Latent polydrug use patterns and the provision of injection initiation assistance among people who inject drugs in three North American settings.

Introduction: We sought to identify latent profiles of polysubstance use patterns among people who inject drugs in three distinct North American settings, and then determine whether profile membership was associated with providing injection initiation assistance to injection-naïve persons.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from three linked cohorts in Vancouver, Canada; Tijuana, Mexico; and San Diego, USA were used to conduct separate latent profile analyses based on recent (i.e.

Randomized Trial of Individualized Texting for Adherence Building (iTAB) Plus Motivational Interviewing for PrEP Adherence in Transgender Individuals: The iM-PrEPT Study.

Background: Transgender and nonbinary individuals at risk for HIV may benefit from adherence support for pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Methods: Between June 2017 and September 2020, 255 transgender and nonbinary individuals received daily oral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine for 48 weeks randomized 1:1 to receive individualized Texting for Adherence Building (iTAB) or iTAB plus motivational interviewing (iTAB + MI) through phone for nonadherence. The primary end point was dried blood spot tenofovir diphosphate concentrations at weeks 12 and 48 (or last on-drug study visit) ≥1246 fmol/punch consistent with ≥7 doses/week (ie, near-perfect adherence).

The influence of poly-drug use patterns on the association between opioid agonist treatment engagement and injecting initiation assistance.

Background: Evidence suggests people who inject drugs (PWID) prescribed opioid agonist treatment (OAT) are less likely to provide injection drug use (IDU) initiation assistance. We investigated the association between OAT engagement and providing IDU initiation assistance across poly-drug use practices in Vancouver, Canada.

Methods: Preventing Injecting by Modifying Existing Responses (PRIMER) is a prospective study seeking to identify structural interventions that reduce IDU initiation.

Association of Brain Injury Biomarkers and Circulatory Shock Following Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A TRACK-TBI Study.

Introduction: Early circulatory shock following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a multifactorial process; however, the impact of brain injury biomarkers on the risk of shock has not been evaluated. We examined the association between neuronal injury biomarker levels and the development of circulatory shock following moderate-severe TBI.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we examined adults with moderate-severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale score <13) enrolled in the TRACK-TBI study, an 18-center prospective TBI cohort study.

Improvements in sleep-disordered breathing during acclimatization to 3800 m and the impact on cognitive function.

Sojourners to high altitude often experience poor sleep quality due to sleep-disordered breathing. Additionally, multiple aspects of cognitive function are impaired at high altitude. However, the impact of acclimatization on sleep-disordered breathing and whether poor sleep is a major contributor to cognitive impairments at high altitude remains uncertain.

Incidence and Clinical Impact of Myocardial Injury Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot TRACK-TBI Study.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health problem. Little research has addressed extracranial organ dysfunction following TBI, particularly myocardial injury. Using a sensitive marker of myocardial injury-high sensitivity troponin (hsTn)-we examined the incidence of early myocardial injury following TBI and explored its association with neurological outcomes following moderate-severe TBI.

Bacteriologically-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis in an Ethiopian prison: Prevalence from screening of entrant and resident prisoners.

Background: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) is a major health problem in prisons. Multiple studies of TB in regional Ethiopian prisons have assessed prevalence and risk factors but have not examined recently implemented screening programs for TB in prisons. This study compares bacteriologically-confirmed PTB (BC-PTB) prevalence in prison entrants versus residents and identifies risk factors for PTB in Kality prison, a large federal Ethiopian prison located in Addis Ababa, through a study of an enhanced TB screening program.

Comparing Self-Report Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Adherence Questions to Pharmacologic Measures of Recent and Cumulative Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Exposure.

As pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) effectiveness is strongly linked to adherence, we sought to determine if certain self-report measures could be used to inform objective PrEP adherence. We studied participants from the TAPIR study (a multicenter randomized study of daily text messages to support adherence to PrEP In At-Risk), a 48-week randomized controlled trial of HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men (MSM) randomized to receive text message to support adherence versus standard of care. Self-reported medication adherence was assessed using several validated measures modified for PrEP.

Opioid agonist treatment and the process of injection drug use initiation.

Background: Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is an effective biomedical intervention to manage opioid use disorder among persons who inject drugs (PWID). Preliminary evidence suggests that OAT may also disrupt the social communicability of injection drug use (IDU) practices by established PWID. We therefore aim to investigate the association between OAT enrollment and initiating others into IDU among PWID in Vancouver, Canada.

Perceived Versus Calculated HIV Risk: Implications for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Uptake in a Randomized Trial of Men Who Have Sex With Men.

Background: Inaccurate HIV risk perception by men who have sex with men is a barrier to HIV prevention. Providing information about objective HIV risk could improve pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake.

Methods: PrEP Accessibility Research & Evaluation 2 (PrEPARE2) was a randomized controlled trial of men who have sex with men to determine whether an objective risk score affects future PrEP uptake.

History of medication-assisted treatment and its association with initiating others into injection drug use in San Diego, CA.

