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Introduction: Adherence to antiretroviral therapy is a key factor in predicting the success or failure of treatment. Data suggest that the status of mental health and especially depression of people living with HIV can affect adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the mental health status of people living with HIV, to record adherence to antiretroviral therapy and to investigate whether mental health affects adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Methods: A cross-sectional mixed observational correlation study in a sample of 112 HIV-positive individuals was conducted. The Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ) was used to assess adherence to antiretroviral therapy, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depression, and the WHOQOL - BREF tool was used to assess mental health. Results: The results of the study showed that 58.93% of patients were found to be non-adherent to antiretroviral therapy. Furthermore, according to the BDI scale, 10.7% of patients experienced marginal clinical depression, 10.7% experienced moderate levels of depression and 2.7% experienced severe or very severe levels of depression. Further, people living with HIV had a moderate level of mental health (M = 3.40, SD = 0.58). Conclusions: Our study showed that a high percentage of people living with HIV are non-adherent to antiretroviral therapy. Factors that are possibly associated with decreased adherence are mental health and especially depression. Psychological support for people living with HIV and anti-depressant prevention programs could increase adherence to antiretroviral therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To investigate the effect of acute and chronic exposure to IR on rabbit corneal and lens metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2), MMP‐9 and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and the influence of COX inhibition. Methods Fourteen (14) New Zealand rabbits were used totally. Chronic exposure to IR included 4 month irradiation of 3 rabbits, whereas 3 animals were the control group. Regarding acute exposure, 8 rabbits were used, diclofenac sodium eye drops 0.1% were instilled in their right eyes and 4 of them were irradiated for 12 hours. By comparing the left irradiated with the left non‐irradiated eyes, the effect of IR exposure was investigated. COX inhibition role with and without IR exposure was determined, by comparing the left with the right eyes of the irradiated and the non‐irradiated rabbits separately.The cornea and lens were extracted, followed by gelatin zymography to determine MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 activity, GAGs isolation, measurement of uronic acids and electrophoresis on cellulose acetate membranes for GAGs analysis. Results Chronic IR exposure induced the activity of corneal and lens pro‐MMP‐2 activity but did not affect GAGs. Acute exposure increased corneal and lens pro‐MMP‐2 activity and lens heparan sulfate amount, whereas the use of diclofenac sodium was unable to influence these effects. Conclusion Corneal and lens acute and chronic IR exposure induced the activity of pro‐MMP‐2. Acute exposure, also, increased lens heparan sulfate amount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]