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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may cause death by damaging some of the patient's vital organs through weakening the body's immune system, including CD 4 + T cells. In the meantime, mathematical models can be useful in dealing with this deadly virus by providing effective strategies based on the examination of different infection states. The major aim pursued in this paper is to present a computational algorithm for solving nonlinear systems of ordinary and partial differential equations resulting from the HIV infection models of CD 4 + T cells. The offered method is developed according to the use of local radial basis functions (LRBFs) as shape functions in the discrete collocation scheme. The new technique approximates the solution by a small set of nodes instead of all points located in the domain where the HIV mathematical model is given. Thus the presented method uses less computing volume compared to the globally supported radial basis functions, and as a result, its algorithm can be quickly run on a computer with relatively low memory. The computational efficiency of the scheme is studied by several test examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "shock and kill" strategy is being widely explored to purge Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) latent reservoirs. Romidepsin, a kind of latency-reversing agents (LRAs), has been shown to induce HIV RNA transcription. However, several clinical trials testing this drug have resulted in limited effect in reducing the HIV latent reservoirs. To understand the mechanisms underlying such limited effect, we develop a multi-scale model that incorporates pharmacokinetics and considers the toxicity of romidepsin to T cells in this paper. By fitting the model to the viral load data from plasma of six patients received romidepsin, we find that the model with T cell toxicity of romidepsin can well explain the clinical data. The dynamics of latently infected cells during romidepsin administration are explored using the best-fit parameter values. The results show that latently infected cells decrease very slowly and remain very stable overall in four of the six participants under the assumption of T cell toxicity of romidepsin. This implies that the ineffectiveness of romidepsin on latent reservoirs can be explained by its toxicity to T cells. In the remaining two participants, however, latently infected cells are quite stable without T cell toxicity of LRAs. It is found that the estimated activation rate of latently infected cells by romidepsin and the estimated elimination rate of romidepsin on immune cells for these two patients are very different from those for the other four patients. Thus we speculate that the heterogeneous response to romidepsin across participants may also be a determining factor of the effectiveness of romidepsin. These results may have significant implications in the search for the control of HIV infection. • An HIV model is proposed to understand the cause of ineffectiveness of romidepsin in the "shock and kill" strategy. • The model has a good fit to patients' data when T cell toxicity of romidepsin is considered. • The toxicity of romidepsin to T cell may contribute to the ineffectiveness of "shock and kill" strategy concerning romidepsin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV can infect different cell populations such as CD4+ T cells and macrophages. In this paper, we study the global property of the solution of an HIV model with two target cell populations. The model includes general nonlinear rates of viral infection and cell death. For each class of target cells, the time delay between viral entry into cells and viral production is included in the model. We obtain the basic reproductive number of the model, which is shown to provide a threshold condition determining the long-term behavior of the solution of the model. Specifically, we show that the infection-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable when the basic reproductive number is less than or equal to 1, and that the infected equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable when the basic reproductive number is greater than 1. We also extend the model with two target cell populations to a general model with n populations. Similar global properties are obtained for the general model. Numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the stability results and to evaluate the relative contribution to viral production from the two cell populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce fractional-order derivatives into a model of HIV infection of CD4+ T-cells with time delay. We deal with the stability of both the viral free equilibrium and the infected equilibrium. Criteria are given to ensure that both the equilibria are asymptotically stable for all delay under some conditions. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a delayed differential equation model that describes HIV infection of CD4+ T cells is considered. The stability of the positive equilibrium and the existence of Hopf bifurcation are investigated. In succession, using the normal form theory and center manifold argument, we derive the explicit formulas which determine the stability, direction and other properties of bifurcating periodic solutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes and analyzes an adaptive immunity HIV infection model. The model describes the interaction between healthy CD 4 + T cells, silent (latent) infected cells, active infected cells, free HIV particles, Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and antibodies. The healthy CD 4 + T cells can be infected when they are contacted by one of the following: (i) free HIV particles, and this is known as virus-to-cell (VTC) transmission (ii) silent infected cells, and we call this mode of infection as silent HIV-infected cell-to-cell (CTC) transmission, and (iii) active infected cells, and we call this mechanism active HIV-infected CTC transmission. The incidence rates of the healthy CD 4 + T cells with free HIV particles, silent infected cells, and active infected cells are given by general functions. Moreover, the production/proliferation and removal/death rates of all compartments are represented by general functions. The model is an improvement of the existing HIV infection models which have neglected the incidence between the silent infected cells and healthy CD 4 + T cells. We first show that the model is well-posed. Then, we show that the model has five equilibria and their existence are governed by five threshold parameters. Under a set of conditions on the general functions and the threshold parameters, we have proven the global asymptotic stability of all equilibria by using Lyapunov's method. We have illustrated the theoretical results via numerical simulations. We have studied the effect of CTC transmission on the dynamical behavior of the system. We have shown that inclusion of CTC transmission decreases the concentration of the healthy CD4 + T cells and increases the concentrations of the infected cells and free HIV particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the research paper "Effect of Antiretroviral Therapy on Liver-Related Mortality in Patients with HIV and Hepatitis C Coinfection," by N. Qurishi, published in the 2003 issue of "Lancet." Improvement in the prognosis of HIV infection; CD4 positive T-cell count; Concentration of serum cholinesterase.