I've looked for a high resolution image of the red HIV AIDS ribbon for more years than I'll admit here. Finally finding one, I knew I needed to share so others can use it. The image below is what you get!
Here's technical info on the image:
Image consists of red ribbon with a light shadow effect
File size is 129 KB
PNG format perfect for printing and web use
200 DPI resolution
Dimensions are 696 x 1200 pixels
Print size is 3.48 x 6.0 inches
Transparent Background
What I do ask is that you DO NOT Link to this Image on my Website. Please save the image to your computer or server by "right clicking" with your mouse, then "Save Picture As". Other options include "Emailing Picture", "Print Picture", or "Set as Background" which sets this AIDS Ribbon image as your computer monitor's desktop background. Do understand that my server's software will know and prevent you from linking directly to this image on my server.
Since I have your attention, please consider signing up for the World Community Grid, and the FightAIDS@Home Project. World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity. Their work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. Their success depends on individuals - like you and I - collectively contributing our unused computer time to this not-for-profit endeavor. Being a part of the World Community Grid is simple... the software is free and very secure, and it will not affect how you use your computer. For those of us with newer computers and high speed internet connections, it's an easy decision and a wonderful way to help scientists and researchers on projects like Discovering Denque Drugs - Together, FightAIDS@Home, Help Conquer Cancer, Human Proteome Folding 2, and Nutritious Rice for the World.
Their work has developed the technical infrastructure that serves as the grid's foundation for scientific research. Their success depends upon individuals collectively contributing their unused computer time to change the world for the better.
World Community Grid is making technology available only to public and not-for-profit organizations to use in humanitarian research that might otherwise not be completed due to the high cost of the computer infrastructure required in the absence of a public grid. As part of their commitment to advancing human welfare, all results will be in the public domain and made public to the global research community.
IBM Corporation, a leader in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, has donated the hardware, software, technical services and expertise to build the infrastructure for World Community Grid and provides free hosting, maintenance and support.
Computer system requirements for running the World Community Grid, and FightAIDS@Home are:
Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT 4.0, Me, or 98
256 MB memory (RAM) minimum
Pentium 550 MHz processor or above
600 MB hard disk drive with at least 50 MB of free disk space
Ability to display 8-bit graphics at 800x600 resolution
Internet connection with a minimum 40 kbps connection speed
Mac OS/X
250 MB memory (RAM) minimum with virtual memory enabled
600 MB hard disk drive with at least 50 MB of free disk space
Intel or PowerPC processor
Ability to display 8-bit graphics at 800x600 resolution
Internet connection with a minimum 40 kbps connection speed
Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! When idle, your computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid's server. It will then perform computations on this data, send the results back to the server, and ask the server for a new piece of work. Each computation that your computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of research!
The World Community Grid provides the secure software that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. No other action must be taken; it's that simple! To learn more and to join, please follow the link below.
Once you've signed up, please consider joining the Salem Oregon USA team. Home of the Cherry Festival, the Marionberry, and lots of winter rain. Peace, love and compassion from the heart of the Willamette Valley... Salem, Oregon, USA.
HIV 101
HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
Human refers to you and I.
Immunodeficiency refers to the way HIV reduces the body’s ability to fight other diseases.
Virus refers to the type of organism... a retrovirus. The HIV virus does only one thing, and one thing very well... it makes copies of itself. It doesn't split in two or make baby viruses. It uses the human body as its raw material. In a way, a virus is nothing more than a packaged set of instructions. When this package gets inside a human cell, it takes over the cell’s normal function and turns it into a virus producing factory.
You can’t smell it, taste it, hear it, or even see it. BUT it lives inside the bodies of close to 40 million people worldwide and responsible for the deaths of so many others. It’s the biggest epidemic in human history. It’s HIV, and it doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from. HIV knows no geographical boundaries, no color of skin, nor the wealth or poverty of its host.
HIV is a uniquely sneaky and destructive retrovirus because the cells it targets are the very cells that usually defend the body against viruses.
The answer against this sneak attack?
In the long term, for those already infected, it would be a cure — something to completely disarm the virus and clear it from the body once and for all. For those who are uninfected, it would be a vaccine that would get the immune system to recognize the invaders before they started taking over. While researchers are working toward both a cure and a vaccine, no one knows when, or even if, they will find either.
In the short term, what we have are drugs that do a great job at keeping HIV from making copies of itself — and eventually destroying the immune system. Unfortunately, the drugs don’t keep working forever.
Without treatment, HIV infection generally leads to a gradual decline in the ability to fight other diseases. This decline can be charted by measuring the number of CD4 cells you have. A normal count in a healthy, HIV-negative adult can vary but is usually between 500 and 1500. In very young children the normal CD4 cell count is much higher.
How long this takes varies enormously from person to person; it averages 10 years or so, although one in 100 remains fit 20 years after infection (and scientists are very interested in finding out why).
If the CD4 count falls below 200, all sorts of infections and illnesses can manifest themselves. (HIV doesn’t cause many symptoms in itself; it weakens the immune system and that lets other illnesses in to do the job themselves.) A group of illnesses that point to an underlying cause is called a syndrome. And that’s what AIDS is - Acquired (meaning you can catch it) Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
