Developing effective HIV education in Central Asia: a cross-sectional study among Kazakh medical students.

Introduction: The HIV epidemic continues to expand in Central Asia, bridging from injecting drug users to the general population, largely through heterosexual transmission. This study describes medical students' attitudes and behaviours regarding HIV and sexual practices in response to recently introduced HIV curriculum.

Methodology: Medical students in Almaty, Kazakhstan, were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey between April and November, 2013.

Relationship between vitamin D and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load among HIV-infected patients in Kazakhstan.

Introduction: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is associated with inflammation. An association between vitamin D deficiency and inflammation also exists. Our study attempts to examine whether there may be a relationship between vitamin D and HIV viral load (HIV RNA) by: 1) characterizing the distribution of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD), and 2) determining if 25-OHD is independently associated with HIV RNA.