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Recent studies have suggested that circumcision can substantially reduce a man's chances of being infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That's apparently because the foreskin, which is cut off in circumcision, contains certain cells that the virus uses as a gateway into the body.

But before public health officials start wielding the scalped in large parts of AIDS-infected Africa, they should reconsider the science of those studies, warns a New York-based researcher and author.

John Talbott has completed his own study showing that prostitution levels - not rates of circumcision - are largely responsible for the spread of the disease.

Prostitute communities tend to be highly infected with HIV and act as an "engine" that drives up infection rates, he said in an interview.

For his research, Mr. Talbott relied upon a recent United Nations report that estimated prostitution levels in 77 countries. He matched those figures to national AIDS infection rates.

"More Muslim countries of North Africa do indeed suffer much less AIDS than southern and western Africa, but the lower prevalence is not due to higher numbers of circumcised males in these Muslim communities, but rather from the fact there are significantly fewer prostitutes in northern Africa on a per capita basis," he argues.

"Some southern African countries have as many as 7 per cent of their adult females infected and working as prostitutes, while in the developed world typically the percentage of infected prostitutes is less than 0.1 per cent," according to his study, published in the online journal Public Library of Science.

He says public health officials should focus their attention on the issue of infected prostitutes, rather than efforts to circumcise more men.

Of course, AIDS would be much less of a problem if people adhered to safe-sex practices, such as the use of condoms. Unfortunately, a lot of men won't use them.LINKING DEPRESSION & BONES

Two new studies have linked the use of antidepressant medications with thinning bones in both men and women, a condition that could predispose them to osteoporosis.

The separate research teams - one focusing on women, the other on men - looked at bone-density levels in patients being treated with a class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.

The results, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, revealed that older men and women on SSRIs, such as Prozac, had slightly lower bone density than those not taking these medications.

SSRIs work by affecting levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger, in the brain. Recent studies suggest serotonin might also play a role in regulating bone health, explained one of the researchers, Elizabeth Haney of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

But the researchers caution that their results are preliminary. It's possible that depressed patients have weaker bones simply because they tend to exercise less than other people, noted Susan Diem of the University of Minnesota.

"Depression is an important and serious condition ... and SSRIs might be the most effective treatment" for some patients, Dr. Haney said. So "calcium and vitamin D supplementation might be warranted" to safeguard their bones.

HEART-HEALTHY NUTS

Pistachio nuts are tasty and apparently good for you, too.

Eating about 1½ to three ounces - one or two handfuls of the nuts - a day for a month can reduce blood levels of "bad" low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL, by up to 11.6 per cent. according to a study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University.

Pistachios are a rich source of the antioxidant lutein, normally found in dark leafy vegetables, as well as beta carotene and vitamin E, said Sarah Gebauer, the graduate student who conducted the research, presented at a conference on experimental biology in Washington.

She suggests substituting pistachios for other foods such as "unhealthy" snacks. "If people simply add nuts to everything they are already eating, caloric intake will increase, which can lead to weight gain."

WEB HELP FOR OLDER WOMEN

A new website is stepping up to help older women and their doctors find answers to common health problems. The idea for the site was sparked by a survey that sought out the top health concerns of 5,000 older Canadian women.

The survey, known as WOW or What Older Women Want, revealed that some very basic issues were not being adequately addressed by health-care providers.

"Women were very satisfied with the care they were receiving to treat their blood pressure and prevent heart attacks and stroke, but emphasized gaps in care surrounding more 'taboo' issues such as discussing urine [incontinence] or memory loss," said Cara Tannenbaum at the Institut universitaire de gériatre de Montréal.

The website, financed by the Canadian Institute for Health Research, can be found at Wowhealth.ca