A new approach to prevent HIV transmission: Project Protect intervention for recently infected individuals

Past research suggests that as many as 50% of onward human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmissions occur during acute and recent HIV infection. It is clearly important to develop interventions which focus on this highly infectious stage of HIV infection to prevent further transmission in the risk networks of acutely and recently infected individuals. Project Protect tries to find recently and acutely infected individuals and prevents HIV transmission in their risk networks. Participants are recruited by community health outreach workers at community-based HIV testing sites and drug users' community venues, by coupon referrals and through referrals from AIDS clinics. When a network with acute/recent infection is identified, network members are interviewed about their risky behaviors, network information is collected, and blood is drawn for HIV testing. Participants are also educated and given prevention materials (condoms, syringes, educational materials); HIV-infected participants are referred to AIDS clinics and are assisted with access to care. Community alerts about elevated risk of HIV transmission are distributed within the risk networks of recently infected. Overall, 342 people were recruited to the project and screened for acute/recent HIV infection. Only six index cases of recent infection (2.3% of all people screened) were found through primary screening at voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) sites, but six cases of recent infection were found through contact tracing of these recently infected participants (7% of network members who came to the interview). Combining screening at VCT sites and contact tracing the number of recently infected people we located as compared to VCT screening alone. No adverse events were encountered. These first results provide evidence for the theory behind the intervention, i.e., in the risk networks of recently infected people there are other people with recent HIV infection and they can be successfully located without increasing stigma for project participants.     

Skin closure with 2-octyl cyanoacrylate and polyester mesh after primary total knee arthroplasty offers superior cosmetic outcomes and patient satisfaction compared to staples: a prospective trial

European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology - The goals of this study were to compare patient satisfaction and wound-related complications in patients receiving 2-octyl cyanoacrylate...     

不同健康状况的中老年人社会资本量表的信度及效度评价

目的 评价中老年人社会资本量表的信效度，探索其在不同健康状况的中老年人群间的区分度。方法 针对已编制的中老年人社会资本量表，采用多阶段分层随机抽样方法，在四川省成都市及泸州市共抽取1 367名50岁及以上中老年居民进行问卷调查。运用Cronbach’s α系数、Pearson相关系数、t检验、探索性因子分析等方法评价量表的信度和效度。结果 1 367名中老年调查对象的社会资本量表总Cronbach’s α系数为0.67，各维度条目与总分的相关系数在0.30～0.79之间，具有良好的信度；探索性因子分析表明，14个条目提取出5个特征根大于1的因子，累积方差贡献率为68.84%；现患慢性疾病的中老年病例组人群的个人社会资本得分、家庭社会资本得分、社团社会资本得分、社区社会资本得分及社会资本总得分均低于未患病的对照人群组，宏观社会资本得分高于对照人群组，且差异均有统计学意义 (均 P＜0.01)，提示该量表具有较好的区分度。结论 中老年人社会资本量表具有较好的信度和效度，且对不同健康状况的50岁及以上中老年人中有较好的区分度。     

Chest wall pain following lung stereotactic body radiation therapy using 48 Gy in three fractions: A search for predictors

Purpose

Chest wall pain is an uncommon but bothersome late complication following lung stereotactic body radiation therapy. Despite numerous studies investigating predictors of chest wall pain, no clear consensus has been established for a chest wall constraint. The aim of our study was to investigate factors related to chest wall pain in a homogeneous group of patients treated at our institution.

半夏白术天麻汤治疗眩晕高血压病举隅

高血压病是我国发病率较高的疾病之一,西医治疗以长期服用降压药物为主要治疗方式,但常因依从性差的原因导致血压控制不佳,而用中医辨证治疗对于首次发现高血压的患者,可明显有效地降低高血压的发病率。高血压病在中医学中属"眩晕",在临床中常常会用半夏白术天麻汤来治疗眩晕,本文通过跟师医案及临床收集介绍半夏白术天麻汤治疗高血压眩晕临证方药的运用。