Gamma index comparison of three VMAT QA systems and evaluation of their sensitivity to delivery errors.

Purpose: To compare detectors for dosimetric verification before VMAT treatments and evaluate their sensitivity to errors.

Methods And Materials: Measurements using three detectors (ArcCheck, 2d array 729 and EPID) were used to validate the dosimetric accuracy of the VMAT delivery. Firstly, performance of the three devices was studied.

Service delivery interventions to improve adolescents' linkage, retention and adherence to antiretroviral therapy and HIV care.

Objectives: Adolescents living with HIV face substantial difficulties in accessing HIV care services and have worse treatment outcomes than other age groups. The objective of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery interventions to improve adolescents' linkage from HIV diagnosis to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, retention in HIV care and adherence to ART.

Methods: We systematically searched the Medline, SCOPUS and Web of Sciences databases and conference abstracts from the International AIDS Conference and International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA).

Risk of death among those awaiting treatment for HIV infection in Zimbabwe: adolescents are at particular risk.

Introduction: Mortality among HIV-positive adults awaiting antiretroviral therapy (ART) has previously been found to be high. Here, we compare adolescent pre-ART mortality to that of adults in a public sector HIV care programme in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we compared adolescent pre-ART outcomes with those of adults enrolled for HIV care in the same clinic.

Use of gEUD for predicting ear and pituitary gland damage following proton and photon radiation therapy.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the dose to the inner ear or pituitary gland and radiation-induced late effects of skull base radiation therapy.

Methods: 140 patients treated between 2000 and 2008 were considered for this study. Hearing loss and endocrine dysfunction were retrospectively reviewed on pre- and post-radiation therapy audiometry or endocrine assessments.

HLA Correlates of Long-Term Survival in Vertically Infected HIV-1-Positive Adolescents in Harare, Zimbabwe.

African infants with vertically acquired HIV infection progress rapidly, with only 50% surviving beyond 2 years in the absence of treatment. Despite this high initial mortality, recent reports describe a substantial burden of older children living with untreated vertically acquired HIV infection in Southern Africa. The immunological and genetic factors associated with long-term survival following vertical infection are poorly understood.

The relationship between HIV and prevalence of disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review (FA).

Objective: To systematically review evidence on the prevalence and risk of disabilities among children and adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Articles were identified from 1980 to June 2013 through searching seven electronic databases. Epidemiological studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa that explored the association between HIV status and general disability or specific impairments, with or without an HIV-uninfected comparison group, were eligible for inclusion.

Factors associated with self-reported adherence among adolescents on antiretroviral therapy in Zimbabwe.

Nonadherence to medication is the key obstacle to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment success. The group at highest risk of nonadherence is adolescents, but relatively little is known about risk factors for and protective factors against poor adherence in this age group. We undertook a cross-sectional study of 262 HIV-infected adolescents aged 10-19 years on antiretroviral therapy at two clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe, to investigate personal and system-level factors associated with optimal self-reported adherence.

Barriers to provider-initiated testing and counselling for children in a high HIV prevalence setting: a mixed methods study.

Background: There is a substantial burden of HIV infection among older children in sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of whom are diagnosed after presentation with advanced disease. We investigated the provision and uptake of provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) among children in primary health care facilities, and explored health care worker (HCW) perspectives on providing HIV testing to children.

Methods And Findings: Children aged 6 to 15 y attending six primary care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe, were offered PITC, with guardian consent and child assent.

"I don't want financial support but verbal support." How do caregivers manage children's access to and retention in HIV care in urban Zimbabwe?

Introduction: Children living with HIV experience particular challenges in accessing HIV care. Children usually rely on adult caregivers for access to care, including timely diagnosis, initiation of treatment and sustained engagement with HIV services. The aim of this study was to inform the design of a community-based intervention to support caregivers of HIV-positive children to increase children's retention in care as part of a programme introducing decentralized HIV care in primary health facilities.

HIV status disclosure to perinatally-infected adolescents in Zimbabwe: a qualitative study of adolescent and healthcare worker perspectives.

Introduction & Objectives: Due to the scale up of antiretroviral therapy, increasing numbers of HIV-infected children are living into adolescence. As these children grow and surpass the immediate threat of death, the issue of informing them of their HIV status arises. This study aimed to understand how perinatally-infected adolescents learn about their HIV-status as well as to examine their preferences for the disclosure process.

Perinatally acquired HIV infection in adolescents from sub-Saharan Africa: a review of emerging challenges.

Worldwide, more than three million children are infected with HIV, 90% of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. As the HIV epidemic matures and antiretroviral treatment is scaled up, children with HIV are reaching adolescence in large numbers. The growing population of adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV infection living within this region presents not only unprecedented challenges but also opportunities to learn about the pathogenesis of HIV infection.

Methodological and policy limitations of quantifying the saving of lives: a case study of the Global Fund's approach.

David McCoy and colleagues critique the dominance of "lives saved" models of assessing the impact of health programs, using The Global Fund as a case study. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

Enhancing patient safety with an electronic results checking system in a large HIV outpatient service.

