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P Reis

Publications and source records attributed to P Reis.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Finding the underserved: directions for HIV care in the future.

The demographic, behavior, and background characteristics of 4,804 participants in 17 national demonstration projects for HIV medical and/or psychosocial support services were coded for an index of "service need" or possible under-representation in the traditional healthcare system. Fifteen items were coded including status as a person of color, lack of private insurance, unemployment/disability, problem drinking, crack cocaine use, heroin use, other illicit drug use, less than 12 years of education, criminal justice system involvement, children requiring care while the patient receives services, sex work, being the sex partner of an injection drug user, unstable housing, primary language not English, and age less than 21 or over 55 years. Most (87.7%) of the program participants had four or more of these factors present. Through CHAID modeling, those groups with the highest levels of service need and vulnerability were identified. These data suggest that these projects, designed to attract and serve individuals potentially underrepresented in the health services system, had in fact achieved that goal. Implications of the changing demographics of the HIV epidemic for the health service delivery system are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Satisfaction with services in innovative managed care programs for groups of traditionally underserved individuals with HIV/AIDS: empirical models.

As the number of people with HIV/AIDS receiving services in managed care models increases, concerns over quality of care and satisfaction with services have grown. This article examined data from three national demonstration projects that were funded to enroll traditionally underserved individuals and provide innovative medical services in programs developing models appropriate for managed care funding. Assessments of patient satisfaction were related to indicators of traditionally underserved status including demographic characteristics, behaviors, and other risk factors using the data modeling method of Exhaustive CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector). Overall patient satisfaction levels with these programs were very high. Through the modeling methods, the groups most likely to experience the greatest program satisfaction are identified. In general, all groups were highly satisfied with the programs.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Typology of quality of life experiences among persons living with HIV.

This article develops a typology of 2,038 participants in 13 innovative HIV/AIDS treatment model service demonstration projects targeted to traditionally underserved populations. The typology is based on self-reported health-related quality of life levels. Eight clusters were identified that classify HIV/AIDS patients based on their reported health-related quality of life. Participants were clustered based on their overall levels of quality of life, as well as by deficits in specific areas of functioning such as energy level, physical impairment, and role impairment. However, factor analysis suggests that health-related quality of life as perceived by the HIV-positive participants is best represented as a single underlying dimension and an ordering of the types shows that they are consistently related, in the same order, to several criterion measures of impairment. The results suggest that a general categorization of patients with HIV in terms of quality of life is more meaningful than an assessment of the relative areas of impairment. Since the impairment ratings were also self-reported, analyses relating quality of life clusters to actual symptom levels and healthcare utilization are needed. Implications for the assessment of health-related quality of life and the evaluation of service delivery programs for persons living with HIV are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Service needs and factors related to quality of life at time of service enrollment among persons living with HIV.

This article explores the relationships of HIV risk factors, service needs, and vulnerabilities to health-related quality of life in a sample of 1,371 participants newly enrolled into 13 innovative HIV/AIDS treatment model service demonstration projects. These projects targeted services to traditionally underserved populations. Eight distinct quality of life clusters of HIV patients were used in this analysis along with patient self-identified risk factors. The quality of life clusters were based on patient self-reported quality of life dimensions. The eight clusters were differentiated based on relative strengths and weaknesses in physical functioning, energy levels, and social functioning. Data on patient need-vulnerability factors and demographic characteristics were related to these eight clusters using the data modeling method of Exhaustive CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector). Through this method, the characteristics most likely to be associated with higher and lower levels of quality of life at the time of enrollment into services were identified. The results provide further support that quality of life assessment is a useful clinical tool for monitoring patient progress.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

A complex case of hepatitis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Liver involvement in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is considered rare. Previous treatment with potentially hepatotoxic drugs or viral hepatitis have usually been implicated as the main causes of liver disease in SLE patients. On the other hand, even after careful exclusion of these aetiologies, the problem remains whether to classify the patient as having a primary liver disease with associated autoimmune clinical and laboratory features resembling SLE, such as autoimmune hepatitis, or as having liver disease as a manifestation of SLE. We report the case of an elderly woman who presented with acute hepatitis, who had been diagnosed with SLE 14 years ago and who also had Sjögren's syndrome and anti-phospholipid's syndrome for several years. The histology depicted chronic active hepatitis and, after drug-induced hepatitis and viral hepatitis were excluded, the serological and clinical features were shown to be typical of liver damage caused by SLE. The patient was treated with azathioprine 100 mg/d and prednisone 30 mg/d. The clinical symptoms resolved in 10 days and the laboratory values were normal at the end of the first month of therapy. Prednisone was progressively reduced, during a period of 4 months, to 10 mg/d but azathioprine was kept to the same dose. One year after the diagnoses the patient is still in remission. Although uncommon, hepatic involvement is well recognised in SLE. The interest of this case lies in the differential diagnosis and recognition of this condition, which deserves an aggressive treatment.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1999

Are radiological joint space widths of normal hips asymmetrical?

