{"id":5935,"date":"2016-02-17T15:07:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T20:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/?page_id=5935"},"modified":"2016-02-23T08:39:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T13:39:27","slug":"core-and-cohort-updates-9","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/core-and-cohort-updates-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Core and Cohort Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a>Admin Core<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

The Admin Core successfully submitted its grant renewal application to NIH in mid-January, and it also provided assistance to the BDM Core and U01s in preparing and submitting their applications on time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffrey Samet, Carly Bridden, and Natalia Gnatienko attended the Consortia for HIV\/AIDS and Alcohol-Related Research Trials (CHAART) Scientific Meeting in Washington D.C with fellow URBAN ARCH investigators and staff on February 7-9 where several junior investigators presented posters. The CHAART meeting provided an opportunity to enhance interdisciplinary, cross-consortia data harmonization, update consortia members and key NIH collaborators on research findings, and provide strategic discussion of future research directions for each consortium. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"admin<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

l-r: <\/em>Carly Bridden, Alicia Ventura, and Karsten Lunze, an URBAN ARCH junior investigator, presenting his poster\u00a0titled “HIV Stigma and Alcohol Use among People Living with HIV in Russia” at the CHAART Meeting in Washington D.C.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Carly Bridden, Julia Canfield, and Terri O\u2019Brien are also assisting with the coordination of a Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC) reception at the <\/span>Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)<\/span><\/a> on Wednesday, February 24th<\/span> from 6:00-8:00PM at the Pour House in Boston. This reception will bring together investigators, staff, and junior scholars in the fields of HIV, HCV, and substance use from URBAN ARCH, <\/span>BU Section of Infectious Disease<\/span><\/a>s<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>CHERISH<\/span><\/a>, and the <\/span>Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit<\/span><\/a>. Please RSVP to <\/span>carly.bridden@bmc.org<\/span><\/a> if you would like to attend this reception. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Admin Core staff have recently begun planning the 5th<\/span> <\/span>URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting<\/span><\/a> to be held on April 5th <\/span>and 6th <\/span>at BUMC. We look forward to welcoming both internal and external investigators and collaborators back to Boston for discussions and updates on URBAN ARCH HIV and alcohol research! Please email <\/span>carly.bridden@bmc.org<\/span><\/a>\u00a0if you would like to attend this year\u2019s Annual Meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a>BDM Core<\/span><\/h1>\n

The BDM Core continues to assist with data management activities across URBAN ARCH and is working to finalize data sets for the Uganda and Boston cohorts. In addition, several data analyses and manuscripts are in progress.\u00a0 The Core is also beginning work to create data presentations and reports for the upcoming\u00a0Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) meeting in April.<\/p>\n

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l-r: Greg Patts, Leah Forman, Tim Heeren, Michael Winter, Christine Lloyd-Travaglini, Sharon Coleman, and Debbie Cheng at their BDM Core meeting in February 2016
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<\/a>Uganda Cohort<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

As of February 1, 2016, Uganda ARCH has concluded enrollment with a total of 447 subjects. Uganda ARCH has conducted\u00a0434 6-month assessments, 307 12-month assessments, 189 18-month assessments, 122 24-month assessments, 63 30-month assessments, and 27 36-month assessments. All participant follow-up was concluded by November, 2015.<\/p>\n

l-r: Judy Hahn, Sarah Woolf-King, Nneka Emenyonu, Julian Adong, Robin Fatch, and Stephen Asiimwe pose together\u00a0for a Uganda ARCH team photo<\/em><\/p>\n

The Uganda team successfully submitted their URBAN ARCH grant renewal proposal\u00a0titled “TB Preventive Therapy for HIV-infected Alcohol Users in Uganda: An Evaluation of Safety, Tolerability, and Adherence.” Judy Hahn and Kinna Thakarar also attended the 2016 CHAART Meeting in Washington D.C., where Kinna presented her poster titled “Alcohol Consumption in Ugandan HIV-infected Household-brewers Verus Non-brewers.”<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Russia Cohort and ZINC RCT<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

As of\u00a0February 1, 2016, Russia ARCH (n=351) conducted 260 six-month assessments, 214 twelve-month assessments, 150 eighteen-month assessments, and 81 twenty four-month assessments. As of February 1, 2016, ZINC (n=254) conducted 160 six-month assessments, 122 twelve-month assessments, and 66 eighteen-month assessments.<\/p>\n

l-r: Kendall Bryant, Matt Freiberg, and Glory Koerbel at the CHAART Meeting in Washington D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n

The team submitted their proposal for the St<\/strong>udying P<\/strong>artial-agonists for E<\/strong>thanol and T<\/strong>obacco E<\/strong>limination in R<\/strong>ussians with HIV<\/strong> (St PETER HIV) RCT as part of the URBAN ARCH grant renewal in January. The study will recruit HIV-infected smokers and heavy drinkers from the established Russia ARCH cohort to compare the effects of two nicotinic partial agonists, varenicline and cytisine, on alcohol consumption, alcohol craving, smoking, inflammation, CHD risk and mortality risk.<\/p>\n

The team is actively pursuing data analyses, abstract submissions, and manuscript preparation. Over the last 3 months the following manuscripts were submitted for review:<\/p>\n