Background: This study examines predictors of partner notification (PN) confirmed by a test counselor among people who inject drugs (PWID) and their sexual partners in Kazakhstan.Methods: We used baseline data from an HIV couple-based intervention study, restricting the sample to couples where both partners knew they were hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive prior to participation in the study (N=136 individuals). Cross-tabulation and logistic regression were used to examine predictors of PN, including socio-demographic characteristics, sexual and drug risk behaviors, and access to health services.Results: Of the sample, 68 (50%) participants notified their partners of their HCV status. PN was associated with participation in a needle/syringe exchange program and sexually transmitted infection counseling or education in the past 6 months. In the adjusted model, concurrent HIV infection (OR=2.4, p<0.05), having more than one sexual partner (OR=2.5, p<0.05), and participation in a needle exchange program (OR=4.3, p<0.01) were positively associated with notifying one's partner.Conclusions: The findings from this study emphasize the importance of service access among PWID and point to the need for additional research on HCV counseling and notification strategies as a component of health services for injection drug users.

This paper examines individual, social, and structural factors associated with depression among 728 people who inject drugs (PWID) and their intimate partners in Kazakhstan, with separate multivariate models by gender. Depression scores were higher on average among participants of both genders who recently experienced sexual intimate partner violence, food insecurity, and who had lower levels of self-rated health. Among females, higher depression scores were associated with experiencing childhood sexual abuse, lower levels of social support, and not having children. Findings highlight a need to incorporate gender differences and factors associated with depression in designing mental health services for PWID in Kazakhstan.

Importance: This study is designed to address the need for evidence-based HIV/STI prevention approaches for drug-involved women under criminal justice community supervision.Objective: We tested the efficacy of a group-based traditional and multimedia HIV/STI prevention intervention (Project WORTH: Women on the Road to Health) among drug-involved women under community supervision.Design, Setting, Participants, and Intervention: We randomized 306 women recruited from community supervision settings to receive either: (1) a four-session traditional group-based HIV/STI prevention intervention (traditional WORTH); (2) a four-session multimedia group-based HIV/STI prevention intervention that covered the same content as traditional WORTH but was delivered in a computerized format; or (3) a four-session group-based Wellness Promotion intervention that served as an attention control condition. The study examined whether the traditional or multimedia WORTH intervention was more efficacious in reducing risks when compared to Wellness Promotion; and whether multimedia WORTH was more efficacious in reducing risks when compared to traditional WORTH.Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were assessed over the 12-month post-intervention period and included the number of unprotected sex acts, the proportion of protected sex acts, and consistent condom use. At baseline, 77% of participants reported unprotected vaginal or anal sex (n = 237) and 63% (n = 194) had multiple sex partners.Results: Women assigned to traditional or multimedia WORTH were significantly more likely than women assigned to the control condition to report an increase in the proportion of protected sex acts (beta = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.02-0.18) and a decrease in the number of unprotected sex acts (IRR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.57-0.90).Conclusion and Relevance: The promising effects of traditional and multimedia WORTH on increasing condom use and high participation rates suggest that WORTH may be scaled up to redress the concentrated epidemics of HIV/STIs among drug-involved women in the criminal justice system.

OBJECTIVE:Project Renaissance is a randomized controlled trial of an HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention intervention conducted in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We hypothesized that couples assigned to the intervention of interest will have lower incidence of HIV, HCV, STIs, rates of unprotected sex, and unsafe injection over the 12-month follow-up period compared with those assigned to an attention control arm.DESIGN:A total of 300 couples (600 participants) where one or both partners reported injecting drugs in the past 90 days were randomized to 1 of 2 arms: (1) a 5-session HIV/HCV/STI prevention intervention (risk reduction: RR) or (2) a 5-session Wellness Promotion (WP) intervention.RESULTS:Over the 12-month follow-up period, assignment to RR compared with WP significantly lowered the incidence of HCV infection by 69% [incidence rate ratios (IRR) = 0.31, 95% (CI) confidence interval: 0.10 to 0.90, P = 0.031]. Although differences were not statistically significant, RR participants had a lower incidence of HIV infection by 51% (IRR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.16 to 1.48, P = 0.204) and any STI by 37% (IRR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.21 to 1.93, P = 0.418) than WP participants. RR participants reported significantly fewer numbers of unprotected vaginal sex acts with their study partners (IRR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.93, P = 0.024) and more consistent condom use (odds ratios = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.33 to 4.00, P = 0.003) over the entire follow-up period compared with WP participants.CONCLUSIONS:Project Renaissance demonstrated a significant effect for biological and behavioral endpoints. Findings draw attention to an HIV/HCV/STI prevention intervention strategy that can be scaled up for drug-involved couples in harm reduction programs, drug treatment, and criminal justice settings.

