Acceptability and Feasibility of Geographically Explicit Ecological Momentary Assessment Among Men Who Have Sex with Men

Syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) has increased greatly in the past twenty years in the U.S. Geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (GEMA), in which behaviors are geotagged and contextualized in time and space, may contribute to a greater understanding of transmission risk. The objective was to determine the acceptability and feasibility of GEMA for assessing HIV and syphilis transmission risk behaviors among a sample of MSM. Participants responded to a brief survey five times a day for two weeks. Feasibility was measured by participant recruitment, enrollment, prompts received and answered, geotagged prompts, and technical interference with data collection. Acceptability was measured by ratings of enjoyment and willingness for future participation. Summaries of five behavioral measures from the brief survey were calculated. Among the 83 participants contacted, 67.5% (56) expressed interest, 98% (55) were scheduled, and 81.8% (45) were enrolled. Participants answered 78.3% (2,277) of prompts received and 87.7% (1,998) of answered prompts were geotagged. Overall, 70.5% (31) enjoyed participating and 91.1% (41) were willing to participate in the future. Among prompts answered, missingness was low for five behavioral measures (range 0.2% (4) to 0.7% (16)). Feasibility and acceptability were high and missingness was low on behavioral measures in this MSM study population. Most participants reported that they would participate again. Future work should focus on whether GEMA improves our understanding of syphilis and HIV transmission risk.

     

Ten‐year attrition and antiretroviral therapy response among HIV‐positive adults: a sex‐based cohort analysis from eight West African countries

IntroductionSex differences have already been reported in sub‐Saharan Africa for attrition and immunological response after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, but follow‐up was usually limited to the first two to three years after ART initiation. We evaluated sex differences on the same outcomes in the 10 years following ART initiation in West African adults.MethodsWe used cohort data of patients included in the IeDEA West Africa collaboration, who initiated ART between 2002 and 2014. We modelled no‐follow‐up and 10‐year attrition risks, and immunological response by sex using logistic regression analysis, survival analysis with random effect and linear mixed models respectively.ResultsA total of 71,283 patients (65.8% women) contributed to 310,007 person‐years of follow‐up in 16 clinics in eight West African countries. The cumulative attrition incidence at 10‐year after ART initiation reached 75% and 68% for men and women respectively. Being male was associated with an increased risk of no follow‐up after starting ART (5.1% vs. 4.0%, adjusted Odds Ratio: 1.25 [95% CI: 1.15 to 1.35]) and of 10‐year attrition throughout the 10‐year period following ART initiation: adjusted Hazard Ratios were 1.22 [95% CI: 1.17 to 1.27], 1.08 [95% CI: 1.04 to 1.12] and 1.04 [95% CI: 1.01 to 1.08] during year 1, years 2 to 4 and 5 to 10 respectively. A better immunological response was achieved by women than men: monthly CD4 gain was 30.2 and 28.3 cells/mL in the first four months and 2.6 and 1.9 cells/μL thereafter. Ultimately, women reached the average threshold of 500 CD4 cells/μL in their sixth year of follow‐up, whereas men failed to reach it even at the end of the 10‐year follow‐up period. The proportion of patients reaching the threshold was much higher in women than in men after 10 years since ART initiation (65% vs. 44%).ConclusionsIn West Africa, attrition is unacceptably high in both sexes. Men are more vulnerable than women on both attrition and immunological response to ART in the 10 years following ART initiation. Innovative tracing strategies that are sex‐adapted are needed for patients in care to monitor attrition, detect early high‐risk groups so that they can stay in care with a durably controlled infection.     

External validity of phase III trials on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 to a middle-aged and elderly Western European population

European Journal of Epidemiology - Initial results from various phase-III trials on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are promising. For proper translation of these results to clinical guidelines, it is...     

Dyslipidemia and its associated factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Journal of Public Health - Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor known to be associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This study determined the frequency of lipid abnormalities among...     

