Mother-infant interaction: effects of a home intervention and ongoing maternal drug use.

Examined the effects of a home-based intervention on mother-infant interaction among drug-using women and their infants. At 2 weeks postpartum, mothers and infants were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 84) or a control (n = 87) group. Control families received brief monthly tracking visits, and intervention families received weekly visits by trained lay visitors. Mother-infant interaction was evaluated at 6 months through observation of feeding. Although there were no direct effects of the intervention, in the control group, mothers who continued to use drugs were less responsive to their babies than mothers who were drug free. In the intervention group, drug use was not associated with maternal responsiveness. Weekly home-based intervention may be a protective strategy for children of drug-using women because it disrupts the relation between ongoing maternal drug use and low maternal responsiveness.

Exposure to environmental risk factors and parenting attitudes among substance-abusing women.

This study examined the amount of exposure to negative environmental risks and their association with parenting attitudes among a group of inner city substance-abusing women. Mothers (N = 198) were recruited at delivery and were part of a randomized longitudinal intervention study for substance-abusing women and their infants. When the infants were 18 months old, a cumulative environmental risk score was calculated for each mother based on nine factors: violence (both domestic and environmental), depression, homelessness, incarceration, number of children, life stress, psychiatric problems, and absence of significant other. Based on their cumulative scores, mothers were placed in a low (N = 106) or high environmental risk group (N = 92). Mothers in the high-risk group had fewer years of education and were younger when their first child was born. Multivariate analyses indicate that mothers in the high-risk group had significantly worse scores on parenting attitude scales. Given the current state of welfare reform, it is important to determine which factors besides maternal substance abuse place these mothers at risk for poor parenting.

The acceptability of oral fluid testing for HIV antibodies. A pilot study in gay bars in a predominantly rural state.

BACKGROUND: One barrier for individuals desiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody testing has been the lack of alternatives to blood HIV testing. Oral fluid HIV testing provides another testing option. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the acceptability of oral fluid testing for HIV antibodies in a gay bar outreach setting. STUDY DESIGN: This pilot study was conducted using the HIV Risk Behavior Survey (HRBS) and OraSure acceptability survey in gay bars in Columbia, South Carolina during July and August, 1997. RESULTS: Of the 118 HRBS participants, 54% agreed to take the oral fluid test with 6% testing positive. A majority (91%) of participants felt comfortable with the oral HIV antibody testing in gay bars. Also, 21.8% of individuals in the OraSure study were tested for the first time. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that oral fluid testing for HIV antibodies in an outreach setting is acceptable and effective in reaching individuals who do not usually access traditional testing sites.

Physician and infection control practitioner HIV/AIDS reporting characteristics.

We surveyed a random sample of South Carolina physicians and infection control practitioners about the reporting of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases. Of physicians surveyed, 79% indicated that HIV infection as well as AIDS should be reported by name. The following characteristics were associated with those physicians who do not report AIDS cases: not feeling responsible for reporting, not reporting a case perceived to have been reported in another state, believing that information required for reporting is not on the chart, and residing in an urban setting. Targeted education can address these underreporting factors.

Paternal alcohol consumption in the rat impairs spatial learning performance in male offspring.

Pubescent (30 day old) male rats were maintained on an alcohol liquid diet containing 35% ethanol-derived calories (ALC) for 39 days or were pairfed an isocaloric control diet (PF). The concentration of alcohol in the diet was gradually increased to permit adaptation, then stabilized and then gradually tapered to prevent an alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Following a drug-free period (2 weeks), the males were mated with nontreated females. Offspring were evaluated on several developmental indices and on various learning/memory tasks to assess functional deficits in adulthood. Offspring sired by ALC-treated males did not differ from the offspring of PF males on several developmental parameters including body weights, when developmental landmarks appeared, or on tests of sensorimotor development. As adults, male offspring groups did not differ on tests of activity or on an object exploration/recognition task. However, male offspring of ALC-treated males demonstrated impaired acquisition performance (days and errors to criterion) on a win-shift spatial discrimination in an eight-arm radial maze and on a win-stay discrimination (days to criterion) conducted in a T-maze at a later age. The radial maze results were replicated in a subsequent experiment using different groups of rats.

Behavioral effects of MK-801 in the rat.

Several experiments were conducted to study the effects of the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, MK-801, on learning and memory in the rat. Rats displayed impaired performance on several sensorimotor tests and appeared grossly intoxicated when treated IP with 0.2 mg/kg MK-801, but not when treated with lower doses (0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg). Postacquisition performance on two spatial learning tasks involving working memory protocols (reinforced alternation and radial arm maze) was impaired by MK-801 at intoxicating doses (greater than or equal to 0.2 mg/kg) but not at lower doses (0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg). Using a position habit reversal task, we found that rats could learn to reverse a position habit while under the influence of a nonintoxicating dose of MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg), but when tested on the following day performed as if they did not recall what they had learned. Thus, acute administration of a nonintoxicating dose of MK-801 disrupts the retention of new information learned under the influence of the drug but does not interfere with the performance of tasks that are well learned before the drug is administered. Whether the performance deficits on the spatial learning tasks observed only following intoxicating doses of MK-801 reflect an effect on memory is not clear.

Trends in public knowledge and attitudes about AIDS, South Carolina, 1987-1988.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control AIDS Program assessed the state population's knowledge and attitudes about AIDS and HIV transmission in 1987 and 1988. Each year approximately 1,800 adults were selected by a random 3-stage cluster design and asked seventeen questions by telephone about AIDS and HIV. Questions addressed attitudes, general knowledge, HIV transmission by casual contact, HIV transmission by sex and IV drug contact, and HIV transmission by blood donation and transfusion. Over 90 percent of respondents were knowledgeable about HIV transmission by high risk behaviors addressed in the questionnaire. Respondents were less knowledgeable about HIV transmission by casual contact (12 to 41 percent gave incorrect answers), HIV testing (45 to 48 percent gave incorrect answers), and transmission by blood donation (43 to 52 percent gave incorrect answers). In general, a higher percentage of correct responses were given in 1988 than in 1987. In regard to responses measured by this survey, we conclude that: (1) there is a high level of knowledge in the state about transmission by high risk behaviors, (2) there are still many misconceptions about casual transmission, HIV testing, and blood donation, and (3) there was improvement in knowledge about AIDS and HIV from 1987 to 1988.

Health education quality assessment for public health clinics: responding to staff resistance.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has developed and tested several quality assessment tools over the last 7 years to assess both the administration and direct delivery of patient education services. The most recent system covers three aspects of patient education: environment, materials and personal interaction. Practical assessment tools, methods of introducing them into clinic settings, and areas of possible resistance are discussed.