Kuala Lumpur

How My Whole Life Changed Because of One Simple Thing.

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“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” ~ T. S. Eliot

After living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 2 years, I am home again… the same place where I returned in the fall of 2009 after living in U.S. for 3 years, the place where I was born and raised, Suceava, Romania.

Things have changed so much since 2009, and so did I.

I remember how lost and how confused I used to feel back then, not knowing who I was, what I wanted to do with my life and which direction to take.

It’s incredible how much things can change in just a couple of years and how your whole life can change because of one simple thing.

I remember like it was yesterday how I used to sit down at this cute table we have in the living room, and write in my “dream notebooks” about the many things I wanted to be, do and have if there were no limits to what I could achieve.

“Become a very happy, confident, fierce, strong, kind, generous, gentle, honest person, always feeling and looking amazing.

Have a strong, healthy and beautiful body.

Understand, accept and love myself and others.

Happy and content with the way I look and feel.

I touch lives and help people change the way they think and live their lives…

Meditate at least 2 times per week, exercise.

I have attracted, and still do, wonderful and supportive friends, loving and positive people that encourage and help me grow.

I work with people from around the world who are in need for a change. They need to change their lives in order to be happy and I help them do just that.

I am grateful for my life, for who I am and for how happy my life is.

I only focus on having positive and powerful thoughts, nothing else.

Be present in the NOW!

Because I am living life in an authentic way, people are drawn to me.

Travel around the world.

Embrace my inner child. Be playful.

Live life my own way. Stop chasing approval outside yourself.

I no longer care about other people’s approval. My approval is the only approval I need.

Make my own rules. 

Overcome the fear of dying.

Incorporate photography and personal development in your work.

Work on writing powerful and life changing books.

Change the way you think about age.

I am at peace with myself and the world around me.

I am not afraid to take risks. If I don’t take risks I will live a sedentary, unfulfilled life, feeling depressed and down… feeling unhappy and incomplete… “

and these are some of the things I wrote on my “dream notebooks”. The simple act of writing down my dreams has changed my whole life for the better.

It’s because of this simple thing that I am no longer the lost, scared and insecure girl I used to be but rather a happy, confident, fierce, strong, kind, generous and loving person.

I traveled in the last 2 years like I never traveled in my whole life (see pictures bellow). I made so many new and wonderful friends, people whom I love and adore and who encourage and support me in everything I do.

I used to be afraid of growing older and terrified of dying. Not anymore!

Now I know that age is just a number and because of that it no longer matters how old I am. In fact, I am excited to grow “older” because I know that as years will go by, my life will get better and better and I will grow wiser.

As far as death is concern… because I am living life fully, I am no longer afraid of dying. In fact, I love to talk about death just as much as I love to talk about life.

A lot of things have changed since then and the best part about this whole list is the fact that at that time I had no idea how was I going to incorporate photography and personal development in my work. The funny thing is that I ended up creating the PurposeFairy blog, this beautiful baby that I love so much, which is all about personal development and the photos I use are all photos taken by me.

And it doesn’t end here. While I was in Malaysia, I worked in Mindvalley as a Product Development Creative Lead, working with authors like Burt Goldman, Laura Silva, Mike Dooley, Lee Holden and many others on creating personal development products.

This year I was also a photographer at Awesomeness Fest, Bali, one of the most incredible and impactful personal growth & entrepreneurship events in the world and in November I will go to A-Fest Dominican Republic where I will be a photographer and a speaker.

How funny is that?

I am also working on my first book (it’s taking a bit longer that I expected) which will most likely be published by the biggest book publisher in the world.

So many wonderful things have happened to me in these last 4 years and it was all because in the fall of 2009, I decided to write down the things I wanted from life, and then take the necessary action steps to move myself in that direction.

I am not sharing all of these things to brag, but rather to inspire you to do the same.

I know that there is something very special in each and one of us and I know that stories have the power, and I hope my story will inspire you to to write your own list of dreams and goals, and to dare to make them all come true.

Space-age technology could help cut maternal deaths.

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A half-body suit that is strapped on to a woman’s legs and abdomen to slow post-natal bleeding is being used to save lives

Space-age technology, neoprene (the material used for wet suits) and Velcro have gone into an experimental garment that health experts hope can treat postpartum haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality.

MDG lifewraps and maternal health

A non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) – also called a “lifewrap” – is a half-body suit that is strapped on to a woman’s lower legs and abdomen to slow bleeding and prevent shock due to blood loss.

