The effect of a syringe-exchange program on a decrease in the risk of HIV infection among intravenous narcotic abusers in the city of Rostov-on-Don

The necessity and effectiveness of introducing the program of the exchange of syringes for intravenous drug users as a preventive and antiepidemic measure are discussed. Preventive and antiepidemic measures within the concept of harm reduction are described. The comparative analysis of materials obtained as a result of two sociological questionings, carried out in 1997-1998 among the representatives of the community (random nonrepeating choice) and in the middle of 1999 among the participants of the program revealed that the participants of the program had statistically significant changes in risky behavior patterns during the use of injection drugs.     

The 1st results in the realization of the Harm Reduction program for intravenous narcotic users in the city of Penza

To achieve the aims of the project, the following stages were consecutively defined: (1) the exchange of syringes, organized by outreach workers, with the simultaneous popularization of the project, (2) the orientation of intravenous drug users to attending syringe exchange stations and (3) the extension of the area covered by the activities of outreach workers. Our experience showed that outreach workers, especially those working in the street, were the main force to count on for achieving success in the work of the projects. The budget of the project should provide for the publication of information material. Special assignments for outreach workers to study some concrete problem (drug service, the use of blood, etc.) can be useful. It is expedient to raise the status of syringe exchange stations by turning them into multi-purpose consultation centers.     

The behavioral risk factors for contracting HIV infection in the intravenous administration of narcotics in abusers of psychoactive substances in the city of Rostov-on-Don

150 persons (drug users) who had applied to the department of psycho-social consultations and voluntary tests for the presence of HIV infection and STD of the Regional AIDS Control Center, as well as partners of HIV-infected addicts in the intravenous use of drugs, were examined. Out of 150 examined persons 63 were found to be positive for HIV infection. Among dangerous behavioral patterns, characteristic of drug addicts introducing drugs intravenously, the practice of repeated aspiration of the drug into syringes from the dose of the drug solution, common for the whole group of addicts, was noted as the most widespread habit.     

The results of sentinel epidemiological surveillance on the level of HIV prevalence among injection narcotic abusers in the city of Poltava

The sentinel epidemiological surveillance on the level of spread of HIV infection among injecting drug users in Poltava, taking part in the program of harm reduction, was carried out. The results of the surveillance revealed that the level of HIV infection among drug users was 37.8%, the level of HIV infection among females being higher than that among males. These data indicate that the level of HIV infection rises with the increase of age and the time of drug consumption. Still in the age group of 30 years and older and among drug addicts using drugs for 7 years and longer the lowest level of HIV infection was noted.     

An analysis of the situation with injection narcotic usage in the city of Voronezh during the development of the HIV infection epidemic in Russia

The medico-demographic situation in Voronezh, characterized by a decrease in the birth rate, a rise in the mortality rate, the prevalence of pensioners (38%) in the structure of the population, is presented. The negative influence of the deterioration of socio-economic conditions on the social health of the population, especially on the situation with drug addiction, is pointed out. The extent of the misuse of narcotic and toxic substances among adolescents essentially increased. The rapid assessment of the situation with the intravenous use of drugs in Voronezh was carried out, following the WHO methodology. The conclusion was made concerning the necessity of complex sociological monitoring with a view to obtaining more reliable data on the number of drug addicts. The calculation of the supposed number of users in Voronezh among persons aged 15-30 years, made by three modules of assessment, revealed this number reached 61,374 persons, i.e. every fifth or sixth young person used some narcotic substances. The necessity of taking drastic measures on the primary prophylaxis of HIV infection among injecting drug users by creating conditions for the realization of the programs "Harm Reduction" and "Equal Helps Equal" which proved to be effective in other regions of the Russian Federation.     

The epidemic situation in relation to HIV infection in the Volga River region

1,036 HIV-infected persons were detected in the area by March 1, 1998; of these, 552 persons were detected in Nizhny Novgorod Province and 364 persons in Saratov Province. For all that at different periods 150 HIV-infected detainees were kept in the pretrial detention prisons of Nizhny Novgorod Province and 60 HIV-infected detainees, in the pretrial detention prisons of Saratov Province. Some measures permitting the prevention of further increase in the occurrence of HIV infection in the region are proposed.     

