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There is a high correlation between adolescent women's educational skills, goals, and family income and the likelihood of pregnancy. Schools have a statutory duty to provide health instruction; this may include pregnancy-prevention programs. Includes discussion of Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrom (AIDS) and school responsibility for educational programs on the disease. (MD)

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to retrospectively evaluate the characteristics of mucormycosis cases seen in our clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic, the management of their treatment and the SARS-CoV-2 variants that were dominant at that time. Methods: The medical records of patients diagnosed with rhino-orbital mucormycosis between March 2020 and July 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. Results: Nine patients were diagnosed with rhino-orbital mucormycosis. Of these patients, six were male and three were female, and the patients were between the ages of 65-75 (mean 69.2). After the diagnosis of mucormycosis, antifungal treatment was initiated with liposomal amphotericin-B. Eight patients underwent surgery within 48 hours, only one patient refused to undergo surgery. Conclussions: Mucormycosis is a rapidly progressing opportunistic fungal infection. Therefore, the most basic criteria determining mortality is the early detection of about mucormycosis infection and to diagnose it as soon as possible, especially in patients with an underlying immunosuppressive condition. Once a diagnosis of mucormucosis has been established, risk factors, especially blood sugar regulation, should be corrected. Furthermore, systemic and local antifungal therapy shuold be initiated, and urgent debridement should be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the dynamics of a single vortex and a corotating vortex pair in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates under rotation. The results are obtained by numerically solving the nonlinear Gross-Pitaevskii equation. It is displayed that the dynamics behaviour is strongly dependent on the polarization angle and the rotation frequency. For a single vortex, the clockwise rotation occurs with an increasing rotation frequency, and the rotation direction is constant. The x coordinate and y coordinate as a function of time show that the single vortex is accelerated. The oscillation frequency is larger in the case of the totally repulsive dipolar interaction than for the anisotropic dipolar interaction. For a corotating vortex pair, the dynamic is different than in the case of a single vortex. When the rotation frequency is gradually increased, the corotating vortex pair spins from anti-clockwise to clockwise direction and the anisotropic dipolar interaction is fully embodied. In this process, the system has a critical rotation frequency to accomplish such transition. In addition, the vortex motion is confined to a small extent at this critical rotation frequency. These results reflect a competition between rotation and dipolar interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents statistical information by the World Health Organization on Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Examines the experience at Saint Vincents Hospital and Medical Center of New York with primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) over a 20-year period to determine the impact of the Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome epidemic on the disease. Analysis of the tumor board registry records; Documentation of pathological diagnosis; Calculation of survival rates.

HIV testing is free in Malawi, but users may still incur costs that can deter or delay them accessing these services. We sought to identify and quantify these costs among HIV testing service clients in Malawi. We asked residents of communities participating in a cluster randomised trial investigating the impact of HIV self-testing about their past HIV testing experiences and the direct non-medical and indirect costs incurred to access HIV testing. We recruited 749 participants whose most recent HIV test was within the past 12 months. The mean total cost to access testing was US$2.45 (95%CI: US$2.11-US$2.70). Men incurred higher costs (US$3.81; 95%CI: US$2.91-US$4.50) than women (US$1.83; 95%CI: US$1.61-US$2.00). Results from a two-part multivariable regression analysis suggest that age, testing location, time taken to test, visiting a facility specifically for an HIV test and district of residence significantly affected the odds of incurring costs to testing. In addition, gender, wealth, age, education and district of residence were associated with significant user costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disclosure of HIV positive status to sexual partners is promoted by HIV prevention programs including those targeting