A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Understanding HIV/AIDS in the Ethiopian Community.

The rate of HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C remains at epidemic levels and is most prevalent in the black community, with foreign-born blacks accounting for an increasing proportion of HIV infections in the Washington DC area. The Ethiopian community is among the subgroups that are especially impacted by HIV/AIDS. Yet, seldom does research on the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS break data into diverse subgroups, accounting for the distinct needs based on cultural or ethnic differences. This paper reports on the qualitative findings from a community participatory action research study that involved interviewing 60 Ethiopian-immigrants and nine community-based providers about their attitudes toward HIV/AIDS, and to elicit their ideas about how to improve HIV/AIDS prevention, promotion, and treatment approaches targeting the Ethiopian community. Findings show that stigma remains the largest barrier to accessing HIV/AIDS treatment among Ethiopians in the Washington, D.C. area. Therefore, strategies to reduce HIV/AIDS must address stigmatizing beliefs and be met with cultural sensitivity when developing community prevention and treatment outreach programs designed to reduce HIV/AIDS among Ethiopians.

Heterogeneous t(4;11) fusion transcripts in two infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

An RT-PCR assay detected the t(4;11) translocation in two infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Case P76 was a 10-month-old, female infant, who presented with a WBC of 137.4 x 10(9)/l and a pre-pre-B ALL immunophenotype. Case P120 was a 6-month-old female infant, with a WBC > 615 x 10(9)/l and a pre-pre-B ALL immunophenotype. RT-PCR of cDNA from both these cases generated a 656 bp and a 542 bp respectively, which sequencing confirmed as t(4;11) fusion transcripts. The primers and conditions selected for this assay are compatible with a one-step multiplex PCR for the main translocations in childhood ALL.