Prevalence of HIV and other infections and correlates of needle and syringe sharing among people who inject drugs in Podgorica, Montenegro: a respondent-driven sampling survey.

BACKGROUND: People who inject drugs (PWID) have significantly higher rates of blood borne and sexually transmitted infections due to unsafe injecting practices and risky sexual behaviors. METHODS: We carried out an HIV bio-behavioral survey using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in people who use drugs (PWID) in Podgorica, Montenegro in 2013 in order to determine the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and risk behaviors. Data were analyzed using RDS Analyst and SPSS 12.0 to obtain prevalence estimates of key bio-behavioral indicators and assess correlates of needle and syringe sharing using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 402 PWID were recruited. HIV prevalence was 1.1%, while the prevalence of HCV and HBsAg was 53.0% and 1.4%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, significant correlates of needle and syringe sharing in the past month were being older than 26 years, female, injecting drugs more than once per day, injecting in parks or on streets, not being able to obtaining free-of-charge sterile needles and syringes and reporting more than four partners in the past 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the HIV epidemic in PWID in Montenegro might still be at a low level, though the HCV epidemic is well-established.

Phagocytic activity and nitric oxide production of circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes from patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Many studies have demonstrated an increase of neutrophils in patients with advanced cancer. However, the possible role of increased neutrophils in various neoplasms studied to date varies considerably. The authors examined the changes in white blood cell counts in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Malonildialdehyde and nitric oxide (NO) plasma and ascitic fluid levels, phagocitic activity and the ability of the polymorphonuclear cells (PMNCs) to produce nitric oxide were also measured. An increase in PMNCs and decrease in lymphocytes was found in cancer patients. Compared with healthy controls, cancer PMNCs showed significant enhancement of phagocytosis Similarly, pretreatment of healthy PMNCs with crude supernatants from short-term cultures of the peritoneal cells from ascitic fluid of patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis caused marked stimulation of PMNC phagocytosis. In addition, plasma and ascitic fluid nitric oxide levels in cancer patients were significantly higher than those found in control one. Most importantly, it was found that PMNCs from cancer patients release significantly more nitric oxide than corresponding normal controls. Therefore, considering the fact that neutrophils make up more than 50% of total leukocytes, these cells can play one of the most important roles in tumor biology.