HIV infection among women in prison: an assessment of risk factors using a nonnominal methodology.

The relative contributions of needle use practices and sexual behaviors to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody seropositivity among 394 women incarcerated in Quebec were determined by risk factor assessment and serology with a nonnominal methodology. HIV positivity was found in 6.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.6, 9.9) of all participants and in 13% (95% CI = 8.6, 18.6) of women with a history of injection drug use. HIV seropositivity among women with a history of injection drug use was predicted by sexual or needle contact with a seropositive person, self-reported genital herpes, and having had a regular sexual partner who injected drugs, but it was not predicted by prostitution. Nonnominal testing is an ethical alternative to mandatory and anonymous unlinked testing among correctional populations.

Alcohol intake in relation to lipids, lipoproteins and blood pressure.

A cross-sectional population study of 655 men and 731 women was undertaken to evaluate the association between the level of alcohol intake, the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and its subfractions, and blood pressure in men and women in different age groups (20-44 and 45-64 years). Habitual alcohol intake was significantly related to higher levels of HDL-C in both men and women. In the case of men both HDL2-C and HDL3-C levels were raised, while in women this rise was restricted almost entirely to HDL2-C. Plasma apolipoprotein A-I and A-II levels were elevated in men who drank, but not in women. In both, triglyceride and blood pressure levels were raised with habitual alcohol intake, and the increases in HDL subfractions and blood pressure levels became more marked with increasing age in both men and women. Recent alcohol intake had less effect on all the variables except blood pressure. We conclude that both HDL3-C and HDL2-C contribute to the rise in HDL-C levels that accompanies alcohol use, notwithstanding differences in the responses of the sexes. A regular alcohol intake is more likely to be beneficial and some of the positive or protective aspects of alcohol consumption could be reduced by the adverse changes in triglycerides and blood pressure levels.

HIV infection among Quebec women giving birth to live infants.

This is the first anonymous unlinked seroprevalence study in Canada to use serum samples from newborns to determine the seroprevalence rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among childbearing women. Of the 68,808 samples tested 42 were confirmed as positive, for an overall crude seroprevalence rate of 6.1 per 10,000 live births (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.4 to 8.3), or 1 woman in 1638. Women who lived on Montreal island had an overall rate of 17.9 per 10,000 live births (95% CI 12.2 to 25.4), or 1 woman in 559. We observed a significant association between revenue index and seroprevalence; the rates were as high as 46.4 per 10,000 live births (95% CI 18.7 to 95.3), or 1 woman in 216, for Montreal island postal code areas with revenue indexes 20% or more below the provincial median. Extrapolation of the data suggested that 56 women with HIV infection gave birth to a live infant during 1989 in Quebec. Even though attempts to generalize the data from childbearing women to women of childbearing age have an inherent conservative bias, the results of our study suggest that 988 women (95% CI 713 to 1336) aged 15 to 44 years in Quebec had HIV infection in 1989. The actual number is likely substantially higher. The need for well-designed, creative interventions to prevent further HIV transmission to women is evident. Planning for the provision of medical and psychosocial services sensitive to specific needs of women who are already infected should start immediately.

Increased peripheral lymphocytes, lymphoid hepatitis and anaemia in African vervet monkeys seropositive to retroviruses.

Wild-caught African Vervet monkeys are commonly infected by Simian T-lymphotropic virus I (STLV1) and Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), yet the natural histories of these infections are largely unknown. Seropositivity was associated with increased total, T and atypical lymphocytes. In seropositive females there was mild, normocytic, normochromic anaemia. Lymphoid hepatitis was present in seven seropositive cases. African Vervets used in biomedical research, vaccine production and organ transplantation research are often infected by exogenous retroviruses which can be oncogenic and immunosuppressive in captive monkeys. Elimination of these infections may be possible by breeding Vervets in captivity.

Plasma low density lipoprotein composition in relation to atherosclerosis in nutritionally defined Vervet monkeys.

An atherogenic diet (AD) consisting entirely of normal foods for westernized people was fed to female Vervet monkeys for 4 years. The plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol pool was increased and progression of atherosclerosis was enhanced by the AD compared to a more prudent Western diet. The increased LDL-cholesterol was carried by a 3-fold increase in particles of relatively normal composition and not by packing cholesterol esters into the cores of enlarged LDL particles, as has been reported after feeding semisynthetic diets loaded with extra cholesterol. Nevertheless, these LDL particles were atherogenic. The AD changed the fatty acid composition of LDL-cholesterol esters and triacylglycerol, notably by increasing arachidonic and reducing linoleic acid. Multivariate analysis showed that measures and scores of atherosclerosis were significantly dependent on sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine in LDL and on arachidonic acid in LDL-triacylglycerol. Although apolipoprotein B, free cholesterol, esterified cholesterol and lysophosphatidylcholine in plasma LDL and atherosclerosis were significantly positively correlated in bivariate analysis they were not selected by multivariate analysis as the strongest determinants of atherogenesis. Cholesterol in plasma high density lipoprotein was not changed by the AD and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase activity in plasma was inversely linked to atherosclerosis. Subcutaneous fatty acids reflected dietary fatty acids.