surveyed obstetrician-gynecologists regarding HIV knowledge.

A total of 1,032 questionnaires were sent out and 582 were returned.

All but three percent of obstetrician-gynecologists reported that they recommend HIV testing to all of their pregnant patients, the authors report, though nearly three quarters of obstetrician-gynecologists considered 5 percent or fewer of their pregnant patients to be at high risk for HIV infection.

Obstetrician-gynecologists were fairly evenly divided as to whether they tested their pregnant patients for HIV using the opt-in approach (52 percent) or the opt-out approach (48 percent).

Just over half the obstetrician-gynecologists (57 percent) reported using the HIV testing approach required in their states, the researchers note, while 43 percent reported using an approach not consistent with their state's regulation.

Nearly one third of obstetrician-gynecologists said they did not know if their state required HIV testing during pregnancy.

Most obstetrician-gynecologists responding to the survey reported that they provide pretest counselling before HIV testing (73.7 percent) and post-test counselling (84.6 percent).

China tests vasectomy alternative

BEIJING (Reuters) — Chinese doctors have developed a new technique in birth control surgery for men that could be made available to the public next year, the China Daily said.

The method involves making a small incision along the testicle into which doctors place a tiny tube. "The tube functions as a filter that blocks sperm," Wu Weixiong, the director of Guangzhou Family Planning Technology Centre, said was quoted as saying.

The technique, which is reversible by simply taking out the tube, had been patented and the health department would promote it as soon as it is approved by the National Food and Drug Administration, Zhu Jiaming, the vice-president of the Guangzhou Sexology Association, said.

"The success rate for this form of birth control is 97 percent," he said. Wu said the operation took just ten minutes.

"However, it is very difficult and requires highly skilled doctors," the newspaper said.

Left brain picks sounds from cacophony

HONG KONG (Reuters) — Ever wondered how we are able to conduct a conversation at a noisy party?

Researchers from Japan, Canada and Germany have found that it is our left brain that picks out the desired sounds from a cacophony of loud, competing sounds.

"In daily life, we are always exposed to several noises at the same time and we have to pick up important signals, for example, speech sounds, from the background noises," wrote researcher Ryusuke Kakigi from Japan's National Institute for Physiological Sciences.

"We found that the left hemisphere is generally dominant for auditory processing in noisy environments," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions from Reuters.

It is well known that speech signals are processed in the left brain. But this study, led by Hidehiko Okamoto and Christo Pantev at the University of Muenster in Germany, furthers our understanding of how the human brain is able to zero in on the specific sounds it wants and process them.