“It [the lifewrap] works in two ways: it compresses the blood vessels in the lower part of the body, reversing shock by giving back oxygen to the heart, lungs and brain, which are very oxygen-dependent tissues,” said Suellen Miller, director of the Safe Motherhood Programme/Bixby Centre for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

If it works as intended, pressure on the abdomen decreases the radius of the blood vessels and reduces overall bleeding.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), postpartum haemorrhage – the loss of 500-1,000ml or more of blood within 24 hours after birth – accounts for nearly a quarter of maternal deaths and is the leading cause of maternal mortality in most low-income countries.

“Maternal death tracks the inequity between countries. Death from postpartum bleeding is nearly unheard of in the developed world,” said Kate Gilmore, deputy executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

The lifewrap, which evolved from a suit researched and developed by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space programmes, was demonstrated to health experts at a maternal health conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Buying time

The lifewrap is not designed as a final solution to save women, but as a stabilising measure to buy time before transfer to a health facility for surgery or blood transfusion.

In developing countries most women in remote communities give birth at home, according to US-based reproductive research body the Guttmacher Institute. The proportion of births in health facilities varies widely globally, according to the institute, from half of deliveries in eastern and western Africa to 99% in east Asia.

In 2010, the institute recorded 284,000 women in developing countries dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications.

“A woman has maybe two hours [from the onset of bleeding] before she suffers from lack of oxygen to her vital tissues and bleeds to death. Delays are killers,” said Miller.

“Working in parts of the world where distance is the difference between life and death demands solutions that can begin in the community or in the home,” said Purnima Mane, president and CEO of Pathfinder International, a US non-profit family planning and reproductive health organisation.

Driving down costs

Clinical trials and studies on the lifewrap were conducted by the UCSF in Nigeria, Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe and India from 2004 to 2012. During that period, use of the lifewrap decreased maternal death by up to half.

Though cautious not to attribute the drop to these wraps alone, and recognising that multiple interventions may have been responsible for the decline, experts were encouraged by the correlation.

“Initial results from the testing of the garment are promising. We already have the [supporting] WHO policies. Now we want to encourage countries to review their maternal health protocols regarding postpartum haemorrhage and integrate the use of the lifewrap into their designed interventions,” said Amie Batson, Path chief strategy officer.

WHO guidelines on the management of postpartum haemorrhage call for timely medical intervention, which includes administering drugs like oxytocin and misoprostol during the third and final stage of labour. These drugs help contract the uterus, expedite delivery of the placenta and reduce blood loss.

In the event these drugs do not work, the WHO published guidelines in 2012 promoting uterine compression, and the use of NASGs specifically, as a temporary measure until appropriate care is available.

The lifewrap can be used up to 40 times and washed by hand with detergent after each use. From an original cost of $300 per garment, negotiations with manufacturers have driven down the cost to about $65.

Research and development of the wrap has been pursued jointly by theUNFPA, Pathfinder International, the UCSF, the US-based John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, and Path.

 

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk

30 years of HIV: where next?.

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Kuala Lumpur will host the 2013 International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting from June 30—July 3. This issue of The Lancet will be there too, with its content rich in the diverse diaspora that characterises global efforts to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure the disease that today affects 34 million people worldwide.

petronas

The emergence of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1996 heralded a new era in HIV treatment that continues to this day. The scale-up of ART in the past few years is testament to the extraordinary international public health response to the epidemic. In 2011, for the first time, more than half of people eligible for ART in low-income and middle-income countries were receiving it (54%): the glass is just over half full. But accessibility to ART is only the start of the so-called treatment cascade, where individuals with HIV and country programmes have to be prepared for the reality of first-line treatment failure and the commitment to switch therapy, and to adhere to it. An Article by Mark Boyd and colleagues offers a welcome new therapeutic option after first-line treatment failure.

HIV prevention efforts remain key, yet a vaccine remains frustratingly elusive, with the failure of the latest trial, HVTN-505, announced in April. However, a new scientific movement is emerging, illustrated by a 2 day symposium attached to IAS 2013 that will discuss new approaches in basic science under an arresting banner: towards an HIV cure. A Review by Rafick Sekaly outlines the molecular barriers that currently stand in the way of this goal, and sets out future strategies for ultimately conquering the virus, including the initiation of ART at higher CD4 cell counts, and gene therapy. But as Sharon Lewin rightly articulates in a Comment, expectations must not run away from reality. Although the ultimate goal must be a world free of HIV for all people, rich or poor, our efforts of the past three decades must be sustained to prevent and treat a disease for which a cure, tantalising though that sounds, almost certainly remains years away.

