{"id":8041,"date":"2017-07-27T14:33:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T18:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/?page_id=8041"},"modified":"2017-09-29T08:59:09","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T12:59:09","slug":"core-and-cohort-updates-15","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/core-and-cohort-updates-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Core and Cohort Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Core and Cohort Updates<\/h1>\n
\n

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

\"symposium<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

l-r: Kaku So-Armah, Oghenowede Eyawo, Bob Cook, Theresa Kim, Jeffrey Samet, and Kendall Bryant presenting at the RSA CHAART symposium <\/em><\/p>\n

In June, members of the Admin Core Jeffrey Samet, Natalia Gnatienko, and Julia Canfield attended this year\u2019s Research Society on Alcoholism Scientific Meeting in Denver, Colorado. The CHAART symposium, entitled \u201cUse of biomarkers to advance alcohol and HIV research\u201c was chaired by Drs. Jeffrey Samet and Kendall Bryant and included Drs. Kaku So-Armah (Russia ARCH) and Theresa Kim (Boston ARCH) who presented on their respective research; the symposium was well attended and received. The RSA meeting also provided a great opportunity to connect with colleagues and learn about new discoveries in the field, with CHAART members who attended the conference having a group dinner.<\/p>\n

The Admin Core has been busy this summer working on IRB updates and repository requests. \u00a0Carly Bridden and Julia Canfield submitted an amendment for the URBAN ARCH repository IRB to include allowance of the transfer of repository data or samples to 3rd<\/sup> parties under a Material Transfer Agreement. The IRB amendment also added ADEPTT, the 4F Study, St PETER HIV, and LINC to the repository as well as the collection and storage of hair samples from the ADEPTT study. The Admin Core team has also been working on several sample repository requests for Russia ARCH and Boston ARCH. Carly Bridden, Natalia Gnatienko, Ve Truong, Julia Canfield, and Sally Bendiks worked on pulling and shipping approximately 2,000 Russia ARCH serum and plasma samples for testing at the University of Vermont. Tests for this batch of samples includes D-dimer, IL-6, sCD14, and LPS.<\/p>\n

\"repository<\/p>\n

l-r: Natalia Gnatienko, Ve Truong, Julia Canfield, and Sally Bendiks work in the URBAN ARCH repository, pulling nearly 2,000 Russia ARCH samples for testing;\u00a0Julia Canfield, Krissy King, Natalia Gnatienko, Casy Calver, Natalie Foster, Carly Bridden, and Christine Capozzi at a goodbye lunch for Natalie<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, the Admin Core would like to bid farewell to Natalie Foster, who has been working with this core since the spring of 2016. Natalie will be traveling to Uganda for a few weeks to volunteer with HIV education efforts and pursuing her career in public health since graduating in May from Boston University with her MPH. Good luck, Natalie!<\/p>\n

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

The BDM Core has helped with the recent launch of both the St PETER and ADEPTT studies and is currently helping prepare the start of the 4F Study.\u00a0 We have also been active in the development of several recent abstracts submitted by URBAN ARCH investigators and preparation for the fall DSMB meeting.<\/p>\n

\"bdm<\/a><\/p>\n

l-r: Debbie Cheng, Tim Hereen, Greg Patts, Leah Forman, Chris Lloyd-Travaglini, and Michael Winter at a BDM Core meeting<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>Uganda Cohort<\/span><\/h1>\n
\"color-run_group-e1505738243529-636x625\"<\/a>
l-r; Adah, Robert, Nneka and daughter, Carol, Benton, and Allen at the color run at Mbarara University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Uganda ARCH has just completed a great first year with the ADEPTT study. Our fabulous team has done a great job this year and we are entering year two with the same level of enthusiasm as we\u2019ve had from the start. The\u00a0project director, Nneka Emenyonu,\u00a0spent the months of June and July in Uganda overseeing\u00a0participant enrollment and continuing training with the ADEPTT team in Mbarara.\u00a0The trip ended with the ADEPTT team participating in a color run to raise awareness for pediatric cancer at Mbarara University.<\/p>\n

Despite our initial challenges with enrollment due to unexpected\u00a0low rates of latent TB in our screened participants, we have enrolled 31 participants to date out of the 40 targeted for year 1.\u00a0As of September 1, 2017 we have screened a total of 171 participants and enrolled 31 participants into the study. Of the 145 Participants screened for latent TB, 33 were positive. We will be retesting 21 participants included in the 145 who were tested using purified protein derivative (PPD) with questionable quality. We’ve completed baseline procedures for all 31 participants, 26 two-week follow up study visits, 21 one-month visits, 21 month 2 visits, 4 three-month visits. One participant has discontinued TB preventive therapy (INH) due to grade 3 level toxicities that occurred around the second month of therapy. We will continue to enroll participants from our previous ADEPT cohort for the next quarter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sarah Woolf-King presented a poster at RSA examining the concordance between three methods of alcohol use measurement with a sample of HIV+ MSM: (1) retrospectively, via daily self-reports from the Time Line Follow-Back (TLFB), (2) prospectively via daily self-reports from Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, and (3) via PEth. Overall, 67% of the men reported heavy alcohol via the TLFB, 68% via IVR, and 47% via PEth.<\/p>\n

\"judy<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Judy Hahn presenting a poster at RSA showing very high validity of her favorite alcohol biomarker, PEth. She found that PEth was highly correlated with the number of drinking episodes recorded on a SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) ankle bracelet worn by 38 low-risk drinkers in a UCSF study.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

In July of 2017, we successfully launched the St PETER trial (RCT of varenicline, cytisine, and NRT to address alcohol use and smoking in HIV-infected in St. Petersburg, Russia) and as of September 1st, St PETER has enrolled 21 participants.<\/p>\n

In August, we sent out the remaining Russia ARCH and ZINC samples to the University of Vermont Laboratory for Clinical Biochemistry Research for biomarker testing. Upon receipt of the results, we can complete Russia ARCH and ZINC RCT analyses.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to ZINC RCT and St PETER, Principal Investigator, Matthew Freiberg on receiving funding for the ACME study<\/a>. This U01 will leverage St PETER resources to examine whether heavier alcohol use increases changes in the gut microbiome.<\/p>\n

The team said farewell to Dr. Bulat Idrisov, who returned to Russia in September 2017. Dr. Idrisov will continue collaborating with the team on studies and analyses.<\/p>\n

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

\"natalia<\/a><\/p>\n

l-r: Natalia presenting on URBAN ARCH data at the 2017 RSA Scientific Meeting in Denver, CO; Dr. Bulat Idrisov and Dr. Jeffrey Samet with Dr. Idrisov’s Certificate of Completion for his NIDA INVEST Fellowship<\/em><\/p>\n

Published Manuscripts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n