PECAM-1 and leukosialin (CD43) expression correlate with heightened inflammation in rat adjuvant-induced arthritis.

A hallmark of both adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) and rheumatoid arthritis is chronic joint inflammation characterized by ingress of leukocytes into the inflamed synovial tissue. The timing of expression of adhesion molecules, which govern the ingress of leukocytes, is important in the orchestration of an inflammatory response. We examined the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), sialo adhesin, platelet and endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1), and leukosialin (CD43) in AIA, starting at adjuvant injection (day 0), through the peak of inflammation (day 18 postadjuvant injection), until day 54. VCAM-1 is constitutively expressed on the lining layer and ECs and its expression levels do not change throughout the progression of AIA. Sialoadhesin synovial tissue lining cell expression is decreased after adjuvant injection. In contrast, PECAM-1 expression is increased on synovial tissue lining cells on day 7 and is elevated through day 54 (peaking on day 54 with six-fold more cells expressing PECAM-1). PECAM-1 expression on endothelial cells peaks on day 7 with three-fold more cells expressing it, while on macrophages expression maximizes on day 25 with six-fold more cells expressing PECAM-1. CD43 expression is increased on synovial tissue lining cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes on days 18 and 25, before going back to basal levels. The increased expression of PECAM-1 and CD43 on leukocytes at the height of inflammation in AIA suggests important roles for these adhesion molecules in potentially binding their EC ligands resulting in leukocyte ingress into the synovial tissue.     

“Finding a Space for Me Outside the Stereotypes”: Community Engagement in Policy and Research to Foster Canadian Racialised Immigrant Women’s Mental Health and Well-Being

Racialised immigrant women face many challenges with resettlement with potential impacts on their mental health and well-being. Recent community-based research (CBR) and associated knowledge translation/exchange (KTE) activities with racialised immigrant women in Toronto, Canada, suggest that activism can promote their mental health and well-being. In this paper, the researchers describe community engagement processes in the CBR that included a stakeholder Think Tank with communities, researchers and service providers in settlement and mental health sectors to create an action plan based on the research. Using a feminist post-colonial lens to analyse the Think Tank data yielded research, policy and program strategies aligned with principles such as building on individuals’ and communities’ strengths and foregrounding gender and racialisation in strategies that can enhance racialised immigrant women’s capacities to take action and overcome barriers. Research, policy and program implications for comprehensive strategies that support health equity, thereby promoting their mental health and well-being, are considered.     

Whole Genome Analysis of Human Rotaviruses Reveals Single Gene Reassortant Rotavirus Strains in Zambia

Rotarix^® vaccine was implemented nationwide in Zambia in 2013. In this study, four unusual strains collected in the post-vaccine period were subjected to whole genome sequencing and analysis. The four strains possessed atypical genotype constellations, with at least one reassortant genome segment within the constellation. One of the strains (UFS-NGS-MRC-DPRU4749) was genetically and phylogenetically distinct in the VP4 and VP1 gene segments. Pairwise analyses demonstrated several amino acid disparities in the VP4 antigenic sites of this strain compared to that of Rotarix^®. Although the impact of these amino acid disparities remains to be determined, this study adds to our understanding of the whole genomes of reassortant strains circulating in Zambia following Rotarix^® vaccine introduction.     

