The Effect of State/Trait Rumination on a Prospective Memory Task Delivered Remotely Using a Real-Time and Repeated Approach

Background. Prospective memory (PM) refers to the intention to perform a future task held in memory that is executed without any explicit prompts. PM may be negatively impacted by depression, but the mechanisms that drive this association remain unclear. One idea is that rumination increases the frequency of task-irrelevant thoughts, depleting attentional capacity, and thereby reducing PM accuracy and increasing response times. To date, no studies have examined the effects of state and trait rumination on PM using online testing to collect real-time data over time. Objectives. To examine the effect of (1) state and (2) trait rumination on a computerized PM test across accuracy and response times among younger and older adults using a real-time and repeated approach. Age effects were explored. Methods. 139 younger (18-59 years) and 17 older adults (≥60 years) were recruited. Participants completed measures of state unpleasant mood and rumination, followed by a PM task twice per week for two weeks. Mixed-effects models were fit to examine state and trait rumination, and age on PM over time and Spearman correlations were generated to examine trait rumination on PM at baseline. Results. State rumination was associated with poorer PM accuracy in younger adults, after controlling for mood and trait rumination. Generally, younger adults became increasingly faster and accurate over time, while older adults became slower over time. Age was associated with better PM accuracy, but slower response times. Significance. Overall, rumination demonstrates promise as a variable of interest to examine in the context of PM and depression in younger and older adults

Epidemic dispersion of HIV and HCV in a population of co-infected Romanian injecting drug users

Co-infections with HIV and HCV are very frequent among people who inject drugs (PWID). However, very few studies comparatively reconstructed the transmission patterns of both viruses in the same population. We have recruited 117 co-infected PWID during a recent HIV outbreak in Romania. Phylogenetic analyses were performed on HIV and HCV sequences in order to characterize and compare transmission dynamics of the two viruses. Three large HIV clusters (2 subtype F1 and one CRF14_BG) and thirteen smaller HCV transmission networks (genotypes 1a, 1b, 3a, 4a and 4d) were identified. Eighty (65%) patients were both in HIV and HCV transmission chains and 70 of those shared the same HIV and HCV cluster with at least one other patient. Molecular clock analysis indicated that all identified HIV clusters originated around 2006, while the origin of the different HCV clusters ranged between 1980 (genotype 1b) and 2011 (genotypes 3a and 4d). HCV infection preceded HIV infection in 80.3% of cases. Coincidental transmission of HIV and HCV was estimated to be rather low (19.65%) and associated with an outbreak among PWID during detention in the same penitentiary. This study has reconstructed and compared the dispersion of these two viruses in a PWID population. © 2017 Paraschiv et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Ecological Momentary Assessment for Assessing Depression in Advanced Dementia: A Pilot Study

Barriers to assessing depression in advanced dementia include overlapping symptoms, informant recall bias and challenges with self-reports. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) provides a novel approach in assessing depressive symptoms by collecting informant measures throughout the day, decreasing recall bias and increasing ecological validity. The study objectives evaluated the feasibility, reliability and validity of an observer-rated EMA tool to assess depression in dementia. Twelve participants with advanced dementia were enrolled and assessed for clinical outcomes of depression at admission and discharge. Observations in the EMA tool were completed by research and nursing staff. Follow-up interviews and the Systems Usability Scale were completed to demonstrate feasibility. Variance partitioning, inter-rater reliability, construct and predictive validity were examined. The EMA approach showed good feasibility and most items showed moderate reliability and validity for assessing depression in dementia. Repeated and real-time depression assessment in advanced dementia holds promise to identify depression and depressive symptoms.M.Sc

Scintigraphic evaluation of the kidney

There are more than one technique used to evaluate the kidney, besides the standard ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there is also renal scintigraphy. The renal nuclear medicine procedures are grouped as in vitro (urine counting wells, basic probe detectors for clearance studies) and in vivo procedures (static and/or dynamic examinations done with planar gamma cameras, and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to determine kidney parameters or for cortical imaging). Renal scintigraphy has been a useful tool, since the early 1950s, in the diagnosis and management of many pathological changes in the kidney, especially in measuring renal function (e.g. obstructive/nonobstructive uropathies, renal inflammatory diseases, tumours, renal hypertension, and renal transplant viability)

SARS-CoV-2 Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis with Sotrovimab and Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab in Immunocompromised Patients-A Single-Center Experience

Immunocompromised patients experience reduced vaccine effectiveness and are at higher risk for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) death. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) aims to protect these patients. So far, only tixagevimab/cilgavimab is authorized for use as PrEP. This paper aims to provide real-world data on the use of tixagevimab/cilgavimab and sotrovimab as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) PrEP in immunocompromised patients, comparing the evolution of antibody levels and reporting the incidence of breakthrough infections. A retrospective, single-center analysis was conducted including 132 immunocompromised patients with inadequate vaccine response, who received COVID-PrEP at our clinic between January and June 2022. Initially, 95 patients received sotrovimab while 37 patients received tixagevimab/cilgavimab. Antibody levels after first PrEP with sotrovimab remain high for several months after infusion (median 10,058 and 7235 BAU/mL after 1 and 3 months, respectively), with higher titers than after tixagevimab/cilgavimab injection even 3 months later (7235 vs. 1647 BAU/mL, p = 0.0007). Overall, breakthrough infections were rare (13/132, 10%) when compared to overall infection rates during this period (over 30% of the Austrian population), with mild disease course and rapid viral clearance (median 10 days). Sotrovimab may be an additional option for SARS-CoV-2 PrEP