Active clinical trials for "HIV Seropositivity"

Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus which frequently occur together. Data is emerging suggesting metabolic syndrome causes brain disease by contributing to blood vessel damage and inflammation. People living with HIV (PLWH) are at high risk and the investigators will perform a pilot study of the well-known type 2 diabetes drug metformin to treat this blood vessel damage and inflammation in PLWH.

This pragmatic, multisite, implementation and effectiveness research evaluates a strategy to improve HIV treatment outcomes (increased rates of patients on ART with virological suppression, improved treatment retention and ART adherence) for people living with HIV (PLWH) with opioid use disorder (OUD). Engaging 4 large regional HIV/AIDS treatment centers in Malaysia, the study will evaluate barriers and facilitators for implementation of improved care model and will evaluate the comparative effectiveness of the model in a clinical trial. The research will provide critically important evidence for implementation of effective Seek-Test-Treat, and Retain models for PLWH and OUD throughout Malaysia and inform healthcare policy in other low to middle income countries and regions with limited healthcare resources.

The overall goal of this research project is to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy preloading (NRT-P) in HIV-positive smokers, who are struggling with cigarette dependence, urge to smoke (craving) and low self-efficacy as barriers to successful smoking cessation. Sixty participants will be recruited into a 16-week randomized pilot study. Thirty participants (control condition) will receive standard smoking cessation counseling (NRT-S) and will initiate an 8-week course of combination nicotine patch and lozenge (or gum, based on preference) on quit date (week 4), consistent with recommended guidelines based on smoking rate. Thirty participants (active condition) will start NRT patch 3 weeks prior to quit date, followed by an 8-week course of combination nicotine patch and lozenge (or gum, based on preference), initiated on quit date. The investigators will examine dependence, urge to smoke and self-efficacy for quitting prior to and following quit date. The investigators will also examine differences in quit attempts and biochemically validated smoking abstinence between the control and active conditions at weeks 8, 12, and 16.

The proposed research aims to assess the multiple forms and paths of stigma and substance use as they relate to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use for HIV prevention. How stigma and an evolving public health landscape impact PrEP use among Black sexual minorit men who use substances is unknown. The current application focuses on addressing critical and novel questions to improving the essential building blocks of biomedical prevention approaches by providing crucial information for enhancing interventions to lower HIV prevalence among substance using Black sexual minority men.

The research team has developed an interventional group program for young men living with HIV and will be adapting it for telehealth delivery. The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not this program can help improve social connections and the health of young men in online delivery and evaluate its potential for implementation in a community setting. The study has three phases: (1) engaging a community advisory board to create and adapt the intervention for online delivery, (2) a randomized clinical trial of the online intervention, and (3) evaluation of the program for community implementation with our partner organization. Participants in the second phase of the study will meet with a study team member to discuss the research process and provide informed consent. The community organization employees will provide consent online prior to completion of a survey and indicate whether they consent to be contacted further for in-depth interviews.

The investigators propose to develop and evaluate optimal combinations of evidence-based interventions to improve HIV outcomes and reduce methamphetamine use (hereafter: meth use) among people with opioid use disorder who are in methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) in Vietnam. Over the past decade, the expansion of MMT has contributed to stemming both HIV and opioid epidemics. However, rising meth use threatens these achievements. Evidence-based interventions such as Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Contingency Management, Matrix Model, and SMS reminders are effective in reducing meth use. The study will be conducted in the two largest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), where there are the highest number of MMT patients and the highest burden of HIV cases. Building on the pilot work of the research team in Hanoi, through collaborative work with local MMT providers and patients, the investigators will first further refine adapted EBIs to develop adaptive strategies. The adaptive design includes: (1) Two frontline interventions: 6 weeks of contingency management then 6 weeks of weekly group educational sessions and 12 weeks of contingency management; (2) One (short-term) tailoring outcome: urine tests negative with meth metabolites in both week 11 and 12 are considered responsive to frontline interventions; (3) Three alternative interventions: those with positive outcomes will move to 12-week maintenance stage and receive two daily SMS reminders plus one weekly self-monitoring assessment messages. Non-responders will move to 12-week enhanced treatment stage and are randomly assigned to either Matrix group counseling only or Matrix group counseling plus contingency management. The full randomization trial will be conducted with 200 HIV-positive and 400 HIV-negative MMT patients who report moderate- and high-risk meth use on self-screening with ASSIST or have urine positive with meth metabolites. In each location, the study will stratify participants by HIV status before randomizing them to one of two frontline interventions. Primary outcomes - including HIV viral suppression, HIV risk behaviors, and meth use (reported and urine tests) - will be assessed at 12, 24 and 48 weeks. The study team also conducts ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with MMT clinic managers, clinical staff and MMT patients to explore implementation barriers and facilitators.

We will use a web-based system in order to deliver a text messaging-based intervention and assess the efficacy to increase retention in HIV care among HIV+ gay men in Peru.

Men in Sub-Saharan Africa are less likely to test for HIV, initiate ART, and more likely to initiate ART at later stages of disease. Two overarching barriers keep HIV-positive men from accessing ART services: 1) Lack of male-friendly services, and 2) harmful gender norms. Home-based ART may improve ART initiation and retention among male partners who test HIV-positive through Index HIV self-testing (HIVST). We will pilot an intervention that provides home-based ART initiation and home-based continuation for 3-months, followed by assisted linkage to facility-based care at 4-months. 470 participants will be enrolled [209 females, 261 males]

The investigators propose that the lack of immune response in InR is driven by HIV-containing platelets that might interact with macrophages and CD4+ T-cells although by different mechanisms. In the one hand, HIV-sheltering platelets might fuel tissue HIV macrophage and in turn T cell reservoirs as observed in InRs and/or maintain a low-level viral replication in macrophages, sustaining a persistent inflammatory profile on in these cells. In the other hand,HIV-sheltering platelets might induce CD4+ T-cells dysfunctions via platelets/ectosomes, although without promoting platelet-to-T-cell HIV transfer/infection, thereby increasing the number of peripheral inflammatory TH17 cells and a TH17/Treg unbalance as observed in InRs. Main Objectives: i) To characterize and the molecular and functional level the platelet factors implicated in HIV transfer to tissue-like macrophages as well as in the immunomodulatory activity of HIV-containing platelets on macrophages and CD4+ T-cells. ii) To interrogate the transfer of HIV-containing platelet-derived mRNA and microRNA to tissue-like macrophages and CD4+ T-cells as one major mechanism of target cell immunomodulation. iii) To investigate the therapeutic potential of anti-platelet aggregation/activation agents (e.g. Abciximab), known to block platelet-immune cell interaction, in improving immune cell functions in vitro and promoting immunological recovery in vivo.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), published Final Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act Safeguards and Research Criteria for Transplantation of Organs Infected With HIV. All such transplants must occur under an institutional review board (IRB) approved research protocol that is compliant with federal regulations governing human subjects research. This is an investigator-initiated, observational prospective study of solid organ transplantation utilizing HIV-positive donors in HIV positive recipients. Stable HIV-infected adults in need of a solid organ transplant (kidney) who meet standard and study specified HIV criteria for organ transplantation will be offered enrollment in the study. Deceased donors (kidney) and living donors (kidney) will be utilized in this protocol. The goal of this research is to increase knowledge about the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of solid organ transplantation (SOT) utilizing HIV-positive donors in HIV-positive recipients.