Depression, ART Adherence, and Receipt of Case Management Services by Adults with HIV in North Carolina, Medical Monitoring Project, 2009-2013.

Depression among persons with HIV is associated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption and discontinuation, virological failure, and poor clinical and survival outcomes. Case management services can address needs for emotional counseling and other supportive services to facilitate HIV care engagement. Using 2009-2013 North Carolina Medical Monitoring Project data from 910 persons engaged in HIV care, we estimated associations of case management utilization with "probable current depression" and with 100% ART dose adherence.

Associations between county-level voter turnout, county-level felony voter disenfranchisement, and sexually transmitted infections among women in the Southern United States.

Purpose: Voting may play a critical role in the allocation of social and structural resources to communities, which in turn shapes neighborhood environments, and ultimately, an individual's sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk. We assessed relationships among county-level voter turnout and felony voter disenfranchisement, and STIs.

Methods: This cross-sectional multilevel analysis included 666 women in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study between 2013 and 2015.

Changing Attitudes About Concurrency Among Young African Americans: Results of a Radio Campaign.

We created and evaluated an 8-month campaign of provocative radio ads to change attitudes about concurrent (overlapping) sexual partnerships among young African Americans. We created a concurrency attitude scale and compared its score distributions in independent samples of African Americans, ages 18-34 years, interviewed by telephone before (n = 678) and after (n = 479) the campaign. Pre- and post-campaign samples reflected similar response rates (pre: 32.

Chlamydia trachomatis Seroprevalence and Ultrasound-Diagnosed Uterine Fibroids in a Large Population of Young African-American Women.

Reproductive tract infections have long been hypothesized to increase the risk of uterine fibroids. Few studies have been conducted, even for the common infection genital Chlamydia trachomatis (gCT), and only with self-reported gCT data. Our investigation used micro-immunofluorescence serology for gCT to characterize past exposure.

Measuring Concurrency Attitudes: Development and Validation of a Vignette-Based Scale.

Background: Concurrent sexual partnerships (partnerships that overlap in time) may contribute to higher rates of HIV transmission in African Americans. Attitudes toward a behavior constitute an important component of most models of health-related behavior and behavioral change. We have developed a scale, employing realistic vignettes that appear to reliably measure attitudes about concurrency in young African American adults.

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Seroprevalence and Ultrasound-Diagnosed Uterine Fibroids in a Large Population of Young African-American Women.

For decades reproductive tract infections (RTIs) have been hypothesized to play a role in uterine fibroid development. The few previous studies conducted used self-reported history of RTIs and had inconsistent findings. We investigated this hypothesis further using serological analysis, an immunological measure of past exposure.

Can Young Adults Accurately Report Sexual Partnership Dates? Factors Associated With Interpartner and Dyad Agreement.

Background: Sexual partnership dates are critical to sexually transmitted infection/HIV research and control programs, although validity is limited by inaccurate recall and reporting.

Methods: We examined data from 302 heterosexual adults (151 index-partner dyads) to assess reliability of reporting. Dates of first sex and last sex were collected through individual interviews and joint dyad questionnaires, which were completed together with their partners.

Association of perceived partner non-monogamy with prevalent and incident sexual concurrency.

Objectives: Concurrency is suggested as an important factor in sexually transmitted infection transmission and acquisition, though little is known regarding factors that may predict concurrency initiation. We examined the association between perception of a partner's non-monogamy (PPNM) and simultaneous or subsequent concurrency among at-risk heterosexual young adults in the Los Angeles area.

Methods: We used Poisson regression models to estimate the relationship between PPNM and incident concurrency among 536 participants participating in a cohort study, interviewed at 4-month periods during 1 year.

Reducing Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Among Blacks in the Rural Southeastern United States: Development of Narrative Messages for a Radio Campaign.

In the United States, heterosexual transmission of HIV infection is dramatically higher among Blacks than among Whites. Overlapping (concurrent) sexual partnerships promote HIV transmission. The authors describe their process for developing a radio campaign (Escape the Web) to raise awareness among 18-34-year-old Black adults of the effect of concurrency on HIV transmission in the rural South.

Self-Reported Reproductive Tract Infections and Ultrasound Diagnosed Uterine Fibroids in African-American Women.

Background: For decades, it has been hypothesized that reproductive tract infections (RTIs) are risk factors for uterine fibroids. However, only two recent studies have been conducted. We aimed to investigate the relationship between RTIs and fibroids in a large study using ultrasound screening for fibroids.

Concurrent sexual partnerships among young heterosexual adults at increased HIV risk: types and characteristics.

Background: The impact of concurrency on sexually transmitted infection transmission depends on coital frequency, condom use, duration of relationship overlap, and number of partners. Previous research has identified distinct concurrency types; however, little is known about their risk characteristics.

