Health and Oral Health Care Needs and Health Care-Seeking Behavior Among Homeless Injection Drug Users in San Francisco

Few existing studies have examined health and oral health needs and treatment-seeking behavior among the homeless and injection drug users (IDUs). This paper describes the prevalence and correlates of health and oral health care needs and treatment-seeking behaviors in homeless IDUs recruited in San Francisco, California, from 2003 to 2005 (N = 340). We examined sociodemographic characteristics, drug use patterns, HIV status via oral fluid testing, physical health using the Short Form 12 Physical Component Score, self-reported needs for physical and oral health care, and the self-reported frequency of seeking medical and oral health care. The sample had a lower health status as compared to the general population and reported a frequent need for physical and oral health care. In bivariate analysis, being in methadone treatment was associated with care-seeking behavior. In addition, being enrolled in Medi-Cal, California’s state Medicaid program, was associated with greater odds of seeking physical and oral health care. Methamphetamine use was not associated with higher odds of needing oral health care as compared to people who reported using other illicit drugs. Homeless IDUs in San Francisco have a large burden of unmet health and oral health needs. Recent cuts in Medi-Cal’s adult dental coverage may result in a greater burden of oral health care which will need to be provided by emergency departments and neighborhood dental clinics

Simultaneous Recruitment of Drug Users and Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States and Russia Using Respondent-Driven Sampling: Sampling Methods and Implications

The Sexual Acquisition and Transmission of HIV Cooperative Agreement Program (SATHCAP) examined the role of drug use in the sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from traditional high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and drug users (DU), to lower risk groups in three US cities and in St. Petersburg, Russia. SATHCAP employed respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and a dual high-risk group sampling approach that relied on peer recruitment for a combined, overlapping sample of MSM and DU. The goal of the sampling approach was to recruit an RDS sample of MSM, DU, and individuals who were both MSM and DU (MSM/DU), as well as a sample of sex partners of MSM, DU, and MSM/DU and sex partners of sex partners. The approach efficiently yielded a sample of 8,355 participants, including sex partners, across all four sites. At the US sites—Los Angeles, Chicago, and Raleigh–Durham—the sample consisted of older (mean age = 41 years), primarily black MSM and DU (both injecting and non-injecting); in St. Petersburg, the sample consisted of primarily younger (mean age = 28 years) MSM and DU (injecting). The US sites recruited a large proportion of men who have sex with men and with women, an important group with high potential for establishing a generalized HIV epidemic involving women. The advantage of using the dual high-risk group approach and RDS was, for the most part, the large, efficiently recruited samples of MSM, DU, and MSM/DU. The disadvantages were a recruitment bias by race/ethnicity and income status (at the US sites) and under-enrollment of MSM samples because of short recruitment chains (at the Russian site)

Metabolic Versatility and Antibacterial Metabolite Biosynthesis Are Distinguishing Genomic Features of the Fire Blight Antagonist Pantoea vagans C9-1

Smits THM, Rezzonico F, Kamber T, et al. Metabolic Versatility and Antibacterial Metabolite Biosynthesis Are Distinguishing Genomic Features of the Fire Blight Antagonist Pantoea vagans C9-1. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(7): e22247.Background: Pantoea vagans is a commercialized biological control agent used against the pome fruit bacterial disease fire blight, caused by Erwinia amylovora. Compared to other biocontrol agents, relatively little is currently known regarding Pantoea genetics. Better understanding of antagonist mechanisms of action and ecological fitness is critical to improving efficacy. Principal Findings: Genome analysis indicated two major factors contribute to biocontrol activity: competition for limiting substrates and antibacterial metabolite production. Pathways for utilization of a broad diversity of sugars and acquisition of iron were identified. Metabolism of sorbitol by P. vagans C9-1 may be a major metabolic feature in biocontrol of fire blight. Biosynthetic genes for the antibacterial peptide pantocin A were found on a chromosomal 28-kb genomic island, and for dapdiamide E on the plasmid pPag2. There was no evidence of potential virulence factors that could enable an animal or phytopathogenic lifestyle and no indication of any genetic-based biosafety risk in the antagonist. Conclusions: Identifying key determinants contributing to disease suppression allows the development of procedures to follow their expression in planta and the genome sequence contributes to rationale risk assessment regarding the use of the biocontrol strain in agricultural systems