Associations between political/civic participation and HIV drug injection risk.

BACKGROUND: Participating in civic activities has been found to be related to positive health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: This study examines associations between injection drug use health variables (sharing paraphernalia, using shooting galleries) and political/civic engagement (identifying with any political party, attention paid to politics and being registered to vote). METHODS: Participants (N = 162) were recruited at 6 New York City (NYC) methadone programs as part of an HIV intervention (86% male). RESULTS: In the bivariate analysis, being registered to vote and political party identification were related to lower paraphernalia sharing; higher levels of attention paid to politics were associated with lower shooting gallery use. In the multivariate analysis, political party identification was associated with lower paraphernalia sharing and higher levels of attention paid to politics was related to lower shooting gallery use. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that maintaining connections with mainstream civic activities can be related to reduced health risks, including HIV risk behaviors. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study contributes to understanding the relationships between involvement in civic/political participation and health, an area in which few studies have been conducted.

Addressing the HIV-related needs of substance misusers in New York State: the benefits and barriers to implementing a "one-stop shopping" model.

Substance misusers are at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, and substance user treatment programs (SUTPs) are uniquely situated to address their HIV-related needs. In New York State, some SUTPs have implemented a centralized model of substance user treatment and HIV care. We synthesize past literature and use data from semistructured interviews with SUTP staff, analyzed with qualitative software, to describe implementation barriers. These interviews were conducted in 2003-2004 at three SUTPs in Texas and New York as part of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. With study limitations noted, main implications include a need for a combined medical-addiction treatment philosophy to facilitate multidisciplinary care.

Training drug treatment patients to conduct peer-based HIV outreach: an ethnographic perspective on peers' experiences.

From 2005 to 2008, the Bienvenidos Project trained Puerto Rican patients of New York City and New Jersey Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs to conduct peer-based community outreach to migrant Puerto Rican drug users to reduce migrants' HIV risk behaviors. Ethnographic research, including focus groups, individual interviews, and observations, was conducted with a subset of the patients trained as peers (n = 49; 67% male; mean age 40.3 years) to evaluate the self-perceived effects of the intervention. Results of the ethnographic component of this study are summarized. The role of ethnographic methods in implementing and evaluating this kind of intervention is also discussed.

Challenges in recruiting and training drug treatment patients as peer outreach workers: a perspective from the field.

Hispanic patients were recruited from methadone maintenance treatment programs in 2005-2008 to be trained as peer outreach workers, targeting migrant drug users from Puerto Rico. Goals of the outreach focused on reducing HIV-related risk behaviors. A total of 80 peers were recruited from 4 clinics in New York and New Jersey. Following training, they conducted outreach in their communities for 12 weeks. This paper describes the challenges encountered during the recruitment, training, and outreach phases of the project, from the field perspective. Recommendations for future efforts in training drug treatment patients as outreach workers are provided.

Biculturality and HIV-risk behaviors among Puerto Rican drug users in New York City.

Biculturality refers to two independent processes of acculturation, one to the host society's culture and another to the culture of origin. This study examined the relationship between biculturality and HIV-related risk behaviors in a sample of injecting and noninjecting Puerto Rican drug users (N = 259), recruited in New York City in 2005-2006. Biculturality was measured by two scales: involvement in (i) American culture (AMBIC) and (ii) Puerto Rican culture Biculturality (PRBIC). The majority (78%) of the participants were males, with a mean age of 42 years. About half were born in Puerto Rico, and the average length of stay in the United States was 26 years. In multiple logistic-regression analysis, AMBIC was significantly related to lower injection risk after controlling for other factors including gender, age, and MMTP enrollment, while PRBIC was a significant predictor of higher sex risk. Involvement in the host culture and the culture of origin differed in their relationship to risk behaviors, indicating that incorporating assessments of biculturality may be useful in assessing and addressing migrants' behaviors, including HIV-risk behaviors. The study's limitations have been noted.

Social support and HIV-related injection risk among Puerto Rican migrant and nonmigrant injection drug users recruited in New York City.

