Outcomes of TB/HIV co-infected patients presenting with antituberculosis drug-induced liver injury

Background. South Africa has a significant burden of tuberculosis (TB). Anti-TB drug-induced liver injury (TB DILI) is one of the most serious adverse events that can arise from TB treatment (TBT). There are limited data on TB DILI among HIV-infected patients and those on antiretroviral therapy (ART).Objective. To describe characteristics of HIV-infected patients presenting with TB DILI and the proportion reintroduced on standard or modified TBT after DILI.Methods. This was a retrospective study of TB/HIV co-infected patients with DILI between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2012. The primary focus of interest was HIV-infected patients with TB DILI on ART (ART/TB DILI) v. not on ART (TB DILI).Results. A total of 94 patients were included, 41 with TB DILI and 53 with ART/TB DILI. Compared with patients with TB DILI, patients with ART/TB DILI were more likely to present with symptomatic DILI (71.2% v. 51.2%; p=0.03) and had a lower median alanine aminotransferase level at diagnosis (89 IU/L v. 118 IU/L; p=0.008), a lower rate of ALT decline (–23 IU/L v. –76 IU/L; p=0.047) and longer duration of TBT at DILI diagnosis (53 days v. 11 days; p<0.001). In 71.8% of patients, standard TBT was reintroduced. More patients with ART/TB DILI than TB DILI required modified TBT (37.2% v.17.1%; p=0.05; crude odds ratio 2.17; 95% confidence interval 0.95 - 4.96). The rate of death/loss to follow-up was higher in the ART/TB DILI group (18.9% v. 14.5%).Conclusion. A significant number of TB/HIV co-infected patients were not able to tolerate standard TBT. Furthermore, ART appears to complicate TBT, with relatively fewer patients reintroduced on standard TBT

Outcomes of TB/HIV co-infected patients presenting with antituberculosis drug-induced liver injury

Background. South Africa has a significant burden of tuberculosis (TB). Anti-TB drug-induced liver injury (TB DILI) is one of the most serious adverse events that can arise from TB treatment (TBT). There are  limited data on TB DILI among HIV-infected patients and those on antiretroviral therapy (ART).Objective. To describe characteristics of HIV-infected patients presenting with TB DILI and the  proportion reintroduced on standard or modified TBT after DILI.Methods. This was a retrospective study of TB/HIV co-infected patients with DILI between 1 July 2009  and 30 September 2012. The primary focus of interest was HIV-infected patients with TB DILI on ART (ART/TB DILI) v. not on ART (TB DILI).Results. A total of 94 patients were included, 41 with TB DILI and 53 with ART/TB DILI. Compared with  patients with TB DILI, patients with ART/TB DILI were more likely to present with symptomatic DILI  (71.2% v. 51.2%; p=0.03) and had a lower median alanine aminotransferase level at diagnosis (89 IU/L v. 118 IU/L; p=0.008), a lower rate of ALT decline (–23 IU/L v. –76 IU/L; p=0.047) and longer duration of TBT at DILI diagnosis (53 days v. 11 days; p<0.001). In 71.8% of patients, standard TBT was reintroduced. More patients with ART/TB DILI than TB DILI required modified TBT (37.2% v.17.1%; p=0.05; crude odds ratio 2.17; 95% confidence interval 0.95 - 4.96). The rate of death/loss to follow-up was higher in the ART/TB DILI group (18.9% v. 14.5%).Conclusion. A significant number of TB/HIV co-infected patients were not able to tolerate standard TBT. Furthermore, ART appears to complicate TBT, with relatively fewer patients reintroduced on standard TBT

Existence of solutions for a higher order non-local equation appearing in crack dynamics

In this paper, we prove the existence of non-negative solutions for a non-local higher order degenerate parabolic equation arising in the modeling of hydraulic fractures. The equation is similar to the well-known thin film equation, but the Laplace operator is replaced by a Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator, corresponding to the square root of the Laplace operator on a bounded domain with Neumann boundary conditions (which can also be defined using the periodic Hilbert transform). In our study, we have to deal with the usual difficulty associated to higher order equations (e.g. lack of maximum principle). However, there are important differences with, for instance, the thin film equation: First, our equation is nonlocal; Also the natural energy estimate is not as good as in the case of the thin film equation, and does not yields, for instance, boundedness and continuity of the solutions (our case is critical in dimension $1$ in that respect)

Implementation of drift velocities and currents in SOLEDGE2D-EIRENE

International audienceIn order to improve cross-field transport description, drifts and currents have been implemented in SOLEDGE2D-EIRENE. The derivation of an equation for the electric potential is recalled. The resolution of current equation is tested in a simple slab case. WEST divertor simulations in forward-B and reverse-B fields are also discussed. A significant increase of ExB shear is observed in the forward-B configuration that could explain a favorable L-H transition in this case

