High prevalence of secondary resistance mutations in Venezuelan HIV-1 isolates.

The genetic variability was studied in HIV-1 from Venezuelan patients with and without treatment, in order to evaluate the presence of polymorphisms and drug resistance mutations. Proviral DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells or viral RNA from plasma was extracted from the blood of 30 patients. Two regions from the polymerase gene, protease (Pr) and reverse transcriptase (RT) and one genomic fragment from the envelope (Env) gene were amplified and sequenced. All HIV-1 samples analyzed were classified as subtype B, without evidence of recombination. Although no primary protease mutations were detected, a high frequency of secondary mutations (86%, 19/22), associated to restoration of viral replicative fitness, was observed in strains circulating both in treated and non-treated patients. Resistance mutations to nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTI) and non-nucleoside RT inhibitors (NNRTI) were detected in 35% (6/17) and 12% (2/17) of the viruses circulating in treated patients, respectively. Resistance mutations were also present in the virus infecting one antiretroviral naive individual (7.7%), suggesting that local screening for resistant mutation in naive patient might be important to minimize therapy failure. Future studies are warranted to assess the role of secondary mutation in the success of viral infection

Tra CAAD e BIM / Between CAD and BIM

Il saggio affronta alcune problematiche relative al CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design) e al BIM (Building Information Modeling) segnalando le specificit\ue0 anche alla luce di una riflessione storica sui principali riferimenti teorici. Sono analizzati alcuni significativi contributi, tra cui quelli di Nicholas Negroponte e di William J. Mitchell per quanto riguarda il CAAD e di Charles M. Eastman per il BIM. / The essay deals with some issues related to CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design) and BIM (Building Information Modeling) analyzing the specificity about the historical condition on main theoretical references. We consider some significant contributions, including those by Nicholas Negroponte and William J. Mitchell regarding CAAD and Charles M. Eastman on BIM