The price of sex: condom use and the determinants of the price of sex among female sex workers in eastern zimbabwe.

Background. Higher prices for unprotected sex threaten the high levels of condom use that contributed to the decline in Zimbabwe's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic. To improve understanding of financial pressures competing against safer sex, we explore factors associated with the price of commercial sex in rural eastern Zimbabwe. Methods. We collected and analyzed cross-sectional data on 311 women, recruited during October–December 2010, who reported that they received payment for their most-recent or second-most-recent sex acts in the past year. Zero-inflated negative binomial models with robust standard errors clustered on female sex worker (FSW) were used to explore social and behavioral determinants of price. Results. The median price of sex was $10 (interquartile range [IQR],$5–$20) per night and$10 (IQR, $5–$15) per act. Amounts paid in cash and commodities did not differ significantly. At the most-recent sex act, more-educated FSWs received 30%–74% higher payments. Client requests for condom use significantly predicted protected sex (P < .01), but clients paid on average 42.9% more for unprotected sex. Conclusions. Within a work environment where clients' preferences determine condom use, FSWs effectively use their individual capital to negotiate the terms of condom use. Strengthening FSWs' preferences for protected sex could help maintain high levels of condom use

Evaluating distributional regression strategies for modelling self-reported sexual age-mixing

The age dynamics of sexual partnership formation determine patterns of sexually transmitted disease transmission and have long been a focus of researchers studying human immunodeficiency virus. Data on self-reported sexual partner age distributions are available from a variety of sources. We sought to explore statistical models that accurately predict the distribution of sexual partner ages over age and sex. We identified which probability distributions and outcome specifications best captured variation in partner age and quantified the benefits of modelling these data using distributional regression. We found that distributional regression with a sinh-arcsinh distribution replicated observed partner age distributions most accurately across three geographically diverse data sets. This framework can be extended with well-known hierarchical modelling tools and can help improve estimates of sexual age-mixing dynamics

Incidence, risk factors and outcomes of Escherichia coli bloodstream infections in a large Canadian region

ABSTRACTAlthough Escherichia coli is the most common cause of bloodstream infection, its epidemiology has not been well defined in non-selected populations. We sought to describe the incidence of risk factors for, and outcomes associated with, E. coli bacteraemia. Population-based surveillance for E. coli bacteraemia was conducted in the Calgary Health Region (population 1.2 million) during the period 2000–2006. In total, 2368 episodes of E. coli bacteraemia were identified for an overall annual population incidence of 30.3/100 000; 15% were nosocomial, 32% were healthcare-associated community-onset and 53% were community-acquired bacteraemias. The very young and the elderly were at highest risk for E. coli bacteraemia. Sixty per cent of the episodes occurred in females (relative risk 1.5; 95% CI 1.4–1.6). Dialysis, solid organ transplantation and neoplastic disease were the most important risk factors for acquiring E. coli bacteraemia. Rates of resistance to ampicillin, trimethoprim–sulphamethoxazole, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, cefazolin and ceftriaxone increased significantly during the period 2000–2006. The case-fatality rate was 11% and the annual population mortality rate was 2.9/100 000. Increasing age, ciprofloxacin resistance, non-urinary focus and a number of comorbid illnesses were independently associated with an increased risk of death, and community acquisition and urinary focus were associated with a lower risk of death. This study documents the major burden of illness associated with E. coli bacteraemia and identifies groups at increased risk for acquiring and dying from these infections. The emergence of ciprofloxacin resistance and its adverse effect on patient outcome is a major concern

Understanding the determinants and consequences of HIV status disclosure in Manicaland, Zimbabwe: cross-sectional and prospective analyses

Few longitudinal studies have measured trends and effects of disclosure over ART scale-up in general-population samples. We investigated levels, determinants and outcomes of disclosure to relatives and partners in a large general-population cohort in Zimbabwe. Trends in disclosure levels from 2003-2013 were analysed, and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify determinants. Longitudinal analyses were conducted testing associations between disclosure and prevention/treatment-related outcomes. Disclosure to anyone increased from 79% to 100% in men and from 63% to 98% in women from 2003-2008; but declined to 89% in both sexes in 2012-2013. More women than men disclosed to relatives (67.8% versus 44.4%; p<0.001) but fewer women disclosed to partners (85.3% versus 95.0%; p<0.001). In 2012-13, younger age, secondary/higher education, being single, and experience of stigma were associated with disclosure to relatives in both sexes. Partner characteristics and HIV-group attendance were associated with disclosure to partners for women. Reactions to disclosure were generally supportive but less so for females than males disclosing to partners (92.0% versus 97.4%). Partner disclosure was associated with greater social support and treatment adherence in females. To conclude, this study shows disclosure is vital to HIV prevention and treatment, and programmes to facilitate disclosure should be re-invigorated

HIV decline in Zimbabwe due to reductions in risky sex? Evidence from a comprehensive epidemiological review.

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Patterns of self-reported behaviour change associated with receiving voluntary counselling and testing in a longitudinal study from Manicaland, Zimbabwe.

Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is promoted as a potential HIV prevention measure. We describe trends in uptake of VCT for HIV, and patterns of subsequent behaviour change associated with receiving VCT in a population-based open cohort in Manicaland, Zimbabwe. The relationship between receipt of VCT and subsequent reported behaviour was analysed using generalized linear models with random effects. At the third survey, 8.6% of participants (1,079/12,533), had previously received VCT. Women who received VCT, both those positive and negative, reduced their reported number of new partners. Among those testing positive, this risk reduction was enhanced with time since testing. Among men, no behavioural risk reduction associated with VCT was observed. Significant increases in consistent condom use, with regular or non-regular partners, following VCT, were not observed. This study suggests that, among women, particularly those who are infected, behavioural risk reduction does occur following VCT

Federating distributed clinical data for the prediction of adverse hypotensive events

The ability to predict adverse hypotensive events, where a patient's arterial blood pressure drops to abnormally low (and dangerous) levels, would be of major benefit to the fields of primary and secondary health care, and especially to the traumatic brain injury domain. A wealth of data exist in health care systems providing information on the major health indicators of patients in hospitals (blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, etc.). It is believed that if enough of these data could be drawn together and analysed in a systematic way, then a system could be built that will trigger an alarm predicting the onset of a hypotensive event over a useful time scale, e.g. half an hour in advance. In such circumstances, avoidance measures can be taken to prevent such events arising. This is the basis for the Avert-IT project (http://www.avert-it.org), a collaborative EU-funded project involving the construction of a hypotension alarm system exploiting Bayesian neural networks using techniques of data federation to bring together the relevant information for study and system development

Dense Motion Estimation for Smoke

Motion estimation for highly dynamic phenomena such as smoke is an open challenge for Computer Vision. Traditional dense motion estimation algorithms have difficulties with non-rigid and large motions, both of which are frequently observed in smoke motion. We propose an algorithm for dense motion estimation of smoke. Our algorithm is robust, fast, and has better performance over different types of smoke compared to other dense motion estimation algorithms, including state of the art and neural network approaches. The key to our contribution is to use skeletal flow, without explicit point matching, to provide a sparse flow. This sparse flow is upgraded to a dense flow. In this paper we describe our algorithm in greater detail, and provide experimental evidence to support our claims.Comment: ACCV201