Up to now, a big drawback to using human antibodies has been their high cost and low scale, which is why Briggs' rice plants are so appealing. Briggs hopes that plantibodies can be commercially harvested from rice fields, subject to FDA approval, of course. Despite the sci-fi feel to these approaches, the conference also highlighted how little we know about basic female and male reproductive biology. Only with this information can scientists assess which microbicides are safe for human trials. In women, estrogen levels fluctuate during the menstrual cycle, affecting the thickness or thinness of the vaginal wall, which is made up of various layers of cells.
Less estrogen means a thinner wall.
Some African studies suggest that circumcision decreases the risk of exposure to HIV, while studies in Europe and the United states have provided no clear answers so far. Although anal sex is practiced by heterosexuals and often serves as an alternative means of birth control, it carries the moral and social stigma that is still attached to homosexuality around the world. He also says there is a need to debunk several myths about the public demand for rectal microbicides. What's more, a subset of women were nine times more likely to reveal this information to a computer than face to face to a live person. That comes as no surprise to Bethany Young Holt, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Family and Community Health.