BACKGROUND The Cameroon government has made HIV testing and counselling (HTC) a priority in its HIV/AIDS strategic plan. However, there is a dearth of literature on the perspectives of providers on the quality of HTC services. The aim of this study was to explore challenges in the provision of HTC services and their implications on quality of HTC services in Douala's district hospitals. METHO...

INTRODUCTION HIV testing and counselling (HTC) interventions are key to controlling the HIV epidemic in East and Southern Africa where HTC is primarily delivered through voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC), and home-based counselling and testing (HBVCT). Decision making processes around uptake of HTC models must be taken into account when d...

BACKGROUND HIV/AIDS related stigma is a major barrier to uptake of HIV testing and counselling (HTC). We assessed the extent of stigmatising attitudes expressed by participants offered community-based HTC, and their anticipated stigma from others to assess relationship with HIV test uptake. From these data, we constructed a brief stigma scale for use around the time of HIV testing. METHODS AN...

BACKGROUND Male partner HIV testing and counseling (HTC) is associated with enhanced uptake of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), yet male HTC during pregnancy remains low. Identifying settings preferred by pregnant women and their male partners may improve male involvement in PMTCT. METHODS Participants in a randomized clinical trial (NCT01620073) to improve male partner...

High Throughput Computing (HTC) through the use of volunteer computing provides a compelling opportunity to perform large volumes of computation without the need to invest in computational resources. This relies on the good will of computer owners who volunteer their computer idle time. In scenarios when there is contention the HTC system will relinquish the computer – normally achieved through...

For several decades, US government agencies have partially supported regional networks of Hemophilia Treatment Centers (HTC). HTC multidisciplinary teams provide comprehensive and coordinated diagnosis, treatment, prevention, education, outreach and surveillance services to improve the health of people with genetic bleeding disorders. However, national data are scarce on HTC-patient population ...

Boiling is a common mechanism for liquid-vapor phase transition and is widely exploited in power generation and refrigeration devices and systems. The efficacy of boiling heat transfer is characterized by two parameters: (a) heat transfer coefficient (HTC) or the thermal conductance; (b) the critical heat flux (CHF) limit that demarcates the transition from high HTC to very low HTC. While incre...

Current pharmaceutical compound screening systems rely on cell-based assays to identify therapeutic candidates and potential toxicities. However, cells grown on 2D substrata or in suspension do not exhibit the mechanical or physiological properties of cells in vivo. To address this limitation, the authors developed an in vitro, high-throughput, 3D hydrogel tissue construct (HTC)-based assay sys...

Purpose: To evaluate the mechanism of drug release of a slightly soluble drug (theophylline) from nanocomposite of zeolite (ZLT) or hydrotalcite (HTC) used as drug carrier. Methods: Nanocomposite was prepared with dispersion of either ZLT or HTC as drug carrier and theophylline (THP) as drug in drug to clay ratios of 1:2, 3:4 and 1:1. The formulations were characterized for drug release and loa...

BACKGROUND HIV testing and counseling (HTC) with linkage to care after known infection are key components for HIV transmission prevention. This study was conducted to assess HTC uptake, HIV risk perception and linkage to care among Thai university students. METHODS An outreach HTC program was conducted in a large public university in Thailand from January 2013 to December 2014. The program co...