Source: Lancet

 

A cure for HIV: where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.

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2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of HIV.130 Years of HIV Science: Imagine the Future, a meeting at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, in May, 2013, sought to celebrate successes in countering the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to map out the challenges ahead.

The successes have been spectacular. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed what was once a death sentence into a chronic manageable disease. ART not only prolongs life, but dramatically reduces HIV transmission. ART is now available to 8 million people living with HIV in low-income and middle-income countries.2 In 2011, the numbers of new infections declined by 50% in 25 countries—many in Africa, which has the largest burden of disease.2 These advances are a result of transformative science, advocacy, political commitment, and effective partnerships with affected communities.

However, substantial challenges exist to maintain access to and funding for lifelong ART to the more than 34 million people with HIV. The costs of delivering ART are overwhelming many organisations and public health systems; we must continue to search for alternatives to lifelong treatment to benefit patients at manageable costs to health systems. With that aim, the International AIDS Society (IAS) global scientific strategy,3 Towards An HIV Cure, was launched in 2012.

Reports of both sterilising cure (elimination of all HIV-infected cells) and functional cure (long-term control of HIV replication after ART) have raised hope that a cure for HIV can be achieved—at least in a subset of individuals. The first and only reported case of sterilising cure was Timothy Brown, the Berlin patient, an HIV-infected man given a bone marrow transplant for acute myeloid leukaemia. The donor was naturally resistant to HIV because of a mutation in the CCR5 gene—a critical protein required by HIV to enter and infect cells.4 Brown stopped ART very soon after transplantation and he remains free of HIV after 6 years.

The Mississippi baby seems to be the first case of functional cure of an infant due to ART given 30 h after birth.5 After 18 months, ART was stopped and the infant continues to have undetectable HIV in blood or tissue. Deborah Persaud and colleagues, who studied the baby, don’t yet fully understand what cured the infant. Very early treatment might prevent formation of latent reservoirs for HIV, at least in an infant with an immature immune system. Careful follow up and further studies will be needed to see if this approach can be replicated in more infants, and then on a larger scale.

In the VISCONTI cohort,6 14 patients in France have maintained control of their HIV infection for a median of 7·5 years after ART interruption.6 These so-called post-treatment controllers were diagnosed and treated with ART during primary HIV infection (on average within 10 weeks after infection), for a median of 3 years before discontinuation. Patients in this cohort do not have the same distinct immunological profile seen in elite controllers, who naturally control HIV in the absence of ART.6 The VISCONTI study potentially shows the benefits of early ART on the size of the reservoir. Further studies of reservoir size in patients who initiate ART in chronic infection but with high CD4 counts are to be presented at IAS 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Hocqueloux, WEAB0102; Chéret, WEAB0101).

Bone marrow transplantation, from a donor without a mutation in CCR5, might substantially reduce or even eliminate the HIV reservoir. Two patients with lymphoma from Boston (MA, USA) were given chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and stem cell transplantation while on continuous ART. Several years after transplantation, HIV DNA had disappeared from both patients’ blood and tissues.7 An update on the Boston patients is anticipated at IAS 2013 (Henrich, WELBA05).

The other approach to tackle HIV persistence in patients taking ART is to lure HIV out of its hiding place in resting T cells. Activating latent virus might lead to death of the cell or make the virus ready for immune-mediated clearance. A range of licensed drugs that modify gene expression, including viral gene expression, are in clinical trials in HIV-infected patients on ART. Two studies8, 9 have reported that HIV latency can be activated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat.

There are now 15 HIV-cure-related trials being done worldwide.3 Clinical trials include investigations of increasingly potent histone deacetylase inhibitors, and of gene therapy to eliminate the CCR5 receptor from patient-derived cells.

HIV-cure-related trials raise many complex issues. Giving potentially toxic interventions to patients doing very well on ART needs careful assessment. At this early phase of research, participants will be unlikely to derive any direct benefits. Understanding risk—benefit, ethical issues, and the expectations and perspectives of the community will all be discussed and debated at IAS 2013 and the preceding IAS workshop, Towards an HIV Cure.

Developments towards a cure for HIV are exciting—for scientists, for clinicians, and most importantly, for patients. But we need to be realistic. Finding a cure will be a long and tough road, and will take many more years to achieve. We are at the very beginning, although many now believe that it might be possible to find a cure, at least for a small proportion of infected people.

We need to take inspiration from the many people who have delivered so much in the past 30 years, and continue to imagine, continue to innovate, and continue to work together towards an HIV cure—for everyone.

Source: Lancet