Drug eruption by antihistamine mistaken for chronic urticaria in a child.

Although rare, antihistamines can cause adverse effects, including drug-induced eruptions or anaphylaxis. A 4-year-old child visited the pediatric department of a hospital for skin eruptions after administration of antihistamines, (e.g.

Recent developments of nano-structured materials as the catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction.

Developments of high efficient materials for electrocatalyst are significant topics of numerous researches since a few decades. Recent global interests related with energy conversion and storage lead to the expansion of efforts to find cost-effective catalysts that can substitute conventional catalytic materials. Especially, in the field of fuel cell, novel materials for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) have been noticed to overcome disadvantages of conventional platinum-based catalysts.

Behavioural, Mucosal and Systemic Immune Parameters in HIV-infected and Uninfected Injection Drug Users.

Objective: Injection drug use (IDU) remains a major risk factor for HIV-1 acquisition. The complex interplay between drug use, non-sterile injection, and Hepatitis C remains poorly understood. We conducted a pilot study to determine the effect of IDU on immune parameters among HIV-uninfected and -infected individuals.

Characteristics related to sexual experience and condom use among Jamaican female adolescents.

Young women in Jamaica face significant risk for HIV and other STIs. A clearer understanding of the factors associated with sexual experience and unprotected intercourse is needed. Data were collected from 330 adolescent females aged 13 to 17 recruited through community based organizations in Kingston, Jamaica, from 2009-2011.

Attitudes of methadone program staff toward provision of harm-reduction and other services.

Objective: The need for expansion of health services provided in drug treatment programs has been widely discussed since the beginning of the HIV epidemic among drug users. Service expansion has focused on various types of services including medical services (eg, primary care) and harm-reduction services (eg, provision of sterile syringes).

Methods: A staff survey was conducted in 8 methadone maintenance clinics in the New York/New Jersey area to assess attitudes toward the provision of harm reduction and other services in methadone clinics, and the relationship of these attitudes to other variables.

Differential gender effects of depression on use of HIV medications among HIV-positive Puerto Rican drug users.

Many barriers to the use of HIV medications have been identified. Research findings have also shown a gender disparity in HIV care behaviors. However, interaction effects of gender with the potential barriers to use of HIV medications among HIV-positive minority drug users remain under-studied.

Associations between political/civic participation and HIV drug injection risk.

Background: Participating in civic activities has been found to be related to positive health outcomes.

Objective: This study examines associations between injection drug use health variables (sharing paraphernalia, using shooting galleries) and political/civic engagement (identifying with any political party, attention paid to politics and being registered to vote).

Methods: Participants (N = 162) were recruited at 6 New York City (NYC) methadone programs as part of an HIV intervention (86% male).

Conducting peer outreach to migrants: outcomes for drug treatment patients.

Peer outreach models have been successful in addressing HIV risk behaviors of drug users. Patients in methadone maintenance treatment programs who were migrants from Puerto Rico and/or familiar with drug use there were trained to conduct HIV-related peer outreach. A group randomized design was implemented; patients in the Experimental (E) condition (n = 80) received training and conducted 12 weeks of outreach.

HIV risk and prevention among Hispanic immigrants in New York: the salience of diversity.

The importance of identifying differences in HIV risk between Hispanic subgroups is the focus of this article. Data are drawn from two New York?based HIV-related studies: among Puerto Rican drug users and among new immigrants from Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Results indicated that intercultural individuals (i.

Challenges in recruiting and training drug treatment patients as peer outreach workers: a perspective from the field.

Hispanic patients were recruited from methadone maintenance treatment programs in 2005-2008 to be trained as peer outreach workers, targeting migrant drug users from Puerto Rico. Goals of the outreach focused on reducing HIV-related risk behaviors. A total of 80 peers were recruited from 4 clinics in New York and New Jersey.

Training drug treatment patients to conduct peer-based HIV outreach: an ethnographic perspective on peers' experiences.

From 2005 to 2008, the Bienvenidos Project trained Puerto Rican patients of New York City and New Jersey Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs to conduct peer-based community outreach to migrant Puerto Rican drug users to reduce migrants' HIV risk behaviors. Ethnographic research, including focus groups, individual interviews, and observations, was conducted with a subset of the patients trained as peers (n = 49; 67% male; mean age 40.3 years) to evaluate the self-perceived effects of the intervention.

Factors mediating and moderating the relationship between gender and utilization of health care among Puerto Rican drug users in New York.

This study examined factors that mediate and moderate the relationship between gender and utilization of mental health and medical services in the past year among Puerto Rican drug users (308 females; 892 males) recruited in New York City. Experience of sexual or physical abuse, injection drug use, relationship variables (e.g.

Gender comparisons of factors associated with drug treatment utilization among Puerto Rican drug users.

Objective: This study examined gender-specific effects of social bonds, network characteristics, and other factors on drug treatment enrollment among Puerto Rican drug users.

Method: Participants (425 women; 1,374 men) were recruited in New York and Puerto Rico in 1998-2003.

Results: Gender differences were found: education (< high school/GED) and having a sex partner who is an injection drug user (IDU) were significantly related to current enrollment in drug treatment (EDT) for women; for men, having an IDU friend (negatively) had a main effect on EDT, and having an IDU friend also had a significant interaction effect with their own injection drug use on EDT.

Biculturality and HIV-risk behaviors among Puerto Rican drug users in New York City.

