Sex work and its associations with alcohol and methamphetamine use among female bar and spa workers in the Philippines.

To assess the prevalence of sex work and its associations with substance use among female bar/spa workers in the Philippines (N = 498), workers from 54 bar or spa venues in Metro Manila (2009-2010) were surveyed on demographics, drug/alcohol use, abuse history, and sex work. Their median age was 23 years and 35% engaged in sex work. Sex work was independently associated with methamphetamine use (19% vs 4%; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =2.

Occurrence, characteristics, and impact of chronic pain in formerly abused women.

The purposes of this study were to describe the occurrence of chronic pain and to evaluate for differences in pain characteristics and intimate partner violence between women who reported mild compared with moderate to severe chronic pain. A convenience sample of community-based women (N = 84) was recruited. The 77% of women who reported chronic pain were dichotomized into two groups.

Phase contrast soft x-ray microscopy using Zernike zone plates.

Soft x-ray Zernike phase contrast microscopy was implemented using a "Zernike zone plate" (ZZP) without the use of a separate phase filter in the back focal plane. The ZZP is a single optic that integrates the appropriate +/-pi/2 radians phase shift through selective zone placement shifts in a Fresnel zone plate. Imaging using a regular zone plate, positive ZZP, and negative ZZP was performed at a wavelength of lambda = 2.

In vivo antagonism with zidovudine plus stavudine combination therapy.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected subjects receiving zidovudine were randomized either to add stavudine (d4T) or didanosine (ddI) to their current regimen or to switch to ddI or d4T monotherapy. After 16 weeks of therapy, the mean reduction in HIV RNA from baseline was 0.14 log(10) copies/mL in patients receiving d4T or zidovudine plus d4T.