Empirical Evidence for Synchrony in the Evolution of TB Cases and HIV plus Contacts among the San Francisco Homeless

The re-emergence of tuberculosis (TB) in the mid-1980s in many parts of the world, including the United States, is often attributed to the emergence and rapid spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Although it is well established that TB transmission is particularly amplified in populations with high HIV prevalence, the epidemiology of interaction between TB and HIV is not well understood. This is partly due to the scarcity of HIV-related data, a consequence of the voluntary nature of HIV status reporting and testing, and partly due to current practices of screening high risk populations through separate surveillance programs for HIV and TB. The San Francisco Department of Public Health, TB Control Program, has been conducting active surveillance among the San Francisco high-risk populations since the early 1990s. We present extensive TB surveillance data on HIV and TB infection among the San Francisco homeless to investigate the association between the TB cases and their HIV+ contacts. We applied wavelet coherence and phase analyses to the TB surveillance data from January 1993 through December 2005, to establish and quantify statistical association and synchrony in the highly non-stationary and ostensibly non-periodic waves of TB cases and their HIV+ contacts in San Francisco. When stratified by homelessness, we found that the evolution of TB cases and their HIV+ contacts is highly coherent over time and locked in phase at a specific periodic scale among the San Francisco homeless, but no significant association was observed for the non-homeless. This study confirms the hypothesis that the dynamics of HIV and TB are significantly intertwined and that HIV is likely a key factor in the sustenance of TB transmission among the San Francisco homeless. The findings of this study underscore the importance of contact tracing in detection of HIV+ individuals that may otherwise remain undetected, and thus highlights the ever-increasing need for HIV-related data and an integrative approach to monitoring high-risk populations with respect to HIV and TB transmission.Mitre Corporatio

Oxygen consumption at rest and after moderate aerobic exercise in sportsmen

The oxygen consumption at rest and after moderate aerobic exercise on a treadmill was estimated in 20 sportsmen of Loyola College, Madra s T.he mean oxygen consumption index at rest was 118 ml/min/m2 end there was a three-fold increase in oxygen consumption after walking at 5 k.m. per hour for five minutes on the treadmill.T he rise in pulse rate and the rise in systolic blood pressure after the exercise did not have any significant correlation with the excess oxygen consumption. However. the product of the rise in pulse rate end the rise in systolic blood pressure (double product) showed a significant correlation with the excess oxygen consum e d . The excess minute ventilation showed a positive correlation with the excess oxygen consumed, whereas the PO2 difference between the inspired and expired air showed a negative correlation. It is suggested that after moderate aerobic exercise in sportsmen, the initial responses are more on the respiratory system rather on the cardiovascular system

An empiric path towards fraud detection and protection for NFC-enabled mobile payment system

The synthesis of NFC technology accompanying mobile payment is a state-of-the-art resolution for payment users. In view of rapid development in electronic payment system there is rise in fraudulent activity in banking transactions associated with credit cards and card-not-present transaction. M-Commerce aid the consumers and helps to bestow real-time information in payment system. Due to the familiarization of m-commerce there is cogent increase in the number of fraudulent activities, emerging in billions of dollar loss every year worldwide. To absolute the security breaches, payment transactions could be confined by considering various parameters like user and device authentication, consumer behavior pattern, geolocation and velocity. In this paper we formally assay NFC-enabled mobile payment fraud detection ecosystem using score-based evaluation method. The fraud detection ecosystem will provide a solution based on transaction risk-modeling, scoring transaction, business rule-based, and cross-field referencing. The score-based evaluation method will analyze the transaction and reckon every transaction for fraud risk and take pertinent decision. Copyright © 2019 Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. All rights reserved

An empiric path towards fraud detection and protection for NFC-enabled mobile payment system

The synthesis of NFC technology accompanying mobile payment is a state-of-the-art resolution for payment users. In view of rapid development in electronic payment system there is rise in fraudulent activity in banking transactions associated with credit cards and card-not-present transaction. M-Commerce aid the consumers and helps to bestow real-time information in payment system. Due to the familiarization of m-commerce there is cogent increase in the number of fraudulent activities, emerging in billions of dollar loss every year worldwide. To absolute the security breaches, payment transactions could be confined by considering various parameters like user and device authentication, consumer behavior pattern, geolocation and velocity. In this paper we formally assay NFC-enabled mobile payment fraud detection ecosystem using score-based evaluation method. The fraud detection ecosystem will provide a solution based on transaction risk-modeling, scoring transaction, business rule-based, and cross-field referencing. The score-based evaluation method will analyze the transaction and reckon every transaction for fraud risk and take pertinent decision

The Fact-Finding Security Examination in NFC-enabled Mobile Payment System

Contactless payments devised for NFC technology are gaining popularity. Howbeit, with NFC technology permeating concerns about arising security threats and risks to lessen mobile payments is vital. The security analysis of NFC-enabled mobile payment system is precariously imperative due to its widespread ratification. In mobile payments security is a prevalent concern by virtue of the financial value at stave. This paper assays the security of NFC based mobile payment system. It discusses the security requirements, threats and attacks that could occur in mobile payment system and the countermeasures to be taken to secure pursuance suitability

