Socio-demographic and behavioural determinants of HIV prevalence among homosexual and bisexual men having sex with men (MSM) in India: Integrated bio-behavioural surveillance.

Background: HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM) is 16.5 times higher than adult HIV prevalence. With a socio-cultural context that demands marriage, a considerable proportion of MSM in India have female sexual partners and act as a bridge population. Stratified analysis of HIV risk factors among homosexual and bisexual MSM will be instrumental in identifying the high-risk MSM. We aim to identify the socio-demographic and behavioural factors associated with HIV risk among homosexual and bisexual MSM. Methods: Overall, 23081 MSM were enrolled in the IBBS conducted across India between October 2014 and November 2015. Data and blood samples were collected. Chi-square test, univariate and multivariable logistic regression methods were used in data analysis. Results: HIV prevalence was significantly higher among homosexual MSM than bisexual MSM. Older age, lesser education, being a sex worker, being married, living with a male or hijra partner, younger age at initiation of MSM behaviour, duration, injecting drugs, and having STI symptoms were associated with higher prevalence. The prevalence of new homosexual MSM was 11.4%. Nearly 75% of the bisexual MSM reported inconsistent condom usage with female partners. Conclusion: Interventions for early identification of new MSM and advocacy for safe sex with alternative preventive techniques are recommended.

Sub-regional Trend of HIV Infection Among Antenatal Clinic Attendees in Andhra Pradesh (2003-2019).

INTRODUCTION: The analyses of local risks at sub-national levels and tailored interventions are being emphasized for effective HIV management. Andhra Pradesh (AP) is a high HIV prevalence state in India, with the second-highest number of People with HIV (PWH) and a consistent decline in HIV prevalence at the state level. Probing further into the region and district-wise levels and trends of HIV prevalence will provide critical insights into sub-regional epidemic patterns. Hence, this paper analyzes the regional and district-level trends of HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) from 2003 to 2019 in AP, South India. METHODS: HIV prevalence data collected from pregnant women in AP during HIV Sentinel Surveillance (HSS) between 2003 and 2019 was used for trend analysis. The consistent sites were grouped into three regions (Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Uttar Andhra), totaling 39 sites, including 21 rural and 18 urban sites. Regional and district-level HIV prevalence was analyzed using the Chisquare trend test, and spatial analysis was done using QGIS software. For the last three HSS rounds, HIV prevalence based on sociodemographic variables was calculated to understand the factors contributing to HIV positivity in each region. RESULTS: In total, 143,211 pregnant women were recruited. HIV prevalence in AP was 0.30% (95% CI: 0.22 - 0.39) in 2019. The prevalence was 0.31%, 0.35% and 0.22% in Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Uttar Andhra, respectively. HIV prevalence had significantly (P < 0.05) declined in all regions. The overall trend indicated that the HIV prevalence was higher among older pregnant women and in urban regions. However, recent trends consistently report HIV positivity among young and new pregnant mothers, illiterates, and rural regions. CONCLUSION: The overall trend indicated that the HIV prevalence was higher among older pregnant women and in urban regions. However, recent trends consistently report HIV positivity among young and new pregnant mothers, illiterates, and rural regions. Identifying the contextual risk patterns associated with HIV transmission will further improve HIV preventive and management programs among the general population.

Analysis of a Targeted Intervention Programme on the Risk Behaviours of Injecting Drug Users in India: Evidence From the National Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey / 예방의학회지

Objectives@#This study provides insights on the impact of a targeted intervention (TI) programme on behaviour change among injecting drug users (IDUs) in India. @*Methods@#This paper examined the data from the Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance 2014-2015 for IDUs in India. Logistic regression was performed to understand the factors (TI programme services) that affected injecting risk behaviours by adjusting for covariates. Propensity score matching was conducted to understand the impact of the TI programme on using new needles/syringes and sharing needles/syringes in the most recent injecting episode by accounting for the covariates that predicted receiving the intervention. @*Results@#Participants who received new needles and syringes from peer educators or outreach workers were 1.3 times (adjusted odds ratio, 1.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09 to 1.53) more likely to use new needles/syringes during most recent injecting episode than participants who did not receive needles/syringes. The matched-samples estimate (i.e., average treatment effect on treated) of using new needles in the most recent injecting episode showed a 2.8% (95% CI, 0.0 to 5.6) increase in the use of new needles and a 6.5% (95% CI, -9.7 to -3.3) decrease in needle sharing in the most recent injecting episode in participants who received new needles/syringes. There was a 2.2% (95% CI, -3.8 to -0.6) decrease in needle sharing in the most recent injecting episode among participants who were referred to other services (integrated counselling and testing centre, detox centres, etc.). @*Conclusions@#The TI programme proved to be effective for behaviour change among IDUs, as substantiated by the use of new needles/syringes and sharing of needles/syringes.

Epidemiology and pathobiology of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in comparison with SARS, MERS: An updated overview of current knowledge and future perspectives.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative etiology of 'Corona Virus Disease-2019' (COVID-19); formerly referred as 'novel-Coronavirus-2019'. It was originated in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China in early December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern' due to their rapid transmission and causing public and health-care-related casualties worldwide. This review provides an updated overview of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), in comparison with the etiologies of the same group viz. SARS and MERS and also its future perspectives for planning appropriate strategies for prevention, control and treatment modalities to avert similar catastrophe in near future.

Factors associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection and self-assessed risk to human immunodeficiency virus among injecting drug users in Manipur, India.

