Suchergebnisse

This article presents an evaluation of a second‐track diplomacy project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and organized between Georgian and Abkhaz youth and teachers. It examines the effects of interethnic contact and peace education components of the program on the participants and evaluates the potential of the entire program for the peace processes between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides. The findings indicate that the program succeeded in cultivating a willingness to engage in joint programs, despite more marginal attitudinal changes among the participants. Equally intriguing and significant was the observed impact of ethnicity.Georgians and Abkhaz experienced the program differently, an outcome that exposed the impact of the larger sociopolitical context of the conflicts on the program outputs. The resulting theoretical and policy implications of the study raise issues of program design and training development, in order to maximize the "transfer effects" of such programs for larger social and political environments of peace processes.

BackgroundIn vitro studies suggest that reducing cholesterol inhibits HIV replication. However, this effect may not hold in vivo, where other factors, such as cholesterol's immunomodulatory properties, may interact.MethodsFasting blood samples were obtained on 165 people living with HIV at baseline and after 24 weeks on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Participants were classified as hypocholesterolemic (HypoCHL; <150 mg/dl) or non‐HypoCHL (>150 mg/dl) and were compared on viro‐immune outcomes.ResultsAt baseline, participants with HypoCHL (40%) exhibited lower CD4 (197 ± 181 vs. 295 ± 191 cells/mm3, p = 0.02) and CD8 (823 ± 448 vs. 1194 ± 598 cells/mm3, p = 0.001) counts and were more likely to have detectable viral loads (OR = 3.5, p = 0.01) than non‐HypoCHL controls. After HAART, participants with HypoCHL were twice as likely to experience a virological failure >400 copies (95% CI 1‐2.6, p = 0.05) and to exhibit <200 CD4 (95% CI 1.03‐2.9, p = 0.04) compared with non‐HypoCHL. Low thymic output was related to poorer CD4 cell response in HypoCHL subjects. Analyses suggest a dose‐response relationship with every increase of 50 mg/dl in cholesterol related to a parallel rise of 50 CD4 cells.ConclusionsThe study implicates, for the first time, HypoCHL with impaired HAART effectiveness, including limited CD4 repletion by the thymus and suboptimal viral clearance.