This study compared the associations between social support and HIV injection risk among Puerto Rican migrant (n = 221) and nonmigrant (n = 340) injection drug users in New York City. Practical and emotional support scales were developed from 8 items and examined by migrant status as predictors of risk. Bivariate and regression analysis were conducted with drug shooting gallery use, sharing needles, paraphernalia, and number of monthly injections as dependent variables. Migrants had lower emotional (2.82 vs. 3.19, p = .002) and practical (1.87 vs. 2.05; p = .051) support than nonmigrants. Controlling for age, sex and homelessness, emotional support was negatively associated to injection frequency and (standardized coefficient = -.168, p = .020) gallery use (adjusted odds ration [AOR] = .76, confidence interval [CI] = .62-.94, p = .011) among migrants and to an almost two fold increase in sharing syringes (AOR= 1.87, CI = 1.02-3.43; p = .041) among nonmigrants. The findings suggest that though migrants have less support than nonmigrants do, their support reduces risk and thus their likelihood of injection-related HIV infection.

Conducting peer outreach to migrants: outcomes for drug treatment patients.

Peer outreach models have been successful in addressing HIV risk behaviors of drug users. Patients in methadone maintenance treatment programs who were migrants from Puerto Rico and/or familiar with drug use there were trained to conduct HIV-related peer outreach. A group randomized design was implemented; patients in the Experimental (E) condition (n = 80) received training and conducted 12 weeks of outreach. Half of the patients completed the training and outreach. At follow-up, patients in the E condition who conducted outreach felt they were more helpful to their community, showed a trend for engaging in more vocational activities, and were more likely to talk with others about HIV, compared to those who did not conduct outreach and those in the Control condition (n = 78). Drug treatment patients who are migrants can be trained as peer outreach workers and short-term benefits were found. Longer term maintenance of benefits should be assessed.

HIV and Drug Use in Puerto Rico: Findings from the ARIBBA Study.

This paper presents findings from the Alliance for Research in El Barrio and Bayamón (ARIBBA) research study, which compared HIV-related risk behaviors, HIV infection rates, and mortality rates of 800 Puerto Rican injection drug users and crack smokers in East Harlem, New York, with 399 of their counterparts in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The study was conducted from 1996 to 2004 and is among the most comprehensive ever undertaken on HIV risk behaviors of drug users in Puerto Rico. This paper presents the main findings, many of which have been published in scientific journals. The study found that drug users in Puerto Rico became infected with HIV at a rate almost 4 times higher than Puerto Rican drug users in New York, and they died at a rate that was more than 3 times as high. The findings indicate that drug users in Puerto Rico are more likely than Puerto Rican drug users in New York to engage in injection drug use and sexual behaviors that put them at risk of becoming infected with HIV. In addition, they have fewer prevention resources available to them. HIV prevention programs are scarce in Puerto Rico and the availability of drug treatment programs in Puerto Rico declined by over one third during the period examined. Additionally, significantly fewer HIV-positive drug users in Puerto Rico were taking HIV-related medications than in New York. The paper concludes with recommendations and lessons learned from the study.

Attitudes of methadone program staff toward provision of harm-reduction and other services.

OBJECTIVE: The need for expansion of health services provided in drug treatment programs has been widely discussed since the beginning of the HIV epidemic among drug users. Service expansion has focused on various types of services including medical services (eg, primary care) and harm-reduction services (eg, provision of sterile syringes). METHODS: A staff survey was conducted in 8 methadone maintenance clinics in the New York/New Jersey area to assess attitudes toward the provision of harm reduction and other services in methadone clinics, and the relationship of these attitudes to other variables. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 114 staff members in 8 methadone maintenance clinics completed the survey. RESULTS: The majority of staff was supportive of adding services, over 90% supported medical services, and the majority supported harm-reduction services such as syringe access and disposal services. Higher education and HIV knowledge levels were significant correlates of favorable attitudes toward service provision. CONCLUSIONS: Support for providing harm-reduction services in methadone maintenance clinics was found. Enhancing knowledge of staff regarding various types of health services, and engaging them in how best to institute new services, should be undertaken when new services are planned.