Biculturality refers to two independent processes of acculturation, one to the host society's culture and another to the culture of origin. This study examined the relationship between biculturality and HIV-related risk behaviors in a sample of injecting and noninjecting Puerto Rican drug users (N = 259), recruited in New York City in 2005-2006. Biculturality was measured by two scales: involvement in (i) American culture (AMBIC) and (ii) Puerto Rican culture Biculturality (PRBIC).

Migrant drug users: predictors of HIV-related sexual and injection risk behaviors.

Background: Puerto Rican drug users recruited in NY who previously used drugs in Puerto Rico (PR) have been found to have higher HIV injection and sex-related risk behaviors than those who had not used in PR. This study examined predictors of risk among migrant Puerto Rican drug users. (For the purpose of this paper, the term "migrant" was used to designate Puerto Rican drug users who had used drugs in Puerto Rico and were recruited in New York or New Jersey).

Sex risk behaviors of drug users: a dual site study of predictors over time.

Reducing sex risk behaviors among high-risk injection drug users (IDUs) and crack smokers is a continuing challenge for HIV prevention. Based on a longitudinal study of sexually active Puerto Rican IDUs and crack smokers in New York (n = 573) and Puerto Rico (n = 264), baseline predictors of changes in sex risk (number of unprotected sex acts) at 6- and 36-month follow-up interviews were examined. In New York, predictors of higher sex risk were being younger, having primary partners, having more other sex partners, never exchanging sex, having lower self-efficacy for reducing sex risk behaviors and being HIV-negative, and these predictors were significant at both postbaseline periods.

Gender differences in health status and care among HIV-infected minority drug users.

Gender differences were examined in health status and HIV care among HIV-infected minority drug users. More women than men reported having HIV-related symptoms and other health conditions, such as asthma and allergies. Hepatitis B or C was more often reported by men.

Peer norms and sharing of injection paraphernalia among Puerto Rican injection drug users in New York and Puerto Rico.

This study examines the influence of peer norms on sharing of injection paraphernalia (e.g., indirect sharing behaviors, including sharing of cookers, cotton, rinse water and back/front loading) among Puerto Rican injection drug users (IDUs) in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and East Harlem, New York City.

Predictors of injection drug use cessation among Puerto Rican drug injectors in New York and Puerto Rico.

More than half of all AIDS cases among Puerto Ricans have been attributed to injection drug use. Predictors of injection drug use cessation were examined among Puerto Rican injection drug users (IDUs) in New York and Puerto Rico. Analysis of baseline and 6-month follow-up data from 670 IDUs in NY and 316 in PR showed that 47% NY and 20% in PR reported cessation of injection at follow-up (p < .

The Puerto Rico-New York airbridge for drug users: description and relationship to HIV risk behaviors.

This study examined mobility on the airbridge between New York (NY) and Puerto Rico (PR) for Puerto Rican drug users and its relationship to HIV risk. Over 1,200 Puerto Rican injection drug users (IDUs) and crack smokers were recruited by outreach workers in NY and PR; interview data included questions on mobility (lifetime residences and recent trips). Two-thirds of the NY sample had lived in PR; one-quarter of the PR sample had lived in NY; the most commonly sited reasons for moving were family-related.

A comparative study of mortality among Puerto Rican injection drug users in East Harlem, New York, and Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Drug users have been found to be at high risk of mortality but the mortality experience of Hispanic drug users remains understudied. This study assessed mortality among Puerto Rican injection drug users (IDUs) in New York City (NY), and in Puerto Rico (PR). Study subjects were 637 IDUs from NY and 319 IDUs from PR.

A longitudinal study of syringe acquisition by Puerto Rican injection drug users in New York and Puerto Rico: implications for syringe exchange and distribution programs.

Increasing access to sterile syringes and new drug preparation materials is an effective means of reducing HIV transmission among injection drug users (IDUs), and a fundamental component of harm reduction ideology. The purpose of this study is to examine changes during a three-year period in syringe acquisition by street-recruited Puerto Rican IDUs characterized by frequent drug injection and high HIV seroprevalence. At baseline (1998-1999) and 36-month follow-up, 103 IDUs recruited in East Harlem, New York (NY), and 135 from Bayamón, Puerto Rico (PR) were surveyed about syringe sources and HIV risk behaviors in the prior 30 days.

Predictors of engagement in vocational counseling for methadone treatment patients.

Employment enhances the outcomes of substance dependency treatment. Unfortunately, although unemployed methadone treatment patients frequently state they are interested in a job, many fail to participate in vocational services when available. Unless patients become engaged, vocational services do not have an opportunity to be effective.

Health care utilization and risk behaviors among HIV positive minority drug users.

This study compared health care utilization and HIV-related risk behaviors between HIV-infected African American (n=123) and Hispanic (n=97) drug users recruited in New York City. African Americans were more likely to use crack, while Hispanics were more likely to use heroin and speedball. African Americans were more likely than Hispanics to report having traded sex for drugs or money.

The impact of syringe deregulation on sources of syringes for injection drug users: preliminary findings.

In 2001, New York State enacted legislation to allow the provision of syringes by pharmacies and healthcare providers without prescription (ESAP, the Expanded Syringe Access Demonstration Program). A longitudinal study of IDUs (n=130) found that pre-ESAP, about half used only the safest source (needle exchange programs [NEPs]). Post-ESAP implementation, ESAP sources were initiated by 14%.