			Home About us Contact

Recruitment Sites (recruitment + site)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Profiles of Self-Reported HIV-Risk Behaviors Among Injection Drug Users in Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Detoxification, and Needle Exchange Programs

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2006
Hayley Diana Mark
ABSTRACT Objective: Injection drug use has accounted for more than one third of acquired immune deficiency syndrome cases in the United States. The purpose of this study was to compare the demographic characteristics, types, and frequency of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-risk behaviors among injection drug users (IDUs) recruited from a needle exchange program (NEP), methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), and detoxification (detox) program. Design: A cross-sectional, correlational design was used to determine whether the selected HIV-risk behaviors and demographic characteristics of IDUs varied by site of recruitment. Sample and Measurements: Confidential questionnaires were completed by 445 IDUs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Results: Data analysis revealed that HIV sexual and injection-risk behavior varied by recruitment site. Subjects recruited from the NEP were more likely to engage in HIV-risk behaviors than subjects recruited from the MMT or detox sites. Conclusions: Interventions occurring in program and treatment sites need to be sensitive to various demographic characteristics and behaviors if they are to reach those at highest risk of HIV infection. Targeting HIV prevention interventions based upon risk group membership alone (e.g. IDUs) fails to address the distinct risk behaviors and demographic characteristics of enrollees in different programs. [source]

Interleukin-6-induced proliferation of pre-B cells mediated by receptor complexes lacking the SHP2/SOCS3 recruitment sites revisited

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 24 2001
Kerstin Friederichs
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) induces B-cell proliferation by binding to receptor complexes composed of a specific ,-receptor (gp80; CD126) and the signal transducing receptor subunit gp130 (CD130). Immediately after receptor complex activation, signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) 1 and 3 and the Src-homology domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP2) are recruited to gp130 and subsequently tyrosine phosphorylated. The activated dimerized STATs translocate to the nucleus and bind to enhancer elements of IL-6-inducible genes. SHP2 acts as an adapter and links the Jak/STAT pathway to the Ras/Raf/MAPK cascade but it is also involved in signal attenuation. Whereas STAT3 activation appears to be crucial for all biological activities of IL-6, the requirement of SHP2-activation depends on the individual biological response analyzed. The requirement of SHP2 activation for the pre-B cell (Ba/F3) proliferation has been reported previously [Fukada, T., Hibi, M., Yamanaka, Y., Takahashi-Tezuka, M., Fujitani, Y., Yamaguchi, T., Nakajima, K. & Hirano, T. (1996) Immunity5, 449,460]. In contrast, we have recently demonstrated that the presence of a single STAT-recruitment site within gp130 is sufficient for IL-6- induced proliferation of Ba/F3 cells [Schmitz, J., Dahmen, H., Grimm, C., Gendo, C., Müller-Newen, G., Heinrich, P.C. & Schaper, F. (2000) J. Immunol.164, 848,854]. To unravel this discrepancy we analyzed the IL-6-induced dose-dependent proliferation of Ba/F3 cells mediated by receptor complexes lacking SHP2/SOCS3 recruitment sites. Surprisingly, pre-B cells, after stimulation with low amounts of IL-6, proliferate much more efficiently in the absence of the activated SHP2 than in the presence of the tyrosine phosphatase. Therefore, SHP2 activation appears to be relevant for IL-6-induced proliferation only after stimulation with very large amounts of IL-6. [source]

End-of-Life Decision-Making, Decisional Conflict, and Enhanced Information: Race Effects

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2008
Rebecca S. Allen PhD
OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of enhanced information regarding the risks, benefits, and life-sustaining treatment alternatives on hypothetical medical decisions and decisional conflict in older, community-dwelling Caucasian and African-American adults. DESIGN: Two-group (enhanced information; no information) between-subjects design. SETTING: Community-based dwellings, two assisted living facilities, and one senior citizen center. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-eight adults (aged 74.5±7.18) with a mean Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status,Modified (TICS-m) score of 31.5±4.7 were recruited through personal contacts and informational talks held at the recruitment sites. MEASUREMENTS: Measures included the Life Support Preferences/Predictions Questionnaire,modified (LSPQ-m); the Decisional Conflict Scale; and enhanced information, including detailed descriptions of life-sustaining treatment options for each LSPQ-m illness scenario, risks of the treatment, benefits of the treatment, and alternatives for each treatment (called medical information stimuli). RESULTS: Enhanced information (e.g., medical information stimuli) reduced decisional conflict (P=.049, d=0.47) for hypothetical life-sustaining treatment decisions. A mixed analysis of variance with group and race as between-subjects variables and illness and treatment as within-subjects variables revealed significant main effects of race, illness, and treatment, as well as a significant race-by-illness-by-group interaction (Wilk's lambda=0.923, F(2, 73)=3.05, P=.05, partial ,2=0.08). Enhanced information produced different patterns of desire for life-sustaining treatments in African Americans and Caucasians. CONCLUSION: Physicians and other healthcare professionals can reduce decisional conflict in patients by providing enhanced information regarding treatment risks, benefits, and alternatives. Such decision aids may provide new information or knowledge and thus reduce desire for treatment in African Americans. [source]