Missed Opportunities for HIV Testing of Patients Tested for Sexually Transmitted Infections at a Large Urban Health Care System From 2010 to 2015.

Background: Appropriate testing of people at risk for HIV is an important piece of the HIV care continuum. We analyzed HIV testing patterns of patients tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia (GC/CT) at a large urban health care system in New York City.

Methods: We retrospectively studied HIV and GC/CT testing from 2010 to 2015.

Bone fractures and lumbar mineral density after renal transplantation. A long-term cross-sectional study.

Background: The purpose of this work was to investigate the association of vertebral and peripheral fractures 10 yr after grafting with bone metabolic markers and body mass density (BMD).

Patients And Methods: One hundred thirty-eight recipients with stable graft function were included in a cross-sectional study. Graft function, biochemical mineral metabolism markers and body mass density (DEXA) were measured.

Testosterone replacement therapy and polycythemia in HIV-infected patients.

We conducted a case-control study to assess testosterone use as a primary risk factor for polycythemia in 21 HIV-infected men. Any testosterone use within 2 months of first elevated hemoglobin was associated with polycythemia (matched odds ratio 6.55; 95% confidence interval 1.

Differential effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta on cell death in human articular chondrocytes.

Objective: The death of chondrocytes by apoptosis is characteristic of degenerative joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis (OA). Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) have been shown to play an important role in the development of OA. In this study we analyzed the effects of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta on cell death in normal human chondrocytes.

Factors associated with poor immunologic response to virologic suppression by highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected women.

Virologic response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) typically results in a substantial rise in CD4 cell counts. We investigated factors associated with poor CD4 response among HIV-infected women followed at 6-monthly intervals in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Women with nadir CD4 counts < 350 cells/mm3 who achieved at least 6 months of plasma HIV RNA < 400 copies/ml were studied.

Case-control study of diabetes mellitus in HIV-infected patients.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is more prevalent among patients with HIV infection. Besides protease inhibitors (PIs), other factors may contribute to the development of DM.

Objective: To assess characteristics associated with the development of DM in HIV-infected persons.

Heavy metals in the dump of an abandoned mine in Galicia (NW Spain) and in the spontaneously occurring vegetation.

The concentrations of different forms of heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Cd and Pb) were determined in a mine dump material rich in chalcopyrite. The concentrations were compared with those of the natural vegetation colonising the dump. Samples taken from the dump are acid (pH(H(2)O) between 3.

Pseudo-outbreak of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with presumed laboratory processing contamination.

An investigation prompted by six positive cultures for multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis during a 7-week period found that an unusual resistance pattern, temporal proximity of laboratory processing, and identical DNA fingerprints supported the theory of cross-contamination. Laboratory processing procedures included specimen batching and multi-use vials of buffer solution. Processing procedures were changed and no additional cases of suspected cross-contamination have been observed.

Impact of antiretroviral therapy on decreasing hospitalization rates of HIV-infected patients in 2001.

Effective antiretroviral therapy initially resulted in large decreases in hospitalization rates of HIV-infected patients. The goal of this study was to determine whether these gains were being maintained in 2001. A cross-sectional study of hospital admission characteristics during four time periods was performed.

Osteonecrosis in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus: a case-control study.

To evaluate risk factors for osteonecrosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, demographic and clinical characteristics of case patients (n=17) and control patients (n=34) matched on initial clinic visit date, length of follow-up, and baseline CD4 cell count were compared. Case patients were more likely to have received corticosteroids (47.1% vs.

Diagnostic value of iron indices in hemodialysis patients receiving epoetin.

Background: Iron deficiency remains a common cause of hyporesponsiveness to epoetin in hemodialysis patients. However, considerable controversy exists regarding the best strategies for diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: As part of a multicenter randomized clinical trial of intravenous versus subcutaneous administration of epoetin, we made monthly determinations of serum iron, total iron binding capacity, percentage transferrin saturation, and serum ferritin.

Pentosan polysulfate treatment reduces cyclosporine-induced nephropathy in salt-depleted rats.

Background: Long-term cyclosporine (CsA) treatment leads to a decreased glomerular filtration rate, hyalinosis of afferent arterioles, and striped cortical tubulo-interstitial fibrosis. We showed previously that pentosan polysulfate (SP54) prevented the development of microvascular and interstitial lesions in mouse models of progressive glomerulosclerosis. In this study, we examined the effect of pentosan polysulfate on the development of CsA nephropathy.

