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BackgroundOur aim was to assess internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and test-retest reliability of the HDQ with adults living with HIV in Canada and Ireland.MethodsWe recruited adults 18 years of age or older living with HIV from hospital clinics and AIDS service organizations in Canada and Ireland. We administered the HDQ paired with reference measures (World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, SF-36 Questionnaire, Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey), and a demographic questionnaire. We calculated HDQ disability presence, severity and episodic scores (scored from 0–100). We calculated Cronbach’s alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) (Canada only) for the disability severity and episodic scores and considered coefficients >0.80 and >0.70 as acceptable, respectively. To assess construct validity, we tested 40 a priori hypotheses of correlations between scores on the HDQ and reference measures and two known group hypotheses comparing HDQ presence and severity scores based on age and comorbidity. We considered acceptance of at least 75 % of hypotheses as demonstrating support for construct validity.ResultsOf the 235 participants (139 Canada; 96 Ireland), the majority were men (74 % Ireland; 82 % Canada) and were taking antiretroviral therapy (88 % Ireland; 91 % Canada). Compared with Irish participants, Canadian participants were older (median age: 48 versus 41 years) and reported living with a higher median number of comorbidities (4 versus 1). Cronbach’s alpha for Irish and Canadian participants were 0.97 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.97–0.98) and 0.96 (95 % CI: 0.95–0.98), respectively, for the severity scale and 0.98 (95 % CI: 0.97–0.98) and 0.96 (95 % CI: 0.95–0.98), respectively, for the episodic scale. Of the 40 construct validity correlation hypotheses, 32 (80 %) and 22 (55 %) were supported among the Canadian and Irish samples respectively; both (100 %) known group hypotheses were also supported. ICC values for Canadian participants ranged from 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.71, 0.86) in the cognitive domain to 0.89 (95 % CI: 0.83, 0.92) in the social inclusion domain.ConclusionsThe HDQ demonstrates internal consistency reliability and a variable degree of construct validity when administered to adults living with HIV in Canada and Ireland. The HDQ demonstrates test-retest reliability when administered to adults with HIV in Canada. Further validation of the HDQ outside of Canada is needed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-015-0310-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ObjectivesStudies suggest 2 per 1000 people in Dublin are living with HIV, the level above which universal screening is advised. We aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a universal opt-out HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing programme for Emergency Department patients and to describe the incidence and prevalence of blood-borne viruses in this population.MethodsAn opt-out ED blood borne virus screening programme was piloted from March 2014 to January 2015. Patients undergoing blood sampling during routine clinical care were offered HIV 1&2 antibody/antigen assay, HBV surface antigen and HCV antibody tests. Linkage to care where necessary was co-ordinated by the study team. New diagnosis and prevalence rates were defined as the new cases per 1000 tested and number of positive tests per 1000 tested respectively.ResultsOver 45 weeks of testing, of 10,000 patient visits, 8,839 individual patient samples were available for analysis following removal of duplicates. A sustained target uptake of >50% was obtained after week 3. 97(1.09%), 44(0.49%) and 447(5.05%) HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C tests were positive respectively. Of these, 7(0.08%), 20(0.22%) and 58(0.66%) were new diagnoses of HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C respectively. The new diagnosis rate for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C was 0.8, 2.26 and 6.5 per 1000 and study prevalence for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C was 11.0, 5.0 and 50.5 per 1000 respectively.ConclusionsOpt-out blood borne viral screening was feasible and acceptable in an inner-city ED. Blood borne viral infections were prevalent in this population and newly diagnosed cases were diagnosed and linked to care. These results suggest widespread blood borne viral testing in differing clinical locations with differing population demographic risks may be warranted.

γδ T cells expressing the Vδ1 TCR are expanded in patients with HIV infection. We show in this article that circulating Vδ1 T cell numbers are particularly high in patients with HIV and candidiasis, and that these cells expand and produce IL-17 in response to Candida albicans in vitro. Although C. albicans could directly stimulate IL-17 production by a subset of Vδ1 T cells, fungus-treated dendritic cells (DCs) were required to expand C. albicans–responsive Vδ1 T cells to generate sufficient numbers of cells to release IL-17 at levels detectable by ELISA. C. albicans induced the release of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-23 by DCs, but addition of these cytokines or supernatants of C. albicans–treated DCs to Vδ1 T cells was not sufficient to induce proliferation. We found that direct contact with DCs was required for Vδ1 T cell proliferation, whereas IL-23R–blocking studies showed that IL-23 was required for optimal C. albicans–induced IL-17 production. Because IL-17 affords protection against both HIV and C. albicans, and because Vδ1 T cells are not depleted by HIV, these cells are likely to be an important source of IL-17 in HIV-infected patients with candidiasis, in whom CD4+ Th17 responses are impaired. These data show that C. albicans stimulates proliferation and IL-17 production by Vδ1 T cells by a mechanism that involves IL-23 release by DCs.

Club drug use among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men is increasingly normalised within sexual contexts and is associated with increased sexual risk behaviours. The term Chemsex is used to describe sexualised drug use lasting several hours or days with multiple sexual partners. A small pilot study, underpinned by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), was conducted in Dublin, Ireland. Interviews were conducted with ten men who were experiencing physical and emotional health problems as consequence of their participation in sexualised drug use and wished to exit the Chemsex scene. Interviews explored experiences of sexualised drug use, motives to partake, organisation of Chemsex parties and group connectivity, drugs used, harm reduction, pleasure and consequences of participation over time. Four basic themes emerged from the analysis; social and cyber arrangements within the Dublin Chemsex scene; poly drug use and experiences of drug dependence; drug and sexual harm reduction within the Chemsex circle of novices and experts; and sexualised drug use, escapism and compulsive participation. Two higher order themes were also apparent: first, the reinforcing aspects of drug and sexual pleasure; and second, the interplay between excess drug consumption and sex, and drug dependence.