Methods: Men (n = 261) and women (n = 275) aged 18 to 30 years at increased risk for acquiring HIV were recruited from community locations in Los Angeles.

Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and cognitive decline in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate whether poor oral health predicted 8-year cognitive function change in predominantly late middle adults in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Methods: Participants included a subset of ARIC participants aged 52-75 years at 1996-1998 from two study sites: Forsyth County NC and Jackson MS. All subjects completed cognitive function assessments both in 1996-1998 and 2004-2006, and the same subjects received a dental examination at the initial visit.

Particulate air pollution and susceptibility to the development of pulmonary tuberculosis disease in North Carolina: an ecological study.

Although Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), environmental factors may influence disease progression. Ecologic studies conducted in countries outside the USA with high levels of air pollution and PTB have suggested a link between active disease and ambient air pollution. The present investigation is the first to examine the ambient air pollution-PTB association in a country, where air pollution levels are comparatively lower.

Cross-sectional associations of oral health measures with cognitive function in late middle-aged adults: a community-based study.

Background: It has not been established to what extent oral health is associated with cognitive function in late middle-aged adults. In this study, which is part of the national Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, the authors investigated whether tooth loss and periodontitis are associated with lower cognitive function.

Methods: The authors analyzed ARIC data measuring cognitive function in 11,097 participants from 1996 through 1998 according to tests of delayed word recall, digit-symbol substitution (DSS) and word fluency; 9,874 participants answered dental screening questions.

Effects of aggregation of drug and diagnostic codes on the performance of the high-dimensional propensity score algorithm: an empirical example.

Background: The High-Dimensional Propensity Score (hd-PS) algorithm can select and adjust for baseline confounders of treatment-outcome associations in pharmacoepidemiologic studies that use healthcare claims data. How hd-PS performance is affected by aggregating medications or medical diagnoses has not been assessed.

Methods: We evaluated the effects of aggregating medications or diagnoses on hd-PS performance in an empirical example using resampled cohorts with small sample size, rare outcome incidence, or low exposure prevalence.

Association between unprotected ultraviolet radiation exposure and recurrence of ocular herpes simplex virus.

Studies have suggested that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light may increase risk of herpes simplex virus (HSV) recurrence. Between 1993 and 1997, the Herpetic Eye Disease Study (HEDS) randomized 703 participants with ocular HSV to receipt of acyclovir or placebo for prevention of ocular HSV recurrence. Of these, 308 HEDS participants (48% female and 85% white; median age, 49 years) were included in a nested study of exposures thought to cause recurrence and were followed for up to 15 months.

Sex ratio, poverty, and concurrent partnerships among men and women in the United States: a multilevel analysis.

Purpose: Social and economic contextual factors may promote concurrent sexual partnerships, which can accelerate population HIV transmission and are more common among African Americans than U.S. Whites.

High-risk human papillomavirus messenger RNA testing in physician- and self-collected specimens for cervical lesion detection in high-risk women, Kenya.

Background: Little is known about the performance of physician-versus self-collected specimens for high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) messenger RNA (mRNA) testing or risk factors for hrHPV mRNA positivity in physician- versus self-collected specimens. We compared the performance of hrHPV mRNA testing of physician- and self-collected specimens for detecting cytological high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions or more severe (≥HSIL) and examined risk factors for hrHPV mRNA positivity in female sex workers in Nairobi.

Methods: From 2009 to 2011, 344 female sex workers participated in this cross-sectional study.

All-cause and cause-specific mortality among black and white North Carolina state prisoners, 1995-2005.

Purpose: We compared mortality rates among state prisoners and other state residents to identify prisoners' health care needs.

Methods: We linked North Carolina prison records with state death records for 1995-2005 to estimate all-cause and cause-specific death rates among black and white male prisoners ages 20-79 years and used standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) to compare these observed deaths with the expected number on the basis of death rates among state residents.

Results: The all-cause SMR of black prisoners was 0.

Coparenting and sexual partner concurrency among white, black, and Hispanic men in the United States.

Background: Concurrent sexual partnerships (partnerships that overlap in time) increase the spread of infection through a network. Different patterns of concurrent partnerships may be associated with varying sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk depending on the partnership type (primary vs. nonprimary) and the likelihood of condom use with each concurrent partner.

Concurrent partnerships, nonmonogamous partners, and substance use among women in the United States.

Objectives: We determined the prevalence, distribution, and correlates of US women's involvement in concurrent sexual partnerships, a sexual-network pattern that speeds population-wide HIV dissemination.

Methods: We used sexual partnership dates reported by 7643 women in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to determine prevalence of concurrent sexual partnerships during the preceding 12 months. We examined associations between concurrency and sociodemographic characteristics and risk behaviors.