In 2005, members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) formed the Injection Support Team (IST). A community-based research project examined this drug-user-led intervention through observation of team activities, over 30 interviews with team members, and 9 interviews with people reached by the team. The IST is composed of recognized "hit doctors," who perform outreach in the open d...

Safer injection facilities provide medical supervision for illicit drug injections. We aimed to examine factors associated with syringe sharing in a community-recruited cohort of illicit injection drug users in a setting where such a facility had recently opened. Between Dec 1, 2003, and June 1, 2004, of 431 active injection drug users 49 (11.4%, 95% CI 8.5-14.3) reported syringe sharing in the...

PURPOSE To design and develop a drug-delivery system containing a combination of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles and alginate hydrogel for sustained release of retinoids to treat retinal blinding diseases that result from an inadequate supply of retinol and generation of 11-cis-retinal. METHODS To study drug release in vivo, either the drug-loaded microparticle-hydrogel c...

background : drug injection is one of the most significant risk factors for viral hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) infection. the present study was performed to evaluate the frequency of hepatitis b (hbv) and hiv infection in idus and to identify the risk factors of these infections in this group in a central city of iran, shahre-kord. methods : this study was conducted in 2004 ...