Publications by authors named "Leah Ewart"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined the link between methamphetamine use and awareness/interest in event-driven (ED) PrEP among HIV-negative and unknown status cisgender males and transgender individuals.
  • - Results showed that participants who recently used methamphetamine were less aware of ED PrEP but showed increased interest in it after adjusting for demographics and HIV-related behaviors.
  • - The findings suggest the need for targeted efforts to promote PrEP among methamphetamine users to effectively address the HIV epidemic, along with ongoing research to understand their specific needs.
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Background: Young men who have sex with men and transgender women (YMSM/TGW) have disproportionately high HIV incidence and lower preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence. Point-of-care (POC) urine tenofovir (TFV) rapid assay (UTRA) testing permits real-time monitoring for nonadherence within clinical settings. We performed UTRA testing among PrEP users to examine the relationship between low PrEP adherence and future PrEP discontinuation, and the accuracy of POC testing compared to gold-standard liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS).

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Background: Sexual minority men (SMM) with HIV who use stimulants may experience greater difficulties with antiretroviral therapy adherence which amplifies risk for unsuppressed HIV viral load (VL). Remote monitoring of VL could support efforts to rapidly respond to sub-optimal adherence.

Methods: This qualitative study enrolled 24 SMM with HIV who use stimulants to examine experiences with two different dried blood spots (DBS) self-sampling devices (i.

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Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) counteracts pro-fibrotic effects of TGFβ in cultured renal cells and protects from fibrosis in acute and chronic renal injury models. Using the unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model of chronic renal fibrosis, we investigated the effect of exogenous-rhBMP-7 on pro-fibrotic signaling pathways mediated by TGFβ and hypoxia. Mice undergoing UUO were treated with vehicle or rhBMP-7 (300μg/kg i.

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The highly conserved mitochondrial protein induced in high glucose-1 (IHG-1) functions to maintain mitochondrial quality and is associated with the development of fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy. Towards identifying novel approaches to treating diabetic kidney disease, IHG-1-protein-protein interactions were investigated using epitope-tagged immunoprecipitation analyses followed by mass spectrometry. Here we show that IHG-1 is solely expressed in mitochondria and localised to the inner mitochondrial membrane, the region where mitochondrial reactive oxygen species are generated.

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