Rapid Routine HIV Testing for Psychiatric Inpatients

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that opt-out HIV screening be routinely provided in all areas of healthcare, with a minimum of yearly retesting for high-risk patients. These recommendations were made with the goals of early detection, reducing cases of undiagnosed infection, linking patients to treatment, and reducing associated morbidity and transmission to sex partners

 

Psychiatric diagnoses

Citing similar goals, the American Psychological Association has highlighted the need to prioritize increasing HIV screening in mental health settings, and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recommended routine HIV screening in psychiatric and substance abuse facilities. However, HIV screening is uncommonly or inconsistently conducted in mental health settings, with rates varying considerably from 17%-47% of patients being tested annually, and 11%-89% of patients never being tested in their lifetime. Read More>>>>>>

Microarrays-Enabled Hypothesis Generation: The Suspect Role of FNBP-1 in Neuropsychiatric Pathogenesis Associated with HIV and/or HCVInfection

Of 40 million people living worldwide with a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection approximately 2.3 million are chronically co-infected with the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). 

 

Microarrays-Enabled Hypothesis Generation

HIV/ HCV co-infected patients demonstrate higher rates of neuropsychiatric illness (NI, such as generalized anxiety disorder, dysthymia, panic disorder, major depression and substance abuse disorder) relative to HIV mono-infected subjects or the general population. In previous research, we identified gene expression profiles significantly modulated in HIV/HCV co-infected patients who experienced pegylated interferon-α (PegIFN-α)-induced NI and were able to characterize the unique role of Interferon-stimulated-exonuclease-gene 20 kDa (ISG20) in linking PegIFN-α-related NI to distinct HCV treatment responses in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV. Read More>>>>>>>

Stigma of Victims of Sexual Violence ’ s in Armed Conflicts: Another Factor in the Spread of the HIV Epidemic?

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to record the bulk of new people infected with Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired syndrome(HIV/AIDS) UNAIDS estimated that 1.9 million in 2010. This area is also the most affected by armed conflict and sexual violence against women. 

Sexual Violence

According to estimates, 8-10% of people infected by the HIV/AIDS are affected by armed conflict, a humanitarian crisis and a displacement of populations. Over past decades, several African countries have experienced armed conflicts, including Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, The Ivory Coast, Chad, Mali and the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC). During the Rwanda genocide in 1994, the number of rape victims was estimated between 250.000 and 500.000. Read More>>>>>>>>

Examination of HIV Risk and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the U.S. Virgin Islands

For over a decade, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has consistently had one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV infection in the nation. The USVI (with a total population of approximately 109,750) had the highest rate of adults and adolescents (per capita) living with a diagnosis of HIV in 2005.

U.S. Virgin Islands

By the end of 2007 the USVI had an estimated HIV rate of 641.3 adults and adolescents per capita living with a diagnosis of HIV, making it the second highest HIV rate per capita in the nation (for states with reported rates). Since 2010, this rate slightly declined to the 3rd highest rate in the United States. By the end of 2013, the USVI still had the 3rd highest rate of people living with HIV (705.8/100,000), as well as the 3rd highest rate (385.8/100,000) of adults/adolescents living with an AIDS diagnosis in the U.S.. The USVI is also considered a “geographic hot spot” according to the White House’s National HIV/AIDS Strategic plan. Read more>>>>>>

Lower Plasma Zinc Levels in Hyperglycemic People Living with HIV in the MASH cohort

Zinc deficiency is prevalent among people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH). This may be due to the preferential use of zinc by humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) for viral replication, altered zinc metabolism and/or inadequate dietary zinc intake.

Low plasma zinc levels directly affect the immune system because zinc is an important co-factor in the maturation of CD4 cells, which are part of the T-cell system of the immune system. In addition, zinc is important for many catalytic enzymatic activity and protein/DNA synthesis. Due to its importance and pervasiveness in all tissues, zinc deficiency has many adverse effects such as impairing the reconstitution of the immune function in PLWH. In 1996, antiretroviral therapy (ART) was first used to successfully control the HIV viral load and become the standard of treatment for HIV. The treatment, however, has been associated with hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes. As a result, PLWH are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and subsequently cardiovascular disease after initiation of ART. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Re-engagement in HIV Care: A Clinical and Public Health Priority

Public health departments in the United States have been at the forefront of HIV education, testing and surveillance. Effectiveness of education programs is unclear as the incidence of HIV has remained relatively constant from 2008 to 2014 at approximately 45,000 (±3,000) cases per year . The effects of testing and surveillance are much clearer. 

For example, during 2011 nearly 1.6 million individuals were tested for HIV by public health departments and over 22,000 were found to be HIV positive. In the United States, all HIV infections are reported to local and state health departments where they provide a picture of local HIV trends. These data are then forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and form the basis of an accurate picture of the trends in the epidemic for the whole country. Read more>>>>>>>>>>

Antigenic Screening for Helicobacter pylori in Stool of Patients Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus from a Tertiary Care Hospital

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori ), is a causative agent for gastric damage and has been linked to many diseases, including gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric malignancies, since its identification in 1982. Though half of the world’s population is infected with H. pylori , only approximately 30 percent of the infected people are symptomatic with more than 70 percent of them remaining asymptomatic. 

Seroepidemiological research studies are consistent with the hypothesis that H. pylori infection is mainly acquired in early childhood and that primary acquisition or reinfection after successful eradication in adults occur less frequently with an annual incidence of 6%-14% in developing countries. Read more..............