the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Among other benefits, disclosure may enhance spousal support and reduce stigma, violence and discrimination. HIV status disclosure and associated outcomes were assessed among a cohort of women, newly initiating lifelong antiretroviral therapy in Uganda between October 2013 and May 2014. Methods: This was a mixed method study, drawing data from a prospective cohort study of 507 HIV positive pregnant women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy, who were followed for four months to determine disclosure and its outcomes. Women were recruited from three facilities for the cohort study; in addition, fifty-seven women were recruited to participate in qualitative interviews from six facilities. Factors associated with spousal support and negative outcomes were determined using random-effects logistic regression in two separate models, with prevalence ratio as measure of association. In-depth interviews were used to document experiences with disclosure of HIV status. Results: Overall HIV status disclosure to at least one person was high [(375/507), 83.7%]. Nearly three-quarters [(285/ 389), 73.3%], had disclosed to their spouse by the fourth month of follow up post-enrolment. Among married women, spousal support was high at the first 330/407 (81.1%) and second follow-up 320/389 (82.2%). The majority of women who reported spousal support for either antenatal care or HIV-related care services had disclosed their HIV status to their spouses (adj.PR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.02-1.34). However, no significant differences were observed in the proportion of self-reported negative outcomes by HIV status disclosure (adj.PR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.56-1.42). Qualitative findings highlighted stigma and fear of negative outcomes as the major barriers to disclosure. Conclusion: HIV status disclosure to partners by pregnant women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy was associated with increased spousal support, but was impeded by fear of adverse outcomes such as stigma, discrimination and violence. Interventions to reduce negative outcomes could enhance HIV status disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an observational study by Kim C.E. Sigaloff and colleagues that was published in the "Journal of Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndromes." The study details that confirmatory viral load testing reduced human immunodefficiency virus (HIV) treatment switches fourfold among 250 patients in six African countries. The article also mentions that the study underscored the importance of targeted viral load testing to maximise the clinical benefits of first-line regimens.

Disease process over time results from the combination of event history information and longitudinal process. Commonly, separate analyses of longitudinal and survival outcomes are performed. However, discharging the dependence between these components may cause misleading results. Separate analyses are difficult to interpret whenever one deals with observational retrospective multicenter cohort studies where the biomarkers are poorly monitored over time, while the survival component may be affected by several sources of bias, such as multiple endpoints, multiple time-scales, and informative censoring. We discuss how joint modeling of longitudinal and survival data represents an effective strategy to incorporate all information simultaneously and to provide valid and efficient inferences, thus allowing to produce a better insight into the biological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon under study. Accounting for the whole dynamics of the disease process is crucial in retrospective longitudinal studies. In this work, we present different approaches for modeling longitudinal and time-to-event data, retrieved from 648 HIV-infected patients enrolled in the Italian cohort of the CASCADE (Concerted Action on SeroConversion to AIDS and Death in Europe) study, one of the largest AIDS collaborative cohort studies. In particular, we evaluate CD4 lymphocyte evolution over time (from the date of seroconversion) and overall survival, CD4 being one of the most important immunologic biomarker for HIV progression. Besides a standard separate modeling approach, we consider two alternative joint models: the traditional joint model and the joint latent class mixed model. Advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches are discussed. To compare the performances of these models, cross-validation procedures are also performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) contribute to both HIV pathogenesis and elicitation of antiviral immunity. Understanding how mDC responses to stimuli shape HIV infection outcomes will inform HIV prevention and treatment strategies. The long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viral mimic, polyinosinic polycytidylic acid (polyIC, PIC) potently