ABSTRACT
From December 1988 till April 1989 154 women who worked in clubs (120) and behind windows (34) in and around Ghent, Belgium, were interviewed about knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in their professional life. Television scored best (98%) as a source of information for AIDS. A leaflet posted in every door in 1987 was mentioned in 60%. Less than half the women gave more than 7 correct answers on 11 questions about safety of sex techniques. Intercourse with condom, the sexual act mostly done, was considered safer than deep kissing, masturbation and even massage. In 10 to 20% of the professional sex contacts no condoms were used, which leads to 1000 to 4000 unprotected contacts every week in the sex industry in Ghent (population 500,000). Condom use with the private partner is exceptional. Proposals for condom use almost invariably come from the women themselves instead of from their clients. We conclude that up till now health education efforts to prostitutes and their clients were not sufficient and that they should be intensified.
Subject(s)
HIV Infections/prevention & control , HIV-1 , Health Education/standards , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Health Services Needs and Demand , Sex Work , Sexually Transmitted Diseases/prevention & control , Belgium , Female , Health Education/methods , Humans , Surveys and Questionnaires , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
Seven patients suffering from metastatic cancer and all showing objectively measurable tumours were treated with eight sessions of membrane plasma exchange. No other oncological treatment was administered during the period of plasma exchange. The procedure itself was well tolerated and subjective improvement was reported by some patients. No objective tumour regression was observed. Immune complex-like material and inflammatory proteins were efficiently removed. In some patients a decrease in the number of T lymphocytes, due to relative depletion of T mu cells, was noted.
Subject(s)
Neoplasms/therapy , Plasma Exchange , Humans , Leukocyte Count , Neoplasm Metastasis , Neoplasms/immunology , Plasma Exchange/methods , T-Lymphocytes/immunologyABSTRACT
The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzyme pattern (expressed as the B:A subunit ratio) and two enzymes of the purine metabolism adenosine deaminase (ADA) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) (expressed as the ADA/PNP ratio) were studied in human prenatal thymocytes, in subsets of human infant thymocytes, and in peripheral T lymphocytes. Prothymocytes were enriched by E rosette depletion, cortical thymocytes were enriched with a monoclonal antibody rosette technique using OKT6, and medullary thymocytes were enriched either with a monoclonal antibody rosette technique using OKT3 or with complement-mediated cytolysis using normal fresh rabbit serum. Peripheral T lymphocytes were isolated from normal adult peripheral blood by E rosette sedimentation. Prenatal thymocytes had the lowest B:A ratio. In the infant thymuses, prothymocytes had a lower B:A ratio (0.99 +/- 0.10) than the cortical thymocytes (1.04 +/- 0.08). The medullary thymocytes obtained either by OKT3 selection or normal rabbit serum cytotoxic treatment had higher B:A ratios (1.30 +/- 0.15 and 1.42 +/- 0.17, respectively). The highest B:A ratio is found in peripheral T lymphocytes (2.07 +/- 0.28) together with the lowest ADA/PNP ratio (0.50 +/- 0.07). The B:A ratios are paralleled by a progressive decrease in the ADA/PNP ratio. These findings indicate that during intrathymic T cell development, important changes occur not only in the activities of the enzymes of the purine metabolism but also in the distribution of the LDH isoenzymes.