Background: Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) remains the gold standard for the treatment of opioid use disorder. MAT also reduces the frequency of injecting among people who inject drugs (PWID). Relatedly, data suggest that PWID play a key role in the initiation of others into drug injecting by exposing injecting practices to injection-naïve drug users.

Non-injection Drug Use and Injection Initiation Assistance among People Who Inject Drugs in Tijuana, Mexico.

Although most people who inject drugs (PWID) report receiving assistance during injection initiation events, little research has focused on risk factors among PWID for providing injection initiation assistance. We therefore sought to determine the influence of non-injection drug use among PWID on their risk to initiate others. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) models on longitudinal data among a prospective cohort of PWID in Tijuana, Mexico (Proyecto El Cuete IV), while controlling for potential confounders.

Individuals with chronic traumatic brain injury improve walking speed and mobility with intensive mobility training.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and impact of different dosages of Intensive Mobility Training (IMT) on mobility, balance, and gait speed in individuals with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Prospective, single group design with 3-month follow-up.

Setting: University research laboratory.

Transforming growth factor-beta signaling pathway in patients with Kawasaki disease.

Background: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β is a multifunctional peptide that is important in T-cell activation and cardiovascular remodeling, both of which are important features of Kawasaki disease (KD). We postulated that variation in TGF-β signaling might be important in KD susceptibility and disease outcome.

Methods And Results: We investigated genetic variation in 15 genes belonging to the TGF-β pathway in a total of 771 KD subjects of mainly European descent from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands.

Matrix metalloproteinase haplotypes associated with coronary artery aneurysm formation in patients with Kawasaki disease.

Aneurysms of the vascular wall represent a final common pathway for a number of inflammatory processes, including atherosclerosis and idiopathic vasculitis syndromes. Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute, self-limited vasculitis in children and the leading cause of acquired coronary artery aneurysms. We sought to identify shared molecular mechanisms of aneurysm formation by genotyping eight polymorphisms in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, 3, 7, 12 and 13 in the gene cluster on Chr.

Pilot study to show the feasibility of a multicenter trial of home-based assessment of people over 75 years old.

Unlabelled: This report describes a pilot study to evaluate feasibility of new home-based assessment technologies applicable to clinical trials for prevention of cognitive loss and Alzheimer disease.

Methods: Community-dwelling nondemented individuals >or=75 years old were recruited and randomized to 1 of 3 assessment methodologies: (1) mail-in questionnaire/ live telephone interviews (MIP); (2) automated telephone with interactive voice recognition (IVR); and (3) internet-based computer Kiosk (KIO). Brief versions of cognitive and noncognitive outcomes were adapted to the different methodologies and administered at baseline and 1-month.

Abacavir and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate co-administration results in a nonadditive antiviral effect in HIV-1-infected patients.

Objectives: To evaluate a potential pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic interaction between abacavir (ABC) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF).

Design And Methods: This randomized trial compared 7 days of ABC or TDF monotherapy, separated by a 35-day washout, with 7 days of ABC + TDF dual-therapy in treatment-naive, HIV-1-infected patients. During each 7-day course, the slope of the phase I viral decay was estimated and steady-state intracellular concentrations of carbovir triphosphate (CBV-TP), deoxyguanosine triphosphate (dGTP), tenofovir diphosphate (TFV-DP) and deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP) were determined.

Evidence for insulin suppression of baseline luteinizing hormone in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and normal women.

Context: In women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the relationship of insulin to LH secretion and responses to GnRH remains unresolved. A rigorous analytical examination of this relationship has not been performed.

Objective: Our objective was to determine the relationship of basal LH secretion and responses to GnRH, insulin, and other endocrine variables in normal and PCOS women.

Greater tenofovir-associated renal function decline with protease inhibitor-based versus nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor-based therapy.

Background: Plasma concentrations of tenofovir increase when the drug is coadministered with some ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors (PI/r). We hypothesized that tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)-treated patients taking PI/r-based regimens would have a greater decline in renal function than patients receiving nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based therapy.

Methods: We compared the estimated decline in renal function among 146 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected patients receiving a TDF+PI/r- (n = 51), TDF+NNRTI- (n = 29), or non-TDF-containing (n = 66) regimen.

A randomized controlled trial of therapeutic drug monitoring in treatment-naive and -experienced HIV-1-infected patients.

Objective: To improve the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) by defining the proportion of patients with and predictors of above or below target protease inhibitor (PI) or nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) concentrations.

Methods: This 48-week, multicenter, open-label clinical trial randomized patients to TDM versus standard of care (SOC). Serial pharmacokinetics, including a week-2 3-sample sparse collection, and expert committee TDM recommendations were given to TDM-arm patients' providers.

Increases in plasma carotenoid concentrations in response to a major dietary change in the women's healthy eating and living study.

Background: Cohort studies suggest that higher circulating carotenoid concentrations through food sources may reduce breast cancer events. Other intervention studies have not achieved the level of change in circulating carotenoids required to properly test this hypothesis.

Methods: In a randomized trial of 2,922 breast cancer survivors, we examined blood and self-reported diet at baseline and 1 year.