Objectives
Spain is close to HCV microelimination, so rates of recently acquired HCV infection (RAHC) should decrease. Nowadays, men who have sex with men (MSM) carry the highest risk of HCV ...acquisition. Our aim was to estimate the incidence of and the factors associated with RAHC, together with reinfection rates, among patients sexually infected by HIV.
Methods
Primary RAHC infection was diagnosed when anti‐HCV antibody seroconversion was documented. In anti‐HCV positive patients, initially without HCV viraemia, a diagnosis of reinfection was established if plasma HCV RNA was detected.
Results
All 350 patients tested negative for anti‐HCV at baseline and had at least one follow‐up visit. Among them, there were 16 RAHC cases from 2016 to 2019. RAHC incidence rates IR (95% confidence interval, CI) per 100 person‐years were 3.77 (0.5–12.9) in 2016, 1.85 (0.6–4.3) in 2017, 1.49 (0.4–3.8) in 2018 and 1.98 (0.6–4.5) in 2019. Only previous sexually transmitted infections incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 18.23, 95% CI: 1.93–172.1; P = 0.011, male sex (IRR = 8.33, 95% CI: 1.38–54.15; P = 0.026) and sharing chem‐sex drugs (IRR: 4.93, 95% CI: 1.17–20.76; P = 0.030), were independently associated with RAHC. Four out of 42 (9.5%) patients became reinfected.
Conclusions
The incidence of RAHC among HIV‐infected patients showed a decrease after 2016, although a lower but steady incidence of residual cases still remains. HCV reinfections showed a similar pattern. New infections were associated with sharing chem‐sex drugs among MSM.
Introduction
Dolutegravir/rilpivirine (DTG/RPV) is an effective antiretroviral (ART) regimen endorsed by clinical trials as a switch therapy. The aim of our study was to analyse the efficacy and ...safety of DTG/RPV in real‐world clinical practice.
Methods
Observational, multicentre study of patients who started DTG/RPV. Efficacy, adverse events and metabolic changes at 48 weeks were analysed.
Results
A total of 348 patients were included; median time of HIV infection was 21.1 years, 33.7% were AIDS cases; median nadir CD4 was 160 cells/μL; 90.5% had received ≥3 lines of ART and 179 (53.8%) had prior virological failure. Convenience (43.5%), toxicity/intolerance (28.4%) and interactions (17.0%) were the main reasons for starting DTG/RPV. Previous regimens were protease inhibitors (PI) (31.6%), non‐nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) (20.4%) and integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTI) (14.9%). Efficacy (HIV‐RNA <50 copies/mL) at 48 weeks was 89.7% (95% CI 86.1–92.6) by intention‐to‐treat (ITT) and 94.2% (95% CI 91.3–96.4) by on treatment (OT); 10 patients (3.1%) were not suppressed (3 had abandoned ART). There was a mean decrease in triglycerides, total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, glutamic–pyruvic transaminase (GPT), gamma‐glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase; creatinine increased with a decrease in glomerular filtration rate.
Conclusions
This study confirms the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of DTG/RPV in real‐world clinical practice in a different population from clinical trials, with many years of infection, low CD4 nadir, several previous treatment lines, more than half with virological failures, and one‐third diagnosed with AIDS. The switch to DTG/RPV was safe with few discontinuations due to adverse effects. Modifications of the lipid and liver profiles were favourable. There were no relevant changes in kidney function.
A massive, but light, Abelian U(1) gauge boson is a well-motivated possible signature of physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. In this Letter, the search for the signal of such a ...U(1) gauge boson in electron-positron pair production at the spectrometer setup of the A1 Collaboration at the Mainz Microtron is described. Exclusion limits in the mass range of 40 MeV/c^{2} to 300 MeV/c^{2}, with a sensitivity in the squared mixing parameter of as little as ε^{2}=8×10^{-7} are presented. A large fraction of the parameter space has been excluded where the discrepancy of the measured anomalous magnetic moment of the muon with theory might be explained by an additional U(1) gauge boson.
New precise results of a measurement of the elastic electron-proton scattering cross section performed at the Mainz Microtron MAMI are presented. About 1400 cross sections were measured with negative ...four-momentum transfers squared up to Q² = 1 (GeV/c)² with statistical errors below 0.2%. The electric and magnetic form factors of the proton were extracted by fits of a large variety of form factor models directly to the cross sections. The form factors show some features at the scale of the pion cloud. The charge and magnetic radii are determined to be <r²E>½ = 0.879(5)stat(4)syst(2)model(4)group fm and <r²M>½ = 0.777(13)stat(9)syst(5)model(2)group fm.
The defense industries in France and elsewhere have, in recent years, undergone important technological, organizational and institutional changes that have profoundly altered their architectures. ...These changes have introduced a new division of labor bringing new opportunities for interaction leading to the creation of additional assets. In this context, the issue of protecting innovations and their exploitation has become central. Managing intellectual property rights (IPR) requires industrial groups to draw on additional capabilities. This article analyzes these evolutions and focuses in particular on the new organizational arrangements that have accompanied them. Using the case of Thales, which in 2005 outsourced its Intellectual Property (IP), we answer questions such as: why should IP be outsourced; how should the outsourcing of IP activities be organized; and, how should capabilities involved in this new organizational arrangement be managed. These issues lie at the center of this research and illustrate new challenges inherent to in-house and outsourced IPR management strategies.
•New organizational arrangements for IPR.•Thales outsources its intellectual property management.•Questions about the way in which companies may undertake innovation and IP policy in the high-tech industries.•New division of labor: between the technological and strategic capabilities on one hand and the administrative and legal capabilities on the other.
A new exclusion limit for the electromagnetic production of a light U(1) gauge boson γ' decaying to e + e- was determined by the A1 Collaboration at the Mainz Microtron. Such light gauge bosons ...appear in several extensions of the standard model and are also discussed as candidates for the interaction of dark matter with standard model matter. In electron scattering from a heavy nucleus, the existing limits for a narrow state coupling to e + e- were reduced by nearly an order of magnitude in the range of the lepton pair mass of 210 MeV/c2}<me +}e-<300 MeV/c2. This experiment demonstrates the potential of high current and high resolution fixed target experiments for the search for physics beyond the standard model.
A new radial time projection chamber based on Gas Electron Multiplier amplification layers was developed for the BONuS12 experiment in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. This device represents a significant ...evolutionary development over similar devices constructed for previous experiments, including cylindrical amplification layers constructed from single continuous GEM foils with less than 1% dead area. Particular attention had been paid to producing excellent geometric uniformity of all electrodes, including the very thin metalized polyester film of the cylindrical cathode. This manuscript describes the design, construction, and performance of this new detector.
Backward angle (
u
-channel) scattering provides complementary information for studies of hadron spectroscopy and structure, but has been less comprehensively studied than the corresponding forward ...angle case. As a result, the physics of
u
-channel scattering poses a range of new experimental and theoretical opportunities and questions. We summarize recent progress in measuring and understanding high energy reactions with baryon charge exchange in the
u
-channel, as discussed in the first
Backward angle (u-channel) Physics Workshop
. In particular, we discuss backward angle measurements and their theoretical description via both hadronic models and the collinear factorization approach, and discuss planned future measurements of
u
-channel physics. Finally, we propose outstanding questions and challenges for
u
-channel physics.
PDF
