Beebekidd8377

Togo and was associated to HIV infection. The present study indicates that mental health care must be integrated within health programs in Togo with a special focus to key populations through interventions such as social support groups.While primary care providers in New York State (NYS) are mandated to offer all patients a HIV test, still many NYS residents miss the HIV screening opportunity. read more To fill the gap, and as the CDC recommends, this study aimed to examine the feasibility of implementing HIV screening in dental setting, identify patient characteristics associated with acceptance of HIV rapid testing, and discuss best practices of HIV screening in dental setting. New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) collaborated with the Northeast/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center (NECA AETC) and three dental schools in New York State to offer free HIV screening tests as a component of routine dental care between February 2016 and March 2018. Ten clinics in upstate New York and Long Island participated in the study. HIV screening was performed using the OraQuick™ In-Home HIV Test. 14,887 dental patients were offered HIV screening tests; 9,057 (60.8%) were screened; and one patient (0.011%) was confirmed HIV positive and linked to medical care. Of all dental patients, 33% had never been screened for HIV; and 56% had not had a primary care visit or had not been offered an HIV screening test by primary care providers in the previous 12 months. Multi-level generalized linear modeling analysis indicated that test acceptance was significantly associated with patient's age, race/ethnicity, gender, country of origin, primary payer (or insurance), past primary care visits, past HIV testing experiences, and the poverty level of patient's community. HIV screening is well accepted by dental patients and can be effectively integrated into routine dental care. HIV screening in the dental setting can be a good option for first-time testers, those who have not seen a primary care provider in the last 12 months, and those who have not been offered HIV screening at their last primary care visit.PURPOSE To investigate whether microsurgical excision of trabecular meshwork (TM) in an ex vivo pigmentary glaucoma model can normalize the hypertensive phenotype. METHODS Eight eyes of a porcine pigmentary glaucoma model underwent 90° of microsurgical TM excision with an aspirating dual-blade (Goniotome (G)). 24 hours later, additional 90° of TM were removed. Anterior segments with sham surgeries served as the control (C). Outflow facility and intraocular pressure (IOP) were analyzed. Histology with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) was obtained. RESULTS After the first 90° TM excision, IOP was significantly lower in G (10.2±2.4 mmHg, n = 7) than C (20.0±2.0mmHg, n = 8, P less then 0.01). Outflow facility in G (0.38±0.07 μl/min/mmHg) was higher than C (0.16±0.02 μl/min/mmHg, P less then 0.01). After the second 90° TM excision, IOP in G (6.46±0.81 mmHg, n = 7) was significantly lower than C (20.3±1.7 mmHg, n = 8, P less then 0.001), while the outflow facility in G (0.50±0.05 μl/min/mmHg, n = 7) was higher than C (0.16±0.01 μl/min/mmHg, n = 8, P less then 0.001). Compared to the first excision, excision of an additional 90° did not change of IOP (P = 0.20) or outflow facility (P = 0.17) further. CONCLUSIONS Excision of 90° of TM in a pigmentary glaucoma model using an aspirating dual-blade decreased IOP and increased outflow facility.RNA-guided endonucleases such as Cas9 provide efficient on-target genome editing in cells but may also cleave at off-target loci throughout the genome. Engineered variants of Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) have been developed to globally reduce off-target activity, but individual off-targets may remain, or on-target activity may be compromised. In order to evolve against activity at specific off-targets while maintaining strong on-target editing, we developed a novel M13 bacteriophage-mediated selection method. Using this method, sequential rounds of positive and negative selection are used to identify mutations to Cas9 that enhance or diminish editing activity at particular genomic sequences. We also introduce scanning mutagenesis of oligo-directed targets (SMOOT), a comprehensive mutagenesis method to create highly diverse libraries of Cas9 variants that can be challenged with phage-based selection. Our platform identifies novel SpCas9 mutants which mitigate cleavage against off-targets both in biochemical assays and in T-cells while maintaining higher on-target activity than previously described variants. We describe an evolved variant, S. pyogenes Adapted to Reduce Target Ambiguity Cas9 (SpartaCas), composed of the most enriched mutations, each of unknown function. This evolved Cas9 mutant reduces off-target cleavage while preserving efficient editing at multiple therapeutically relevant targets. Directed evolution of Cas9 using our system demonstrates an improved structure-independent methodology to effectively engineer nuclease activity.BACKGROUND Non-use of modern contraceptives among married or in-union women aged 15 to 49 years is a demographic and public health challenge. Studies on the predictors of contraceptive use among women in Sierra Leone are few, more than two decades old, and not nationally representative. This study aims to fill this gap by estimating the prevalence and the predictors of the current use of modern contraceptives among married or in-union women in Sierra Leone. METHODS This is a population-based study that used the 2013 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey (SDHS) dataset. We performed complex samples logistic regression with 9,111 reproductive-age women. The analysis was done using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 21, and statistical significance was pegged at p≤0.01 and p≤0.05. The outcome of interest is the current use of modern contraceptives among reproductive-age married or in-union women in Sierra Leone, measured as 'Yes' (currently using a modern method) and 'No' (using a folkloric method, traditional weeks prior to the survey [AOR = 3.90, CI 3.14, 4.84], ever taken an HIV test [AOR = 1.67, CI 1.39, 2.02], ever visited a health facility in the last 12 months [AOR = 1.73, CI 1.44, 2.09], dwelling in a richer household [AOR = 1.32, CI 1.01, 1.72], and dwelling in an urban area [AOR = 1.44, CI 1.14, 1.81]. Exposure to family planning through print media (newspaper/magazine) was negatively associated with current use of modern contraceptive [AOR = 0.60, CI 0.37, 0.96]. CONCLUSION The study provided in-depth insight into the sociodemographic predictors of the current use of modern contraceptives among married or in-union women in Sierra Leone. The study underscored the need to promote the protective factors of the current use of modern contraceptives and address the risk factors of the low prevalence of modern contraceptive use through policies, programs, and interventions in Sierra Leone.