Prevalence of resistance mutations related to integrase inhibitor S/GSK1349572 in HIV-1 subtype B raltegravir-naive and -treated patients

Objectives To compare the frequency of previously in vitro-selected integrase mutations (T124A, T124A/S153F, S153Y, T124A/S153Y and L101I/T124A/S153Y) conferring resistance to S/GSK1349572 between HIV-1 subtype B integrase inhibitor (INI)-naive and raltegravir-treated patients. Methods Integrase sequences from 650 INI-naive patients and 84 raltegravir-treated patients were analysed. Results The T124A mutation alone and the combination T124A/L101I were more frequent in raltegravir-failing patients than in INI-naive patients (39.3% versus 24.5%, respectively, P = 0.005 for T124A and 20.2% versus 10.0%, respectively, P = 0.008 for T124A/L101I). The S153Y/F mutations were not detected in any integrase sequence (except for S153F alone, only detected in one INI-naive patient). Conclusions T124A and T124A/L101I, more frequent in raltegravir-treated patients, could have some effect on raltegravir response and their presence could play a role in the selection of other mutations conferring S/GSK1349572 resistance. The impact of raltegravir-mediated changes such as these on the virological response to S/GSK1349572 should be studied further

Does cooking with vegetable oils increase the risk of chronic diseases?: a systematic review

Overweight/obesity, CVD and type 2 diabetes are strongly associated with nutritional habits. High consumption of fried foods might increase the risk of these disorders. However, it is not clear whether the use of vegetables oils for cooking increases the risk of chronic diseases. We systematically searched for published studies that assessed the association between vegetable oil consumption including fried food consumption and the risk of overweight/obesity or weight gain, T2DM or the metabolic syndrome, and CVD or hypertension in the following databases: PubMed; Web of Science; Google Scholar. Keywords such as ‘fried food’ or ‘vegetable oil’ or ‘frying’ or ‘frying oils’ or ‘dietary fats’ and ‘weight gain’ or ‘overweight’ or ‘obesity’ or ‘CHD’ or ‘CVD’ or ‘type 2 diabetes’ or ‘metabolic syndrome’ were used in the primary search. Additional published reports were obtained through other sources. A total of twenty-three publications were included based on specific selection criteria. Based on the results of the studies included in the present systematic review, we conclude that (1) the myth that frying foods is generally associated with a higher risk of CVD is not supported by the available evidence; (2) virgin olive oil significantly reduces the risk of CVD clinical events, based on the results of a large randomised trial that included as part of the intervention the recommendation to use high amounts of virgin olive oil, also for frying foods; and (3) high consumption of fried foods is probably related to a higher risk of weight gain, though the type of oil may perhaps modify this association

A non-surgical approach for male germ cell mediated gene transmission through transgenesis

Microinjection of foreign DNA in male pronucleus by in-vitro embryo manipulation is difficult but remains the method of choice for generating transgenic animals. Other procedures, including retroviral and embryonic stem cell mediated transgenesis are equally complicated and have limitations. Although our previously reported technique of testicular transgenesis circumvented several limitations, it involved many steps, including surgery and hemicastration, which carried risk of infection and impotency. We improved this technique further, into a two step non-surgical electroporation procedure, for making transgenic mice. In this approach, transgene was delivered inside both testes by injection and modified parameters of electroporation were used for in-vivo gene integration in germ cells. Using variety of constructs, germ cell integration of the gene and its transmission in progeny was confirmed by PCR, slot blot and immunohistochemical analysis. This improved technique is efficient, requires substantially less time and can be easily adopted by various biomedical researchers

Effects of diabetes on microcirculation and leukostasis in retinal and non-ocular tissues : implications for diabetic retinopathy