BACKGROUND: To be certain that the joint space width is abnormal in the case of hip joint pain when compared with the contralateral hip requires knowledge of physiological dissymmetry. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess interindividual variability and dissymmetry in pelvic radiological joint space width. METHODS: Pelvic radiographs of subjects without hip joint disease. Measurement with a 0.1 mm graduated magnifying glass and 0.5 mm graduated flat ruler at the hip superointermediate site (vertical going through the femoral head centre). After randomisation of the side to measure, analysis of nine groups of 19 plain films by one investigator blind for the result of the contralateral side. RESULTS: The difference between the left and right hip was plotted against the corresponding mean for all 171 normal subjects. This shows the frequency and the limits of the asymmetry at each measurement site. The asymmetry is independent of interindividual variability of the joint space width and greater than the measurement error in most subjects. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the interindividual variability of hip joint space width, shows the frequency of hip joint space asymmetry and defines its limit.

Female↗
PubMed1995

Transforming growth factor-beta in human cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta has several downregulatory functions on the immune system: inhibition of interleukin-2 receptor induction, decrease of interferon-gamma-induced class II antigen expression, inhibition of macrophage activation, as well as cytotoxic and lymphokine-activated killer cell generation. TGF-beta has also been recognized as an important immunoregulator in murine leishmaniasis, for which it increases susceptibility to disease. In the present study we evaluate the involvement of TGF-beta in human leishmaniasis in vitro and in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Human macrophages produce active TGF-beta after infection by Leishmania amazonensis (480 +/- 44.7 pg/ml; mean +/- SEM), L. donovani chagasi (295 +/- 7.6 pg/ml), or L. braziliensis (196 +/- 15.7 pg/ml). When TGF-beta was added to cultures of human macrophages infected with L. braziliensis it led to an increase of approximately 50% in parasite numbers as compared with untreated cultures. Exogenous TGF-beta added to macrophage cultures was able to reverse the effect of interferon-gamma in controlling Leishmania growth. Even at 100 IU/ml interferon-gamma the presence of TGF-beta increases the number of intracellular parasites. On the other hand, TNF-alpha at high concentration (100 IU/ml) totally blunts the suppressive effect of TGF-beta. Immunostaining for TGF-beta was observed in the dermis, produced by fibroblasts and occasionally by inflammatory cells in the biopsies from human leishmaniasis lesions, being present in most of the biopsies taken from patients with early cutaneous leishmaniasis (less than 2 months of ulcer development) and in cases of active mucosal leishmaniasis. Taken together these observations suggest an important role for TGF-beta in human leishmaniasis, with its production by infected macrophages being probably related to parasite establishment in the early stages of the disease.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

[Osteoporosis in adult men].

Osteoporosis in men, despite being a less important public health problem than osteoporosis in women, should not be neglected as it has many deleterious effects as well as social and economic costs. Finding the cause of osteoporosis is more complex in men than in women, and prevention should be based on an early evaluation of the various possible risk factors and on taking up measures that tend to maximise the peak bone mass. Further studies need to be carried out in order to establish the differences and similarities that characterise this phenomenon when considering different sexes.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[Ischemic lesion of the CNS in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus].

UNLABELLED: In a review of 240 patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus we found 12 (5%) with cerebral infarctions. The average patient age was 38 years and no relation with the duration of lupus was found. The most common neurologic manifestations were hemiparesis (67%), language disturbances (25%) and ataxia (25%). Clinical signs of diffuse involvement of Central Nervous System (CNS) were also present in 1/3 of the patients. In 5 cases (42%) no signs of lupus activity were found. In the remaining 7 (58%), where other manifestations occurred, all presented cutaneous vasculitis. Known risk factors for atherosclerotic vascular disease were common and 58% of the patients had at least one risk factor. IN CONCLUSION: 1. Recent onset cutaneous vasculitis should alert the physician to the possibility of CNS ischemic lesion and 2. The presence of risk factors for cerebrovascular disease (steroid therapy, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia) is frequent and may be controlled.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Healing of fracturing-bone disease occurring in patients on dialysis. A prospective study.

Ten patients developed fracturing-bone disease (osteomalacia) while on dialysis against water with high levels of aluminium. Eight patients remained on dialysis, using de-ionized or reverse-osmosis water, and 2 received a renal transplant. Clinical improvement as regards bone pain and proximal muscle weakness occurred in 6 months and radiographic evidence of healing of the pseudofractures was seen at approximately 12 months. Associated osteopenia and hyperparathyroidism were found in most patients, but no significant change in either was noted during the study period. The serum parathyroid hormone levels rose significantly in the patients who remained on dialysis. The chest and pelvic deformities typical of healed osteomalacia were seen. This dramatic improvement can only be attributed to the removal of some water-borne element, either by changing the water used in the dialysis or by successful renal transplantation. Aluminium-containing phosphate binders were used throughout the study in the patients on dialysis, and hypophosphataemia was never a feature.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Bone disease in patients on maintenance haemodialysis using softened or de-ionized water.

A clinical, biochemical and radiological study was carried out in 28 patients on maintenance haemodialysis in order to assess the prevalence of bone disease, particularly with regard to osteomalacia and/or osteopenia. The patients were selected from dialysis units using softened or deionized water, and the aluminium levels measured in the different water supplies. The results showed that symptomatic osteomalacia/osteopenia occurs more frequently in the units using softened water, which has a higher aluminium content, than in the de-ionized water unit. The patients dialysed on softened water also have significantly higher serum calcium and phosphorus levels. It is suggested that in Johannesburg, water softening alone is inadequate, and that the high aluminium levels in our water may be responsible for accelerated osteomalacia/osteopenia.

Adult↗