Rough Waters: Life at Sea in the 19th Century

This talk consists of two parts - first part deals with what Jeffrey Bolster called “The Changing Nature of Maritime Insurrection”- and I will tie that into some research that I did on a New York clipper ship called the Contest. The second part of the talk will look at the rise of seafarer’s missions and that will tie Roald Kverndal’s magnum opus Seamen’s Missions: Their Origin and Early Growth into some research that I did on the earliest work done in New York among seafarers that pre-dated the American Seamen’s Friend Society.

The Perceived AIDS Preventative Utility of Knowing One's Partner Well

The public health advice to "either know your partner well, or use condoms" may have led to higher levels of risky sexual behaviour between well-acquainted individuals whose HIV status is unknown. This study assessed the extent to which college students believe that knowing their partner well eliminates the need to practice safer sex, and measured the relationship between such beliefs and the performance of necessary safer sexual practices, such as using condoms during sexual intercourse. Endorsement of beliefs that partner knowledge made safer sex unnecessary was common, and agreement with these beliefs correlated significantly and negatively with levels of AIDS preventive behaviours and behavioural intentions, especially among women. In conclusion, the public health dictum to "know your partner" has been widely internalized, and may be contributing to risky sexual behaviour. Consideration should be given to rejecting explicitly the "know your partner" advice, and to re-educating the public regarding the necessity of consistently practising safer sex with any individual whose HIV status is unknown.

Secondary Prevention of HIV Infection: The Current State of Prevention for Positives

There remains much to be done to understand why, when, and under what conditions PLWH practice risk. substantial work also needs to be performed to design, implement, rigorously evaluate, and when effective, to disseminate widely, additional, evidencebased PfP interventions targeting diverse populations. Directing such interventions to populations of PLWH at greatest risk for transmission of HIV has the potential to yield significant impact on the pandemic.