Singular Cucker-Smale Dynamics

The existing state of the art for singular models of flocking is overviewed, starting from microscopic model of Cucker and Smale with singular communication weight, through its mesoscopic mean-filed limit, up to the corresponding macroscopic regime. For the microscopic Cucker-Smale (CS) model, the collision-avoidance phenomenon is discussed, also in the presence of bonding forces and the decentralized control. For the kinetic mean-field model, the existence of global-in-time measure-valued solutions, with a special emphasis on a weak atomic uniqueness of solutions is sketched. Ultimately, for the macroscopic singular model, the summary of the existence results for the Euler-type alignment system is provided, including existence of strong solutions on one-dimensional torus, and the extension of this result to higher dimensions upon restriction on the smallness of initial data. Additionally, the pressureless Navier-Stokes-type system corresponding to particular choice of alignment kernel is presented, and compared - analytically and numerically - to the porous medium equation

HIV and haematopoiesis

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection not only leads to a compromised immune system, but also disrupts normal haematopoiesis, resulting in the frequent manifestation of cytopenias (anaemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia). Although there is a definite association between the severity of cytopenia and HIV disease stage, this relationship is not always linear. For example, cytopenias such as thrombocytopenia may occur during early stages of infection. The aetiology of these haematological abnormalities is complex and multifactorial, including drug-induced impaired haematopoiesis, bone marrow suppression due to infiltration of infectious agents or malignant cells, HIV-induced impaired haematopoiesis, and several other factors. In this review, we describe the frequencies of anaemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia reported for HIV-infected, treatment-naïve cohorts studied in eastern and southern sub-Saharan African countries. We present a rational approach for the use of diagnostic tests during the workup of HIV-infected patients presenting with cytopenia, and discuss how HIV impacts on haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) resulting in impaired haematopoiesis. Finally, we describe the direct and indirect effects of HIV on HSPCs which result in defective haematopoiesis leading to cytopenias

Weak-strong uniqueness for the isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes system

We prove weak-strong uniqueness results for the isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes system on the torus. In other words, we give conditions on a strong solution so that it is unique in a class of weak solutions. Known weak-strong uniqueness results are improved. Classical uniqueness results for this equation follow naturally.Comment: 12 page

False-positive rifampicin resistance on Xpert® MTB/RIF: case report and clinical implications [Technical note]

The World Health Organization had endorsed Xpert® MTB/RIF (Xpert) as the initial diagnostic for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) or TB suspects co-infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. We investigated an unexpected case of rifampicin (RMP) resistance on Xpert using repeat Xpert, smear microscopy, MTBDRplus assay, culture, drug susceptibility testing, spoligotyping and rpoB gene sequencing. A false-positive result was most likely, given the wild type rpoB gene sequence and exclusion of both mixed infection and mixture of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant populations. When decentralising Xpert, test performance characteristics need to be understood by health care workers and methods of confirmation of RMP resistance need to be accessible

Effects of inulin and di-D-fructose dianhydride-enriched caramels on intestinal microbiota composition and performance of broiler chickens

In vitro and in vivo experiments were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of laboratory-made di-D-fructose dianhydride (DFA)-enriched caramels. The DFA-enriched caramels were obtained from D-fructose (FC), D-fructose and sucrose (FSC), or D-fructose and β-cyclodextrin (FCDC). In the in vitro experiment, raftilose and all caramels increased (P < 0.05) L-lactate concentration and decreased (P < 0.05) pH. Total short-chain fatty acid concentration was higher (P < 0.05) than controls in tubes containing raftilose, FSC, FCDC and commercial sucrose caramel (CSC). Raftilose, and all caramels tested except FSC and FC (1%), increased (P < 0.01) lactobacilli log 10 number of copies compared with the non-additive control. FSC, FCDC and CSC increased (P < 0.01) the bifidobacteria number of copies as compared with controls. All additives, except FCDC, decreased (P < 0.01) Clostridium coccoides/ Eubacterium rectale log number of copies. Compared with controls, raftilose, FC and CSC led to lower (P < 0.01) EscherichiaShigella and enterobacteria. For the in vivo experiment, a total of 144 male 1-day-old broiler chickens of the Cobb strain were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatments for 21 days. Dietary treatments were control (commercial diet with no additive), inulin (20 g inulin/kg diet) and FC (20 g FC/kg diet). Final BW of birds fed FC diet was higher (P < 0.01) than controls or inulin-fed birds, although feed: gain values were not different. Feed intake of chickens fed FC was higher (P < 0.01) than that of inulin-fed birds but not statistically different from controls. Crop pH values were lower (P < 0.01) in birds fed FC diet as compared with control diet, with inulin-fed chickens showing values not different from control-or FC-fed birds. Lower (P < 0.05) lactobacilli number of copies was determined in the crop, ileum and caeca of birds fed the inulin diet compared with the control diet. Inulin supplementation also resulted in lower (P < 0.05) C. coccoides/E. rectale, bacteroides and total bacteria in caecal contents. Addition of FC to broiler diets gave place to lower (P < 0.05) enterobacteria and Escherichia-Shigella in crop and caecal contents compared with controls. The bacteroides number of copies increased (P < 0.05) as compared with controls in the ileum, but decreased (P < 0.05) in the caeca of chickens fed the FC diet. Energy, ADF, NDF and non-starch polysaccharides faecal digestibilities were greater (P < 0.05) than controls in chickens fed diets containing inulin or FC. Fat digestibility was higher (P < 0.05) in FC-fed birds compared with controls or inulin-fed chickens. In conclusion, DFA-enriched caramels tested here, particularly FC, may represent a type of new additives useful in poultry production