stimulates DCs to focus Th1 responses, triggers direct antiviral activity in vitro, and boosts anti-HIV responses in vivo. Stabilized polyICLC (PICLC) is being developed for vaccine adjuvant applications in humans, making it critical to understand how mDC sensing of PICLC influences HIV infection. Using the monocyte-derived DC (moDC) model, we sought to describe how PICLC (vs. other dsRNAs) impacts HIV infection within DCs and DC-T cell mixtures. We extended this work to in vivo macaque rectal transmission studies by administering PICLC with or before rectal SIVmac239 (SIVwt) or SIVmac239ΔNef (SIVΔNef) challenge. Like PIC, PICLC activated DCs and T cells, increased expression of α4β7 and CD169, and induced type I IFN responses in vitro. The type of dsRNA and timing of dsRNA exposure differentially impacted in vitro DC-driven HIV infection. Rectal PICLC treatment similarly induced DC and T cell activation and pro- and anti-HIV factors locally and systemically. Importantly, this did not enhance SIV transmission in vivo. Instead, SIV acquisition was marginally reduced after a single high dose challenge. Interestingly, in the PICLC-treated, SIVΔNef-infected animals, SIVΔNef viremia was higher, in line with the importance of DC and T cell activation in SIVΔNef replication. In the right combination anti-HIV strategy, PICLC has the potential to limit HIV infection and boost HIV immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation / Turkiye Fiziksel Tip ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi is the property of Turkish Society of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The lack of relevant animal models is the major bottleneck for understanding human immunology and immunopathology. In the last few years, a novel model of humanized mouse has been successfully employed to investigate some of the most critical questions in human immunology. We have set up and tested in our laboratory the latest technology for generating mice with a human immune system by reconstituting newborn immunodeficient NOD/SCID-γ c−/− mice with human fetal liver-derived hematopoietic stem cells. These humanized mice have been deemed most competent as human models in a thorough comparative study with other humanized mouse technologies. Lymphocytes in these mice are of human origin while other hematopoietic cells are chimeric, partly of mouse and partly of human origin. We demonstrate that human CD8 T lymphocytes in humanized mice are fully responsive to our novel cell-based secreted heat shock protein gp96 HIV-Ig vaccine. We also show that the gp96 HIV-Ig vaccine induces powerful mucosal immune responses in the rectum and the vagina, which are thought to be required for protection from HIV infection. We posit the hypothesis that vaccine approaches tested in humanized mouse models can generate data rapidly, economically and with great flexibility (genetic manipulations are possible), to be subsequently tested in larger nonhuman primate models and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore a Bayesian approach to selection of variables that represent fixed and random effects in modeling of longitudinal binary outcomes with missing data caused by dropouts. We show via analytic results for a simple example that nonignorable missing data lead to biased parameter estimates. This bias results in selection of wrong effects asymptotically, which we can confirm via simulations for more complex settings. By jointly modeling the longitudinal binary data with the dropout process that possibly leads to nonignorable missing data, we are able to correct the bias in estimation and selection. Mixture priors with a point mass at zero are used to facilitate variable selection. We illustrate the proposed approach using a clinical trial for acute ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that bacterially derived peptidoglycan activates the immune defficiency (IMD) system which results in the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). It reveals that basal levels of PIMS transcription are dependent on the presence of commensal bacteria. It concludes that PIMS, together with other proteins including PGRP-LB and PGRP-SC1, ensures immune tolerance by providing a buffered threshold for activation of the immune response by peptidoglycan.

The article reports on the launching of the Web site AIDSTruth.org initiated by a vocal group of acquired immune defficiency syndrome (AIDS) researchers, clinicians and activists from various countries. The effort is to counter the moves of a vocal groups of AIDS called dissenters who attracted international attention by questioning whether human immunodeficiency virus causes the disease. According to Mark Wainberg, head of the McGill AIDS Centre in Montreal, Canada that they need to get more people to understand that HIV denialism does serious harm. The Web site offers more than 100 links to scientific reports to expose the denialist propaganda campaign.