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Changes in retinal microcirculation are associated with the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, it is unclear whether such changes also develop in capillary beds of other non-retinal tissues. Here, we investigated microcirculatory changes involving velocity of rolling neutrophils, adherence of neutrophils, and leukostasis during development of retinal vascular lesions in diabetes in other non-retinal tissues. Intravital microscopy was performed on post-capillary venules of cremaster muscle and ear lobe of mice with severe or moderate diabetes and compared to those of non-diabetic mice. Additionally, number and velocity of rolling leukocytes, number of adherent leukocytes, and areas of leukostasis were quantified, and retinal capillary networks were examined for acellular capillaries (AC) and pericyte loss (PL), two prominent vascular lesions characteristic of DR. The number of adherent neutrophils and areas of leukostasis in the cremaster and ear lobe post-capillary venules of diabetic mice was increased compared to those of non-diabetic mice. Similarly, a significant increase in the number of rolling neutrophils and decrease in their rolling velocities compared to those of non-diabetic control mice were observed and severity of diabetes exacerbated these changes. Understanding diabetes-induced microcirculatory changes in cremaster and ear lobe may provide insight into retinal vascular lesion development in DR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dietary and health profiles of spanish women in preconception, pregnancy and lactation

Abstract: The nutritional status and lifestyle of women in preconception, pregnancy and lactation determine maternal, fetal and child health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate dietary patterns and lifestyles according the perinatal physiological status in a large sample of Spanish women. Community pharmacists that were previously trained to collect the data recruited 13,845 women. General information, anthropometric measurements, physical activity, unhealthy habits and dietary data were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Mean values and percentages were used as descriptive statistics. The t-test, ANOVA or chi-squared test were used to compare groups. A score that included dietary and behavioral characteristics was generated to compare lifestyles in the three physiological situations. The analysis revealed that diet quality should be improved in the three stages, but in a different manner. While women seeking a pregnancy only met dairy recommendations, those who were pregnant only fulfilled fresh fruits servings and lactating women only covered protein group requirements. In all cases, the consumption allowances of sausages, buns and pastries were exceeded. Food patterns and unhealthy behaviors of Spanish women in preconception, pregnancy and lactation should be improved, particularly in preconception. This information might be useful in order to implement educational programs for each population group

Effect of a dietary intervention based on the mediterranean diet on the quality of life of patients recovered from depression: analysis of the PREDIDEP randomized trial

Introduction: There is substantial evidence supporting that improving diet quality leads to improved healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL). Our major aim was to assess the effectiveness of a Mediterranean diet–based nutritional intervention to improve HRQoL in the context of a secondary prevention trial of depression. Secondarily to assess its effectiveness among adults aged 60 or more years. Methods: The PREDIDEP study is a 2-year multicentre, randomized, single-blinded nutritional trial. At baseline and at 1-year and 2-year follow-up, SF-36 health survey questionnaire was collected to evaluate participants' HRQoL (total and specific range for each of the 8 dimensions: 0 to 100 points). Mixed effect linear models were used to assess changes in HRQoL according to adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03081065. Results: After 2 years of intervention, the Mediterranean Diet intervention group compared to control group (without nutritional intervention, only usual clinical care) showed an improvement in some dimensions of HRQoL such as Mental Health (7.22; 95 % CI = 2.22–12.22) (between-group difference: 6.79; 95 % CI − 0.14–13.73, p = 0.055); Vitality (9.51; 95 % CI = 4.00–15.03) (between-group difference: 9.00; 95 % CI 1.75–16.25, p = 0.020); Mental Summary Component (2.83; 95 % CI = 0.55–5.11) (between-group difference: 1.17; 95 % CI = − 1.96–4.30, p = 0.462); and General Health (10.70; 95 % CI = 5.58–15.81) (between-group difference: 6.20; 95 % CI = − 0.89–13.28, p = 0.086). Similar results were observed for participants aged 60 or more years. Conclusion: The intervention based on Mediterranean diet in patients with previous depression seems to be effective in improving HRQoL, especially the mental dimensions. This effect is also observed among participants aged 60 or more years.This study was externally funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Carlos III National Health Institute-ISCIII), PI16/01274

Qualitative and quantitative HIV antibodies and viral reservoir size characterization in vertically infected children with virological suppression

