A Phylogenetic Analysis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Sequences in Kiev: Findings Among Key Populations

Background: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in Ukraine has been driven by a rapid rise among people who inject drugs, but recent studies have shown an increase through sexual transmission. Methods: Protease and reverse transcriptase sequences from 876 new HIV diagnoses (April 2013–March 2015) in Kiev were linked to demographic data. We constructed phylogenetic trees for 794 subtype A1 and 64 subtype B sequences and identified factors associated with transmission clustering. Clusters were defined as ≥2 sequences, ≥80% local branch support, and maximum genetic distance of all sequence pairs in the cluster ≤2.5%. Recent infection was determined through the limiting antigen avidity enzyme immunoassay. Sequences were analyzed for transmitted drug resistance mutations. Results Thirty percent of subtype A1 and 66% of subtype B sequences clustered. Large clusters (maximum 11 sequences) contained mixed risk groups. In univariate analysis, clustering was significantly associated with subtype B compared to A1 (odds ratio [OR], 4.38 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 2.56–7.50]); risk group (OR, 5.65 [95% CI, 3.27–9.75]) for men who have sex with men compared to heterosexual males; recent, compared to long-standing, infection (OR, 2.72 [95% CI, 1.64–4.52]); reported sex work contact (OR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.07–3.47]); and younger age groups compared with age ≥36 years (OR, 1.83 [95% CI, 1.10–3.05] for age ≤25 years). Females were associated with lower odds of clustering than heterosexual males (OR, 0.49 [95% CI, .31–.77]). In multivariate analysis, risk group, subtype, and age group were independently associated with clustering (P < .001, P = .007, and P = .033, respectively). Eighteen sequences (2.1%) indicated evidence of transmitted drug resistance. Conclusions Our findings suggest high levels of transmission and bridging between risk groups

Mass, Heat and Salt Balances in the Eastern Barents Sea Obtained by Inversion of Hydrographic Section Data

Standard hydrological section data, collected in the eastern Barents Sea in September 1997, have been analyzed using a variational data assimilation technique. This method allows us to obtain temperature, salinity and velocity fields that are consistent with observations and dynamically balanced within the framework of a steady-state model describing large-scale nearly geostrophic circulation. Error bars of the optimized fields are computed by explicit inversion of the Hessian matrix. The optimized velocity field is in agreement with independent velocity observations derived from surface drifter trajectories in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea. Optimized fields provide the following estimates of integral characteristics of the circulation in the region: i) the North Cape current transport is 2.12 +/- 0.25 Sv; ii) the Karskie Vorota Strait throughtlow is 0.7 +/- 0.06 Sv; iii) heat flux with Atlantic water is 4.7 +/- 0.16- 10(11) W; iv) salt import from the Atlantic Ocean is 7.41 +/- 0.46.10(3) kg/s. The imbalance of the heat budget in the eastern part of the Barents Sea indicates the presence of statistically insignificant surface heat fluxes which are less than 1 W/m(2)

Children and young people with perinatal HIV in Europe: epidemiological situation in 2014 and implications for the future

Accurate ascertainment of the number of children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is important to plan paediatric and adolescent health services. In Europe, the first generation of perinatally HIV-infected survivors are transferring to adult care and their health needs are unknown. We undertook an online survey of HIV cohort studies participating in the EuroCoord Network of Excellence to ascertain the number of perinatally HIV-infected (pHIV) patients included, to compare it with those published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and to assess the ability of countries to follow up pHIV patients after transfer to adult care. At the end of 2013, 16 countries in EuroCoord reported 8,229 pHIV patients in follow-up in cohorts, compared with 5,160 cumulative diagnoses reported by the ECDC in the same area. Follow-up of pHIV patients after transfer to adult care varied. It is likely that the number of diagnoses of perinatal HIV reported to ECDC is an underestimate, although this varies by country. Further work is needed to refine estimates and encourage follow-up in adult HIV cohorts to investigate long-term outcomes and improve the care of the next generation of children with HI

CD4 T cell decline following HIV seroconversion in individuals with and without CXCR4-tropic virus

BACKGROUND: THe natural clinical and immunological courses following HIV seroconversion with CXCR4-tropic or dual-mixed (X4/DM) viruses are controversial. We compared spontaneous immunological outcome in patients harbouring an X4/DM virus at the time of seroconversion with those harbouring a CCR5-tropic (R5) virus. METHODS: Data were included from patients participating in CASCADE, a large cohort collaboration of HIV seroconverters, with ≥ 2 years of follow-up since seroconversion. The HIV envelope gene was sequenced from frozen plasma samples collected at enrolment, and HIV tropismwas determined using Geno 2Pheno (false-positive rate 10%). The spontaneous CD4 T cell evolution was compared by modelling CD4 kinetics using linear mixed-effects models with random intercept and random slope. RESULTS: A total of 1387 patients were eligible. Median time between seroconversion and enrolment was 1month (range 0-3). At enrolment, 202 of 1387 (15%) harboured an X4/DM-tropic virus. CD4 decrease slopes were not significantly different according to HIV-1 tropism during the first 30months after seroconversion. No marked change in these results was found after adjusting for age, year of seroconversion and baseline HIV viral load. Time to antiretroviral treatment initiation was not statistically different between patients harbouring an R5 (20.76months) and those harbouring an X4/DM-tropic virus (22.86months, logrank test P"0.32). CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort collaboration, 15% of the patients harboured an X4/DM virus close to HIV seroconversion. Patients harbouring X4/DM-tropic viruses close to seroconversion did not have an increased risk of disease progression, estimated by the decline in CD4 T cell count or time to combined ART initiation