Disclosure, stress, and psychological adjustment among mothers affected by HIV.

This study examined patterns of disclosure and psychological adjustment among mothers infected or affected by HIV. All participants were followed through a family AIDS clinic at a midwestern children's hospital. With respect to disclosure, results indicated that high perceived stress (r = 0.50, p = 0.001) and low efficacy related to managing parenting demands (r = -0.42, p = 0.01) were significantly associated with disclosure of seropositive status. Neither time since diagnosis, psychological adjustment, AIDS knowledge, nor health status as indicated by CD4 count were related to disclosure. Results also indicated that 51% of the mothers met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for a psychological disorder in the preceding year. The most common diagnoses included posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression. Analyses suggested that perceived stress accounted for a significant 43% of the variance in psychological adjustment. Neither disclosure, time since diagnosis, nor CD4 count were related to adjustment. Findings are discussed in terms of mothers' mental health needs and provision of services to families affected by HIV/AIDS. Although the results of this study must be considered preliminary due to a limited number of participants and correlational analyses, they point to several avenues for future research.

Binding of immunoglobulin- and complement-coated erythrocytes to human neutrophil subpopulations.

Human neutrophils are separable into two populations on the basis of the presence or absence of Fc receptors as detected by rosette assays with IgG antibody-sensitized human erythrocytes. In the present report it was shown that IgG-sensitized sheep erythrocytes could detect some Fc receptor activity on those cells which are Fc receptor-negative with the human cell assay. There was clearly a difference between Fc receptor expressed on the positive and negative cells. Neutrophils with "high" and "low" density Fc receptor activity were studied for a range of membrane receptors for complement fragments including, C4b, C3b, C3d, and C3bi. No difference was found between the two populations of cells in their expression of complement receptors. Moreover, neither population expressed receptors for C3d, suggesting that neither population was a high proportion of immature neutrophils.