Regional environmental risk assessment and management guide for rapid urbanization process of a city cluster in China

In past decades, China has experienced rapid urbanization, which has brought about environmental changes. The assessment of regional environmental risk (RER) is a complex study for evaluating risk associated with risk sources, risk receptors, and risk retardation under uncertainty. This study aims to evaluate the RER through the holistic macro-assessment, and to ascertain management guide for rapid urbanization to diminish the RER. The results of our case study in the Su-Xi-Chang city cluster, which is a metropolitan area that largely contributed to the economic growth of Jiangsu Province, showed that the RER scores constantly increased from 0.506 to 0.817 during the period from 2001 to 2011. Coupled with the current tendency, in addition, scenario predictions revealed that rapid expansion of urban land would cause a multiple increase in RER. However, RER would begin to decline if the rate of urban population growth (UPG) stabilizes at 1.7%. Moreover, when the urban population ratio increases to 78% along the previous trend, a higher UPG corresponds to a lower declining rate of RER. Otherwise, a lower UPG corresponds to an earlier decline of RER. Finally, implementing city cluster plans was discussed to provide a scientific basis for guiding risk management and sustainable development of urbanization.     

The economics of drug abuse: a quantitative assessment of drug demand

Behavioral economic concepts have proven useful for an overall understanding of the regulation of behavior by environmental commodities and complements a pharmacological perspective on drug abuse in several ways. First, a quantitative assessment of drug demand, equated in terms of drug potency, allows meaningful comparisons to be made among drug reinforcers within and across pharmacological classes. Second, behavioral economics provides a conceptual framework for understanding key factors, both pharmacological and environmental, that contribute to reductions in consumption of illicit drugs. Finally, behavioral economics provides a basis for generalization from laboratory and clinical studies to the development of novel behavioral and pharmacological therapies.     

The HIV infection epidemic in the city of Irkutsk under the conditions of drug abuse prevalence

The data on the spread of HIV infection in Irkutsk and Irkutsk Province, starting from March 9, 1999, are presented. The simultaneous appearance of 17 multiple morbidity foci of HIV infection, involving 2,227 persons into the epidemic, within the period of 8 months was noted. The age structure of the epidemic process was represented by 1,846 adults aged 18-50 years (83%), 256 adolescents aged 16-17 years (12.9%), 78 children aged 10-15 years (3.5%) and 17 persons of other ages (0.53%). The leading role in the age structure of the epidemic process belonged to young people aged 10-29 years (90.4% of cases). The epidemiological analysis made it possible to establish the fact that the epidemic was linked with the intravenous injection of heroin. The viral contamination of the drug is not excluded also in the process of its preparation for injection.     

The epidemic situation in relation to HIV infection in Ukraine (1987-1997)

The analysis of the dynamics of the epidemic process for 10 years made it possible to find out the presence of two separate epidemic waves of HIV infection. The first wave (1987-1994) was manifested as the slow type of the development of the epidemic, characterized mainly by sexual transmission. During this period 398 persons with HIV infection were detected, 24 persons were found to have AIDS; of these, 13 persons died. The second epidemic wave began in 1995 and was due to the spread of HIV among users of drugs introduced by injection. By the end of 1995 the number of HIV carriers was 34 times greater than that of 1994, reaching 1490 persons. In 1996-1997 this figure increased 8 times (annually). The number of AIDS patients rose to 420 persons. The most unfavorable regions with respect to HIV infection and AIDS morbidity were determined. The western regions of the Ukraine were noted to be in a more favorable situation in this respect with infection indices being lower more than 30 times. Up to 80% of all infected persons were found to be addicts introducing drugs intravenously. Growing morbidity in sexually transmitted disease, particularly in syphilis, contributed to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation. The conclusion was made on the necessity of introducing new prophylactic programs and expanding current ones. The signs of stabilization in Odessa and Nikolayev were observed; in these cities pilot programs aimed at the strategy of the "decrease of harm" have been introduced (in collaboration with UNAIDS) since 1996.     

