Behavioral patterns of people who use synthetic psychostimulants: Results of a qualitative study in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Background: Russia, like many other places, is currently experiencing a proliferation of new psychoactive substances, many of which are psychostimulants. In St. Petersburg, these appear to be mostly congeners of cathinone.

HIV incidence and behavioral correlates of HIV acquisition in a cohort of injection drug users in St Petersburg, Russia.

The aim of the project was to study human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence, sociodemographic and behavioral correlates of HIV acquisition among injection drug users (IDUs).A total of 717 IDUs were recruited, tested, and counseled for HIV-1; 466 HIV-negative participants were enrolled and followed-up at 6 and 12 months. Sociodemographic and behavioral data were collected during each study visit.

Childhood victimization and HIV risk behaviors among university students in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Exposure to childhood victimization and abuse has been shown to affect HIV risk in adult populations. In Russia, the existence of child abuse was largely unrecognized until 1990s and its behavioral consequences remain understudied. Our goal was to assess childhood victimization and HIV risk behavior among young adults in Saint-Petersburg, Russia: 743 students from 15 local universities were surveyed.

History of Childhood Abuse, Drinking Motives, Alcohol Use, and Sexual Risk Behavior Among STD Clinic Patients in St. Petersburg, Russia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The relationship between level of childhood abuse (physical and emotional) and sexual risk behavior of sexually transmitted disease clinic patients in St. Petersburg, Russia was examined through path analyses. Mediating variables investigated were: Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), drinking motives (for social interaction, to enhance mood, to facilitate sexual encounters), intimate partner violence (IPV), anxiety, and depression symptoms.

Childhood victimization experiences of young adults in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of childhood victimization experiences in a sample of young adults in St. Petersburg, Russia. The study sample included 743 students aged 19 to 25 from 15 universities in St.

The feasibility of an intensive case management program for injection drug users on antiretroviral therapy in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Background: The majority of HIV-infected individuals requiring antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Russia are Injection Drug Users (IDU). Substitution therapy used as part of a comprehensive harm reduction program is unavailable in Russia. Past data shows that only 16% of IDU receiving substance abuse treatment completed the course without relapse, and only 40% of IDU on ART remained on treatment at 6 months.

A peer-educator network HIV prevention intervention among injection drug users: results of a randomized controlled trial in St. Petersburg, Russia.

We evaluated the efficacy of a peer-educator network intervention as a strategy to reduce HIV acquisition among injection drug users (IDUs) and their drug and/or sexual networks. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in St. Petersburg, Russia among IDU index participants and their risk network participants.

History of childhood abuse, sensation seeking, and intimate partner violence under/not under the influence of a substance: a cross-sectional study in Russia.

Objectives: To examine correlates of perpetration and victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) under and not under the influence of a substance, we conducted a study among women in Russia.

Methods: In 2011, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among patients receiving services at a clinic for sexually transmitted infections in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Access to syringes for HIV prevention for injection drug users in St. Petersburg, Russia: syringe purchase test study.

Background: The HIV epidemic in Russia is concentrated among injection drug users (IDUs). This is especially true for St. Petersburg where high HIV incidence persists among the city's estimated 80,000 IDUs.

Cultural adaptation of an intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors among patients attending a STI clinic in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Cultural adaptation is an important step in the process of implementing health promotion interventions that, having been proven to be effective in one culture, are being applied in another. This study describes the results of a formative investigation to culturally adapt a STI/HIV risk reduction intervention for use in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Gender differences in the relationship between alcohol use and depressive symptoms in St. Petersburg, Russia.

BACKGROUND: Gender differences in the relationship between alcohol use and depressive symptoms are inconsistent, and few studies have addressed this issue in Russia. Because this finding may have important implications for interventions to reduce alcohol misuse or alcohol related problems in Russia, we conducted a study to investigate whether the association between alcohol use and depressive symptoms differs by gender at high risk for HIV. METHODS: We used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale to measure alcohol use and depressive symptoms among 307 patients who attended a clinic for sexually transmitted infections in St.

Efficacy of a brief HIV prevention counseling intervention among STI clinic patients in Russia: a randomized controlled trial.

The study examined the efficacy of a brief theory-based counseling intervention to reduce sexual HIV risk behaviors among STI clinic patients in St. Petersburg, Russia. Men and women (n = 307) were recruited to receive either: (1) a 60-minute motivational/skills-building counseling session dealing with sexual HIV risk reduction, or (2) written HIV prevention information material.

The high frequency of HIV type 1-specific cellular immune responses in seronegative individuals with parenteral and/or heterosexual HIV type 1 exposure.

Some individuals remain HIV seronegative despite repeated unprotected exposure to the virus. Recent observations led to a concept that acquired immunity plays a role in protection or at least in altered susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in highly exposed seronegative (ESN) individuals. Our aim was to study HIV-specific cellular immune responses induced in parenterally and/or heterosexually ESN individuals.

Depressive symptoms and unprotected sex in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Objective: Growing evidence indicates that emotional distress such as depression may have the potential to increase the risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and unprotected sex among STI clinic patients in Russia.

Methods: We used pre-intervention data collected between 2009 and 2010 among 307 participants who were enrolled in a randomized intervention trial conducted in an STI clinic in St.

Partner violence perpetration and victimization and HIV risk behaviors in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Whether intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization are associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors is seldom investigated in Russia. The present study hypothesized that patients from a sexually transmitted infection center in Russia who perpetrated IPV or were victims of IPV would be more likely to have HIV risk behaviors including injection drug use, multiple partners, and inconsistent condom use than those who were not involved with IPV. We used a self-administered questionnaire to collect information from 381 patients on demographics, health status, injection drug use, sexual behaviors, and violence involving sexual partners between 2008 and 2009.

Inebriation, drinking motivations and sexual risk taking among sexually transmitted disease clinic patients in St. Petersburg, Russia.

We investigated whether inebriation was associated with having non-main partners and unprotected sex with non-main partners and whether drinking motivations were associated with sexual risk behaviors among patients attending an STD clinic in St Petersburg, Russia. A cross-sectional behavior survey was applied to 362 participants between 2008 and 2009. Multivariate logistic regression was used for analysis.

Correlates of abortions and condom use among high risk women attending an STD clinic in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Background: Many women in Russia rely on abortion as a primary birth control method. Although refusal to use contraceptives, including condoms, may undermine public health efforts to decrease HIV sexual risk behaviors, few studies have investigated the risk factors associated with abortion among women at high risk for HIV. This study sought to identify the correlates of abortions and of lack of condom use among high risk STD clinic patients in St Petersburg Russia.

Alcohol misuse, drinking contexts and intimate partner violence in St. Petersburg, Russia: results from a cross-sectional study.

Background: Alcohol misuse has been linked to intimate partner violence (IPV). However, this association is not usually examined in Russia. Moreover, more investigation is required as to whether specific drinking contexts are also associated with IPV.

A substantial transmission bottleneck among newly and recently HIV-1-infected injection drug users in St Petersburg, Russia.

There are limited data on the genetic complexity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) after transmission among a cohort of injection drug users (IDUs). We used single-genome amplification of HIV-1 env to determine the genotypic characteristics of virus among IDUs with acute infection in St Petersburg, Russia. Our results indicate that a single variant was transmitted in a majority of cases (9 of 13 participants), which is analogous to what is observed in sexual transmission.