Semen May Harbor HIV Despite Effective HAART: Another Piece in the Puzzle

The risk of male-to-female intravaginal HIV-1 transmission is estimated at about 1 event per 200–2000 coital acts. The aim of this study was to assess the residual risk of HIV presence in semen in patients under HAART therapy.The study took place in France from October 2001 to March 2009. 394 paired blood and semen samples were provided from 332 HIV-1 infected men. The Roche Cobas AMPLICOR Monitor HIV assay was used to quantify HIV-1 RNA in blood and in seminal plasma. Three percent of 394 HIV-1 infected men enrolled in an assisted reproductive technology program harbored detectable HIV-1 RNA in semen, although they had no other sexually transmitted disease and their blood viral load was undetectable for at least 6 months under antiretroviral treatment.These data suggest that undetectable plasma HIV RNA means a lower risk of viral transmission through seminal fluid on a population level, but not necessarily at the level of the individual

Theoretical investigation of thermochemical properties of cesium borates species

International audienceThe coupled cluster single-double and perturbative triple (CCSD(T)) approach within highly correlated wave functions has been performed to better understand the thermochemical properties of gaseous cesium borates. Several corrections were added for core-valence correlation and relativistic effects. Structural parameters have been optimized with the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. The standard molar entropies and heat capacities at constant pressure have been also determined at the same level of theory. Δ f H° 298K have been obtained for the studied cesium borates species using a set of three reactions. The standard enthalpies at 298 K for CsBO 2 and Cs 2 B 2 O 4 are estimated to be (−689.0 ± 3.8) and (−1578.5 ± 7.0) kJ mol −1 , respectively. They are in good agreement with available literature data. Numerical simulations show that in a nuclear context, CsBO 2 will be formed preferentially to CsOH in steam atmosphere for high temperature. © 2019 Elsevier B.V