Subcutaneous compared with intravenous epoetin in patients receiving hemodialysis. Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Group on Erythropoietin in Hemodialysis Patients.

Background: Several studies have suggested that if recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin) is administered subcutaneously rather than intravenously, a lower dose may be sufficient to maintain the hematocrit at a given level.

Methods: In a randomized, unblinded trial conducted at 24 hemodialysis units at Veterans Affairs medical centers, we assigned 208 patients who were receiving long-term hemodialysis and epoetin therapy to treatment with either subcutaneous or intravenous epoetin. The dose was initially reduced until the hematocrit was below 30 percent and then was gradually increased to a level that would maintain the hematocrit in the range of 30 to 33 percent for 26 weeks.

Conditionally replicating mycobacteriophages: a system for transposon delivery to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Transposon mutagenesis provides a direct selection for mutants and is an extremely powerful technique to analyze genetic functions in a variety of prokaryotes. Transposon mutagenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been limited in part because of the inefficiency of the delivery systems. This report describes the development of conditionally replicating shuttle phasmids from the mycobacteriophages D29 and TM4 that enable efficient delivery of transposons into both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria.

Drug-induced nephrotoxicity: the crucial role of risk factors.

Although the exact incidence of drug-induced nephrotoxicity is not known, it is important for clinicians to be aware of the risks in certain patients and to know which drugs are the most commonly implicated. The latter include radiocontrast agents, aminoglycosides, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Other medications also have nephrotoxic potential when they are prescribed in specific patient populations.

Nephrotic syndrome in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Urinary protein excretion is generally less than 1 g/24 h in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), and the association of the nephrotic syndrome with this condition is considered rare. A patient with ADPKD associated with nephrotic-range proteinuria is described. She exhibited a relatively rapid impairment of her renal function.

Insulin reverses the protection given by diabetes against gentamicin nephrotoxicity in the rat.

Rats with untreated diabetes mellitus are protected from gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. In order to evaluate the role of hyperglycemia, glycosuria, and polyuria in this phenomenon, miniosmotic pumps filled with insulin were implanted for 15 days in seven female Sprague-Dawley rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. Plasma glucose levels were successfully maintained under 126 mg/dl.

Acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis associated with the extreme lithotomy position.

A patient who developed acute renal failure secondary to rhabdomyolysis associated with the use of the extreme lithotomy position for 6 hours during radical perineal prostatectomy is described. It appears that muscle ischemia due to compression of the lumbar and pelvic muscles resulted in muscle injury. Intense muscle uptake of technetium 99m methylene diphosphonate assisted in localizing the muscles involved and ascertaining the extent of the injury.

The protection against gentamicin nephrotoxicity in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat is not related to gender.

Since gender can influence the renal toxicity of a drug in a given species, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of sex in the protection against gentamicin (G)-induced nephrotoxicity afforded by diabetes mellitus (DM) in the rat. We have compared the effects of administration of G (40 mg/kg/day, for 14 days) on male and female DM Sprague-Dawley rats. Non-diabetic animals of both sexes receiving identical doses of G served as controls.

Serum sulfate concentration and the anion gap in hemodialysis patients.

First-of-the-month predialysis serum sulfate (SO4) and other blood chemistry values were measured prospectively for 5 to 7 months in 14 patients undergoing single pass chronic tri-weekly maintenance hemodialysis with bicarbonate dialysate. Blood was also obtained predialysis and again immediately postdialysis from seven patients (five of whom also participated in the chronic study). As expected, the patients manifested a high anion gap (AG) metabolic acidosis.

Hepatitis C infection in two urban hemodialysis units.

We determined the prevalence of antibodies to the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in 90 patients and 37 staff members of two hemodialysis units utilizing a recently developed anti-HCV recombinant based assay. Eleven patients (12%) were anti-HCV(+). Of these, eight (73%) had antibodies to the hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) indicating prior hepatitis B infection; one patient was hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)(+).

Effect of hypercalcemia on the anion gap.

It has been assumed, but not documented, that hypercalcemia induces an appreciable reduction in the serum anion gap (AG) because it represents an increase in the level of unmeasured cations. To test this question, we retrospectively compared the data of 59 hypercalcemic patients with malignancy [group 1, serum Ca 13.3 +/- SE 0.