Objective:Project Renaissance is a randomized controlled trial of an HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention intervention conducted in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We hypothesized that couples assigned to the intervention of interest will have lower incidence of HIV, HCV, STIs, rates of unprotected sex, and unsafe injection over the 12-month follow-up period compared with those assigned to an attention control arm. Design:A total of 300 couples (600 participants) where one or both partners reported injecting drugs in the past 90 days were randomized to 1 of 2 arms: (1) a 5-session HIV/HCV/STI prevention intervention (risk reduction: RR) or (2) a 5-session Wellness Promotion (WP) intervention. Results:Over the 12-month follow-up period, assignment to RR compared with WP significantly lowered the incidence of HCV infection by 69% [incidence rate ratios (IRR) = 0.31, 95% (CI) confidence interval: 0.10 to 0.90, P = 0.031]. Although differences were not statistically significant, RR participants had a lower incidence of HIV infection by 51% (IRR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.16 to 1.48, P = 0.204) and any STI by 37% (IRR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.21 to 1.93, P = 0.418) than WP participants. RR participants reported significantly fewer numbers of unprotected vaginal sex acts with their study partners (IRR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.93, P = 0.024) and more consistent condom use (odds ratios = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.33 to 4.00, P = 0.003) over the entire follow-up period compared with WP participants. Conclusions:Project Renaissance demonstrated a significant effect for biological and behavioral endpoints. Findings draw attention to an HIV/HCV/STI prevention intervention strategy that can be scaled up for drug-involved couples in harm reduction programs, drug treatment, and criminal justice settings.

1993; Gordon et al., 1993), consistent with the notion that Hironori Funabiki1,2, Hiroyuki Yamano3, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis is required for both sister Koji Nagao1, Hirofumi Tanaka4, chromatid separation and inactivation of mitotic cyclinHideyo Yasuda4, Tim Hunt3 and dependent kinases (CDKs) in order for cells to undergo Mitsuhiro Yanagida1,5 anaphase and to exit from the M phase (Holloway et al., 1Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, 1993; Surana et al., 1993). Mitotic exit and sister chromatid Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan, separation also fail to occur in mutants of the 20S 3ICRF Clare Hall Laboratories, South Mimms, Herts EN6 3LD, UK anaphase-promoting complex (APC)–cyclosome, which and 4Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, contains the activity for ubiquitin ligase (Irniger et al., Horinouchi 1432-1, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-03, Japan 1995; King et al., 1995; Sudakin et al., 1995; Tugendreich 2Present address: Department of Physiology, Box 0444, School of et al., 1995). Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, The best studied substrates of ubiquitinand APC– CA 94143-0444, USA cyclosome-mediated proteolysis are mitotic cyclins. The 5Corresponding author N-terminal portion of mitotic cyclins is dispensable for e-mail: yanagida@kozo.biophys.kyoto-u.ac.jp binding to and activation of p34cdc2, and is solely required for mitotic destruction (Murray et al., 1989). When nonThe fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe cut2 degradable B-type cyclins carrying deletions in the destrucgene is essential for sister chromatid separation. Cut2 tion boxes were expressed, the cell cycle was blocked in protein, which locates in the interphase nucleus and late anaphase with high H1 kinase activity (Murray et al., along the metaphase spindle, disappears in anaphase 1989; Holloway et al., 1993; Surana et al., 1993; Sigrist with the same timing as mitotic cyclin destruction. This et al., 1995; Rimmington et al., 1996; Yamano et al., proteolysis depends on the APC (Anaphase-Promoting 1996). The onset of sister chromatid separation (anaphase) Complex)–cyclosome which contains ubiquitin ligase can occur in the presence of non-degradable B-type cyclin. activity. The N-terminus of Cut2 contains two stretches Final exit from mitosis requires inactivation of the Cdc2 similar to the mitotic cyclin destruction box. We show kinase–cyclin B complex. that both sequences (33RAPLGSTKQ and 52RTVTo degrade mitotic cyclins, the 20S APC–cyclosome is LGGKST) serve as destruction boxes and are required necessary as it has the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity for for in vitro polyubiquitination and proteolysis. Cut2 cyclins (King et al., 1995; Sudakin et al., 1995). The APC– with doubly mutated destruction boxes inhibits anacyclosome in budding yeast contains several (perhaps eight phase, whereas Cut2 with singly mutated boxes can or more) subunits including Cdc16 and Cdc27 (Peters suppress cut2 mutations. Strong expression of the et al., 1996; Zachariae et al., 1996), which are known to N-terminal 73 residues containing the destruction boxes be essential for mitotic progression. Similar proteins have leads to the accumulation of endogenous cyclin and been found in fission yeast and mammals, and shown to Cut2, and arrests cells in metaphase, whereas the same fragment with the mutated boxes does not. be required for the exit from mitosis and sister chromatid Cut2 proteolysis occurs in vitro using Xenopus mitotic separation (Hirano et al., 1988; O’Donnell et al., 1991; extracts in the presence of functional destruction boxes. Samejima and Yanagida, 1994; Tugendreich et al., 1995; Furthermore, Cut2 is polyubiquitinated in an in vitro Yamashita et al., 1996; Yamada et al., 1997). The 20S system using HeLa extracts, and this polyubiquitination APC–cyclosome probably exists in all eukaryotes, and requires the destruction boxes. was thought to be required for the destruction of mitotic

