Breaking HIV News to Clients: SPIKES Strategy in Post-Test Counseling Session.

Breaking bad news is one of the most burdensome tasks physicians face in their everyday practice. It becomes even more challenging in the context of HIV+ patients because of stigma and discrimination. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the quality of giving HIV seroconversion news according to SPIKES protocol.

Relationship between Health-Related Quality of Life and Social Support in HIV-Infected People in Tehran, Iran.

Background: The present study was conducted to determine the association between social support and health-related QOL (HRQL) for a sample of 120 patients living with HIV/AIDS in Tehran.

Method: Eighty male and 40 female living with HIV referred to Iranian AIDS Research Center at Imam Khomini Hospital in Tehran, Iran in 2011 were randomly selected for assessment. Data was collected by means of Vaux's Social Support questionnaire and Medical Outcomes Short-Form-36 (SF-36) QOL questionnaires.

Molecular analysis and phylogenetic characterization of HIV in Iran.

The rate of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection in Iran has increased dramatically in the last few years. While the earliest cases were found in hemophiliacs, intravenous drug users are now fueling the outbreak. In this study, both the 122 clones of HIV-1 gag p17 and the 131 clones of env V1-V5 region were obtained from 61 HIV-1 seropositives belonging to these two groups in Iran.