HIV risk reduction in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Cocaine Collaborative Treatment Study.

HIV risk was evaluated among 487 cocaine-dependent patients recruited from five treatment programs in a trial that examined the efficacy of four outpatient-based psychosocial treatments. Treatments were offered two to three times per week for 6 months and consisted of group drug counseling (GDC) or group counseling plus individual drug counseling (IDC), cognitive therapy (CT), or supportive-expressive therapy (SE). The average patient had used cocaine for 7 years, with 10 days of use in the last month.

Relation of depression diagnoses to 2-year outcomes in cocaine-dependent patients in a randomized continuing care study.

This study examined the relation between depression diagnoses and outcomes in 132 cocaine-dependent patients who were randomized to relapse prevention (RP) or standard 12-step focused group continuing care and followed for 2 years. Depressed patients attended more treatment sessions and had more cocaine-free urines during treatment than participants without depression, but they drank alcohol more frequently before treatment and during the 18-month posttreatment follow-up. Cocaine outcomes in depressed patients deteriorated to a greater degree after treatment than did cocaine outcomes in patients without depression, particularly in patients in RP who had a current depressive disorder at baseline.

Cardiopulmonary bypass for bilateral sequential lung transplantation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease without adverse effect on lung function or clinical outcome.

Objective: The use of cardiopulmonary bypass in lung transplantation remains controversial. Previous studies have concluded that cardiopulmonary bypass is deleterious, but these studies were confounded by the inclusion of patients with different diagnoses undergoing single- and double-lung transplantation with elective or emergency use of bypass. The goal of this study was to determine whether cardiopulmonary bypass has deleterious effects on lung function or clinical outcome by analyzing the cases of patients with a single disease entity and elective use of bypass for bilateral sequential lung transplantation.

Determination of threshold conditions for a non-linear stochastic partnership model for heterosexually transmitted diseases with stages.

When comparing the performance of a stochastic model of an epidemic at two points in a parameter space, a threshold is said to have been crossed when at one point an epidemic develops with positive probability; while at the other there is a tendency for an epidemic to become extinct. The approach used to find thresholds in this paper was to embed a system of ordinary non-linear differential equations in a stochastic process, accommodating the formation and dissolution of marital partnerships in a heterosexual population, extra-marital sexual contacts, and diseases such as HIV/AIDS with stages. A symbolic representation of the Jacobian matrix of this system was derived.

Retention in psychosocial treatment of cocaine dependence: predictors and impact on outcome.

This report describes retention in treatment in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study (CCTS), a multi-site trial of four psychosocial treatments for 487 cocaine dependent patients. Younger, African-American, and unemployed patients were retained in treatment for fewer days than their counterparts. African-American patients who lived with a partner were retained in treatment for less time than if they lived alone.