The application of conducting polymers to a biorobotic fin propulsor

Conducting polymer actuators based on polypyrrole are being developed for use in biorobotic fins that are designed to create and control forces like the pectoral fin of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). It is envisioned that trilayer bending actuators will be used within, and as, the fin's webbing to create a highly controllable, shape morphing, flexible fin surface, and that linear conducting polymer actuators will be used to actuate the bases of the fin's fin-rays, like an agonist-antagonist muscle pair, and control the fin's stiffness. For this application, trilayer bending actuators were used successfully to reproduce the cupping motion of the sunfish pectoral fin by controlling the curvature of the fin's surface and the motion of its dorsal and ventral edges. However, the speed of these large polymer films was slow, and must be increased if the fin's shape is to be modulated synchronously with the fin's flapping motion. Free standing linear conducting polymer films can generate large stresses and strains, but there are many engineering obstacles that must be resolved in order to create linear polymer actuators that generate simultaneously the forces, displacements and actuation rates required by the fin. We present two approaches that are being used to solve the engineering challenges involved in utilizing conducting polymer linear actuators: the manufacture of long, uniform ribbons of polymer and gold film, and the parallel actuation of multiple conducting polymer films.     

Self-reported malaria and mosquito avoidance in relation to household risk factors in a Kenyan coastal city

A geographically stratified cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2002 to investigate household-level factors associated with use of mosquito control measures and self-reported malaria in Malindi, Kenya. A total of 629 households were surveyed. Logistic regressions were used to analyse the data. Half of all households (51%) reported all occupants using an insecticide-treated bed net and at least one additional mosquito control measure such as insecticides or removal of standing water. Forty-nine per cent reported a history of malaria in the household. Of the thirteen household factors analysed, low (OR=0.23, CI 0.11, 0.48) and medium (OR=0.50, CI 0.29, 0.86) education, mud--wood--coral (OR=0.0.39, CI 0.24, 0.66) and mud block--plaster (OR=0.47, CI 0.25, 0.87) wall types, farming (OR=1.38, CI 1.01, 1.90) and travel to rural areas (OR=0.48, CI 0.26, 0.91) were significantly associated with the use of mosquito control, while controlling for other covariates in the model. History of reported malaria was not associated with the use of mosquito control (OR=1.22, CI 0.79, 1.88). Of the thirteen covariates analysed in the second model, only two household factors were associated with history of malaria: being located in the well-drained stratum (OR=0.49, CI 0.26, 0.96) and being bitten while in the house (OR=1.22, CI 0.19, 0.49). These results suggest that high socioeconomic status is associated with increased household-level mosquito control use, although household-level control may not be enough, as many people are exposed to biting mosquitoes while away from the house and in areas that are more likely to harbour mosquitoes.     

Wounding a fibroblast monolayer results in the rapid induction of the c-fos proto-oncogene.

The c-fos gene has previously been shown to be transiently induced within minutes after the stimulation of mouse fibroblasts with growth factors. Induction of c-fos was observed specifically with competence factors (e.g., platelet-derived growth factor), not with progression factors (e.g., platelet-poor plasma), suggesting a role for c-fos in conferring competence on fibroblasts. To test this hypothesis we have analyzed c-fos expression in NIH 3T3 cells that were made competent in a different way, namely by wounding a confluent monolayer of cells. Using antibodies raised against either a synthetic fos peptide or a beta-galactosidase--fos fusion protein, we show in this study that in the majority of cells lining the wound c-fos protein is rapidly and transiently induced to high levels. No induction is observed in cells at a distance from the wound greater than approximately 5 cell layers. Induction is equally efficient in both serum-containing and serum-free medium, and is similar in cells that were deprived of fetal calf serum for 40 h prior to making the wound. Our observations support the hypothesis that c-fos may be involved in inducing the 'competent state' in fibroblasts and suggests an early role for c-fos in wound healing and tissue regeneration.     

