DESCRIPTION Update of the 2005 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation on genetic risk assessment and BRCA mutation testing for breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility. METHODS The USPSTF reviewed the evidence on risk assessment,genetic counseling, and genetic testing for potentially harmful BRCA mutations in asymptomatic women with a family history of breast or ovarian c...

Breaking bad news is one of the most burdensome tasks physicians face in their everyday practice. It becomes even more challenging in the context of HIV+ patients because of stigma and discrimination. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the quality of giving HIV seroconversion news according to SPIKES protocol. Numbers of 154 consecutive HIV+ patients from Imam Khomeini Hospital testing...

HIV counseling and testing (HCT) has been prioritized as one of the prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS, and promoted as an essential tool in scaling up and improving access to treatment, care and support especially in community settings. Home-based HCT (HBHCT) is a model that has consistently been found to be highly acceptable and has improved HCT coverage and uptake in low- and middle-income c...

Genetic testing for susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA1/2 testing) has been available in clinical settings since 1996. Increasingly, such testing is helping women at increased risk make decisions about breast cancer screening and prevention. African American women have participated in genetic counseling and testing programs less than white women, despite greater rates of early on...

OBJECTIVE Trauma-informed treatment increasingly is recognized as an important component of service delivery. This study examined differences in treatment-related characteristics of facilities that offer moderate or high levels of trauma-informed counseling versus those that offer no or low levels of such counseling. METHODS Responses from 13,223 substance abuse treatment facilities surveyed ...

Since 1999, many African governments have launched programs to offer short-course antiretroviral drug regimens to reduce mother-to child transmission of HIV. HIV testing in prenatal care is the gateway to these antiretroviral regimens. Pilot projects in Africa show an uptake of antiretroviral drugs in 8% to 50% of pregnant women presumed to be HIV infected; often, a minority of eligible women i...

BACKGROUND In 1996, the National Cancer Institute hosted an international workshop to develop criteria to identify patients with colorectal cancer who should be offered microsatellite instability (MSI) testing due to an increased risk for Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC). These criteria were further modified in 2004 and became known as the revised Bethesda Guidelines. Our study...

a bstrac t   background: organizational and structural obstacles are a group of major obstacles in achievement of appropriate family planning counseling. detection of these obstacles from the viewpoint of managers, staffs and clients who are key members in health services providing system is a major step toward appropriate planning to modify or delete this group of obstacles. the present study ...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the cost and health outcomes associated with a new HIV testing strategy that utilizes routine-based clinical reminders. METHODS We conducted an economic analysis of 1) traditional pretest/post-test counseling; 2) counseling and a new clinical reminders system; and 3) only clinical reminder in the veterans' health care system. A payer-perspective decision model was conduc...