Designing Dual Compartment HIV Prevention Products: Women's Sensory Perceptions and Experiences of Suppositories for Rectal and Vaginal Use.

Dual compartment suppositories are being developed to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Such products, for use in the rectum, the vagina, or both, could have a significant public health impact by decreasing global incidence of these diseases. In this study, 16 women each used two rheologically distinct suppositories in their vagina and rectum.

Predictors of active injection drug use in a cohort of patients infected with hepatitis C virus.

Objectives: We investigated potential risk factors for active injection drug use (IDU) in an inner-city cohort of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Methods: We used log-binomial regression to identify factors independently associated with active IDU during the first 3 years of follow-up for the 289 participants who reported ever having injected drugs at baseline.

Results: Overall, 142 (49.

Incidence and predictors of acute kidney injury in an urban cohort of subjects with HIV and hepatitis C virus coinfection.

Coinfection with hepatitis C (HCV) significantly increases the risk of acute and chronic renal disease in HIV-infected individuals. However, the burden of acute kidney injury (AKI) directly attributable to HIV among HCV-infected individuals and associated risk factors are not well understood. Within a prospective cohort, AKI episodes were identified by a rise in creatinine of 0.

Noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis are highly predictive of liver-related death in a cohort of HCV-infected individuals with and without HIV infection.

Objectives: Noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis correlate with the stage of liver fibrosis, but have not been widely applied to predict liver-related mortality.

Methods: We assessed the ability of two indices of liver fibrosis, aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and Fib-4, and two markers of extracellular matrix metabolism, hyaluronic acid (HA) and YKL40, to predict liver mortality in a prospective cohort of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected individuals with and without HIV coinfection. These were compared with two established prognostic scores, the Child-Pugh-Turcotte (CPT) and model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores.

Predictors of treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in drug users.

Documented treatment rates for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are low. Within this cohort of HCV-infected patients (N = 373), participants who were not actively injecting drugs or not co-infected with HIV were most likely to initiate HCV treatment. Persons of white race and HIV-infected participants with a CD4 count above 200 were also more likely to have initiated HCV treatment.

Effect of exposure to injection drugs or alcohol on antigen-specific immune responses in HIV and hepatitis C virus coinfection.

Background: Ongoing substance use is a potential confounder for immunological studies on hepatitis C virus (HCV), but there is little in the literature regarding the effects of injection drug use (IDU) or alcohol on HCV-specific immune responses. We wanted to determine whether IDU or alcohol affected immune responses in HCV-infected and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV coinfected subjects.

Methods: Eight-four subjects with HIV/HCV and 57 with HCV were classified as either injection drug users, drinkers, or nonusers based on questionnaire results.

HIV infection does not affect the performance of noninvasive markers of fibrosis for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus-related liver disease.

Background: Noninvasive markers of hepatic fibrosis hold great promise to stage liver fibrosis and to monitor disease progression. To date, few studies have assessed the performance of the currently available markers of hepatic fibrosis in HIV-infected cohorts. The aim of the current study was to compare the diagnostic performance and characteristics of a number of noninvasive markers of hepatic fibrosis in populations of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients with and without HIV infection.

Challenges in the treatment of patients coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C virus: need for team care.

We estimate that only one-third of patients coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are eligible for therapy for HCV with interferon (IFN) and ribavirin, and, of those who are eligible, two-thirds decline treatment. To date we have initiated treatment with IFN and ribavirin for 8% of coinfected patients evaluated, and <1% of patients have had a sustained virological response. During this process, we have identified many problems that significantly limit our ability to initiate and complete treatment with IFN in this population and have categorized these difficulties into 4 main challenges.

Hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus coinfection in an urban population: low eligibility for interferon treatment.

One hundred eighty human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-coinfected patients were prospectively evaluated for suitability for interferon and ribavirin therapy. Of the 149 patients with chronic HCV infection who completed the evaluation, 44 (30%) were eligible for treatment and 105 (70%) were ineligible, with the main barriers being missed clinic visits, active psychiatric illness, active drug or alcohol use, decompensated liver disease, or medical illness.