Background: Absence of detectable viraemia after treatment cessation in some vertically HIV-infected (VHIV) children suggests that early initiation of HAART could lead to functional cure. Objectives: We described the factors associated with HIV antibody levels and the viral reservoir size in HAART-treated VHIV children. Methods: Study included 97 VHIV children with virological suppression, in Bamako, Mali. The anti-gp41 antibody activities and HIV serostatus were assessed. The viral reservoir size was measured by quantifying total cell-associated HIV DNA. Results: Among the children studied, the median total HIV DNA level was 445 copies/106 cells (IQR = 187–914) and the median anti-gp41 antibody activity was 0.29 OD (IQR = 0.18–0.75). Low activity of anti-gp41 antibodies was associated with a younger age of HAART initiation (P = 0.01). Overall, eight HIV-1 seroreversions were identified. Conclusions: Study identified potential candidates with low viral reservoir and low antibody levels or activities for future trials aiming to reduce HIV-1 reservoir to limit HAART duration

Carbohydrate quality, weight change and incident obesity in a mediterranean cohort: the sun project

Background/ Objectives: To evaluate the association between the carbohydrate quality (CQI) and weight change or incident overweight/obesity (BMI≥25 kg/m2) in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN)” cohort. Subjects/ Methods: 8 741 participants initially free of overweight/obesity were followed‐up for a median of 7.9 years. We evaluated at baseline the CQI following 4 criteria: dietary fibre intake, glycemic index (GI), whole grains/total grains ratio and solid carbohydrates/total carbohydrates ratio. Subjects were classified into quintiles according to CQI. Weight was recorded at baseline and updated every 2 years during follow‐up. Results: Increasing CQI of diet was not significantly associated with lower weight gain, although participants in the highest quintile had the lowest average crude weight gain (+211 g/year). We observed 1 862 incident cases of overweight/obesity during followup. CQI was significantly associated (p for trend 0.006) with lower risk of overweight/obesity: adjusted OR for the 4rd and 5th quintiles: 0.81 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.99), and 0.74 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.92), respectively. Conclusions: In this Mediterranean cohort, CQI showed a significant inverse association with the incidence of overweight/obesity, which highlights that carbohydrate intake guidelines related to obesity prevention should be focused in improving the CQI of the diet

Determinants of self-rated health perception in a sample of a physically active population: PLENUFAR VI study

The aim of this study was to investigate determinants of self-rated health (SRH) perception in Spanish adults. This cross-sectional study including data from 11,342 participants from the Spanish PLENUFAR VI study. SRH status was grouped in two categories ('good'/'poor') and the associations of socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyles, diet adequacy and chronic disease with SRH were assessed. After adjusting for relevant confounders, the risk ratios (RR) and (95% confidence intervals) for poor SRH were 1.05 (1.03-1.07) for each hour of increment of sitting, 1.56 (1.30-1.88) for short (>= 5 h vs. 7-8 h) sleep duration, 0.63 (0.55-0.72) for vigorous (vs. light) physical activity, 0.61 (0.50-0.74) for adequate (vs. non-adequate) diet. Activities like jogging [RR for each unit of increment in the METs-h/day = 0.87 (0.82-0.92)], gymnastics [0.87 (0.81-0.93)], biking [0.91 (0.85-0.98)], and track and field [0.94 (0.89-0.98)], were associated with better health perception. Normally weight participants with any chronic disease had lower probability to report poor SRH than overweight/obese participants with any chronic disease. Frequent consumption of bread (>2 servings/day) was associated with a lower adjusted mean of health perception scale, while higher consumption of vegetables and fruit or fish were associated with higher values, concerning good SRH. We can conclude that normal-weight participants even suffering a chronic disease had lower probability to report poor health perception than participants with overweight/obesity and a chronic disease especially for hypertension and diabetes. Activities like jogging, gymnastics, biking, and track and field, and a higher consumption of fruits, vegetables and fish, were associated with better health rated perception