Changing patterns of undiagnosed HIV infection in the Netherlands: Who benefits most from intensified HIV test and treat policies?

Objectives: To estimate HIV prevalence, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and the undiagnosed proportion in the Netherlands for 2012, and to compare these with published 2007 estimates. Design: Synthesis of all available data sources. Methods: Multi-Parameter Evidence Synthesis (MPES) was used to obtain estimates in mutually exclusive key populations at higher risk in three geographical regions (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, rest of the Netherlands). Data sources included HIV prevalence surveys, diagnoses at STI clinics, and registered cases in HIV care. Group specific estimates were reported as Bayesian posterior medians and 95% credible intervals (CrI). Results: The 2012 model estimated 24,350 PLWHA (95% CrI 20,420-31,280) aged 15-70 years; 2,906 (+14%) more than in 2007. The estimated population HIV prevalence was 0.20% (95% CrI 0.17-0.26%). The overall proportion of undiagnosed HIV was lower in 2012 (34%, 95% CrI 22-49%) compared to 2007 (40%, 95% CrI 25-55%). After MSM, migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean formed the largest groups of PLWHA, but proportions of undiagnosed HIV remained high in these groups, 48% and 44% respectively. Amsterdam had lowest proportions undiagnosed for most key populations at higher risk, including MSM and migrants. Conclusions: In 2012, the number of PLWHA was higher compared to 2007, while the proportion of undiagnosed HIV was lower, especially among MSM. Higher HIV testing rates, earlier treatment, and an improved life expectancy may explain these differences. HIV interventions need to be expanded in all key populations at higher risk, with special focus on migrants and key populationsliving outside of Amsterdam. Copyright

3+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory as a local theory of evolution of metrics on 3 manifolds

An explicit canonical transformation is constructed to relate the physical subspace of Yang-Mills theory to the phase space of the ADM variables of general relativity. This maps 3+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory to local evolution of metrics on 3 manifolds.Comment: 7 pages, revte

Anomalous four-fermion processes in electron-positron collisions

This paper studies the electroweak production of all possible four-fermion states in $e^+e^-$ collisions with non-standard triple gauge boson couplings. All $CP$ conserving couplings are considered. It is an extension of the methods and strategy, which were recently used for the Standard Model electroweak production of four-fermion final states. Since the fermions are taken to be massless the matrix elements can be evaluated efficiently, but certain phase space cuts have to be imposed to avoid singularities. Experimental cuts are of a similar nature. With the help of the constructed event generator a number of illustrative results is obtained for $W$-pair production. These show on one hand the distortions of the Standard Model angular distributions caused by either off-shell effects or initial state radiation. On the other hand, also the modifications of distributions due to anomalous couplings are presented, considering either signal diagrams or all diagrams.Comment: 27 pages, Postscript, compress-ed and uuencode-