Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been successful in delaying the progression to AIDS in HIV-1-infected individuals. Exposure to HAART can result in metabolic side effects, such as dyslipidemia, in a subset of recipients. Longitudinal data and frozen peripheral blood mononuclear cell pellets were obtained from 1,945 men enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort. Individuals were genotyped for ancestry informative markers (AIMs) and stratified by biogeographical ancestry (BGA). Then serum levels of total cholesterol (TCHOL), lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TRIG) were examined controlling for a number of HIV and HAART-related covariates using multivariate mixed-effects linear regression. HIV-1 infection, in the absence of HAART, was associated with altered lipid levels for all phenotypes tested when compared to HIV-negative men. HIV-1-infected men receiving HAART also had significantly different lipid levels compared to HIV-negative men, except for LDL-C. There were statistically significant interactions between BGA and HIV/HAART status for all lipids tested. BGA remained significantly associated with lipid levels after controlling for other HIV and HAART-related covariates. There was low concordance between self-reported race (SRR) and BGA in admixed populations. BGA performed better than SRR in our statistical models. Lipid profiles in untreated HIV-1-positive men and HIV-1-positive men receiving HAART differ from HIV-negative men and this effect varies by BGA. BGA performed better in our statistical analysis as a racial classifier but SRR remains a good clinical surrogate for BGA.
A crucial component of Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) student training is clinical experience. This can be delivered through clinical rotations or by clinical laboratory simulation. Weber State University (WSU) in Ogden, Utah utilizes a combination of both to provide clinical experience to MLS students. In response to feedback from bi-yearly meetings with an advisory board, a campus simulated laboratory course was redesigned to enhance student customer service, communication skills, workflow and time management, instrument maintenance and troubleshooting, data entry, and result reporting. The course was modeled after a hospital STAT, or small core, laboratory consisting of blood bank, coagulation studies, chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, microbiology, and specimen processing. The course was taught over two semesters and evaluated by a pre/post survey related to the main educational outcomes, a mock certification exam, and a comprehensive practical exam. The survey results showed that the students' perceived competence increased in all the areas of training, with the greatest increases seen in specimen processing and management and communication. The lowest average score was demonstrated in perceived competence with instrument maintenance. All students achieved a department-required minimum 80 percent competence on the comprehensive practical exam and there was a significant increase (p<0.001) in mock certification exam scores.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.