The prevalence of HIV infection among Nigerian youths has been persistently high and HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) is a major intervention that can help to reduce the transmission of HIV. This study was carried out to determine the uptake of HCT and identify the factors affecting the uptake among National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Osun State, Nigeria. The study employed a cross-...

BACKGROUND Despite its importance in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing (HCT) is low in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease continues to be a serious public health problem. This has in part been attributed to HIV/AIDS related stigma. OBJECTIVE To assess the level of HIV/AIDS related stigma and its impact on uptake of HCT in a high HIV prevalence population in...

As health care continues to evolve, the need for more effective health care transition (HCT) for all youth, but particularly children with chronic conditions and special health care needs, becomes even more important. With more than 90% of adolescents with chronic medical conditions now surviving into adulthood, suboptimal transition can lead to poorer quality of life and less successful adulth...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about accessibility to health care transition (HCT) services for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study expands our understanding by examining the receipt of HCT services in youth with ASD compared with youth with other special health care needs (OSHCN). METHODS We used the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs to examine...

Houttuynia cordata Thunb (HCT) is widely used in oriental medicine as a remedy for inflammation. However, at present there is no explanation for the mechanism by which HCT affects the production of inflammatory cytokines. The current study aimed to determine the effect of an essence extracted from HCT on mast cell-mediated inflammatory responses. Inflammatory cytokine production induced by phor...

BACKGROUND One rationale for hemodilution during hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been improved microcirculation. However, the optimal degree of hemodilution remains unclear. We therefore studied cerebral microcirculation and tissue oxygenation in a new intravital microscopic model at 3 different hematocrit (Hct) values. METHODS AND RESULTS Three groups of 5 piglets with a cranial...

OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to evaluate if there is any advantage of three-dimensional helical computed tomography (3D-HCT) over intravenous urogram (IVU) in the morphometric and morphological analysis of lower pole spatial anatomy of the kidney. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed 52 renal collecting systems in 30 patients, ranging in age from 23 to 80 years. The study compared the follo...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The longitudinal relaxation time of blood (T 1b) is influenced by haematocrit (Hct) which is known to vary in neonates. The purpose of this study was threefold: to obtain T 1b values in neonates, to investigate how the T 1b influences quantitative arterial spin labelling (ASL), and to evaluate if known relationships between T 1b and haematocrit (Hct) hold true when Hct is...

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disorder with wide range of manifestations and severity. Currently, the few available NF1 treatments target specific manifestations, no therapies targeted to correct underlying driver all manifestations. Evidence supports that haploinsufficiency in caused by decreased amount wild-type (WT) neurofibromin Nf1+/- cells directly causes or facilitates Cons...

Organ dysfunctions (comorbidities) were found to be associated with the outcome of treatment of a given primary disease and, in particular, cancer. In 2005, a hematopoietic cell transplantationcomorbidity index (HCT-CI) was introduced as a measure of organ dysfunctions that was suited for recipients of HCT. The HCT-CI was developed from the historical Charlson comorbidity index after introducin...