Violence Against Women in Selected Areas of the United States

Objectives. We determined the prevalence of recent emotional, physical, and sexual violence against women and their associations with HIV-related risk factors in women living in the United States.Methods. We performed an assessment of women ages 18 to 44 years with a history of unprotected sex and 1 or more personal or partner HIV risk factors in the past 6 months from 2009 to 2010. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the association of experiencing violence.Results. Among 2099 women, the prevalence of emotional abuse, physical violence, and sexual violence in the previous 6 months was 31%, 19%, and 7%, respectively. Nonmarried status, food insecurity, childhood abuse, depression symptomology, and posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly associated with multiple types of violence. All types of violence were associated with at least 3 different partner or personal HIV risk behaviors, including unprotected anal sex, previous sexually transmitted infection diagnosis, sex work, or partner substance abuse.Conclusions. Our data suggested that personal and partner HIV risk behaviors, mental illness, and specific forms of violence frequently co-occurred in the lives of impoverished women. We shed light on factors purported to contribute to a syndemic in this population. HIV prevention programs in similar populations should address these co-occurring issues in a comprehensive manner.Violence against women is increasingly recognized as a critical national public health concern in the United States, as evidenced by the recent signing of the Violence Against Women Act by President Obama.1 Based on nationally representative samples, it is estimated that in their lifetime, nearly 1 in 3 US women has survived physical violence, and 1 in 10 has survived rape.2 Women who experience emotional, physical, and sexual violence not only experience the injury of the initial trauma, but also have higher rates of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, re-victimization, and high-risk sexual behaviors.3–7There is strong evidence that supports the relationship between experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV risk, as well as acquiring HIV.8–20 In the United States, the relationship between IPV, especially sexual violence, and HIV came to light almost 20 years ago.5 Several studies6,10,17,18,20,21 during the past decade reported high co-occurring rates of violence, HIV risk, mental illness, and substance use in the United States among incarcerated women,22 female substance users,19 women in shelters,23,24 women living in impoverished areas,25–28 and women engaging in prostitution.29 Not only do these conditions frequently co-occur, but the presence of one may magnify the effects of the others, thus demonstrating the notion of a “syndemic,” which is a term used to refer to a set of synergistic or intertwined and mutually enhancing health and social problems facing vulnerable populations such as women living in poverty.30 However, interpretation and generalizability across studies has been difficult because of small sample sizes, convenience samples (e.g., women in methadone treatment, shelters, or clinics), narrowly defined study populations, the inclusion of both women living with HIV and women living without HIV, and poorly standardized study variables that typically did not include emotional abuse (e.g., combining different types of violence or combining childhood and adult violent experiences).5,6,10,31Overall, most published US data have suggested that women living with HIV experience IPV at the same rate as women not living with HIV from the same population, but that women living with HIV experience such violence more frequently and with increased severity.9,31 In addition, substance abuse, poverty, and other HIV risk factors were associated with experiencing violence and therefore, also contribute to the HIV and IPV relationship.9,32 However, many of these studies focused on “intimate” partner violence specifically and not on violence overall. For example, using a large representative sample of US women (n = 13 928), Sareen et al.8 found that women who experienced any IPV in the past year were more than 3 times as likely to report an HIV/AIDS diagnosis by a health professional as women who had not experienced IPV. They postulated that nearly 12% of HIV/AIDS infections among US women in intimate relationships was caused by IPV. Despite its novel contribution to the examination of the relationship between HIV infection and IPV among US women, this study was limited because it only examined physical and sexual IPV in the past 12 months. Another large-scale domestic study by Stockman et al. assessed specific types of sexual coercion in a nationally representative sample of 5857 US women and found positive associations among coerced sex, using drugs and alcohol, and having multiple sexual partners.20 However, this study was limited in the way it assessed HIV risk by not examining perceived partner risk factors. Other recent studies have further elucidated this complex clustering of risk factors, but sample sizes have remained small, and measures of sexual HIV risk behaviors have varied widely.9,33,34Because of the concentration of HIV/AIDS in key areas of the United States, the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) study 064 was uniquely designed to recruit a representative sample of women living in US areas with high poverty and a high prevalence of HIV.26,27 Unlike the more diffuse HIV epidemics seen in other countries, HIV in the United States has striking socioeconomic and racial disparities that are concentrated in key “hot spots” of the Northeast, South, and West. However, HIV among women in the United States is still not fully appreciated in the current HIV prevention research.26,27 HPTN 064 made a significant public health contribution by assessing key social and behavioral factors that contribute to HIV acquisition among women in the United States by exploring the risk of HIV infection among certain populations of US women and providing information about their risk behaviors.35 We used this large data set to assess the following: (1) the prevalence of emotional abuse, physical violence, forced sex, and experiencing 2 or more types of violence; and (2) sociodemographic characteristics, personal HIV-risk behaviors, and perceived sex partner behaviors associated with each type of violence.