Background: Patients with chronic renal failure and hemodialysis impaired their immunological responses such as phagocytosis and chemotaxi and also, complement dysfunction due to leukocyte dysfunction and reduced number. Therfor they are susceptible to opportunistic infections. The studies on intestinal parasitic and fungal infections in patients with hemodialysis are few. This study was done to investigate the frequency of parasitic and fungal infections in these patients. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study. 330 stool samples from hemodialysis patients with chronic renal failure were collected. After recording the patient profile in questionnaire, different tests was performed with specific laboratory methods. Finding: The prevalence of intestinal parasites and fungi in hemodialysis patients were 23.9 and 36.1%, respectively. Endolymax Nana (6.4 %) and Geotricum Candidom (10.9 %) were the most common fungi and parasite in hemodialysis patients. The highest rate of intestinal parasites and fungi were reported in the age groups of 65-51 years (29.7 %) and older than 65 years (60.3 %). Between age and prevalence of intestinal parasites and fungi was significant relationship (P = 0.002 and P = 0.004, respectively). There was no significant relationship between gender and the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections (P = 0.184), while the relation of incidence of fungal infections and gender was significant (P = 0.028). There was significant relationship between the prevalence of intestinal parasitic and fungal infections and the duration of dialysis and health status (P < 0.05) but with Location subjects no significant relationship was found (P > 0.05). The most common digestive symptom was constipation and then, abdominal bloating was reported. Conclusion: Considering that the prevalence of intestinal parasitic and fungal infections in patients undergoing hemodialysis is high, it is recommended to evaluate hemodialysis patients for intestinal parasitic and fungal infections before drug prescription. Furthermore, the microscopic examination of stool culture and component tests of patients with chronic renal failure undergoing kidney transplantation should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing joint models for longitudinal and survival data are not applicable for longitudinal ordinal outcomes with possible non-ignorable missing values caused by multiple reasons. We propose a joint model for longitudinal ordinal measurements and competing risks failure time data, in which a partial proportional odds model for the longitudinal ordinal outcome is linked to the event times by latent random variables. At the survival endpoint, our model adopts the competing risks framework to model multiple failure types at the same time. The partial proportional odds model, as an extension of the popular proportional odds model for ordinal outcomes, is more flexible and at the same time provides a tool to test the proportional odds assumption. We use a likelihood approach and derive an EM algorithm to obtain the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters. We further show that all the parameters at the survival endpoint are identifiable from the data. Our joint model enables one to make inference for both the longitudinal ordinal outcome and the failure times simultaneously. In addition, the inference at the longitudinal endpoint is adjusted for possible non-ignorable missing data caused by the failure times. We apply the method to the NINDS rt-PA stroke trial. Our study considers the modified Rankin Scale only. Other ordinal outcomes in the trial, such as the Barthel and Glasgow scales, can be treated in the same way. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of HIV infection continues to increase among women in South Africa while there are few interventions specifically targeting condom use promotion in this population. We report the results of an experimental pilot study of a health education intervention aimed at enhancing coping skills and consistent condom use among HIV-positive women attending primary health clinics in the Western Cape province of South Africa. One hundred and twenty women were randomised into the intervention condition or a control condition. Both groups completed an interviewer administered questionnaire that included measures of self-esteem, attitude towards condom use, and self-efficacy towards condom use and negotiating condom use, and provided vaginal swab specimen at baseline and three months after the intervention. Tests for intervention effects at three months while controlling for baseline revealed that only self-esteem was significantly higher in the intervention group relative to the control group. No significant differences were found on measures of coping skills and condom use behaviour. Importantly, incidence for Chlamydia Trachomatis, Neisseria Gonorrhea and Trichomona vaginalis during the study period were significantly lower in the intervention group than the control group. These results are strong indications that this intervention could serve as a basis for the development of potentially effective interventions to reduce STI-related sexual risk behaviours among HIV-positive black women in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is a refractory malignancy caused by human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) in immunocompromised individuals. The tumor cells of PEL are characterized by constitutive NF-κB activation. Dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ) is a new NF-κB inhibitor and is effective on various tumor cells with constitutively activated NF-κB. Thus, in search for a new therapeutic modality of PEL, we examined the effect of DHMEQ on PEL cells. We confirmed constitutive activation of NF-κB with subcomponents of p50 and p65 in PEL cell