Epidemiological trends of HIV/HCV coinfection in Spain, 2015-2019

Altres ajuts: Spanish AIDS Research Network; European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER).Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and active HCV infection (HCV-RNA-positive) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Spain in 2019 and compared the results with those of four similar studies performed during 2015-2018. Methods: The study was performed in 41 centres. Sample size was estimated for an accuracy of 1%. Patients were selected by random sampling with proportional allocation. Results: The reference population comprised 41 973 PLWH, and the sample size was 1325. HCV serostatus was known in 1316 PLWH (99.3%), of whom 376 (28.6%) were HCV antibody (Ab)-positive (78.7% were prior injection drug users); 29 were HCV-RNA-positive (2.2%). Of the 29 HCV-RNA-positive PLWH, infection was chronic in 24, it was acute/recent in one, and it was of unknown duration in four. Cirrhosis was present in 71 (5.4%) PLWH overall, three (10.3%) HCV-RNA-positive patients and 68 (23.4%) of those who cleared HCV after anti-HCV therapy (p = 0.04). The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies decreased steadily from 37.7% in 2015 to 28.6% in 2019 (p < 0.001); the prevalence of active HCV infection decreased from 22.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Uptake of anti-HCV treatment increased from 53.9% in 2015 to 95.0% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In Spain, the prevalence of active HCV infection among PLWH at the end of 2019 was 2.2%, i.e. 90.0% lower than in 2015. Increased exposure to DAAs was probably the main reason for this sharp reduction. Despite the high coverage of treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents, HCV-related cirrhosis remains significant in this population

Effect of a capping layer on the magnetic properties of island nanostructured Fe(110)

We present a study on the magnetic anisotropy and magnetization reversal of Fe(110) islands grown on Al2O3 versus the island size, the island size distribution, and the magnetic interaction between islands. For small islands magnetically connected via a polarizable capping layer, the samples behave as a uniform film with an induced uniaxial in-plane anisotropy. Magnetically isotropic samples are obtained when the islands size is increased. Transverse susceptibility measurements show that the magnetic anisotropy of the particles is macroscopically averaged due to the interisland magnetic interaction. The island size distribution is correlated to the magnetic anisotropy field dispersion. When the capping layer material is Al, a superparamagnetic behavior is found due to the absence of the interisland interaction.The Spanish Commission of Science and Technology is acknowledged for financial support. One of the authors sY.H.d thanks the “Ramón y Cajal” program.Peer reviewe

Morphological and magnetic properties of Co nanoparticle thin films grown on Si3N4

The morphological and magnetic properties of Co nanoparticles deposited by triode sputtering on Si3N4 at 550 °C are reported. The nominal thickness of Co ranges from 2 up to 15 nm, and two different capping layers, Au and Pt, are used. The nanoparticles were characterized by x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Morphological and structural studies show that the nanoparticles grow in a well-defined nanostructured pattern and adopt a hexagonal closed packed crystalline structure. Moreover, the average particle size and the particle size dispersion increase as the thickness increases, due to percolation. Experimental characterization of effective anisotropy field was carried out with transverse susceptibility. Transverse susceptibility measurements reveal an in-plane isotropic magnetic behavior. Both the effective anisotropy field and the coercive field increase as the particle size increases, following a D6 dependence, which is typical for three-dimensional structures in the framework of the random anisotropy model. The relationship between the particle size distribution and the anisotropy field distribution is shown, explaining the significant dependence of the magnetic behavior on the Co layer thickness. On the other hand, different capping layers give rise to a change in the magnetic response due to the modification of the interparticle interaction.This work was supported in part by Universidad de Oviedo. One of the authors (B.P.) gratefully thanks Dr. Luis Eugenio Fernandez-Outon and Dr. Gonzalo Vallejo- Fernandez for the support received in the particle size analysis. Also, B.P. acknowledges financial support received from Gobierno del Principado de Asturias under Grant No. BP05-015. J.M.G.M. wishes to thank the financial support from CSIC under Project No. PIE 200650 130. C.C. acknowledges the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and FPI program for financial support.Peer reviewe

Structural and magnetic properties of V/Cofcc and Cohcp/V bilayers grown on MgO(100): A comparative study

A detailed study of the structure and magnetic properties of V/Co versus Co/V bilayers grown on MgO(001) substrates with cubic and hexagonal Co crystal structures is presented. Co is found to adopt fcc structure when grown on MgO(001), while it adopts hcp structure when grown on V(001). The different magnetocrystalline anisotropy associated with each structure gives rise to different magnetic properties for the otherwise equivalent symmetric Co–V bilayers.The Spanish Commission of Science and Technology (CICyT) is acknowledged for financial support. One of the authors (Y.H.) acknowledges the Ramón y Cajal program and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) for financial support. Another author (B.P.) acknowledges Plan Investigación, Desarrollo Tecnológico e Innovación de Asturias 2001–2004 for financial support.Peer reviewe

Verständnis der Rolle der Konjugationslänge für das Selbstorganisationsverhalten von Oligophenylenethinylen

Oligophenyleneethynylenes (OPEs) are prominent building blocks with exciting optical and supramolecular properties. However, their generally small spectroscopic changes upon aggregation make the analysis of their self-assembly challenging, especially in the absence of additional hydrogen bonds. Herein, by investigating a series of OPEs of increasing size, we have unravelled the role of the conjugation length on the self-assembly properties of OPEs.Oligophenylenethinylene (OPEs) sind herausragende Bausteine mit interessanten optischen und supramolekularen Eigenschaften. Ihre im Allgemeinen geringen spektroskopischen Veränderungen bei der Aggregation machen jedoch die Analyse ihrer Selbstorganisation zu einer Herausforderung, insbesondere wenn keine zusätzlichen Wasserstoffbrücken vorhanden sind. Durch die Untersuchung einer Reihe von OPEs mit zunehmender Größe haben wir die Rolle der Konjugationslänge für die Selbstorganisationseigenschaften von OPEs entschlüsselt

