Active clinical trials for "HIV Infections"

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the current standard of care for treatment of HIV infection, is highly effective when taken appropriately. Before starting this treatment, a person must be aware of their HIV status and present to a clinic for medical care. They then undergo screening procedures (medical assessment and laboratory tests) to determine whether they are eligible to receive HAART, i.e. whether HIV treatment is necessary and safe for them. In many urban centres including Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, there is a high rate of HIV infection among users of illicit drugs. However, HIV-infected drug users often do not present to the medical system and complete the process necessary to start HAART. Given the known benefits of HAART, new strategies are required to increase rates of HAART initiation in this group. Contingency management (CM) is a strategy to affect behaviour by providing a reward (e.g. money) to reinforce the desired behaviour. CM has been used with success in other areas of medicine (e.g. smoking cessation, weight loss) and in the drug using population, but has not been established as a means to improve HAART uptake. The proposed research primarily seeks to assess the effectiveness of monetary-based CM in engaging HIV-infected drug users in HAART programs. Drug users identified through outreach will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to one of two arms; participants in one arm will be offered a monetary-based reinforcer to participate (n=150) and participants in the second arm will be offered no reinforcer (n=150). Participation involves reporting to the study site for formal study of eligibility screening, consisting of clinical evaluation, medical history and laboratory testing required to determine eligibility to receive HAART. Participants randomized to the reinforcer arm will receive gift cards at the completion of screening procedures. Our hypothesis is that drug users offered a monetary-based reinforcer will be significantly more likely to complete HAART eligibility screening than those not offered a reinforcer.

This is a study to determine the safety of dapivirine gel and dapvirine film for healthy, HIV-uninfected women aged 18-45 years using the product for 7 daily doses.

A vaccine to prevent infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is urgently needed. Worldwide, most HIV infections occur through sex between a man and woman. The vaccine in this study consists of a protein from HIV that has been synthetically produced and linked to a protein that boosts immune responses. It has not been tested in humans before, but it is expected (from animal studies) that direct application into the female genital tract (via the vagina) as liquid drops, will provoke immune protection at the site of HIV infection. This is less applicable to men, therefore only healthy, HIV negative women will be recruited. The investigators will recruit at one site, which is a university vaccine research centre with experience of running similar trials. The study will last 24 weeks during which subjects will have blood samples taken on six visits, and three immunisations over 12 weeks in which 1 millilitres of vaccine is placed into the vaginal by inserting a small plastic syringe. The purpose of this initial small study is to monitor safety of the vaccine and to determine whether it is appropriate to continue into future, larger studies in which the immune response to the vaccine is measured.

The purpose of this study is to determine if detectable changes in permeability of the lining of the colon are caused by either application of HIV microbicide gels or medical procedures, such as flexible sigmoidoscopy.

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and the immune responses to the HIV vaccine candidate, MVA-CMDR. This vaccine was designed to induce immune responses to three HIV "passenger" genes encoded with the viral vector, MVA.

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a combination of clinic- and community-based voluntary counseling and testing programs in preventing HIV in African and Thai communities.

The objective of the study is to determine the efficacy and safety of 0.5% and 2% PRO 2000/5 gels compared to placebo in preventing vaginally acquired HIV infection.

This is an exploratory/developmental study to support the early phases of development and evaluation of a family-based HIV prevention program for adolescent girls prior to a full-scale trial. Research on the new intervention will include evaluating the feasibility, tolerability, and acceptability of the intervention, and allow us to obtain the preliminary data needed as a pre-requisite to a larger-scale intervention study. Adolescent females and their mother/guardian will be randomized to either: a family-based risk reduction intervention; or a no-treatment control group condition. Participants in both conditions will be assessed at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. A subset of families (12 adolescents and 12 mothers) will participate in a qualitative interview following the 6-month follow-up, in which information will be obtained on participant perception of procedures and intervention content, and whether they have utilized skills taught following the end of the project.

The MEMA kwa Vijana Project is a community randomised trial which aims to assess the impact of a targeted intervention on adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Mwanza Region, Tanzania. The intervention aims to reduce HIV, STD and unwanted pregnancy amongst adolescents by improving reproductive health knowledge and by teaching skills to promote sexual behaviour change, and comprises community mobilisation, skills-based education in primary schools, and youth friendly health services. The evaluation includes a detailed process evaluation, and evaluation of the impact in a cohort of approx. 10,000 adolescents who will be followed for 3 years.

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a specialized cognitive-behavioral counseling intervention in reducing sexual risk behaviors in men who are HIV-infected and report having unprotected sex with male partners who are either not HIV-infected or do not know if they are HIV-infected.