A review of the use of blood and blood products in HIV-infected patients

Despite numerous publications on the appropriate use of blood and blood products, few specifically consider the role of transfusion in the management of HIV. This review is a synthesis of conditions encountered in the management of HIV-infected patients where the transfusion of blood or blood products may be indicated. A consistent message emerging from the review is that the principles of transfusion medicine do not differ between HIV-negative and -positive patients. The aim of the review is to provide clinicians witha practical and succinct overview of the haematological abnormalities and clinical circumstances most commonly encountered in the HIV setting, while focusing on the rational and appropriate use of blood and blood products forHIV patients. Important ethical considerations in dealing with both the collection and transfusion blood and blood products in the HIV era have also been addressed

Experimental evaluation of cohesive and adhesive bond strength and fracture energy of bitumen-aggregate systems

Degradation of asphalt pavements is an inevitable phenomenon due to the combined effects of high traffic loads and harsh environmental conditions. Deterioration can be in the form of cohesive failure of the bitumen and/or bitumen-filler mastic or by adhesive failure between bitumen and aggregate. This paper presents an experimental investigation to characterise the cohesive and adhesive strength and fracture energy of bitumen-aggregate samples. The pneumatic adhesion tensile testing instrument test and the peel test were used to quantify the tensile fracture strength and fracture energy of different bitumen-aggregate combinations, with a view to analyse the influence of several parameters on the strength of the bitumen film or bitumen-aggregate interface. From the experimental results, harder (40/60 pen) bitumen tends to show much higher tensile strength and fracture energy than softer (70/100 pen) bitumen. Tensile strength is shown to be sensitive to testing temperature with the failure regime changing from cohesive to mixed cohesive/adhesive failure with decreasing temperature. In addition, the results show that aggregate properties do not influence the bonding strength if cohesive failure occurs, but with adhesive failure, granite aggregate tends to produce a higher bonding strength than limestone aggregate in the dry condition. In terms of the peel test, the fracture energy experienced an increasing trend with increasing film thickness. However, the normalised toughness decreased when film thickness increased from 0.2 to 0.9 mm

Guidelines for the vaccination of HIV-infected adolescents and adults in South Africa

No abstract available

Regional differences in the quality of maternal and neonatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal: Results from the IMAgiNE EURO study

Objective: To compare women's perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) around the time of childbirth across Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS-II) regions in Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Women participating in the cross-sectional IMAgiNE EURO study who gave birth in Portugal from March 1, 2020, to October 28, 2021, completed a structured questionnaire with 40 key WHO standards-based quality measures. Four domains of QMNC were assessed: (1) provision of care; (2) experience of care; (3) availability of human and physical resources; and (4) reorganizational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequencies for each quality measure within each QMNC domain were computed overall and by region. Results: Out of 1845 participants, one-third (33.7%) had a cesarean. Examples of high-quality care included: low frequencies of lack of early breastfeeding and rooming-in (8.0% and 7.7%, respectively) and informal payment (0.7%); adequate staff professionalism (94.6%); adequate room comfort and equipment (95.2%). However, substandard practices with large heterogeneity across regions were also reported. Among women who experienced labor, the percentage of instrumental vaginal births ranged from 22.3% in the Algarve to 33.5% in Center; among these, fundal pressure ranged from 34.8% in Lisbon to 66.7% in Center. Episiotomy was performed in 39.3% of noninstrumental vaginal births with variations between 31.8% in the North to 59.8% in Center. One in four women reported inadequate breastfeeding support (26.1%, ranging from 19.4% in Algarve to 31.5% in Lisbon). One in five reported no exclusive breastfeeding at discharge (22.1%; 19.5% in Lisbon to 28.2% in Algarve). Conclusion: Urgent actions are needed to harmonize QMNC and reduce inequities across regions in Portugal. © 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.Funding text 1: This work was supported by the Ministry of Health, Rome - Italy, in collaboration with the Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste - Italy. This study was supported by Portuguese fundings through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP, in the scope of the projects EPIUnit - UIDB/04750/2020, ITR - LA/P/0064/2020, and HEILab - UIDB/05380/2020, and by the European Social Fund (ESF) and FCT (SFRH/BPD/117597/2016; RC postdoctoral fellowship). We are grateful to the women who dedicated their time to complete the survey, to Associação Portuguesa pelos Direitos da Mulher na Gravidez e Parto (APDMGP) for support with survey dissemination and to nurse Louise Semião for assistance provided in back-translation of the questionnaires. Special thanks to the IMAgiNE EURO study group for their contribution to the development of this project and support for this manuscript.; Funding text 2: This work was supported by the Ministry of Health, Rome ‐ Italy, in collaboration with the Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste ‐ Italy. This study was supported by Portuguese fundings through FCT ‐ Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP, in the scope of the projects EPIUnit ‐ UIDB/04750/2020, ITR ‐ LA/P/0064/2020, and HEILab ‐ UIDB/05380/2020, and by the European Social Fund (ESF) and FCT (SFRH/BPD/117597/2016; RC postdoctoral fellowship). We are grateful to the women who dedicated their time to complete the survey, to Associação Portuguesa pelos Direitos da Mulher na Gravidez e Parto (APDMGP) for support with survey dissemination and to nurse Louise Semião for assistance provided in back‐translation of the questionnaires. Special thanks to the IMAgiNE EURO study group for their contribution to the development of this project and support for this manuscript. ; Funding text 3: IMAgiNE EURO project was supported by the Ministry of Health, Rome ‐ Italy, in collaboration with the Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste ‐ Italy. This study was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; European Social Fund (ESF) Funding informatio

Modulating proactive cognitive control by reward:Differential anticipatory effects of performance contingent and non-contingent rewards

The present study investigated the influences of two different forms of reward presentation in modulating cognitive control. In three experiments, participants performed a flanker task for which one-third of trials were precued for a chance of obtaining a reward (reward trials). In Experiment 1, a reward was provided if participants made the correct response on reward trials, but a penalty was given if they made an incorrect response on these trials. The anticipation of this performance-contingent reward increased response speed and reduced the flanker effect, but had little influence on the sequential modulation of the flanker effect after incompatible trials. In Experiment 2, participants obtained a reward randomly on two-thirds of the precued reward trials and were given a penalty on the remaining one-third, regardless of their performance. The anticipation of this non-contingent reward had little influence on the overall response speed or flanker effect, but reduced the sequential modulation of the flanker effect after incompatible trials. Experiment 3 also used performance non-contingent rewards, but participants were randomly penalized more often than they were rewarded; non-contingent penalty had little influence on the sequential modulation of the flanker effect. None of the three experiments showed a reliable influence of the actual acquisition of rewards on task performance. These results indicate anticipatory effects of performance-contingent and non-contingent rewards on cognitive control with little evidence of aftereffects