Características clínico-epidemiológicas de los pacientes inmigrantes con infección por el VIH: estudio de 371 casos

Introducción: El número de pacientes inmigrantes infectados por el VIH ha aumentado en España en los últimos años y actualmente representan una parte importante de la epidemia. El objetivo de nuestro estudio es conocer las características clínico-epidemiológicas de los inmigrantes con infección VIH atendidos en una unidad monográfica en Madrid. Material y métodos: Estudio retrospectivo en el que se incluyen todos los pacientes nacidos en un país distinto de España atendidos en una unidad monográfica de VIH en Madrid entre 1992 y 2009. Resultados: Un total de 371 pacientes incluidos (53,1% latinoamericanos, 24,5% africanos subsaharianos, 22,4% otros), de los que el 60% eran varones. Incremento desde el 0,3% de los nuevos pacientes en 1992 al 49,2% en 2009. El principal motivo para realizarse la prueba del VIH fue el embarazo/parto en las mujeres (32,7%) y presentar una enfermedad de categoríaB en los hombres (17,4%). En el 92% el mecanismo de transmisión era sexual. La enfermedad asociada a sida más frecuente fue la tuberculosis. El porcentaje de pacientes con IgG positiva para VHA, VHC, Toxoplasma, Treponema, CMV y VVZ fue, respectivamente, del 90, del 7,7, del 60, del 26,7, del 96 y del 95%. El 5,4% tenían un Ags-VHB positivo y el 17%, un PPD positivo. En el colectivo de hombres que mantienen sexo con hombres el 62% tuvieron al menos un episodio de lúes. La prevalencia de HLA-B5701 fue del 6, del 0,9 y del 3,8% en la raza caucásica, amerindia y negra, respectivamente. Conclusiones: Los pacientes inmigrantes con infección por el VIH suponen un porcentaje importante de los nuevos pacientes. Se trata de un grupo heterogéneo en cuanto a sus características clínicas y epidemiológicas.1.478 JCR (2012) Q4, 89/116 Microbiology, 57/69 Infectious disease

Somatotopy of the Neurons Innervating the Cricothyroid, Posterior Cricoarytenoid, and Thyroarytenoid Muscles of the Rat’s Larynx

Cursos de Formación de Postgrado; Número de subvención: UCM920547Neurons innervating the intrinsic muscles of the larynx are located within the nucleus ambiguus but the precise distribution of the neurons for each muscle is still a matter for debate. The purpose of this study was to finely determine the position and the number of the neurons innervat- ing the intrinsic laryngeal muscles cricothyroid, posterior cricoarytenoid, and thyroarytenoid in the rat. The study was carried out in a total of 28 Sprague Dawley rats. The B subunit of the cholera toxin was employed as a retrograde tracer to determine the locations, within the nucleus ambiguus, of the neurons of these intrinsic laryngeal muscles following intramuscular injection. The labelled neurons were found ipsilaterally in the nucleus ambiguus grouped in discrete populations with reproducible rostrocaudal and dorsoventral locations among the sample of animals. Neurons innervating the cricothyroid muscle were located the most ros- tral of the three populations, neurons innervating the posterior cricoary- tenoid were found more caudal, though there was a region of rostrocaudal overlap between these two populations. The most caudal were the neu- rons innervating the thyroarytenoid muscle, presenting a variable degree of overlap with the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle. The mean number (6SD) of labelled neurons was found to be 41 6 9 for the cricothyroid, 39 6 10 for the posterior cricoarytenoid and 33 6 12 for the thyroarytenoid.Instituto de Salud Carlos III (España)Depto. de Anatomía y EmbriologíaFac. de MedicinaTRUEpu

Risk factors for biliary complications after orthotopic liver transplantation with T-tube: a single-center cohort of 743 transplants

Despite recent advances in organ preservation, surgical procedures, and immunosuppression, biliary reconstruction after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) remains as a major source of morbidity. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for the development of biliary complications (BCs) after end-to-end choledochocholedochostomy (EE-CC) with a T-tube as the standard technique for biliary reconstruction after OLT. A total of 833 consecutive liver transplantations that took place from February 1996 to April 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with concomitant hepatic artery complications were excluded, as were those who underwent urgent retransplantation or died within 1 week after transplantation. Finally, the study group comprised 743 patients. The overall BC rate was 9.8% (73 patients), including stricture in 19 patients (2.6%) and bile leakage in 39 patients (5.2%). After univariate analysis, significant risk factors for BCs were surgery time >5 hours, arterial ischemia time >30 minutes, use of a classic transplant technique, transfusion of red blood cells ≥5 units, anti-cytomegalovirus treatment, and period of transplantation between 1996 and 2002. Stepwise logistic regression study was performed, including those variables with a value of P 30 minutes (odds ratio = 2.44; 95% CI, 1.45-4.12; P = .001) were the only independent risk factors related to the development of BCs after biliary reconstruction with the T-tube. The performance of different variables in predicting occurrence of BCs was assessed with the use of receiver operating characteristic analysis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of our model was 0.637 (95% CI, 0.564-0.710), and therefore we must conclude that other variables not included in our model may have influence in the development of BCs after OLT with an EE-CC with a T-tube as the procedure for biliary reconstruction