Exploiting Supramolecular Synthons in Cocrystals of Two Racetams with 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid and 4-Hydroxybenzamide Coformers

Structures of three cocrystals of nootropic racetams were studied. They included two cocrystals of phenylpiracetam (PPA) with 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) with different stoichiometries, PPA·HBA and PPA·2HBA, and cocrystal of 2-(4-phenyl-2-oxopyrrolidin-1-yl)-N’-isopropylideneacetohydrazide (PPAH) with 4-hydroxybenzamide (HBD), PPAH·HBD·(acetone solvate). X-ray study of the pure forms of PPA and PPAH was also carried out to identify variations of molecular synthons under the influence of conformers. The cocrystal structures revealed the diversity of supramolecular synthons namely, amide-amide, amide-acid, acid-acid, and hydroxyl-hydroxyl; however, very similar molecular chains were found in PPA and PPA·2HBA, and similar molecular dimers in PPAH and PPAH·HBD. In addition, conformational molecular diversity was observed as disorder in PPA·2HBA as it was observed earlier for rac-PPA that allows for the consideration that cocrystal as an example of partial solid solution. Quantum chemical calculations of PPA and PPAH conformers demonstrated that for most conformers, energy differences do not exceed 2 kcal/mol that suggests the influence of packing conditions (in this case R- and S-enantiomers intend to occupy the same molecular position in crystal) on molecular conformation

HIV treatment cascade among people who inject drugs in Ukraine.

The HIV treatment cascade is an effective tool to track progress and gaps in the HIV response among key populations. People who inject drugs (PWID) remain the most affected key population in Ukraine with HIV prevalence of 22% in 2015. We performed secondary analysis of the 2017 Integrated Bio-Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) survey data to construct the HIV treatment cascade for PWID and identify correlates of each indicator achievement. The biggest gap in the cascade was found in the first "90", HIV status awareness: only 58% [95% CI: 56%-61%] of HIV-positive PWID reported being aware of their HIV-positive status. Almost 70% [67%-72%] of all HIV-infected PWID who were aware of their status reported that they currently received antiretroviral therapy (ART). Almost three quarters (74% [71%-77%]) of all HIV-infected PWID on ART were virally suppressed. Access to harm reduction services in the past 12 months and lifetime receipt of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) had the strongest association with HIV status awareness. Additionally, OAT patients who were aware of HIV-positive status had 1.7 [1.2-2.3] times the odds of receiving ART. Being on ART for the last 6 months or longer increased odds to be virally suppressed; in contrast, missed recent doses of ART significantly decreased the odds of suppression. The HIV treatment cascade analysis for PWID in Ukraine revealed substantial gaps at each step and identified factors contributing to achievement of the outcomes. More intensive harm reduction outreach along with targeted case finding could help to fill the HIV awareness gap among PWID in Ukraine. Scale up of OAT and community-level linkage to care and ART adherence interventions are viable strategies to improve ART coverage and viral suppression among PWID

The Study of Radioactive Contaminations within the Production Processes of Metal Titanium for Low-Background Experiments

Ultra-low-radioactivity titanium alloys are promising materials for the manufacture of low-background detectors which are being developed for experiments in astroparticle physics and neutrino astrophysics. Structural titanium is manufactured on an industrial scale from titanium sponge. The ultra-low-background titanium sponge can be produced on an industrial scale with a contamination level of less than 1 mBq/kg of uranium and thorium isotopes. The pathways of contaminants during the industrial production of structural titanium were analyzed. The measurements were carried out using two methods: inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and gamma spectroscopy using high-purity germanium detectors (HPGes). It was shown that the level of contamination with radioactive impurities does not increase during the remelting of titanium sponge and mechanical processing. We examined titanium alloy samples obtained at different stages of titanium production, namely an electrode compaction, a vacuum arc remelting with a consumable electrode, and a cold rolling of titanium sheets. We found out that all doped samples that were studied would be a source of uranium and thorium contamination in the final titanium alloys. It has been established that the only product allowed obtaining ultra-low-background titanium was the commercial VT1-00 alloy, which is manufactured without master alloys addition. The master alloys in the titanium production process were found cause U/Th contamination