It is unclear what role the experimental drug and convalescent plasma had in the recovery of these patients. Prospective clinical trials are needed to delineate the role of investigational therapies in the care of patients with EVD.

Purpose This study investigates the prevalence of partner violence perpetration and receipt among a sample of young men and women in the Philippines, as well as the relationship between witnessing inter-parental violence during childhood and current violence in partnerships. Methods We used 1994, 2002, and 2005 data from 472 married or cohabiting young adults from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey in Cebu, Philippines. This is a longitudinal data set following over 2,000 Filipino women and their index children since the child’s birth in 1983–1984. Results Prevalence of partner violence perpetration was 55.8% for female and 25.1% for male respondents. Prevalence of victimization was 27.7% for females and 30.5% for males. Forty-five percent of females and 50% of males reported having witnessed their parents/caretakers physically hurt one another during childhood. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that witnessing inter-parental violence significantly predicted report of violent act victimization and reciprocal violent acts. Greater parental joint decision-making and being male were independently associated with a lower risk of report of both reciprocal violent acts and violent act victimization. Duration of marriage or cohabitation was associated with report of violent act victimization and reciprocal violent acts. There were gender interaction effects for several factors, including mother’s church attendance and household purchase of alcohol at age 11. Conclusions Implications for further research and violence prevention programs include early intervention with adolescents and focus on gender differences in violence determinants.

This exploratory study examined patient-provider communication dynamics regarding adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and protective sexual behavior among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). We conducted 20 direct observations of routine consultations between PLWHA and care providers in two large public health clinics providing free HIV medications and clinical care to PLWHA in the greater Rio de Janeiro area of Brazil. Immediately after these observations, 20 semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with observation participants regarding their communication with providers, overall clinic experience, and questions and concerns about adherence to HAART and safe sex. Findings from observations showed that patient-provider communication focused almost exclusively on biomedical aspects of HIV-related treatment such as symptom management. In most observations, adherence to HAART was addressed. However, questions posed by providers regarding adherence were generally close-ended and leading, discouraging an open exchange regarding potential difficulties related to adherence. HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI)- related protective behaviors were seldom addressed except when the patient displayed STI symptoms or was thought to be pregnant. In qualitative interviews, patients generally reported satisfaction with their providers, but also reported a variety of concerns and challenges related to adherence to HAART and protective sexual behavior that were not expressed in patient-provider interactions. We conclude that one way in which adherence to HAART and protective sexual behavior among PLWHA could be facilitated is by improving patient- provider communication on these topics, including increasing the frequency of openended, nonjudgmental dialogue initiated by care providers.

Our objective was to describe the context of and motivations for female and male perpetrated IPV in Cebu, Philippines using data from in-depth interviews with 19 married women. We found three categories of IPV motivations --self-defense or retaliation, reactivity, and control. Motivations differed by gender, with women acting out of self-defense more often and men acting out of control more often. Effective IPV prevention and treatment programs should take these gender differences into consideration. Moreover, it is important to look at how IPV occurs within relationships and how this may vary by context and gender. While intimate partner violence is a well-known problem for both men and women in developing countries, we know relatively little about the context of violence in these settings. There is research from the U.S. on motivations for and other contextual aspects of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) and a handful of studies in lower income countries, the U.S. and Canada on motivations for and contextual aspects of male-perpetrated IPV. To create effective prevention and treatment interventions for both male and female perpetrated IPV in developing countries, it is critical to understand how IPV occurs within relationships in these settings and how this may vary by context and gender. We carried out this study to explore the context of both male and female perpetrated IPV in the Philippines using in-depth interviews with married women. We report here the findings on IPV motives and forms of IPV.

Although concurrent sexual partnerships (CPs) have been hypothesized to be an important risk factor for HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, the social and cultural factors that encourage CPs are not well understood. This study explored the community's perspectives on the role that parents can play in influencing their children's decision to engage in CPs. We conducted 16 in-depth interviews, 32 focus group discussions, and 16 key informant interviews with 280 adult participants in Tanzania. Data were coded; findings and conclusions were developed based on themes that emerged from coding. Three parental influences on CPs emerged: parent-child communication about sex, both silent and explicit encouragement of CPs, and parental behavior modeling. Parents are typically either too busy or too "embarrassed" to talk with their children about sex and CPs. The information parents do give is often confusing, fear-based, inadequate, and/or only focused on daughters. Parents themselves also encourage CPs through complicity of silence when their daughters come home with extra cash or consumer goods. In some cases, parents overtly encourage their children, particularly daughters, to practice CPs due to the promise of money from wealthy partners. Finally, when parents engage in CPs, the children themselves learn to behave similarly. These results suggest that parents can influence their children's decision to engage in CPs. HIV prevention interventions should address this by promoting parent-child communication about sexuality; associated disease risks and gender-equitable relationships; promoting positive parental role modeling; and educating parents on the implications of encouragement of CPs in their children.

With the advent of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV/AIDS, governments and NGOs seek to increase the number of persons on this lifesaving medication and their adherence to the drug regimens. The conventional approach to communication within a clinical context includes provider-patient counseling, group education sessions, client information materials, and support groups. Given the layers of influence on an individual's behavior-spouse/family/friends, community, and societal-it is essential for the ART rollout to harness the power of complementary communication channels to create an enabling environment that supports individual behavior in terms of adherence. This article explores a series of communication vehicles-different forms of mass media and community mobilization-that complement the interpersonal communication/counseling within the medical model, and it provides examples from developing countries (largely sub-Saharan Africa) that have used them to good effect in the rollout of ART.

As a result of new global priorities, there is a growing need for high-quality evaluations of gender-integrated health programmes. This systematic review examined 99 peer-reviewed articles on evaluations of gender-integrated (accommodating and transformative) health programmes with regard to their theory of change (ToC), study design, gender integration in data collection, analysis, and gender measures used. Half of the evaluations explicitly described a ToC or conceptual framework (n = 50) that guided strategies for their interventions. Over half (61%) of the evaluations used quantitative methods exclusively; 11% used qualitative methods exclusively; and 28% used mixed methods. Qualitative methods were not commonly detailed. Evaluations of transformative interventions were less likely than those of accommodating interventions to employ randomised control trials. Two-thirds of the reviewed evaluations reported including at least one specific gender-related outcome (n = 18 accommodating, n = 44 transformative). To strengthen evaluations of gender-integrated programmes, we recommend use of ToCs, explicitly including gender in the ToC, use of gender-sensitive measures, mixed-method designs, in-depth descriptions of qualitative methods, and attention to gender-related factors in data collection logistics. We also recommend further research to develop valid and reliable gender measures that are globally relevant.

Electrophilic trisubstituted ethylene monomers, ring-substituted methyl 2-cyano-3-phenyl-2-propenoates, RC6H4CH = C(CNC02CH, (where R is 0-C1, m-C1, p-C1, p-Br, and p-F) were prepared and copolymerized in solution with styrene at equimolar monomer feed composition in the presence of a radical initiator, AIBN at 80°C. The order of reactivity (lh,) for the trisubstituted ethylene monomers was p-C1 (3.0) > m-CI (2.9) > p-Br (2.3) > 0-C1 (2.0) > p-F (1.4). High Tg's of the copolymers in comparison with that of polystyrene indicates substantial decrease in chain mobility of the copolymer due to high dipolar character of the trisubstituted monomer units.