BackgroundKazakhstan and other countries in Central Asia are experiencing a rapidly growing HIV epidemic, which has historically been driven by injection drug use, but is more recently being fueled by heterosexual transmission.MethodsThis paper examines HIV and HCV infection, as well as sexual and drug-related risks among female partners of men who inject drugs (MWID), comparing females who inject drugs (FWID) to non-injecting female partners on socio-demographic, relationship context, and structural characteristics.ResultsThe prevalence rate of HIV was 30.1% among FWID and 10.4% among non-IDU female partners of MWID. The prevalence rate of HCV was 89.8% among FWID and 14.8% among female non-IDUs. Less than one-fifth of all female participants had access to HIV education and services or harm reduction programs. Although high rates of non-injection drug use and sexual risk behaviors were found among both FWID and non-injecting female partners of MWID, we found that FWID were more likely to be HIV seropositive (aRR=3.03; 95% CI=1.78, 5.18) and HCV seropositive than non-IDU females (aRR=6.05; 95% CI=4.05, 9.04), were more likely to have used alcohol or drugs before sex (aRR=1.67; 95% CI=1.40, 2.00), and were more likely to have used sedatives, barbiturates, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, or painkillers that were not prescribed by a physician (aRR=17.45; 95% CI=8.01, 38.01).ConclusionGiven the spread of the HIV epidemic to heterosexual partners in Kazakhstan, more attention is needed in research, prevention, and policies regarding female partners of male injection drug users.

The process of mitosis involves a comprehensive reorganization of the cell: chromosomes condense, the nuclear envelope breaks down, the mitotic spindle is assembled, cells round up and release their ties to the substrate and so on and so forth. This reorganization is triggered by the activation of the protein kinase, Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 1 (CDK1). The end of mitosis is marked by the proteolysis of the cyclin subunit of CDK1, which terminates kinase activity. At this point, the phosphate moieties that altered the properties of hundreds of proteins to bring about the cellular reorganization are removed by protein phosphatases. At least one protein phosphatase, PP2A-B55, is completely shut off in mitosis. Depletion of this particular form of PP2A accelerates entry into mitosis, and blocks exit from mitosis. Control of this phosphatase is achieved by an inhibitor protein (α-endosulfine or ARPP-19) that becomes inhibitory when phosphorylated by a protein kinase called Greatwall, which is itself a substrate of CDK1. Failure to inhibit PP2A-B55 causes arrest of the cell cycle in G2 phase. I will discuss the role of this control mechanism in the control of mitosis.

A debate in Washington State over name-based reporting of HIV cases has been partially resolved with a combination system. Community groups, AIDS activists, and civil libertarians are opposed the use of names; but government health officials on every level say the information is necessary to follow trends in transmission and notify partners for testing. Health officials have tracked the names of people with AIDS for years. Officials claim that obtaining data on HIV-positive people will give a more complete representation of the course of the epidemic and enable allocation of funding for programs. AIDS advocates support anonymous reporting using individual identifiers to protect patient privacy and encourage future testing and treatment. The King County Board of Health (Washington State) played an intermediary role between the advocates and state health officials. The county adopted guidelines that support the reporting of names of people with HIV with protective provisions to maintain confidentiality. The proposed guidelines will be considered by the State for other jurisdictions. Contact information is provided.

Tim Hunt, 2001 Noble Prize Winner in Medicine and Principal Scientist at Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute presented a lecture on May 4, 2011 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building, Room 1116.

It's always exciting launching a new journal, and it's even better when you feel that it can genuinely benefit the community. That's how we feel about the launch of Biology Open (BiO). Discussions among the Directors of The Company of Biologists have focused in recent years on the ‘pain to

‘Dividing cells pass through a regular sequence of cell growth and division, known as the cell cycle’, according to a college textbook of biology published in 1983 [[1][1]], 5 years before the underlying principles of control were first laid bare during 1988, the annus mirabilis of cell cycle

‘Dividing cells pass through a regular sequence of cell growth and division, known as the cell cycle’, according to a college textbook of biology published in 1983 [[1][1]], 5 years before the underlying principles of control were first laid bare during 1988, the annus mirabilis of cell cycle