HIV infection among female injection-drug users recruited in community settings.

Background And Objectives: To identify relationships between sexual behavior, drug use, and HIV infection among female injection-drug users (IDUs) recruited in community settings.

Study Design: Risk analysis of 407 survey questionnaires and matched HIV serologies (n = 403) from female IDUs recruited from community settings in 3 inner-city neighborhoods in San Francisco during 1991 and 1992.

Results: The HIV seroprevalence of our sample was 11.

Syringe and needle exchange as HIV/AIDS prevention for injection drug users.

Objective: To evaluate an all-volunteer syringe exchange program in San Francisco, Calif.

Data Sources: Syringe exchange program records and 11 semiannual surveys administered during a 5.5-year period, using standard questionnaires.

Quality assurance for bone densitometry research studies: concept and impact.

A concept for quality assurance (QA) in bone densitometry has been developed for clinical multicenter studies. Major elements provided by a coordinating center comprise (1) consulting services and certification of participating centers in the start-up phase of the study, (2) review of scan data acquired on QA standards for cross-calibration and longitudinal assessment of scanner stability, (3) review of selected patient data as well as of problem cases during the study, and (4) comprehensive review and correction of patient results based on QA data after conclusion of the study. Limitations of phantom-based QA data should be acknowledged.