Objective: To establish whether an automated electronic tracker system for reporting blood results would expedite clinician review of abnormal results in HIV-positive outpatients and to pilot the use of this system in routine clinical practice.

Setting: An outpatient service in central London providing specialist HIV-related care to 3900 HIV positive patients.

Design: A comparison of the time taken from sampling to identification and clinician review of abnormal blood results for biochemical tests between the original paper-based checking system and an automated electronic system during a 3-week pilot.

Outcomes for efavirenz versus nevirapine-containing regimens for treatment of HIV-1 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: There is conflicting evidence and practice regarding the use of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) efavirenz (EFV) and nevirapine (NVP) in first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Methods: We systematically reviewed virological outcomes in HIV-1 infected, treatment-naive patients on regimens containing EFV versus NVP from randomised trials and observational cohort studies. Data sources include PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and conference proceedings of the International AIDS Society, Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, between 1996 to May 2013.

Calibration of CT Hounsfield units for proton therapy treatment planning: use of kilovoltage and megavoltage images and comparison of parameterized methods.

Proton beam range is of major concern, in particular, when images used for dose computations are artifacted (for example in patients with surgically treated bone tumors). We investigated several conditions and methods for determination of computed tomography Hounsfield unit (CT-HU) calibration curves, using two different conversion schemes. A stoichiometric methodology was used on either kilovoltage (kV) or megavoltage (MV) CT images and the accuracy of the calibration methods was evaluated.

Burden of HIV among primary school children and feasibility of primary school-linked HIV testing in Harare, Zimbabwe: a mixed methods study.

Population-based surveys in Southern Africa suggest a substantial burden of undiagnosed HIV-infected long-term survivors of mother-to-child transmission. We conducted an HIV prevalence survey of primary school pupils in Harare, Zimbabwe, and evaluated school-linked HIV counselling and testing (HCT) for pupils, their families and schoolteachers. Population-weighted cluster sampling was used to select six primary schools.

HIV-infected adolescents in southern Africa can achieve good treatment outcomes: results from a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: In this study we examine whether adolescents treated for HIV/AIDS in southern Africa can achieve similar treatment outcomes to adults.

Design: We have used a retrospective cohort study design to compare outcomes for adolescents and adults commencing antiretroviral therapy (ART) between 2004 and 2010 in a public sector hospital clinic in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Methods: Cox proportional hazards modelling was used to investigate risk factors for death and loss to follow-up (LTFU) (defined as missing a scheduled appointment by ≥3months).

Cardiac disease in adolescents with delayed diagnosis of vertically acquired HIV infection.

Background: At least one-third of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected infants survive to adolescence even without antiretroviral therapy (ART), but are at high risk of complications including cardiac disease. We investigated the characteristics of cardiac disease among adolescents with HIV infection diagnosed in late childhood who were receiving ambulatory HIV care in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Methods: Consecutive adolescents with vertically acquired HIV attending 2 HIV outpatient treatment clinics were studied.

Acquired epidermodysplasia verruciformis due to multiple and unusual HPV infection among vertically-infected, HIV-positive adolescents in Zimbabwe.

Background: We have previously described the presentation of epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV)-like eruptions in almost a quarter of hospitalized adolescents with vertically-acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Harare, Zimbabwe, a region with a high prevalence of HIV infection.

Methods: We performed a clinical case note review and skin biopsy from affected sites in 4 HIV-infected adolescents with EV-like lesions in Harare. Biopsies were processed for histology and for human papillomavirus (HPV) typing.

Chronic lung disease in adolescents with delayed diagnosis of vertically acquired HIV infection.

Background: Long-term survivors of vertically acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are reaching adolescence in large numbers in Africa and are at high risk of delayed diagnosis and chronic complications of untreated HIV infection. Chronic respiratory symptoms are more common than would be anticipated based on the HIV literature.

Methods: Consecutive adolescents with presumed vertically acquired HIV attending 2 HIV care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe, were recruited and assessed with clinical history and examination, CD4 count, pulmonary function tests, Doppler echocardiography, and chest radiography (CXR).

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging of residual skull base chordoma before radiotherapy using fluoromisonidazole and fluorodeoxyglucose: potential consequences for dose painting.

Purpose: To detect the presence of hypoxic tissue, which is known to increase the radioresistant phenotype, by its uptake of fluoromisonidazole (18F) (FMISO) using hybrid positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging, and to compare it with the glucose-avid tumor tissue imaged with fluorodeoxyglucose (18F) (FDG), in residual postsurgical skull base chordoma scheduled for radiotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Seven patients with incompletely resected skull base chordomas were planned for high-dose radiotherapy (dose ≥70 Gy). All 7 patients underwent FDG and FMISO PET/CT.

Perception of risk of vertically acquired HIV infection and acceptability of provider-initiated testing and counseling among adolescents in Zimbabwe.

Objectives: We investigated attitudes toward provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) in the suburbs of Harare, Zimbabwe, where late presentation after mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) is a major cause of adolescent mortality.

Methods: Adolescents (10-18 years) attending 2 primary clinics were offered PITC. Participants completed a questionnaire investigating acceptability of PITC, and in-depth interviews with 41 adolescents and 30 guardians explored understanding of long-term survival after MTCT.