What may encourage or deter health services utilization by people living with or at the risk of HIV/AIDS in special health centers? Qualitative evidence from a stigmatized community.

BACKGROUND: Behavioral Diseases Counseling Centers (BDCCs) and Vulnerable Women's Counseling Centers (VWCCs) in Iran are the main peripheral centers that offer educational, counseling, diagnostic, preventive, curative and protective services to individuals living with or at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and female sex workers respectively. Due to the social stigma surrounding HIV in Iran, this study aims to identify the factors that may hinder or encourage HIV/AIDS patients and women with risky sexual behaviors from visiting these centers. METHODS: Conducted in 2023, this qualitative study involved individuals visiting BDCCs and VWCCs in two western provinces of Iran, Ilam and Kermanshah. The study participants included 21 health staff members working in BDCCs and VWCCs and 20 HIV/AIDS patients and vulnerable women with unsafe sexual behaviors referring to these centers. Purposive, snowball and maximum variation sampling techniques were applied to interview the participants. Interviews were conducted between January 5th and May 21st, 2023, using a semi-structure guideline. Interviews were transcribed and content analysis approach was applied to analyze data using MAXQDA20 software. RESULTS: According to the findings, the barriers and facilitators of visiting specialized centers for HIV/AIDS patients and vulnerable women were categorized into three main categories, 10 subcategories and 35 sub-subcategories including: Medical and operational processes (4 subcategories and 12 sub-subcategories), mutual interactions between the personnel and visitors (people living with and at the risk of getting HIV/AIDS) (3 subcategory and 13 sub-subcategories), and physical characteristics of the centers (3 subcategories and 10 sub-subcategories). CONCLUSIONS: To improve the performance of BDCCs and VWCCs and encourage people living with and at the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS to visit these centers regularly, health policy makers should consider modifying clinical processes, physical features, personnel behaviors and visitors' concerns raised by the interviewees and the issues identified in this study.

Study of association between interleukin-8 - 845 T/C and + 781 C/T polymorphisms with periodontitis disease among population from Western Iran.

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that influences the protective tissues of teeth. IL-8, a member of the chemokine super-family, plays vital roles in the pathogenesis of periodontitis with activation and migration of neutrophils in inflammatory regions. The purpose of present study was to evaluate the association of interleukin-8 - 845 T/C and + 781 C/T polymorphisms with periodontitis in an Iranian population. A total of 65 patients with periodontitis including 18 patients with chronic periodontitis and 47 patients with aggressive periodontitis and 55 controls were enrolled into our study. Interleukin-8 - 845 T/C and + 781 C/T polymorphisms were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. For + 781C/T locus, in the dominant genetic model there was a significant difference between TT vs. CC + CT genotypes that significantly had a protective role against periodontitis disease with a value of 0.38 (95% CI 0.16-0.90, p = 0.02). Also, the analysis of results showed a significant positive association between the distribution of IL-8 - 845 T/C alleles and the risk of periodontitis disease (χ2 = 6.2, p = 0.01) that presence of C allele of IL-8 - 845 increased the risk of periodontitis disease by 9.08-fold [OR 9.08 (95% CI 1.14-72.12, p = 0.03)]. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a positive association between distribution of IL-8 - 845 T/C alleles and risk of periodontitis disease.