Facilitating condom use with clients during commercial sex in Nevada's legal brothels

OBJECTIVES: This study examined condom use in legal Nevada brothels. METHODS: Forty female prostitutes in two brothels were interviewed about client resistance to condoms and techniques for facilitating condom use. RESULTS: Of 3290 clients in the previous month, 2.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.2%,3.4%) were reluctant to use condoms. Of these individuals, 72% ultimately used condoms, while 12% chose nonpenetrative sex without condoms. The remaining 16% left the brothels without services. Condom use rates were markedly lower with nonpaying sex partners (lowers) than with clients. CONCLUSIONS: Brothel prostitutes may be at greater risk for acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases from lovers than from clients.     

Sensitivity to change of the Roland-Morris Back Pain Questionnaire: part 2

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether blood pressure is reduced for at least 6 months with an intervention to lower alcohol intake in moderate to heavy drinkers with above optimal to slightly elevated diastolic blood pressure, and whether reduction of alcohol intake can be maintained for 2 years. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Six hundred forty-one outpatient veterans with an average intake of 3 or more alcoholic drinks per day in the 6 months before entry into the study and with diastolic blood pressure 80 to 99 mm Hg were randomly assigned to a cognitive-behavioral alcohol reduction intervention program or a control observation group for 15 to 24 months. The goal of the intervention was the lower of 2 or fewer drinks daily or a 50% reduction in intake. A subgroup with hypertension was defined as having a diastolic blood pressure of 90 to 99 mm Hg, or 80 to 99 mm Hg if recently taking medication for hypertension. RESULTS: Reduction in average weekly self-reported alcohol intake was significantly greater (P<.001) at every assessment from 3 to 24 months in the intervention group vs the control group: levels declined from 432 g/wk at baseline by 202 g/wk in the intervention group and from 445 g/wk by 78 g/wk in the control group in the first 6 months, with similar reductions after 24 months. The intervention group had a 1.2/0.7-mm Hg greater reduction in blood pressure than the control group (for each, P = .17 and P = .18) for the 6-month primary end point; for the hypertensive stratum the difference was 0.9/0.7 mm Hg (for each, P = .58 and P = .44). CONCLUSIONS: The 1.3 drinks per day average difference between changes in self-reported alcohol intake observed in this trial produced only small nonsignificant effects on blood pressure. The results from the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension Study (PATHS) do not provide strong support for reducing alcohol consumption in nondependent moderate drinkers as a sole method for the prevention or treatment of hypertension.     

Comparison of T2 lesion volume and magnetization transfer ratio histogram analysis and of atrophy and measures of lesion burden in patients with multiple sclerosis

A kinetic analysis of degradation of saturated oligoguluronates by poly(alpha-L-guluronate)lyase from Corynebacterium sp. ALY-1 strain was done. The saturated oligoguluronates were prepared by hydrolyzing poly alpha-1,4-L-guluronate from alginate with HCl, and then by gel filtration on a Bio-Gel P-6 column. The saturated pentaguluronate or above were rapidly degraded by the enzyme, while tetraguluronate was slowly degraded. From the dependency of the catalytic rate constant (kcat) on the degree of polymerization of substrates, the enzyme was found to have a subsite size corresponding to hexaguluronate units. The action pattern of the enzyme on hexaguluronate suggested that the catalytic site of the enzyme was matched to the linkage between the second and third uronic residue from the non-reducing end, since the substrate was mainly split into a unsaturated tetramer and a saturated dimer from a HPLC analysis.