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The Deep South is the epicenter of the HIV-epidemic in the United States, with rural AAs bearing the greatest burden. Traditional efforts to improve testing efforts have been largely unsuccessful due to their failure to recognize and leverage the sociopolitical and cultural factors that affect the uptake of HIV-screening interventions at the community level. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural contexts impacting HIV-testing in the rural South, and to assess strategies to increase testing in rural, Southern communities. Focus groups (n = 8) and semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were conducted among community and faith-based leaders in Alabama and Mississippi, to inform our understanding of local perceptions of HIV infection, barriers and facilitators impacting HIV-testing, and best strategies for improving testing efforts at the local level. Interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed to extract major themes. While both faith-based and community leaders reported at least some stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV infection, faith-based leaders were more likely to report discomfort being around someone with HIV and were more likely to link the spread of HIV to immoral behaviors. The combination of the cultural importance of the Church, deep-seated religiosity among community members, and faith-based messages associating HIV infection with immorality directly impacted HIV stigma within the community-in turn, decreasing willingness to participate in HIV-testing, disclose positive HIV serostatus, or openly discuss transmission protection behaviors. The Church was identified as crucial to include to improve HIV-testing efforts in the rural South, due to their prominent sociopolitical roles within communities and ability to influence community members' perceptions of HIV stigma. Faith-based leaderships should be included in initiatives to increase improve HIV-testing and awareness of status and reduce HIV disparities in the Deep South.

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In immunocompetent rats and humans infection with Toxoplasma gondii remains mostly without overt clinical symptoms, but can be fatal, if the T-cell response is impaired. For a better understanding of the lack of control of T. gondii infection under immunosuppressed conditions, congenitally athymic rats were used as the experimental model. Whereas athymic F344-Whn(rnu) (F344 nude) rats die from a generalized infection during the first 3 weeks after peritoneal inoculation with 10(6) tachyzoites of T. gondii strain NTE, LEW-Whn(rnu) (LEW nude) rats and euthymic LEW rats infected with a 10-fold higher number of parasites developed chronic infection. To identify underlying mechanisms of LEW rats resistance to T. gondii infection and to investigate a possible contribution of residual T-cells to LEW-Whn(rnu) rat resistance, we characterized the immune response of LEW rats by determination of cellularity and composition of lymphocyte population, antigen-specific IgG2b response as well as assays of antigen-specific proliferation and production of IL-2, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. As only euthymic LEW rats developed production of antigen-specific IgG and cellular in vitro responses, these results strongly suggest that the genetic background of LEW rats permits a control of the infection independent of an adaptive immune response.

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BACKGROUND: Several solutions are used to preserve the pancreas prior to islet isolation. This study sought to assess whether the type of solution had an impact on the isolation outcome. METHODS: We reviewed data from 125 islet isolation procedures performed from January 2002 to January 2005. Pancreata were preserved in University of Wisconsin (UW) (n = 101), Celsior (CS) (n = 19), or IGL-1 (n = 5) solutions. Islet isolation results and transplantation rates were compared between groups. RESULTS: UW, CS, and IGL-1 groups were similar according to donor's age, weight, and body mass index. Weight of undigested pancreas was 20 +/- 13.1, 21.4 +/- 15.7, and 17.4 +/- 8.7 g for UW, CS, and IGL-1, respectively (P > .2). Final total number of IEQ was 267,000 +/- 132,000, 277,000 +/- 155,000, and 311,000 +/- 163,000, respectively (P > .4). Success rate (defined as >250,000 IEQ) was 55.5%, 52.9%, and 60% for UW, Celsior, and IGL-1 (P > .9); the transplantation rate was 42.2% for UW, 36.8% for Celsior, and 80% for IGL-1 preservation (P > .2). CONCLUSIONS: In this preliminary study, UW, Celsior, and IGL-1 solutions demonstrated similar islet isolation results. The new IGL-1 solution appears promising.

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This study determined the comparative in vitro potency of the new investigative quinolone gemifloxacin (SB-265805) using low-passaged clinical isolates and type strains of mycoplasma commonly found in the human respiratory and urogenital tracts. Organisms studied were Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma fermentans, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma penetrans and Ureaplasma urealyticum, obtained from different geographical regions. Comparator drugs were levofloxacin, trovafloxacin, grepafloxacin, azithromycin, clarithromycin, tetracycline and clindamycin. MICs were determined using a microbroth dilution method. The overall range of MICs of gemifloxacin was < or =0.008-0.125 mg/L for different Mycoplasma spp. and < or =0.008-0.5 mg/L for Ureaplasma spp. Depending on the species tested, gemifloxacin showed variable results when compared with the macrolides. However, gemifloxacin was as potent as, or more potent than, tetracycline, clindamycin and the other quinolones investigated.

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There is evidence that not only the immune status, but also the genetic predisposition of certain hosts influence the clinical outcome of Toxoplasma gondii infection. By far the majority of our knowledge on genetic and immunological mechanisms involved in control of T. gondii infection has been obtained by studying mouse models, which in terms of clinical outcome of infection differ considerably from humans. Rats which show a rather similar course of infection in comparison to humans have not so far been investigated for effects of genetic differences on course of the infection. In this study we show that, like mice, different strains of rats exhibit a remarkable variation in the number of brain cysts arising from chronic infection. LEW rats seem to be highly resistant to cyst formation, in contrast to F344 rats that are susceptible. In addition, F344 rats express high numbers of gammadelta T cells during the acute phase of infection, whereas LEW rats express elevated but comparably low numbers of gammadelta T cells. The RT1 (rat MHC) haplotypes of both strains are identical in the RT1A and RT1B/D regions, which encode the restriction elements for conventional peptide antigens. Consequently, rat strain-specific differences may be useful to define MHC-independent mechanisms of resistance against T. gondii, which may also act in humans.

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The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii comprises three clonal lineages that are associated with the clinical outcome in infected individuals. Whereas group C strains are mainly found in animals, group A and B strains are associated with human disease (Howe and Sibley, 1995). An increased level of transcripts of the tachyzoite-specifically expressed gene SAG1 could be identified in group A T. gondii strains compared to group B strains. Since SAG1-mediated host-cell invasion seems to be important for parasite replication, the observed higher replication rate in group A T. gondii strains might explain the association with clinically overt symptoms at the acute stage in patients who are infected with this group of parasite strains. The presence of external stress factors, such as interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)-mediated nitric oxide (NO) formation has been identified to stabilize the cyst stage, most likely by activation of promoter(s) which drive the expression of genes encoding bradyzoite-specific antigens. Reactivation of chronic toxoplasmosis thus might occur in the absence of external stress factors, as has been observed in AIDS patients with decreases levels of IFN-gamma. Since group B T. gondii strains might form more cysts in infected individuals due to an increased potential to convert into bradyzoites, reactivation with resulting toxoplasmic encephalitis could be a more common event in those AIDS patients who were infected with persistent cysts of this group of parasite strains.

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