BACKGROUND: The proximity of Northeast India to the Golden Triangle facilitates easy accessibility to illicit drugs, resulting in a higher proportion of injecting drug users (IDUs) in the states of Northeast India. The estimated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence among IDU in Manipur which is 1.43% is higher than that of the national figure. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to find the factors associated with HIV infection and correlate the association between HIV status and self-assessed risk to HIV among IDUs in Manipur. METHODS: National Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance (2014-2015) data were used for the study; all analyses done were weighted. In Manipur, information was collected from 1594 IDUs during the surveillance between 2014 and 2015 across four domains, namely Chandel (396), Imphal East (397), Thoubal (401), and Senapati (400). Chi-square test was performed to test the association between the independent and dependent variables. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors associated with HIV positivity. RESULTS: Higher age, unsafe injecting practice, low education status, and low-income status were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with HIV infection among IDUs in Manipur. Self-assessed risk of HIV infection by IDU was significantly associated with HIV positivity. CONCLUSION: Interventions among IDUs in Manipur should focus on emphasizing safe injecting practices along with creating awareness on HIV prevention and management.

One-step sonochemical synthesis of 1D ß-stannous tungstate nanorods: An efficient and excellent electrocatalyst for the selective electrochemical detection of antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine.

In the modern world, the contamination of ecosystem by human and veterinary pharmaceutical drugs through the metabolic excretion, improper disposal/industrial waste has been subjected to a hot issue. Therefore, exploitation of exclusive structured material and reliable technique is a necessary task to the precise detection of drugs. With this regards, we made an effort for the fabrication of novel one-dimensional (1D) stannous tungstate nanorods (ß-SnW NRs) via simple sonochemical approach and used as an electrochemical sensor for the detection of antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine (CPZ) for the first time. The crystallographic structure, surface topology, elemental compositions and their distributions and ionic states were enquired by different spectroscopic techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS, elemental mapping and XPS analysis. The developed ß-SnW NRs/GCE sensor exhibits a rapid and sensitive electrochemical response towards CPZ sensing with wide linear response range (0.01-457 µM), high sensitivity (2.487 µA µM-1 cm-2), low detection limit (0.003 µM) and excellent selectivity. Besides, the as-proposed electrochemical sensor was successfully applied to real sample analysis in commercial CPZ drug and biological fluids and the acquired recovery results are quite satisfactory. The proposed sonochemical method for the preparation of ß-SnW NRs is low cost, very simple, fast and efficient for sensor applications.

Sonochemical Synthesis of Sulfur Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide Supported CuS Nanoparticles for the Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensor Applications.

Over the present material synthesis routes, the sonochemical route is highly efficient and comfortable way to produce nanostructured materials. In this way, the copper sulfide (CuS-covellite) and sulfur doped reduced graphene oxide (S-rGO) nanocomposite was prepared by sonochemical method. Interestingly, the structure of the as-prepared S-rGO/CuS was changed from the covellite to digenite phase. Herein, the S-rGO was act as a mild oxidizer and liable for the structural transformations. These structural changes are sequentially studied by various physicochemical characterizations such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After scrupulous structural evaluations, the transformation of CuS phase was identified and documented. This oxidized CuS has an excellent electrocatalytic activity when compare to the bulk CuS. This S-rGO/CuS was further used for the determination of glucose and acquired good electrocatalytic performances. This S-rGO/CuS was exhibited a wide linear concentration range, 0.0001-3.88 mM and 3.88-20.17 mM, and a low-level detection limit of 32 nM. Moreover, we have validated the practicability of our developed glucose sensor in real biological samples.

Crystal structure of bis-(4-acetyl-anilinium) tetra-chlorido-cobaltate(II).

The structure of the title salt, (C8H10NO)2[CoCl4], is isotypic with the analogous cuprate(II) structure. The asymmetric unit contains one 4-acetyl-anilinium cation and one half of a tetra-chlorido-cobaltate(II) anion for which the Co(II) atom and two Cl(-) ligands lie on a mirror plane. The Co-Cl distances in the distorted tetra-hedral anion range from 2.2519 (6) to 2.2954 (9) Šand the Cl-Co-Cl angles range from 106.53 (2) to 110.81 (4)°. In the crystal, cations are self-assembled by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions, leading to a C(8) chain motif with the chains running parallel to the b axis. π-π stacking inter-actions between benzene rings, with a centroid-to-centroid distance of 3.709 Å, are also observed along this direction. The CoCl4 (2-) anions are sandwiched between the cationic chains and inter-act with each other through inter-molecular N-H⋯Cl hydrogen-bonding inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional network structure.

Crystal structure of bis-(4-acetyl-anilinium) tetra-chlorido-mercurate(II).

The structure of the title salt, (C8H10NO)2[HgCl4], is isotypic with that of the cuprate(II) and cobaltate(II) analogues. The asymmetric unit contains one 4-acetyl-anilinium cation and one half of a tetra-chlorido-mercurate(II) anion (point group symmetry m). The Hg-Cl distances are in the range 2.4308 (7)-2.5244 (11) Šand the Cl-Hg-Cl angles in the range of 104.66 (2)-122.94 (4)°, indicating a considerable distortion of the tetra-hedral anion. In the crystal, cations are linked by an inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-action, leading to a C(8) chain motif with the chains extending parallel to the b axis. There is also a π-π stacking inter-action with a centroid-to-centroid distance of 3.735 (2) Šbetween neighbouring benzene rings along this direction. The anions lie between the chains and inter-act with the cations through inter-molecular N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, leading to the formation of a three-dimensional network structure.