HIV Care Providers' Implementation of Routine Alcohol Reduction Support for Their Patients

Screening and brief intervention (SBI) for alcohol reduction is an important health promoting strategy for patients with HIV, and HIV care providers are optimally situated to support their patients' reduction efforts. We report results from analyses that use data collected from providers (n = 115) in 7 hospital-based HIV care centers in the New York City metropolitan area in 2007 concerning their routine use of 11 alcohol SBI components with their patients. Providers routinely implemented 5 or more of these alcohol SBI components if they (1) had a specific caseload (and were therefore responsible for a smaller number of patients), (2) had greater exposure to information about alcohol's effect on HIV, (3) had been in their present positions for at least 1 year, and (4) had greater self efficacy to support patients' alcohol reduction efforts. Findings suggest the importance of educating all HIV care providers about both the negative impact of excessive alcohol use on patients with HIV and the importance and value of alcohol SBIs. Findings also suggest the value of promoting increased self efficacy for at least some providers in implementing alcohol SBI components, especially through targeted alcohol SBI training

Influence of nano-sized carbon nanotube reinforcements on tensile deformation, cyclic fatigue, and final fracture behavior of a magnesium alloy

10.1007/s10853-011-6209-xJournal of Materials Science4783621-3638JMTS

Efect of antiseptic gels in the microbiologic colonization of the suture threads after oral surgery

Te work was supported by the Oral Medicine, Oral surgery and Implantology Unit. School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.Three diferent bioadhesive gels were evaluated in a double-blind randomized clinical trial in which microbial growth in the suture thread was assessed following post-surgical application of the aforementioned gels. Also assessed in this trial were, the intensity of post-surgical pain as well as the degree of healing of the patients’ surgical wounds. A total of 21 patients (with 42 wisdom teeth) participated in this trial. Chlorhexidine gel, chlorhexidine-chitosan gel, and hyaluronic acid gel were evaluated, with a neutral water-based gel serving as the control agent. The aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacterial recovery on blood agar was lower in the placebo group than in the experimental groups. The most signifcant diference (p=0.04) was observed in the chlorhexidine-chitosan group. in which the growth of Blood Agar and Mitis Salivarius Agar was signifcantly higher than in the placebo group. The intensity of post-surgical pain was very similar among all the groups. Signifcantly better healing rates were observed in the patients treated with chlorhexidine-chitosan gel when compared with those who used the placebo gel (p=0.03), and in particular when compared with those patients who used hyaluronic acid gel (p=0.01). Through our microbiological analyses, we were able to conclude that none of the bioadhesive gels tested resulted in benefcial reductions in the bacterial/fungal populations. However, the healing rates of patients who were treated with chlorhexidine-chitosan were better than those of the patients who used either the placebo gel or the hyaluronic acid gel