Prevalence of HIV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections,and related preventive and risk behaviours,among gay,bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Montreal,Toronto and Vancouver: results from the Engage Study

ObjectivesThe last Canadian biobehavioural surveillance study of HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM) was conducted in 2010. We designed a study to measure STBBI prevalence among GBM in metropolitan Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and to document related preventive and risk behaviours.MethodsThe Engage Cohort Study used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to recruit GBM who reported sex with another man in the past 6 months. At baseline, we examined recruitment characteristics of the samples, and the RDS-II-adjusted distributions of socio-demographics, laboratory-confirmed HIV and other STBBI prevalence, and related behaviours, with a focus on univariate differences among cities.ResultsA total of 2449 GBM were recruited from February 2017 to August 2019. HIV prevalence was lower in Montreal (14.2%) than in Toronto (22.2%) or Vancouver (20.4%). History of syphilis infection was similar across cities (14–16%). Vancouver had more HIV-negative/unknown participants who reported never being HIV tested (18.6%) than Toronto (12.9%) or Montreal (11.5%). Both Montreal (74.9%) and Vancouver (78.8%) had higher proportions of men who tested for another STBBI in the past 6 months than Toronto (67.4%). Vancouver had a higher proportion of men who used pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the past 6 months (18.9%) than Toronto (11.1%) or Montreal (9.6%).ConclusionThe three largest cities of Canada differed in HIV prevalence, STBBI testing and PrEP use among GBM. Our findings also suggest the need for scale-up of both PrEP and STI testing among GBM in Canada.     

Multicentre international liver tumour study protocol of the case-control study on hepatocellular cancer

Toxicological evidence has recently shown that cyproterone acetate (CPA) is associated with increased adduct formation in liver cell cultures that was interpreted as a possible sign for genotoxicity. Likewise, a few spontaneous reports of liver cancer associated to CPA were published. This led to an alert announced by the German Drug Regulators. One reason to design a case-control study on hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and oral contraceptives (OC's) use (and specific subtypes such as CPA-containing ones) was that other clinical or pharmacoepidemiological studies were not available which dealt with this suspicion. This idea got support from the fact that most of the earlier case-control studies on HCC and OC were small, did not sufficiently control for confounding by: hepatitis B and C, exposure at work, use of other potentially hepatotoxic drugs and also did not distinguish between different types of OC's. Objectives, hypotheses, methods used and subjects studied are described in this paper. The study began in six countries (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Greece) on 1 July 1994. It will be finished by the end of June 1996, and first results can be expected by the end of 1996 or early 1997.     

PSA screening for prostate cancer: The current controversy - a viewpoint

Prostate cancer is an important health problem. Randomized trialshave not yet proven whether or not screening with prostate-specificantigen measurements reduces morbidity or mortality. The potentialfor overtreatment of prostate cancers not destined to causefuture mortality, the uncertainty about the benefits of aggressivetreatment of screen-detected cancers, and the relatively highcosts of prostate cancer screening programs are all areas ofconcern. A shared approach to decisions about screening individualpatients pending better evidence is one strategy for cliniciansto consider in dealing with this controversial problem. mass screening, prostatic neoplasia, prostate-specific antigen     

900MHz微波电磁辐射对原代培养的大鼠脑皮质神经元能量代谢的影响

目的　研究 90 0MHz微波电磁辐射对原代培养的大鼠脑皮质神经元能量代谢的影响。方法　将大鼠脑皮质神经元暴露于 90 0MHz的连续性微波电磁辐射 (SAR =3 2 2mW g、PD =9mW cm2 ) ,每天暴露 2h ,连续 4d或 5d ,及一次性 1 2h暴露 ,以细胞色素氧化酶为观察指标 ,研究微波对神经元能量代谢的影响。结果　微波电磁辐射可使神经元细胞色素氧化酶活性降低。结论　神经元细胞色素氧化酶活性的改变并非“致热效应”所致 ;微波电磁辐射对神经元细胞色素氧化酶活性影响有蓄积毒性作用 ,其影响在一定程度上是可恢复的 ,并且与神经元接受微波辐射时细胞培养年龄关系不密切。     

子宫实验和E-SCREEN实验在检测雌激素活性中的相关性

目的　以 1 7β 雌二醇 (1 7β E2 )和四种植物提取物为受试物 ,研究子宫实验和E SCREEN实验在检测雌激素活性中的相关性。方法　断乳雌性小鼠 (1 0～ 1 2g)按体重分为 6组 ,分别给予小茴香、山豆根、补骨脂和川牛膝提取物 (1 0g kgBW ,ig)、1 7β E2 (0 5mg kgBW ,sc)和蒸馏水 (ig) ,持续 9天后处死动物剥离子宫称重。分别在人类乳腺癌MCF 7细胞培养液中加入四种植物提取物 (终浓度 1 0mg L)和 1 7β E2 (终浓度0 3μmol L) ,计算各组细胞在 1 2 0h内的平均群体倍增时间 ,分析小鼠子宫重量与细胞群体倍增时间的相关性。结果　 4种植物提取物均可使小鼠子宫重量增加 (P <0 0 5或P <0 0 1 ) ,细胞群体倍增时间缩短。子宫重量与群体倍增时间呈显著负相关 (r=- 0 96 7,P <0 0 1 )。结论　子宫实验和E SCREEN实验结果在检测雌激素活性物质时具有一致性     

艾滋病同伴教育在武警新兵中的运用

目的　调查艾滋病同伴教育在武警新兵中的效果。方法　华北地区武警部队训练基地新入伍的41 7名新兵 ,全部为男性 ,年龄在 1 7～ 2 3岁 ,5 8 5 %的人具有高中和中专学历 ,5 9 3 %的人来自农村 ,他们被分成 2组 ,A组采用单纯同伴教育方法 ,同伴教育者为班长 ;B组既采用同伴教育法又发放教育资料 ,同伴教育者为 1名班长和 1名新兵。同伴教育者经过严格挑选和培训 ,教育前后分别对新兵进行问卷调查。结果　教育后两组的艾滋病知识率教育有显著提高 ,对艾滋病的态度 ,教育后B组有明显提高 ,不同教育方法前后AIDS/HIV的知信行得分不同。共中A组知识、态度、行为得分分别为 1 0 2± 0 0 9、 1 0 0± 0 1 0、 1 0 0± 0 1 1 ;B组知识、态度、行为得分分别为 :1 0 7± 0 0 8、 1 0 5± 0 1 0、 1 0 5± 0 0 7(两组有显著差异 ,P <0 0 1 )。结论　艾滋病同伴教育对武警新兵了解艾滋病是有效的 ,再加以发放健康教育资料及播放VCD ,效果更佳。