Current trends and intricacies in the management of HIV-associated pulmonary tuberculosis

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has undoubtedly increased the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) globally, posing a formidable global health challenge affecting 1.2 million cases. Pulmonary TB assumes utmost significance in the programmatic perspective as it is readily transmissible as well as easily diagnosable. HIV complicates every aspect of pulmonary tuberculosis from diagnosis to treatment, demanding a different approach to effectively tackle both the diseases. In order to control these converging epidemics, it is important to diagnose early, initiate appropriate therapy for both infections, prevent transmission and administer preventive therapy. Liquid culture methods and nucleic acid amplification tests for TB confirmation have replaced conventional solid media, enabling quicker and simultaneous detection of mycobacterium and its drug sensitivity profile Unique problems posed by the syndemic include Acquired rifampicin resistance, drug–drug interactions, malabsorption of drugs and immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome or paradoxical reaction that complicate dual and concomitant therapy. While the antiretroviral therapy armamentarium is constantly reinforced by discovery of newer and safer drugs every year, only a few drugs for anti tuberculosis treatment have successfully emerged. These include bedaquiline, delamanid and pretomanid which have entered phase III B trials and are also available through conditional access national programmes. The current guidelines by WHO to start Antiretroviral therapy irrespective of CD4+ cell count based on benefits cited by recent trials could go a long way in preventing various complications caused by the deadly duo. This review provides a consolidated gist of the advancements, concepts and updates that have emerged in the management of HIV-associated pulmonary TB for maximizing efficacy, offering latest solutions for tackling drug–drug interactions and remedial measures for immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome

Transcriptional Profiling and Deriving a Seven-Gene Signature That Discriminates Active and Latent Tuberculosis: An Integrative Bioinformatics Approach

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb.). Our integrative analysis aims to identify the transcriptional profiling and gene expression signature that distinguish individuals with active TB (ATB) disease, and those with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). In the present study, we reanalyzed a microarray dataset (GSE37250) from GEO database and explored the data for differential gene expression analysis between those with ATB and LTBI derived from Malawi and South African cohorts. We used BRB array tool to distinguish DEGs (differentially expressed genes) between ATB and LTBI. Pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed using DAVID bioinformatics tool. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of most upregulated genes was constructed using STRING analysis. We have identified 375 upregulated genes and 152 downregulated genes differentially expressed between ATB and LTBI samples commonly shared among Malawi and South African cohorts. The constructed PPI network was significantly enriched with 76 nodes connected to 151 edges. The enriched GO term/pathways were mainly related to expression of IFN stimulated genes, interleukin-1 production, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. Downregulated genes were significantly enriched in the Wnt signaling, B cell development, and B cell receptor signaling pathways. The short-listed DEGs were validated in a microarray data from an independent cohort (GSE19491). ROC curve analysis was done to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the gene signature in discrimination of active and latent tuberculosis. Thus, we have derived a seven-gene signature, which included five upregulated genes FCGR1B, ANKRD22, CARD17, IFITM3, TNFAIP6 and two downregulated genes FCGBP and KLF12, as a biomarker for discrimination of active and latent tuberculosis. The identified genes have a sensitivity of 80–100% and specificity of 80–95%. Area under the curve (AUC) value of the genes ranged from 0.84 to 1. This seven-gene signature has a high diagnostic accuracy in discrimination of active and latent tuberculosis

Initial Fitness Recovery of HIV-1 Is Associated with Quasispecies Heterogeneity and Can Occur without Modifications in the Consensus Sequence

BACKGROUND: Fitness recovery of HIV-1 "in vitro" was studied using viral clones that had their fitness decreased as a result of plaque-to-plaque passages. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: After ten large population passages, the viral populations showed an average increase of fitness, although with wide variations among clones. While 5 clones showed significant fitness increases, 3 clones showed increases that were only marginally significant (p<0.1), and 4 clones did not show any change. Fitness recovery was not accompanied by an increase in p24 production, but was associated with an increase in viral titer. Few mutations (an average of 2 mutations per genome) were detected in the consensus nucleotide sequence of the entire genome in all viral populations. Five of the populations did not fix any mutation, and three of them displayed marginally significant fitness increases, illustrating that fitness recovery can occur without detectable alterations of the consensus genomic sequence. The investigation of other possible viral factors associated with the initial steps of fitness recovery, showed that viral quasispecies heterogeneity increased between the initial clones and the passaged populations. A direct statistical correlation between viral heterogeneity and viral fitness was obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, the initial fitness recovery of debilitated HIV-1 clones was mediated by an increase in quasispecies heterogeneity. This observation, together with the invariance of the consensus sequence despite fitness increases demonstrates the relevance of quasispecies heterogeneity in the evolution of HIV-1 in cell culture