Migrant drug users: predictors of HIV-related sexual and injection risk behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Puerto Rican drug users recruited in NY who previously used drugs in Puerto Rico (PR) have been found to have higher HIV injection and sex-related risk behaviors than those who had not used in PR. This study examined predictors of risk among migrant Puerto Rican drug users. (For the purpose of this paper, the term "migrant" was used to designate Puerto Rican drug users who had used drugs in Puerto Rico and were recruited in New York or New Jersey). METHODS: A total of 290 drug users who had previously used drugs in PR were recruited in NY and New Jersey and interviewed regarding drug use history and HIV risk behaviors. RESULTS: Participants engaged in high risk behaviors, e.g., 39% shared injection paraphernalia and 62% reported unprotected sex. Multivariate analyses found that predictors of injection-related risk included being born in PR and purchasing drugs jointly with other drug users; predictors of sex-related risk included younger age and homelessness. DISCUSSION: Addressing risk reduction among those drug users who were born in Puerto Rico and are younger or homeless was indicated, and efforts to reach those at highest risk through NEPs was recommended.

Research challenges to the study of HIV/AIDS among migrant and immigrant Hispanic populations in the United States.

Migrant populations have been found to be at risk of HIV/AIDS. The growth in immigrant and migrant Hispanic populations in the United States increases the need to enhance understanding of influences on their HIV-risk behaviors. Four challenges to conducting research among these populations were identified: (1) the need to use multilevel theoretical frameworks; (2) the need to differentiate between Hispanic subgroups; (3) challenges to recruitment and data collection; and (4) ethical issues. This article describes how two studies of Hispanic immigrants and migrants in the New York area addressed these challenges. One study focused on new immigrants from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and a second study focused on Puerto Rican drug users. Both studies incorporated qualitative and quantitative methods to study these hard-to-reach populations. Continued study of the sociocultural and contextual factors affecting HIV risk for mobile populations, and addressing the research challenges, is crucial to developing effective intervention programs.

Tratamiento del cáncer de próstata con el acetato de ciproterona / Processing of the cancer of prostate with acetate of ciproterona

Luego de la revisión de los factores hormonales en la producción y desarrollo del cáncer de próstata, analizamos las modalidades de la hormonoterapia en el cáncer de próstata avanzado (D1 y D2) y finalmente presentamos nuestra experiencia con el uso del acetato de ciproterona en el mismo con la evolución de tres meses a más de 10 años.

Vesicostomia continente

Diseñamos un procedimiento de derivación urinaria continente baja que ha tenido muy buen resultado a corta y larga evolución en 6 de los pacientes que presentamos. Se presentan los casos, la técnica y se discute su indicación y evolución.

Métodos quirúrgicos de la anticoncepción en el hombre

Se ha realizado la vasectomia desde hace mucho tiempo en la historia con los más extraños, ridículos o indebidos motivos. En la actualidad en el procedimiento de anticoncepción masculina más difundido en el mundo. Según todos los estudios realizados es seguro y libre de complicaciones. Presentamos nuestra experiencia, limitada por la idiosincracia de nuestra población, que demuestra así mismo la seguridad, la simpleza y la beningnidad del procedimiento.

Datos epidemiológicos del cáncer de próstata en 1998 en el Hospital Carlos Andrade Marín

Este es un estudio epidemiológico del cáncer prostático en 1998 en la población afiliada del HCAM (IESS) servicio de Urología. Presentamos las cifras de todos los pacientes con cáncer de próstata en 1998 y verificamos un incremento en la incidencia de nuevos casos del mismo, en comparación con los años anteriores y discutimos los parámetros de edad, estadio, medios diagnósticos y tratamiento de los nuevos casos.

Tumores testiculares en el Hospital "Carlos Andrade Marín" 1985-1996

Se presentan todos los casos de tumores testiculares tratados en el Hospital "Carlos Andrade Marín" (Quito-Ecuador) desde 1985 a 1996. Se registraron todos los parámetros de presentación, diagnosticos y tratamientos realizados y se reportan los excelentes resultados obtenidos.

Urolitotripsia extracorporea con energia piezoelectrica

Presentamos 200 casos de urolitotripsia extracorporea con ondas de choque con energia pre/electrica con los que se obtubo un 91 por ciento de exito promedio, en cálculos urinarios localizados a culquier nivel del tracto urinario.