High prevalence of blood-borne virus infections and high-risk behaviour among injecting drug users in Tallinn, Estonia

The HIV epidemic in Estonia is rapidly expanding, and injection drug users (IDUs) are the major risk group contributing to the expansion. A convenience sample of 159 IDUs visiting syringe-exchange programmes (SEPs) was selected to quantify the association of HIV-risk behaviours and blood-borne infections. A high prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B core antibody (HBVcore), hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) and hepatitis C virus antibodies (56, 85.1, 21.3, and 96.2%, respectively) was associated with high-risk injections, unsafe sexual behaviour and alcohol abuse. These findings emphasize the importance of evidence-based secondary prevention among the HIV-infected, especially given the uncertain sustainability of antiretroviral and substance abuse treatments.     

Challenges in converting an interviewer-administered food probe database to self-administration in the National Cancer Institute automated self-administered 24-hour recall (ASA24)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing an automated, self-administered 24-hour dietary recall (ASA24) application to collect and code dietary intake data. The goal of the ASA24 development is to create a web-based dietary interview based on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Automated Multiple Pass Method (AMPM) instrument currently used in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The ASA24 food list, detail probes, and portion probes were drawn from the AMPM instrument; portion-size pictures from Baylor College of Medicine's Food Intake Recording Software System (FIRSSt) were added; and the food code/portion code assignments were linked to the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS). The requirements that the interview be self-administered and fully auto-coded presented several challenges as the AMPM probes and responses were linked with the FNDDS food codes and portion pictures. This linking was accomplished through a “food pathway,” or the sequence of steps that leads from a respondent's initial food selection, through the AMPM probes and portion pictures, to the point at which a food code and gram weight portion size are assigned. The ASA24 interview database that accomplishes this contains more than 1100 food probes and more than 2 million food pathways and will include about 10,000 pictures of individual foods depicting up to 8 portion sizes per food. The ASA24 will make the administration of multiple days of recalls in large-scale studies economical and feasible.     

Prevalence of hepatitis B,hepatitis C,syphilis and HIV in Georgian blood donors

Prevalence of human immunodeficiency (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) virus and syphilis in the population of blood donors in Georgia has been investigated. Out of 4970 donors 7.3% had anti-HCV (6.9% confirmed), HbsAg was positive in 4.1% (3.4% confirmed), Seroprevalence of Syphilis was 2.3%. Three individuals had HIV. Prevalence of HCV and HBV in Georgia is higher than national prevalence estimates of viral hepatitis in neighboring countries.     

Assessment of the strength of individual 192Ir seeds in ribbons

Assessing the strength of individual seed-type sources in ribbon assembles remains a challenge in brachytherapy quality assurance. Geometries to measure a single source in the ribbon usually fail because of low signals if using very thick shielding to block the radiation from the other sources, or contributions from all the other sources if they are not shielded well. A normal well-type chamber with partial lead shielding forming a small slot provides a differential response along the chamber axis that, through a deconvolution/simultaneous-equations technique, sorts the contributions from each source, allowing the derivation of each source's strength.     

Approaches to screening for intimate partner violence in health care settings: a randomized trial

Context  Screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) in health care settings has been recommended by some professional organizations, although there is limited information regarding the accuracy, acceptability, and completeness of different screening methods and instruments. Objective  To determine the optimal method for IPV screening in health care settings. Design and Setting  Cluster randomized trial conducted from May 2004 to January 2005 at 2 each of emergency departments, family practices, and women's health clinics in Ontario, Canada. Participants  English-speaking women aged 18 to 64 years who were well enough to participate and could be seen individually were eligible. Of 2602 eligible women, 141 (5%) refused participation. Intervention  Participants were randomized by clinic day or shift to 1 of 3 screening approaches: a face-to-face interview with a health care provider (physician or nurse), written self-completed questionnaire, and computer-based self-completed questionnaire. Two screening instruments—the Partner Violence Screen (PVS) and the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST)—were administered and compared with the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) as the criterion standard. Main Outcome Measures  The approaches were evaluated on prevalence, extent of missing data, and participant preference. Agreement between the screening instruments and the CAS was examined. Results  The 12-month prevalence of IPV ranged from 4.1% to 17.7%, depending on screening method, instrument, and health care setting. Although no statistically significant main effects on prevalence were found for method or screening instrument, a significant interaction between method and instrument was found: prevalence was lower on the written WAST vs other combinations. The face-to-face approach was least preferred by participants. The WAST and the written format yielded significantly less missing data than the PVS and other methods. The PVS and WAST had similar sensitivities (49.2% and 47.0%, respectively) and specificities (93.7% and 95.6%, respectively). Conclusions  In screening for IPV, women preferred self-completed approaches over face-to-face questioning; computer-based screening did not increase prevalence; and written screens had fewest missing data. These are important considerations for both clinical and research efforts in IPV screening. Trial Registration  clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00336297