Sexual reproductive healthcare utilisation and HIV testing in an integrated adolescent youth centre clinic in Cape Town, South Africa

Background: HIV prevalence is increasing among South African youth, but HIV counselling and testing (HCT) remains low. Adolescent pregnancy rates are also high. Objectives: Innovative strategies are needed to increase HIV and pregnancy screening and prevention among youth. Method: The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth Centre (DTHF-YC) offers integrated, incentivised sexual and reproductive health (SRH), educational and recreational programmes. We compared HCT and contraception rates between the DTHF-YC and a public clinic (PC) in Cape Town to estimate the impact of DTHF-YC on youth contraception and HCT utilisation. Results: In 2015, females < 18 years had 3.74 times (confidence interval [CI]: 3.37–4.15) more contraception visits at DTHF-YC versus PC. There were no differences in the contraception and adherence was suboptimal. DTHF-YC youth (aged 15–24 years) were 1.85 times (CI: 1.69–2.01) more likely to undergo HCT versus PC, while male youth were 3.83 times (CI: 3.04–4.81) more likely to test at DTHF-YC. Youth were a third less likely to test HIV-positive at DTHF-YC versus PC. Female sex, older age, clinic attendance for contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), redeeming incentives and high DTHF-YC attendance were all independent factors associated with increased HCT. Conclusion: Youth were significantly more likely to access SRH services at DTHF-YC compared with the PC. The differences were greatest in contraception use by female adolescents < 18 years and HCT by male youth. Increased HCT did not increase youth HIV case detection. Data from DTHF-YC suggest that youth-friendly healthcare providers integrated into community youth spaces may increase youth HCT and contraception rates

Relative Vaccine Effectiveness of Adjuvanted Trivalent Influenza Vaccine over Three Consecutive Influenza Seasons in the United States

Traditional influenza vaccines may be less immunogenic in adults &ge;65 years of age due to immunosenescence. Two influenza vaccines&mdash;MF59&reg;-adjuvanted trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (aIIV3) and high-dose influenza vaccine (HD-IIV3)&mdash;were developed to overcome this problem. We summarize estimates of the relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of aIIV3 vs. HD-IIV3 and aIIV3 vs. standard, egg-based quadrivalent influenza vaccines (IIV4e) during the 2017&ndash;2018, 2018&ndash;2019, and 2019&ndash;2020 US influenza seasons using the same underlying electronic medical record and linked claims dataset for all three seasons. The primary outcome was influenza-related medical encounters (IRMEs), defined by diagnostic codes specific to influenza (ICD J09*-J11*). rVE was estimated using propensity score methods adjusting for demographics and health status. rVE estimates demonstrated consistent benefit for aIIV3 over IIV4e in the overall and at-risk populations. Relative to HD-IIV3, aIIV3 provided improved benefit in the overall study population and comparable benefit in the at-risk population across each season

Prolonged oral treatment with MK-677, a novel growth hormone secretagogue, improves sleep quality in man

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Effects of 7-day treatment with the orally active growth hormone (GH) secretagogue, MK-677, on insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels, 24-hour GH and cortisol profiles, and sleep in normal young men

abstractinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Effects of a 7-day treatment with a novel, orally active, growth hormone (GH) secretagogue, MK-677, on 24-hour GH profiles, insulin-like growth factor I, and adrenocortical function in normal young men

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe