Intimate partner violence among HIV-positive women in Nairobi, Kenya.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify the prevalence and sociodemographic factors associated with four forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) among HIV-positive women attending the Comprehensive Care Centre at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 600 sexually active HIV-positive women aged 18-69 years from May to August of 2012. A structured questionnaire including questions pertaining to sociodemographic characteristics, health care decisions, and forms of IPV (controlling behavior, emotional abuse, physical violence, and sexual violence) was administered to each woman. RESULTS: All women reported experiencing emotional abuse; 20%, 17%, and 15% experienced controlling behavior, physical violence, and sexual violence, respectively. Women who reported low/below average socioeconomic status (SES) had a greater likelihood of experiencing controlling behavior than women with high/average SES (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] =1.62, 95% CI 1.05-2.51). Women who were unemployed had greater odds of experiencing physical violence than those who were employed (aOR =2.35, 95% CI 1.31-4.23). Non-Christian women had higher odds of experiencing controlling behavior, physical violence, and sexual violence than Christian women (aOR =4.41, 95% CI 1.81-10.76 and aOR =3.33, 95% CI 1.43-7.80). CONCLUSION: Based on the prevalence of IPV and the sociodemographic factors identified to be associated with IPV among women in this study it may be beneficial to include IPV screening as part of routine clinic visits for HIV-positive and other women. Furthermore, women who report emotional abuse or controlling behavior from spouse should not be overlooked, as these two forms of IPV may precede or accompany physical and sexual IPV. Women who report experiencing IPV during clinic visits may be referred to organizations and resources available to battered women in Kenya. Increased funding for anti-IPV programs and changes in policy may also contribute to a reduction in IPV among HIV-positive and other women in Kenya.

Study of the Automatic Detection of Parkison's Disease Based on Speaker Recognition Technologies and Allophonic Distillation.

The use of new tools to detect Parkinson's Disease (PD) from speech articulatory movements can have a considerable impact in the diagnosis of patients. In this study, a novel approach involving speaker recognition techniques with allophonic distillation is proposed and tested separately in four parkinsonian speech databases (205 patients and 186 controls in total). This new scheme provides values between 72% and 94% of accuracy in the automatic detection of PD, depending on the database, and improvements up to 9% respect to baseline techniques. Results not only point towards the importance of the segmentation of the speech for the differentiation of parkinsonian and control speakers but confirm previous findings about the relevance of plosives and fricatives in the detection of parkinsonian dysarthria.

[Eales' disease with bilateral brain strokes and jaw-closing dystonia]. / Enfermedad de Eales con infartos cerebrales bilaterales y distonía de cierre mandibular.

Eales' disease is an idiopathic occlusive vasculopathy of the retina, which is characterized by extensive peripheral non-perfusion, perivascular sheathing, and neovascularization. It is associated with recurrent vitreous hemorrhages. Both eyes are affected consecutively in 80% to 90% of the patients. In spite of the multiple theories that have been proposed, it continues to have unknown origin and its diagnosis relies on exclusion of other causes of retinal vasculopathy. In some occasions, these patients develop complications of the central nervous system, above all brain infarcts. We present the case of a 38 year old woman with Eales' disease who developed bilateral brain infarcts associated with occlusion or stenosis of the middle cerebral arteries. The cerebral angiography showed beading of the Silvian arteries, suggestive of an underlying inflammatory disorder. Early corticosteroid therapy could avoid contralateral retinal involvement and neurological complications. The patient also presented delayed jaw closing dystonia secondary to basal ganglia infarct which followed a benign course with spontaneous resolution in a few days.

[Lower cranial nerve involvement as the initial manifestation of Lyme borreliosis]. / Afectación de nervios craneales bajos como manifestación inicial de la borreliosis de Lyme.

Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis is an infectious disease transmitted by ticks and caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Being clinically different from Relapsing Fever it may cause an array of symptoms, specially cutaneous and neurological but also musculoskeletal and cardiac ones. Within the neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease the affectation of low cranial nerves is, to our knowledge, extremely infrequent. We present the clinical case of a 35 years old male whose initial symptoms were low cranial nerve dysfunction with a cerebrospinal fluid compatible with meningitis. Serology against Borrelia burgdorferi both in serum and cerebrospinal fluid was positive.

hsp70: nuclear concentration during environmental stress and cytoplasmic storage during recovery.

The intracellular distribution of the major Drosophila heat-shock protein hsp70 was determined by indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies. During heat shock the protein concentrates strongly in nuclei while a small quantity remains cytoplasmic. During recovery hsp70 leaves the nuclei and becomes distributed throughout the cytoplasm. With a second heat shock it is rapidly transported back into the nucleus. Nuclear translocation depends not on the temperature per se, but on the physiological state of the cell since it also occurs after exposure to an anoxic atmosphere at normal temperatures. We also provide evidence that hsps protect cells from the toxic effects of anoxia, as well as heat, and conclude that nuclear translocation of hsp70 is related to its function in protecting the organism from both forms of environmental stress.

Is the major Drosophila heat shock protein present in cells that have not been heat shocked?

When eukaryotic cells are exposed to elevated temperatures they respond by vigorously synthesizing a small group of proteins called the heat shock proteins. An essential element in defining the role of these proteins is determining whether they are unique to a stressed state or are also found in healthy, rapidly growing cells at normal temperatures. To date, there have been conflicting reports concerning the major heat-induced protein of Drosophila cells, HSP 70. We report the development of monoclonal antibodies specific for this protein. These antibodies were used to assay HSP 70 in cells incubated under different culture conditions. The protein was detectable in cells maintained at normal temperatures, but only when immunological techniques were pushed to the limits of their sensitivity. To test for the possibility that these cells contain a reservoir of protein in a cryptic antigenic state (i.e., waiting posttranslational modification for use at high temperature), we treated cells with cycloheximide or actinomycin D immediately before heat shock. HSP 70 was not detected in these cells. Finally, we tested for the presence of a reservoir of inactive messages by using a high stringency hybridization of 32P-labeled cloned gene sequences to electrophoretically separated RNAs. Although HSP 70 mRNA was detectable in rapidly growing cells, it was present at less than 1/1,000th the level achieved after induction.

Intracellular localization of heat shock proteins in Drosophila.

When cells and tissues of Drosophila are subjected to elevated temperatures, the pattern of protein synthesis shifts from the production of a broad spectrum of different proteins to the vigorous production of a small number of new, heat shock proteins. The intracellular distribution of these proteins has been investigated through autoradiographic analysis of cells labeled with 3H-leucine at 23 degrees and 37 degrees C. After examining sections of cultured cells from D. melanogaster and polytene cells of D. virilis by electron and light microscopy, we conclude that little (if any) heat shock protein becomes associated with mitochondria, despite the many lines of evidence linking the response to respiratory stress. Confirming earlier reports on the presence of heat shock proteins in nuclei, we find the proteins are very highly concentrated there and that their transport to the nucleus occurs very rapidly. Interestingly, their free concentration in the nuclear sap is extremely low; they are, in fact, quantitatively associated with chromosomes. This association occurs in a nonrandom manner, their concentration in highly condensed chromatin being very low relative to that of other chromosomal loci.

Aesthetic surgery of the aging hand.

Preliminary considerations are made about the aesthetic surgery of the hands, stressing the fact that little interest has been devoted to this field. The senile changes of the hand are analyzed, mentioning the presence of sagging and wrinkling, the appearance of senile lentigos and senile keratoses, as well as dilatation of the dorsal veins.The etiology and histology of the senile changes are reviewed, including the effects of actinic rays and gravitational forces. A rational approach is undertaken by means of excision of the sagging skin, phleboexeresis, and chemical exfoliation. Our experience in the last 5 years is analyzed.