Current candidate vaccines fail to protect primates against challenge with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the presence of antibody responses; this underlines the importance of studying cell-mediated immunity to HIV and identifying specific epitopes that stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Using a recombinant vaccinia virus to express the gag protein of HIV-1 we found HLA class-I-restricted gag-specific CTL in thirteen out of fifteen healthy HIV seropositive patients. We then used short synthetic peptides in the lysis assay to screen for gag CTL epitopes. In one patient we have identified a peptide in p24 that is recognized by CTL in association with HLA-B27. This peptide, and further peptide sequences defined by these methods, could be incorporated in vaccines designed to induce cell-mediated immunity against HIV.

Patients attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) were interviewed to estimate the presence of sexual dysfunction, and the GHQ-60 was used to measure psychiatric morbidity. Over one-fifth of the males and more than one-quarter of the females were experiencing sexual dysfunction problems, and the majority of them would have liked further help for their problems. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions are made for dealing with these patients.

No abstract

Fry and Wilkinson (1964) demonstrated that the fluorescent antibody (FA) technique was an additional sensitive means for the identification of N. gonorrhoeae in smears of secretion from patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the direct staining FA technique as part of a general busy clinic routine as opposed to a reference laboratory or research technique. For this purpose commercially available fluorescent conjugated antiserum was assessed and used.The study was confined to female patients believed to have been at risk of infection. Diagnosis is often difficult by Gram-stained smears in these patients and a quicker answer than that provided by conventional cultural methods would be advantageous. Material and Methods Optical ApparatusThe apparatus for fluorescence microscopy was built in the hospital. The After drying in the air the smears were fixed with heat. The slides for FA examination from the urethra and cervix were taken at the first attendance only, at the same time as the routine smears and cultures were taken from the urethra, cervix, and rectum. Rectal slides were not considered for the FA technique as the background fluorescence was found to be poorly quenched and reading was therefore impossible.The best results in staining with the Difco materials were obtained with each batch by diluting equal amounts of the anti-gonococcal conjugate with the Rhodamine conjugate diluted one in four with buffer. A negative control and a smear from a proved culture of N. gonorrhoeae was included with each group of slides stained.After the minimum amount of staining material to cover the engraved circle had been added, the slide was incubated in a closed moist chamber at 370C. for 45 minutes.The slides were washed in buffer for 10 minutes with one change, passed briefly through a gentle stream of distilled water to remove any buffer crystals, blotted gently, and dried in the air.After mounting, the slides were viewed by darkground illumination under oil immersion using an ultra-violet light source. Gram-stained

This study aimed to establish the prevalence of psychosocial problems in gay men with HIV infection, and to identify factors associated with psychological morbidity. The study was a cross-sectional controlled investigation, which included 24 HIV seropositive and 25 seronegative gay men. Outcome measures included current psychological status and psychiatric history; coping and health beliefs; and social and sexual functioning. Seropositive subjects had worse scores on the PSE total score, and greater sexual difficulties. There were also differences in health beliefs and coping. Psychological morbidity was associated with hopelessness, previous psychiatric illness, symptomatic HIV disease, and low self-esteem.