The midsagittal area of the corpus callosum and total neocortical volume differ in three inbred strains of mice

Differences in the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum have been reported between human males and females, between handled and nonhandled rats, and both within and between various strains of mice. This measure has, in addition, been related to handedness in humans and "pawedness" in certain strains of mice. The present study investigated the between- and within-strain differences in three inbred strains of mice, two with autoimmune disorders and spontaneously occurring developmental neuropathology, in the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum, the total neocortical volume, and the asymmetry of the neocortex. These morphometric measures were obtained from coronally sectioned celloidin-embedded material from New Zealand Black (NZB/BINJ), BXSB/MpJ, and DBA/2J mouse strains. NZB mice had a total neocortical volume larger than that of either the BXSB or DBA strains, whereas the BSXB mice had a midsagittal area of the corpus callosum larger than that of either of the other two strains. In addition, there was a positive correlation between these two measures. There was no correlation between total neocortical asymmetry and midsagittal area of the corpus callosum in any of the three strains. Finally, there were no differences in any morphometric measure between animals with or without developmental neuropathology in any given strain.     

Neurotensin-like Peptides in the CNS of Lampreys: Chromatographic Characterization and Immunohistochemical Localization with Reference to Aminergic Markers

Neurotensin (NT)-like peptides in the CNS of the lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis were studied by radioimmunoassay (C-terminal specific NT antiserum), reverse-phase HPLC and immunohistochemistry. Multiple peaks of NT-immunoreactive (-ir) material were observed upon HPLC, of which a major peak eluted in the position of bovine NT. Immunofluorescence histochemistry showed that a monoclonal antibody recognizing the N-terminal (1 - 11) fragment of NT, as well as two polyclonal NT antisera labelled a large number of cell bodies in the periventricular area of hypothalamus, including the postinfundibular commissural nucleus and the ventral and dorsal hypothalamic nuclei. Additional groups of NT-ir cells were observed in the preoptic nucleus, the postoptic commissural nucleus, the mesencephalic tegmentum (L.fluviatilis), and in the spinal cord (L.fluviatilis and Ichtyomyzon unicuspis). Dense NT-ir fibre plexuses were present in the caudal hypothalamus, corpus striatum, ventral mesencephalon, and in the dorsal horn and lateral margin of the spinal cord. At the ultrastructural level the lateral spinal margin showed NT-ir terminal structures, which in most cases were not associated with synaptic specializations, although occasional synaptic contacts with unlabelled elements were found. The relation between NT-ir and monoamine-containing cells was examined with immunofluorescence double-staining, using antisera to tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), and histamine respectively. In the periventricular nuclei of hypothalamus numerous TH-, 5-HT-, as well as histamine-ir cells were located in close association with NT-ir cells, but none of the aminergic markers could be detected within NT-ir neurons. The chemical properties as well as the anatomical distribution of lamprey NT-like peptides show several similarities with those present in mammals, suggesting that NT-containing neuronal systems in the CNS developed early in vertebrate phylogeny.     

Phase I clinical study of LL-D49194α1 with retrospective pharmacokinetic investigations in mice and humans

Summary LL-D491941 is a new cytotoxic antibiotic selected for clinical phase I study because of its impressive pre-clinical anti-tumour activity and its low toxicity profile in experimental animals. A total of 15 patients were treated in centres in Glasgow and Amsterdam at doses ranging from 0.25 to 4 mg/m². One minor response was noted in a patient with colonic carcinoma. The study was suspended following the discovery of unexpected cardiotoxicity. As this toxicity was not consistent with the standard (EORTC) European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer toxicology profile, we chose to investigate the pharmacokinetics of LL-D491941 in mice and humans in more detail to try to explain this phenomenon. A major difference in plasma protein binding was discovered between mice and patients, with a suggestion of non-linear kinetics being noted at higher doses in humans. It is likely that these differences in drug handling account for the unexpected and serious toxicity encountered in this trial.     

Treatment of lymphangiomas of the head and neck in children by intralesional injection of OK‐432 (Picinabil)

The treatments previously used for lymphangiomas of the head and neck in children‐surgery and intralesional injection of sclerosants–are associated with significant morbidity. A new treatment–intralesional injection of OK‐432–was used for lymphangiomas of the head and neck in 11 children. The results were total shrinkage in two, marked shrinkage in two, slight shrinkage in five and no response in two. The results were not affected by previous surgery nor by whether aspiration prior to injection was possible. There were no recurrences in those children in whom shrinkage occurred and no child had subsequent surgery following injection. The results of this series support those of previous series showing that OK‐432 injection is an effective and safe treatment for lymphangiomas of the head and neck in children.     

An Intelligent System to Enhance the Performance of Brain Tumor Diagnosis from MR Images

Journal of Digital Imaging - In the human body, cancer is caused by aberrant cell proliferation. Brain tumors are created when cells in the human brain proliferate out of control. Brain tumors...