What if HIV were unable to develop resistance against a new therapeutic agent?

Background

The HIV integrase inhibitor, Dolutegravir (DTG), was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and is the only HIV drug that has not selected for resistance mutations in the clinic when used as part of first-line therapy. This has led to speculation that DTG might have a higher genetic barrier for the development of drug resistance than the other compounds that are used in therapy.

Discussion

In this Opinion article, we speculate that this is due to greatly diminished replication capacity on the part of viruses that might become resistant to DTG when the drug is used in initial therapy and that DTG might be able to be used in HIV prevention and eradication strategies. We also note that no compensatory mutation that might restore viral replication fitness to HIV in the aftermath of the appearance of a single drug resistance mutation has yet to be observed.

Summary

DTG is a valuable addition to the anti-HIV armamentarium of drugs and its long-term utility may potentially exceed its obvious use in treatment of HIV disease.

     

Examining Self-Training Procedures in Leisure Swimming

This study investigated contents of training sessions from 387 regular swimmers involved in a recreational workout without supervision. We did use multiple correspondences analysis in order to identify self-trained swimmers typology in a sample from a social networking website, focusing on swimming practice. Self-reported parameters (n = 12) were age, gender, practice frequency, supervision in physical activity experiment, main training target, main reason for swimming choice, swimming session duration and distance, most used swimming stroke and material, quality of the training control, and training evolution during a year. Results have highlighted different training strategies and targets according to gender and age. Male strategy consists in performing higher distance (1818.8 ± 644.5 m vs. 1453.0 ± 603.3, p < 0.05 for male and female respectively) by using several swim stroke and gears involving upper body muscles (front crawl, pull buoy and paddles). More concerned about duration of their sessions, women are mainly using breaststroke. Backstroke is associated with people aged higher than 50. We also have established a connection between motives according to ages and long term strategies. The main motivation for middle aged people appears to be general health benefits by performing identical swimming session without evolution during a year. People aged from 20 to 30 are divided between an identical swimming session strategy and an increase in distance or in intensity strategy during a year. This population appears to be concerned about a global health benefits and a body shape effects. Suggestions are made to improve swimming practice environment during free time sessions according to the main results.

Key Points

• Male strategy consists in performing higher distance by using several swim stroke and gears involving upper body muscles whereas women are more concerned about effort duration and use breaststroke in majority.
• The main motivation for middle aged people appears to be general health benefits whereas people aged from 20 to 30 appears to be concerned about a global health benefits and a body shape effects.
• Excepted middle age people, recreational swimmers have low control quality of their session even if they have a good skill level. This suggests to improve health strategy education and swimming pool environment.

Key words: Physical activity, strategy, multiple correspondence analysis, leisure swimming