ABSTRACT
The New Jersey Medication Assisted Treatment Initiative (NJ-MATI) sought to reduce barriers to treatment by providing free, opioid agonist treatment (OAT, methadone or buprenorphine) via mobile medication units (MMUs). To evaluate barriers to OAT, logistic regression was used to compare opioid dependent patients enrolled in NJ-MATI to those entering treatment at fixed-site methadone clinics or non-medication assisted treatment (non-MAT). Client demographic and clinical data were taken from an administrative database for licensed treatment providers. The MMUs enrolled a greater proportion of African-American, homeless, and uninsured individuals than the fixed-site methadone clinics. Compared to non-MAT and traditional methadone clients, NJ-MATI patients were more likely to be injection drug users and daily users but less likely to have a recent history of treatment. These observations suggest that the patient-centered policies associated with NJ-MATI increased treatment participation by high severity, socially disenfranchised patients who were not likely to receive OAT.
Subject(s)
Health Services Accessibility , Mobile Health Units/organization & administration , Opioid-Related Disorders/rehabilitation , Adolescent , Adult , Black or African American/statistics & numerical data , Buprenorphine/administration & dosage , Databases, Factual , Female , Financing, Government , Ill-Housed Persons/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Logistic Models , Male , Medically Uninsured/statistics & numerical data , Methadone/administration & dosage , Middle Aged , Mobile Health Units/economics , New Jersey , Opiate Substitution Treatment/economics , Opiate Substitution Treatment/methods , Opioid-Related Disorders/economics , Substance Abuse, Intravenous/economics , Substance Abuse, Intravenous/epidemiology , Substance Abuse, Intravenous/rehabilitation , Young AdultABSTRACT
In humans, HIV infection reduces growth hormone (GH) secretion contributing to AIDS wasting. In rats, the HIV envelope protein gp120 alone blocks GH secretion both in vitro and in vivo through GH-releasing hormone receptors. Peptide T, a modified octapeptide derived from gp120, normalizes GH secretion. We now report that an intravenous bolus of peptide T normalizes nocturnal GH secretion in two out of three children with AIDS. These results, coupled with the lack of toxicity of this experimental AIDS therapeutic, justify clinical trials for AIDS wasting and pediatric AIDS. A clinical and basic science update on peptide T appears in Current HIV Research.
