{"id":7850,"date":"2017-06-01T10:19:56","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T14:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/?page_id=7850"},"modified":"2017-06-22T13:46:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T17:46:07","slug":"core-and-cohort-updates-14","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/core-and-cohort-updates-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Core and Cohort Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Core and Cohort Updates<\/h1>\n
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<\/a>Admin Core<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

The sixth URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting<\/a> held in late March brought together approximately 70 investigators, staff, Scientific Advisory Panel members, and other collaborators to discuss the progress and future direction of the URBAN ARCH Consortium. The Annual Meeting featured two special events this year: a networking breakfast for trainees and a presentation and discussion with Dmitry Lioznov and Bulat Idrisov on treating HIV in Russia. On the main meeting day, Bruce Schackman from the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorders, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) delivered the plenary talk on health economics followed by Jennifer Wagman, Theresa Kim, and Kaku So-Armah who presented on their URBAN ARCH research funded by NIAAA administrative supplements. We look forward to growing partnerships throughout the year and reuniting with our teams and collaborators at the next Annual Meeting — which is scheduled for March 27-28, 2018!<\/p>\n

Since the Annual Meeting, the Admin Core has been busy with the data and sample repository. Over 2,000 samples (plasma, serum, DBS cards) were received from St. Petersburg, Russia and placed into our freezer in Boston. Carly Bridden and Julia Canfield have also been coordinating external requests for data and samples, which is broadening the reach of URBAN ARCH resources.<\/p>\n

\"adminl-r: Pavlo Smyrnov presents on HIV and IDUs in Ukraine; Another batch of Russia ARCH samples arrive to Boston from St. Petersburg (top shelf)<\/em><\/p>\n

On May 23rd, URBAN ARCH, the CARE Unit, CFAR, and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) Department of Global Health co-hosted a talk entitled \u201cInnovative Programs for HIV+ IDUs in Ukraine\u201d by Pavlo Smyrnov. Smyrnov is the Deputy Executive Director at the Alliance for Public Health in Ukraine, and he discussed the current HIV landscape in his country and shared some of the interventions aimed at improving HIV testing rates and yield.<\/p>\n

The team has been preparing for the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Scientific Meeting in Denver, CO in June. Jeffrey Samet and Kendall Bryant will be chairing a symposium entitled \u201cUse of Biomarkers to Advance Alcohol and HIV Research,\u201d which will include presentations from Kaku So-Armah and Theresa Kim on Russia ARCH and Boston ARCH, respectively along with investigators from VACS\/COMpAAAS and SHARC. Julia Canfield, Jeffrey Samet, and Natalia Gnatienko will be attending the conference this year.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Natalie Foster on receiving her Master\u2019s in Public Health from BUSPH! She will be continuing full-time through the summer as a Project Coordinator. The team also welcomed a new Research Assistant, Christine Capozzi, who received her BS from Boston University last month and has been working on her MPH concentrating in Epidemiology at BUSPH.<\/p>\n

\"adminl-r: Natalie Foster at BUSPH Convocation; Christine Capozzi<\/em><\/p>\n

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

The BDM Core has been very busy on a number of activities including helping each cohort to prepare for study launches, assisting with data management activities across the consortium, conducting multiple statistical analyses, and developing manuscripts.<\/p>\n

l-r: Tim Heeren and Debbie Cheng\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>Uganda Cohort<\/span><\/h1>\n

Uganda ARCH is doing well and the ADEPTT study is moving forward smoothly. The principal investigator, Judy Hahn, project director, Nneka Emenyonu and statistician, Robin Fatch, had a very productive trip to Uganda during the month of April following the URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting in Boston to participate in the training of new staff and piloting of study procedures. Our intense training schedule ended with a fun team barbecue dinner of roasted goat, chicken and fish topped with a delicious ADEPTT team cake!<\/p>\n

\"ugandal-r: ADEPTT team members (Dr. Julian Adong, Chrisitne Ngabirano, Dr. Winnie Muyindike, Robin Fatch, Robert Wagubi, Caroline Asiimwe, Yona Mbalibulha, Allen Kekibiina, Catherine Kahinda, Christine Kazungu, Adah Tumwegamire, Benton Amanya, Nneka Emenyon); Dr.Julian Adong\u00a0<\/em>cutting the cake<\/em><\/p>\n

We had initial challenges with enrollment due to unexpected low rates of latent TB in our screened participants. Fortunately, with great troubleshooting and a new batch of tuberculin for the tuberculin skin test (TST), we are back on track. As of June 1, 2017 we have screened a total of 58 participants and enrolled 8 participants into the study. We’ve completed baseline procedures for all 8 participants and a two week follow up study visit for one participant.<\/p>\n

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

As of March 3, 2017, Russia ARCH (n=351) and ZINC (n=254) are closed to follow-up. The team is getting ready to launch the St PETER trial in the coming weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In March, members of the Russian study team traveled to Boston to attend the URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting. During this time, internal study team meetings were held to discuss study start-up and analyses in progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Kaku So-Armah, a Russia ARCH\/ZINC junior investigator, was awarded a CFAR Developmental award to conduct a project entitled, \u201cHIV, multisubstance use and alterations in fecal microbial communities: a novel potential mechanism for HIV-associated end-organ disease.\u201d This project will utilize the existing infrastructure from the St PETER study and support whole genome sequencing of fecal microbiomes and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFABP) to measure intestinal permeability.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"russia\"Russia ARCH study team meeting in Boston- March 2017 (l-r: Dr. Tatiana Yaroslavtseva, Dr. Elena Blokhina, Ve Truong, Sally Bendiks, Dr. Kaku So-Armah, Dr. Dmitry Lioznov, Dr. Evgeny Krupitsky, Sarah Loch).<\/em><\/p>\n

The team is actively pursuing data analyses, abstract submissions, and manuscript preparation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted Abstracts:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n