OBJECTIVES A high proportion of individuals infected with HIV are unaware of the infection. They miss the opportunity for timely treatment. Our sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic (South Limburg, The Netherlands) recognised the need to increase test rates and from 2004 routinely includes a HIV test, unless the client refuses, in each consultation. We evaluated the effectiveness of this ...

Objective: To determine the prevalence of HIV, the correlates of HIV knowledge, positive attitudes towards HIV-infected persons (PosAttitude-HIV) and specific sexually transmitted infections (STI) related symptoms (Spe-STI-Sym) among mobile Khmer Vietnamese. Methods: Information about socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics, STI history, and HIV knowledge and attitudes were collected ...

BACKGROUND Men having sex with men (MSM) remain the largest high-risk group involved in on-going transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV, in the Netherlands. As risk behaviour may change with age, it is important to explore potential heterogeneity in risks by age. To improve our understanding of this epidemic, we analysed the prevalence of and risk factors for selec...

OBJECTIVES Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at highest risk for STIs and HIV infections in the Netherlands. However, official guidelines on STI testing among MSM are lacking. They are advised to test for STIs at least every six months, but their testing behaviour is not well known. This study aimed to get insight into the proportion and determinants of consistent 6-monthly STI testing among ...

Background Sexually transmitted infection (STI) is a major global cause of acute illness, infertility, long-term disability and death, with serious medical and psychological consequences to millions of men, women and infants. Moreover, in Ethiopia, epidemiological studies on STI among STI clinic clients are limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated...

OBJECTIVES A survey was conducted to assess the adequacy of sexually transmitted infections (STI) prevention and control policies and programmes in the European region (including the central Asian republics). METHODS An adapted World Health Organization (WHO) model questionnaire was sent to ministry of health officials in all 45 countries of Europe and central Asia. The questionnaire included...

BACKGROUND Although antiretroviral treatment (ART) has led to a decline in morbidity and mortality of HIV-infected patients in developed countries, it has also presented challenges. These challenges include increases in pill burden; adherence to treatment; development of resistance and treatment failure; development of drug toxicities; and increase in cost of HIV treatment and care. These issue...

Can psychological distance affect how much perceivers form spontaneous trait inferences (STI) from others' behaviors? On the basis of construal level theory (CLT) which posits that distant (vs. near) entities are represented more in terms of their abstract, global, and decontextualized features, we predicted that perceived distance would increase the tendency for perceivers to draw spontaneous ...

BACKGROUND Cambodia's 100% Condom-Use Programme (CUP), implemented nationally in 2001, requires brothel-based female sex workers (FSWs) to use condoms with all clients. In 2005, we conducted a sexually transmitted infection (STI) survey among FSWs. This paper presents the STI prevalence and related risk factors, and discusses prevalence trends in the context of the 100% CUP in Cambodia. METHO...

The speech transmission index (STI) of a listening position within a given room indicates the quality and intelligibility of speech uttered in that room. The measure is very reliable for predicting speech intelligibility in many room conditions but requires an STI measurement of the impulse response for the room. We present a method for blindly estimating the STI without measuring or modeling t...