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Introduction: Autoimmunities In The Wake Of Covid-19, Travis Alexander, Nishant Shahani

English Faculty Publications

Our introduction and the essays collected in this Special Section address themselves to the ruins, creations, and legacies of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. More precisely, we ask how our notions of immunity and especially autoimmunity have changed over the last three years. We theorize autoimmunity in the wake of COVID-19 through approaches that consider the material and experiential phenomenology proliferated by the longue durée of both the experience of COVID-19 infection and the pandemic itself. In this way, we connect our inquiries both to the history of recent epidemics—most notably HIV/AIDS—and to broader philosophical and cultural investigations of what immunity …

Tactics Against Scheming Diseases, Brian Martin

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Achieving good health can be thought of as a struggle against opponents—disease and unhealthy practices—that are imagined to be active agents, in a type of thought experiment. These opponents of health, to reduce outrage about their activities, draw on a standard set of tactics: cover-up of the threat, devaluation of victims, reinterpretation of what is happening, use of official processes to give an illusion of safety, and intimidation. To promote good health, each of these tactics can be countered, by exposure of the problem, validation of victims, reframing of what is happening, mobilisation of support, and resistance. Three case studies …

Experiences Of Kenyan Healthcare Workers Providing Services To Men Who Have Sex With Men: Qualitative Findings From A Sensitivity Training Programme, Elise M. Van Der Elst, Evans Gichuru, Anisa Omar, Jennifer Kanungi, Zoe Duby, Miriam Midoun, Sylvia Shangani, Susan M. Graham, Adrian D. Smith, Eduard J. Sanders, Don Operario

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Introduction

Men who have sex with men (MSM) in Kenya are at high risk for HIV and may experience prejudiced treatment in health settings due to stigma. An on-line computer-facilitated MSM sensitivity programme was conducted to educate healthcare workers (HCWs) about the health issues and needs of MSM patients.

Methods

Seventy-four HCWs from 49 ART-providing health facilities in the Kenyan Coast were recruited through purposive sampling to undergo a two-day MSM sensitivity training. We conducted eight focus group discussions (FGDs) with programme participants prior to and three months after completing the training programme. Discussions aimed to characterize HCWs’ challenges in …

Structure-Substrate Binding Relationships Of Hiv-1 Reverse Transcriptase, Steve Chien-Wen Huang

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, type 1 (HIV-1), is the causative agent of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT), a heterodimer p66/p51, has been the major target for treatment of AIDS. The significance of the p51 subunit and the RNase H domain of p66 in terms of their influence on the RNA-dependent DNA synthesis was investigated. Clones of the wildtype HIV-1 RT subunits, p66 and p51, and a recombinant C-terminal deletion mutant, p64, [Barr, P. J. (1987) Bio/Technoloav 5, 486-489] were employed to study the structure-substrate binding relationships of HIV-1 RT. The activity assays of RNA-dependent DNA synthesis on …

The Effect Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Education Program On Knowledge, Attitudes And Sexual Behavior Of Selected College Students, Arlene Jaine Jackson Montgomery

Health Services Research Dissertations

The problem studied in this investigation was whether a behaviorally focused Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Program affects the knowledge, sexual attitudes and sexual behavior of college students.

Three hundred and six first-and third-year college students were included in the study from one university located in Southeastern Virginia. The sample was predominately female, African-American and mainly between the ages of 16-22 years of age.

Freshmen students were presently enrolled in the institution's HIV/AIDS education program, which was a part of a required course. The class sessions consisted of a pretest prior to student's completing the reading assignment …