Immunological Changes in Monocyte Subsets and Their Association With Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in HIV-1-Infected Individuals With Syphilis: A Brief Research Report

The incidence of syphilis has increased dramatically in men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those with HIV-1 infection. Treponema pallidum and HIV-1 are bidirectionally synergistic, accelerating disease progression reciprocally in co-infected individuals. We have shown that monocytes have different effects on T helper cells at different stages of HIV-1 infection. However, the immunological changes in the three monocyte subsets and in regulatory T cells (Tregs), and the associations between these cell types during syphilis infection among HIV-1-infected MSM remain unclear. Herein, we used cell staining methods to explore changes in monocyte subsets and Tregs and any associations between these cells. We found that the frequency of classical monocytes was higher in the rapid plasma reagin (RPR+) group than in the healthy controls (HCs) and the chronic HIV-1 infection (CHI) plus RPR+ (CHI&RPR+) group. The frequencies of Foxp3+CD25+CD45RA+ and Foxp3+Helios+CD45RA+ Tregs were significantly higher in the RPR+, CHI, and CHI&RPR+ groups than in HCs, whereas the frequency of CD45RA+ Tregs was lower in the CHI&RPR+ group than in CHI group. The frequencies of Foxp3+CD25+CD45RO+ and Foxp3+Helios+CD45RO+ Tregs were lower in the RPR+, CHI, and CHI&RPR+ groups than in HCs. The frequency of intermediate monocytes was inversely correlated with the frequency of CD45RA+ Tregs and positively correlated with the frequency of CD45RO+ Tregs. These results demonstrate for the first time that intermediate monocytes control the differentiation of Treg subsets in Treponema pallidum/HIV-1 co-infections. These findings provide new insights into an immunological mechanism involving monocytes/Tregs in HIV-infected individuals with syphilis

The Long-Term Efficacy of Working Memory Training in Healthy Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 22 Randomized Controlled Trials

Objectives: The long-lasting efficacy of working memory (WM) training has been a controversial and still ardently debated issue. In this meta-analysis, the authors explored the long-term effects of WM training in healthy older adults on WM subdomains and abilities outside the WM domain assessed in randomized controlled studies. Method: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, clinicaltrials.gov, and Google Scholar was conducted. Random-effects models were used to quantitatively synthesize the existing data. Results: Twenty-two eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis. The mean participant age ranged from 63.77 to 80.1 years. The meta-synthesized long-term effects on updating were 0.45 (95% confidence interval = 0.253-0.648, = 6 months: 0.641, 0.223-1.058), on shifting, 0.447 (0.246-0.648, = 6 months: 0.446, 0.176-0.716); on inhibition, 0.387 (0.228-0.547, = 6 months: 0.504, 0.288-0.712); on maintenance, 0.486 (0.352-0.62, = 6 months: 0.471, 0.31-0.63). Discussion: The results showed that WM training exerted robust long-term effects on enhancing the WM system and improving processing speed and reasoning in late adulthood. Future studies are needed to use different tasks of the same WM construct to evaluate the WM training benefits, to adopt more ecological tasks or tasks related to daily life, to improve the external validity of WM training, and to identify the optimal implementation strategy for WM training

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Nonadherence to Treatment in People Living With HIV: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a commonly reported and serious complication among people living with HIV (PLWH). PTSD may significantly increase unintentional non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to pool the observational studies exploring the association between PTSD and medication adherence among PLWH. Methods Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and ProQuest to identify relevant articles and dissertations. A random effects meta-analysis with inverse variance weighting was used to summarize the odds ratio (OR) across studies. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were also carried out to assess the moderation effects for potential factors. Results By synthesizing 12 studies comprising 2489 participants, the pooled odd ratio of non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy was 1.19 (95% confidential interval (CI), 1.03-1.37,p= 0.02). No significant publication bias was detected by Egger&#39;s test (Intercept = 0.842,p= 0.284). Factors moderating the association were mean age of participants, depression adjustment, and depression (allp&lt; 0.05). Conclusions This meta-analysis supports that PTSD is related to adherence in PLWH. The hypothesized mechanisms (avoidant behavior and cognitive impairment) underlying this association need further investigation. Overall, this study highlights that clinicians should thoughtfully integrate timely mental health intervention into routine care.</p

The Longitudinal Association Between Cardiovascular Risk and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: A Nationally Representative Cohort Study

Objective: China has the largest population living with dementia, causing a tremendous burden on the aging society. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) may trigger a cascade of pathologies associated with cognitive aging. We aim to investigate the association between cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors and cognitive function in the nationally representative cohort in China. Methods: Participants were recruited from 150 counties in 28 provinces via a four-stage sampling method. The outcomes included several cognitive tasks. The independent variable was a composite score of cardiovascular risk calculated from sex-specific equations. We fitted the time-lagged regression to model the association between CVR and cognition. Besides, we performed cross-group analyses to test for model invariance across sex and age. We thus constrained path coefficients to be equal across each grouping variable (e.g., sex) and compared the fit of this constrained model with an unconstrained model in which the path coefficients were allowed to vary by group. Results: A total of 3,799 participants were included in the final analyses. We found that the CVR had a negative linear association with global cognition (beta = -0.1, p 65 years old) had a more pronounced association between higher CVR and worse calculation ability (p = 0.003). Conclusion: CVD are risk factors for lower global cognition and cognitive subdomains in middle-aged and older adults in China

Additional file 1 of Highly sensitive and rapid point-of-care testing for HIV-1 infection based on CRISPR-Cas13a system

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The HIV-1 RNA template was diluted in gradient and amplified separately using 9 pairs of RT-RAA primers. The amplification products are shown in the red dashed boxes. Figure S2. Fluorescence CRISPR detection different concentrations of HIV-1 RNA. Fluorescence CRISPR/Cas13a detection result at 10 min. NC: Negative control, "****" means P < 0.0001, "***", "**" means P < 0.005, and "ns" means no significant difference. The above experiments were carried out 3 independent repeated experiments. Figure S3. Agarose gel electrophoresis of HIV-1 RNA with different concentrations after RT-PCR and RT-RAA. Figure S4. RT-RAA-CRISPR/Cas13a detected 158 plasma clinical samples. For fluorescence readings, we set a threshold for the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of fluorescence intensity (blue line) (noise is the fluorescence intensity from negative samples performed in parallel with water as input), and positive results are 3. In the lateral-flow strip strip, “T” represents for test bands, and “C” represents for control bands. Figure S5. Standard curve for detection of HIV-1 by RT-qPCR. The standard was detected with HIV-1 Nucleic Acid Assay Kit (DaAn Gene Co., Ltd) and a standard curve was drawn. Copy number conversion: 1 IU/mL = 0.51 copy/μL. Supplementary Table 1. Sequence information of HIV-1 detected by RT-RAA-CRISPR/Cas13a system. Supplementary Table 2. The template sequences used in this study. Supplementary Table 3. The crRNA (CRF07_BC, CRF01_AE, B subtype) and primer sequences used in this study