OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and toxicity of once-daily administration of Advantage-24 (Columbia Research Laboratories, Inc., Rockville Centre, NY), a vaginal gel containing 52.5 mg of nonoxynol-9 (N-9), including the effects of this gel on the vaginal and cervical epithelium. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover trial, with a 2-week product application peri...

against STDs, they are not always used consistently and correctly and are a male-controlled method. The polyurethane female condom shows promise for STD protection as well as contraception, but its use still depends on male cooperation and acceptance. Because of women’s special biological susceptibility to sexually transmitted infection, their often disadvantaged position in gender relations an...

BACKGROUND Each year more than two million people are newly infected with HIV worldwide, a majority of them through unprotected vaginal sex. More than half of new infections in adults occur in women. Male condoms and male circumcision reduce the risk of HIV acquisition; but the uptake of these methods is out of the control of women. We therefore aimed to determine the effectiveness of vaginal m...

OBJECTIVES To measure the associations between use of nonoxynol-9 (N-9) and incidence of genital ulcers, and incident ulcers and HIV seroconversion. METHODS In a study of barrier contraceptive use and HIV infection, 273 female sex workers used condoms and 100 mg N-9 suppositories, and recorded sexual activity on coital logs. Genital ulcers were diagnosed clinically at monthly clinic visits. H...

Crude decoction of Chenopodium album seed showed spermicidal effect at MIC 2 mg/ml in earlier studies. Systematic isolation, characterization and evaluation revealed that the major metabolite Desgalactotigonin (DGT) is the most effective principle in both in vitro and in vivo studies. The in vitro studies comprises (a) rat and human sperm motility and immobilizing activity by Sander-Cramer assa...