Pattern of microbial translocation in patients living with HIV-1 from Vietnam,Ethiopia and Sweden

Introduction

The role of microbial translocation (MT) in HIV patients living with HIV from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is not fully known. The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the patterns of MT in patients from Vietnam, Ethiopia and Sweden.

Methods

Cross-sectional samples were obtained from treatment-naïve patients living with HIV-1 and healthy controls from Vietnam (n=83; n=46), Ethiopia (n=9492; n=50) and Sweden (n=51; n=19). Longitudinal samples were obtained from a subset of the Vietnamese (n=24) in whom antiretroviral therapy (ART) and tuberculostatics were given. Plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS), sCD14 and anti-flagellin IgG were determined by the endpoint chromogenic Limulus Amebocyte Assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results

All three biomarkers were significantly increased in patients living with HIV-1 from all countries as compared to controls. No differences were found between males and females. Vietnamese and Ethiopian patients had significantly higher levels of anti-flagellin IgG and LPS, as compared to Swedes. ART reduced these levels for the Vietnamese. Vietnamese patients given tuberculostatics at initiation of ART had significantly lower levels of anti-flagellin IgG and higher sCD14. The biomarkers were lower in Vietnamese who did not develop opportunistic infection.

Conclusions

Higher MT is common in patients living with HIV compared to healthy individuals, and in patients from LMICs compared to patients from a high-income country. Treatment with tuberculostatics decreased MT while higher levels of MT are associated with a poorer clinical outcome.     

Nordic OCD & Related Disorders Consortium: Rationale,design, and methods

Obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder, yet its etiology is unknown and treatment outcomes could be improved if biological targets could be identified. Unfortunately, genetic findings for OCD are lagging behind other psychiatric disorders. Thus, there is a pressing need to understand the causal mechanisms implicated in OCD in order to improve clinical outcomes and to reduce morbidity and societal costs. Specifically, there is a need for a large‐scale, etiologically informative genetic study integrating genetic and environmental factors that presumably interact to cause the condition. The Nordic countries provide fertile ground for such a study, given their detailed population registers, national healthcare systems and active specialist clinics for OCD. We thus formed the Nordic OCD and Related Disorders Consortium (NORDiC, www.crowleylab.org/nordic ), and with the support of NIMH and the Swedish Research Council, have begun to collect a large, richly phenotyped and genotyped sample of OCD cases. Our specific aims are geared toward answering a number of key questions regarding the biology, etiology, and treatment of OCD. This article describes and discusses the rationale, design, and methodology of NORDiC, including details on clinical measures and planned genomic analyses.     

Cigarette smoking,snuff use and alcohol drinking: coexisting risk behaviours for oral health in young males

OBJECTIVES: The use of oral moist snuff (snus) is widespread among Swedish men, but little is known about the use in adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe patterns of snuff dipping, smoking and alcohol drinking in a sample (n = 6287) of 9th grade male students participating in a census survey in the Stockholm region. RESULTS: About 20% of the sample reported use of snus, and more than two-thirds of snus users were also cigarette smokers. Among current nonusers of tobacco (66% of the sample), 14% reported frequent binge drinking, in contrast to 49% among current exclusive cigarette smokers, 60% among exclusive snus users and 69% among users of both cigarettes and snus. The estimated mean annual consumption of alcohol was 5-10 times higher among tobacco users than among nonusers, with users of snus consuming more alcohol than smokers. Compared to non- or minimal drinkers, heavy alcohol drinkers had a disproportionately higher risk to report snus use, after adjustment for smoking behaviour (OR = 16.7, 95% CI 12.9-21.7). When the analysis was restricted to users of only one type of tobacco, heavy drinkers were twice as likely to report snus, rather than cigarette, use. CONCLUSIONS: Both tobacco use and alcohol drinking have been independently associated with a variety of pathological oral conditions in adults. These behaviours coexist in early adolescence. Their effect on oral health need to be investigated in prospective studies and should be of concern to the dental professionals.     

Chromosomes in neoplasia: An appeal for unpublished data

In relation to a recent survey of chromosome aberrations in 856 human neoplasms the following points are presented: 1) the chromosome aberrations of significance to the biology of neoplasms are nonrandom; 2) aberrations of a particular chromosome tend to be of similar kind; 3) aberrations cluster to a limited number of specific chromosomes; 4) geographic differences have been observed in chromosome aberrations; 5) the karyotypic pattern of a neoplasm may be influenced by previous exposure to potential carcinogenic agents; 6) the role of chromosome aberrations in neoplasia—a hypothesis; 7) a plea is made for unpublished data to be included in our next survey of chromosome aberrations.