lines. DHMEQ quickly and transiently abrogated NF-κB activation and reduced the cell viability in dose- and time-dependent manners, inducing apoptosis through activation of both mitochondrial and membrane pathways. Array analysis revealed that DHMEQ down-regulated expression levels of NF-κB target genes, such as interleukin-6 (IL6), Myc, chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5 ( CCR5) and NF-κB1, whereas it up-regulated expression levels of some genes involved in apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest. DHMEQ did not reactivate HHV-8 lytic genes, indicating that NF-κB inhibition by DHMEQ did not induce virus replication. DHEMQ rescued CB-17 SCID mice xenografted with PEL cells, reducing the gross appearance of effusion. Thus, DHMEQ transiently abrogated the NF-κB activation, irreversibly triggering the apoptosis cascade without HHV-8 reactivation. In addition, DHMEQ could rescue the PEL-xenograft mice. Therefore, we suggest DHMEQ as a promising candidate for molecular target therapy of the PEL. ( Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 737–746) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The video-assisted thoracoscopic approach has become the preferred method for many procedures due to the reduced trauma, complication rate and morbidity. The aim of this study was a risk evaluation of patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) procedures. Between 1991 and 2004, 1,008 patients were included in this single-center retrospective analysis. Risk assessment was performed using univariate and multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that patient age ( p = 0.003), the duration of the VATS procedure ( p = 0.008), redo-VATS ( p < 0.001) and conversion to open thoracotomy ( p < 0.001) correlated significantly with the incidence of complications. Patients with immune deficiency following organ transplantation had the highest complication rate at 31.7%, which was significantly higher than for patients with either benign disease ( p = 0.010) or malignant disease ( p = 0.019). VATS is a safe procedure, but extra caution is recommended for patients with a higher risk profile (age, redo-VATS, immune deficiency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activity catalysing double-strand DNA recombination has been investigated in human tumour cell lines using an in vitro assay in which nuclear extracts from tumour cells are used to catalyse homologous recombination between deletion plasmids. The cell lines investigated showed comparable constitutive levels of recombination activity. In several cell lines a two- to fourfold increase in the frequency of double-strand recombinational events catalysed by nuclear extracts was observed if the cells were exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation. The response was greatest for cells harvested at 6 h after radiation exposure, and the dose to produce an optimal effect was 25 cGy. Cell lines showing this response included a relatively radioresistant human colon cancer line and two cis-DDP (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum II) resistant ovarian tumour cell lines which are cross-resistant to radiation. Sub-lethal doses of cis-DDP were also effective in inducing up-regulation of recombinational activity in the cis-DDP resistant cell lines. No change in recombinational activity was seen for a radiation/drug-sensitive ovarian cell line following exposure to low drug or radiation doses. These findings are of particular interest since they involve a radiation-induced process with potential for direct involvement in DNA repair. Further studies will be aimed at determining if the extent of resistance to cytotoxic agents is causally related to the degree of inducible recombination activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PNH is now known as an acquired, clonal disorder of the hematopietic stem cells caused by somatic mutation in the X-linked PIG-A gene encoding a protein involved in the synthesis of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor by which many proteins are attached to the membrane. Since the past few years, significant advances in the knowledge of the biology of this rare disease have been done. Similarily on the clinical ground, large series of patients with PNH have been published recently, providing estimates of factors affecting survival and of long term follow-up of significant numbers of patients. In this overview we focus on recent advances in the biology and the clinical aspects of this disease, and more importantly try to underline the numerous aspects of yet un-answered questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a 23-month study, we identified 1,233 patients with nosocomial urinary tract infections (UTIs) among 40,718 consecutive admissions by using a standardized, prospective system of hospital-wide surveillance. Nosocomial bloodstream infections (BSIs) occurred in 565 patients, 32 of whom had BSIs originating from UTIs, for an attack rate of 2.7 per 100 patients with nosocomial bacteriuria. Patients with UTIs due to Serratia marcescens were most likely to develop secondary BSIs (rate, 16 per 100) compared to patients with nosocomial UTIs due to other organisms (rate, ⩽4.3 per 100; P < 0.05). Furthermore, the median interval between documentation of UTI and of secondary BSI was 24 days for patients with infections due to S marcescens compared to one day for the entire group (P < 0.005). Risk factor analysis indicated that men with UTIs were more likely to develop secondary BSIs than were women (P < 0.05). Intensified infection control efforts are particularly necessary with high-risk groups such as bacteriuric men- especially among those patients with UTIs due to S marcescensto reduce the incidence of secondary, hospital-acquired BSIs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]