The assessment of flow characteristics at certain weirs in relation to the upstream movement of migratory salmonids

A major problem in relation to the rehabilitation of migratory salmonids into many industrial rivers in South Wales is the presence of large abstraction weirs which can, under certain flows, constrain the upstream migration of fish. A method is presented whereby the constraints at two weirs on the River Afan were assessed by relating the swimming capacities of different sizes of fish and the flows needed to stimulate upstream movement to the distribution of flows and current velocities. The 'gateways' for fish to ascend the weir are calculated, and their significance in relation to historical flow data and the requirement for remedial action are assessed.     

Methodology to select a set of urban sustainability indicators to measure the state of the city,and performance assessment

This paper proposes a methodology for establishing a set of sustainability indicators as a baseline to measure the state of a city, and after appropriate actions are taken, to assess performance, to determine if changes point to improvements regarding goals. The methodology starts with choosing a procedure for identification, scope, evaluation, and level of indicators to build the initial dataset. As a second step, produces a reduced set of indicators, complying with all criteria imposed, and selected under the condition of extracting the maximum amount of information from the initial dataset.     

The implementation of a cloud city traffic state assessment system using a novel big data architecture

In order to store and analyze the increasing data in recent years, big data techniques are applied to many fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, retail, energy, transportation, automotive, security, environment, etc. This work implements a city traffic state assessment system in cloud using a novel big data architecture. The proposed system provides the real-time busses location and real-time traffic state, especially the real-time traffic state nearby, through open data, cloud computing, bid data technology, clustering methods, and irregular moving average. With the high-scalability cloud technologies, Hadoop and Spark, the proposed system architecture is first implemented successfully and efficiently. Next, we utilize irregular moving average and clustering methods to find the area of traffic jam. Finally, three important experiments are performed. The first experiment indicates that the computing ability of Spark is better than that of Hadoop. The second experiment applies Spark to process bus location data under different number of executors. In the last experiment, we apply irregular moving average and clustering methods to efficiently find the area of traffic jam in Taiwan Boulevard which is the main road in Taichung city. Based on these experimental results, the provided system services are present via an advanced web technology.     

Conidia of Alternaria in the atmosphere of the city of Cordoba, Spain in relation to meteorological parameters

In this study, we have analyzed the presence of conidia belonging to different species of the genus Alternaria in the atmosphere of the city of Cordoba, using a Hirst sampler. The results show that spores of this genus are present all year, with a clear seasonal pattern which shows two peaks, one in spring and the other in fall. A total of 26,822 conidia/m³ have been sampled, which implies a daily mean of 74.3 conidia/m³. Statistical analyses comparing the data with meteorological parameters show a positive correlation with maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, and a negative correlation with rain. Nevertheless, meteorological parameters seem to affect the number of conidia differently according to the season of the year. Regression analyses carried out in order to obtain a predictive pattern show that the best fit is between the 7-day running mean of the number of conidia and a week’s accumulated mean temperature. Received: 8 April 1998 / Accepted: 25 February 1999     

Hypotension caused by intravenous infusion of rifampicin and its relation to the administration schedule

It was shown in studies on animals that bolus administration of rifampicin induced hypotension whose severity depended on the rate of the antibiotic administration. When the antibiotic was administered in the 5-, 10- or 15-minute regimen in a dose of 10 mg/kg the maximum decrease in blood pressure was 44, 34 or 21% of the initial level and the maximum antibiotic concentration attained in the blood was 34.4, 27.2 or 22.6 micrograms/ml, respectively. With the infusion for 30 minutes, the maximum antibiotic concentration in the blood was 17.6 micrograms/ml and the blood pressure did not undergo any significant changes. When the rate of the antibiotic infusion was high there was pharmacokinetic heterogeneity of the blood serum and biophase which could lead to unpredictable results. After repeated administrations of rifampicin to the same animals pronounced tachyphylaxis to the antibiotic was noted, which manifested itself in decreasing of hypotension, though the serum antibiotic level was 1.5 to 2 times higher that the initial one. It was concluded that administration of rifampicin in the therapeutic dose equal to 10 mg/kg for 30 minutes was the most sparing regimen for the antibiotic bolus intravenous infusion. Gradual increase in the antibiotic dose and administration rate in patients is possible under careful control of blood pressure and pharmacokinetic studies.