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This study examined the effects of specific psychosocial factors on the progression of HIV infection in 200 HIV-1 seropositive but asymptomatic men and women. At baseline, participants' disease status was determined, and they were administered self-report assessments of coping style, social support and loneliness. Participants were classified at 6 and 12 month follow-ups as progressed or unchanged, compared to their baseline status. In logistic regression analyses, higher baseline Type C coping scores (indicating emotional inexpressiveness and decreased recognition of needs and feelings) significantly predicted progression at 6 months (p<0.01) and 12 months (p<0.02), but only among participants classified at baseline as CDC-A2 (between 200-499 CD4 cells/mm3). In participants originally classified as CDC-A1 (CD4 cell counts > 500/mm3), no psychosocial variable showed any significant relationship. Results emphasize the need to consider the disease context, as well as the interaction between biological and psychological factors in contributing to disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthcare workers (HCW) adherence to hand hygiene (HH) is the most effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measure to fight healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and is a crucial component for standard precautions, especially in a pandemic context. As suggested by the WHO and Joint Commission Network Project, evaluating adherence to HH is essential to identify deficiencies and promote improvement interventions. Methods: San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, adopted internal audits to measure HCWs’ adherence to HH according to WHO Guidelines. Public health (PH) residents were enrolled as auditors. They were trained with WHO technical manual for observers and handovers among residents. WHO observation form was used for collection. Process index was HH adherence, stratified by profession, unit, opportunity and indication. Results: 8 PH medical residents carried out observations from January 2018 to December 2019. 434 HCWs were observed in 26 hospital units (191 nurses, 148 physicians, 83 healthcare assistants and 11 other professionals). Global adherence was 53%, calculated on 1,969 opportunities, and 2,221 indications observed, followed by 932 hands rubbing and 110 handwashing. Most observations involved nurses (adherence of 53%) and physicians (54%). Global adherence was generally higher in medicine, specialist surgery and intensive-care units while lower in general surgery and rehabilitation units. Indications with the highest adherence were ‘‘after body fluid exposure risk’’ (69%) and ‘‘after touching a patient’’ (64%). The lowest adherence (44%) was observed for ‘‘before clean/aseptic procedure’’ indication. The belief that gloves use may replace HH might partially explain the data. Conclusions: Global HH adherence was in line with significant published data and was far better than 2016 data but slightly lower than observations in 2018 when the program started. We believe 2020 HH compliance could have changed due to HCW involvement in IPC against COVID-19. Key messages: Hand hygiene (HH) audits represent a crucial tool of clinical governance and risk management: auditors’ training, monthly and annual reports, and feedbacks allowed to structure a virtuous process. If HH audits aim to improve practice we should understand when HH is most beneficial, assessing quality, improving performances through achievable targets using reproducible methods and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The effect of hypothyroidism on the lipid composition of myelin and synaptosomes isolated from adult rat brain was investigated. The animals were made hypothyroid by adding 0.05% propyl-2-thiouracil to their drinking water for four weeks. This pathological state resulted in a significant increase in the relative percentage of choline glycerophospholipids in synaptosomes with a concomitant decrease in ethanolamine glycerophospholipids as compared to controls. In myelin, hypothyroidism significantly influenced only the relative percentage of sulfatides. The effect of the hypothyroid state on mature brain was also reflected in changes in the membrane fatty acid composition. Myelin and synaptosomes showed an increase in arachidonic (20∶4) and eicosatrienoic (20∶3) acids and an increase in the fatty acid unsaturation index. Furthermore, the 20∶4/20∶3 and 20∶3/18∶2 ratios were lower and higher, respectively, in treated animals. The data indicate that hypothyroidism affects the lipid composition of synaptosomes and myelin even though the effects were less pronounced in myelin. The lipid changes observed in hypothyroidism may be of physiological significance, as it is well known that lipid composition modulates various membrane-bound enzymes, transporters and receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of hypothyroidism (HO) induced by treatment with propylthiouracil on lipid composition, receptor responsiveness of MI-muscarinic receptors (MAChRs) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) as well as on protein kinase C (PKC) activity was investigated in the cerebral cortex of Lewis rats. HO did not influence the lipid composition. There was a significant 2-fold increase of efficacy and 6-fold decrease of potency of carbachol-induced inositol phosphate (IP) accumulation in HO, with respect to control rats. The efficacy of trans-(1S,3R)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedicarboxylic acid (ACPD)-induced IP accumulation was also higher in HO (by 50%), without differences in EC50 values. The activities of soluble calcium-dependent and calcium-independent PKC were higher in HO than in control rats (both roughly 30%); membrane-associated PKCs were not modified. The data indicate that HO induces an increased responsiveness of MAChRs and mGluRs and a rise in the soluble PKC activity that could be available and ready for translocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is an inborn error of peroxisomal metabolism characterised by progressive demyelination of the central nervous system and by hypoadrenalism. The biochemical defect of ALD results in an impairment in degradation of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA) with their accumulation in plasma and tissues. Many therapeutic approaches have been tried. Recently, a restricted diet and glycerol trioleate/erucic (GTOE) supplementation have shown normalisation of VLCFA plasma levels, although they are not effective in altering the clinical course of X-linked ALD. The preliminary results are presented of a twelve month trial of immunomodulation by intravenous high-dose immunoglobulins in six patients, mean (SD) age 10.48 (2.8) affected by X-linked ALD, on VLCFA restricted diet plus GTOE supplementation therapy. Six patients aged 9.30 (1.5) with similar clinical characteristics and on the same restricted VLCFA regime of GTO/GTE therapy were studied as the control group. After two months VLCFA levels fell to normal values and remained so for all patients throughout the study. These data show that immunoglobulins are not able to arrest the progression of the disease. The MRI and clinical symptoms deteriorated to the same extent in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an abstract of the research paper "Diet, lipids and brain development." Formation of a myelin sheath is one of the fundamental and necessary events in the normal development of the central nervous system in vertebrates. Myelinogenesis is basically a postnatal process in rodents.

The article presents an abstract of the medical research paper "Effects of Fat Diets on the Myelinogenesis Process in Postnatal Undernutrition." This paper is to be discussed in the Seventeenth Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) and the Thirteenth General Meeting of the European Society for Neurochemistry (ESN) to be held at Berlin, Germany from August 8-14, 1999.