The HIV medication tenofovir has been linked to kidney damage. Sold under the brand name Viread, tenofovir is one of the three drugs in the daily combo pill Atripla, one of the most-prescribed in the anti-HIV arsenal.

Patients who take one of the most widely prescribed drugs to treat HIV infection increase their risk of kidney damage by up to 34 percent every year they take the medication, according to a study of more than 10,000 HIV-positive veterans.

You’re willing to sacrifice a little bit of long-term kidney damage when it’s keeping you alive in the short-term.

Stated Dr. Michael Shlipak chief of general internal medicine at the VA medical center and an author of the study. “But as HIV becomes a longer and longer chronic disease, people may be on these drugs for 20 years, and that risk is really going to add up.

Viread is also part of the two-med daily combo pill Truvada, which some are petitioning the FDA to approve as a daily HIV preventive. The controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation has loudly protested using existing HIV medications as a pre-exposure preventive, citing fears that have apparently been proven by the above-linked study.

I find this story a little disheartening. I realize that HIV is no longer the death sentence that it once was. We’ve come along way and still have a long way to go until we have a cure, that said it’s sad to see one of the effective drugs in the treatment of HIV is probably doing more harm than good.

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Sadly, Whitney Houston’s cause of death, as rumored, was the combination of prescription drugs and alcohol that killed Whitney Houston. So says Radar Online.

Whitney Houston had a deadly mixture of Valium, Xanax and alcohol in her system when she tragically died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel almost two weeks ago, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting. As previously reported, Valium and Xanax were recovered from the pop icon’s hotel room following her death. “The coroner will be closely examining Whitney’s blood alcohol content at the time she died as well. The sedatives and alcohol will almost certainly be the cause of death, and not drowning. Her heart stopped beating because her respiratory system was suppressed because of the anti-anxiety meds, and combined with the booze it probably happened very quickly before she was found partially submerged in the bathtub.”

It’s still so sad. It seems like it wasn’t too long ago that we were talking about her come back. I remember talking about it and even posted a video she did for the song “I look to you” and it became one of my favorites.

Listen for yourself.

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Good Morning World,

So last night I was looking at some of the stats for this here website thingy when I was reminded (not like I forgot but ya know) that we have readers from all over the world. I mean how fucking cool is that? I know I always sound like I’m talking to just the Americans or just the folks who live on the east coast like I do, but I really want you to know that I love and appreciate all of you.

To give you guys an idea of just some of the places here is a SMALL list of some of our most recent visitors. Turkey, France, UK, China, Sinapore, Philippines, Germany, Poland, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Mexico, Peru, Croatia and I’ll stop with Brazil.

That’s just a small list, trust me there are soo many more. Again, I just want to thank all of you around the world for spending time here with me. I love and appreciate all of you!

So here an idea…let’s do a roll call. In the comments below tell us where you are reading from…I hope you guys will do this, I think it will be fun!