Loss of gut mucosal integrity and an aberrant gut microbiota are proposed mechanisms contributing to chronic inflammation and increased morbidity and mortality during antiretroviral-treated HIV ...disease. Sexual practice has recently been uncovered as a major source of microbiota variation, potentially confounding prior observations of gut microbiota alterations among persons with HIV (PWH). To overcome this and other confounding factors, we examine a well-powered subset of AGEhIV Cohort participants comprising antiretroviral-treated PWH and seronegative controls matched for age, body-mass index, sex, and sexual practice. We report significant gut microbiota differences in PWH regardless of sex and sexual practice including Gammaproteobacteria enrichment, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae depletion, and decreased alpha diversity. Men who have sex with men (MSM) exhibit a distinct microbiota signature characterized by Prevotella enrichment and increased alpha diversity, which is linked with receptive anal intercourse in both males and females. Finally, the HIV-associated microbiota signature correlates with inflammatory markers including suPAR, nadir CD4 count, and prevalence of age-associated noncommunicable comorbidities.
Objectives
The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the gain in body mass index (BMI) observed immediately after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation on the subsequent risk of ...cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes.
Methods
We analysed data from the Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti‐HIV Drugs (D:A:D) cohort study. Outcomes were development of (i) CVD (composite of myocardial infarction/stroke/coronary procedure) and (ii) diabetes. The main exposure variable was change in BMI from ART initiation (pre‐ART) to 1 year after initiation (continuous variable) in treatment‐naïve individuals initiating ART with no history of CVD or diabetes (for respective outcomes). BMI weight (kg)/(height (m))2 was categorized as underweight (< 18.5), normal (18.5–25), overweight (25–30) and obese (> 30). Poisson regression models were fitted stratified for each pre‐ART BMI category to allow for category‐specific estimates of incidence rate ratio (IRR). Models were adjusted for pre‐ART BMI and CD4 count, key known risk factors (time‐updated where possible) and calendar year.
Results
A total of 97 CVD events occurred in 43 982 person‐years (n = 9321) and 125 diabetes events in 43 278 person‐years (n = 9193). In fully adjusted analyses for CVD, the IRR/unit gain in BMI (95% confidence interval) in the first year of ART, by pre‐ART BMI category, was: underweight, 0.90 (0.60–1.37); normal, 1.18 (1.05–1.33); overweight, 0.87 (0.70–1.10), and obese, 0.95 (0.71–1.28) (P for interaction = 0.04). For diabetes, the IRR/unit gain in BMI was 1.11 (95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.21), regardless of pre‐ART BMI (P for interaction > 0.05).
Conclusions
Short‐term gain in BMI following ART initiation appeared to increase the longer term risk of CVD, but only in those with pre‐ART BMI in the normal range. It was also associated with increased risk of diabetes regardless of pre‐ART BMI.
Iron-based chalcogenides are complex superconducting systems in which orbitally dependent electronic correlations play an important role. Here, using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission ...spectroscopy, we investigate the effect of these electronic correlations outside the nematic phase in the tetragonal phase of superconducting FeSe1−xSx (x=0,0.18,1). With increasing sulfur substitution, the Fermi velocities increase significantly and the band renormalizations are suppressed towards a factor of 1.5–2 for FeS. Furthermore, the chemical pressure leads to an increase in the size of the quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surface, compared with that of FeSe, however, it remains smaller than the predicted one from first-principles calculations for FeS. Our results show that the isoelectronic substitution is an effective way to tune electronic correlations in FeSe1−xSx, being weakened for FeS with a lower superconducting transition temperature. This suggests indirectly that electronic correlations could help to promote higher-Tc superconductivity in FeSe.
Electronic excitations in the valence shell of Ne clusters were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. The measured fluorescence excitation functions contain information about the nature and number of ...excitonic states and the mean cluster size of the produced size distribution. Mean cluster sizes were determined by comparing surface and bulk contributions using a multidimensional fitting algorithm, with good agreement to commonly used scaling laws. The influence of different size distributions, which were not considered in previous investigations, on homogeneous noble gas cluster jets is implemented in the proposed model. The present work is the first approach using fluorescence spectroscopy for the determination of the mean size of Ne cluster jets created by supersonic expansion.
Gene-environment interaction is an emerging hypothesis to explain the increased incidence of neurological disorders. In this context, the health and clinical effects of exposure to air pollutants ...have received increasing attention. One of these pollutants is the growth of fungi and molds in the form of multicellular filaments, known as hyphae. Fungi and molds not only grow in outdoor environments, but they also thrive indoors with excessive moisture, producing mycotoxins. Mold enters the body through the nose via the olfactory neurons, which directly communicate with the brain. Mycotoxins induce toxicological effects similar to those associated with brain disorders such as oxidative stress and inflammation. One mold species can produce several different mycotoxins, and one mycotoxin can be produced by several different molds. Even a small amount of mold growth in the air conditioners and their ducts or the panels inside the buildings and even the cars cause the occupants to be chronically exposed to and constantly inhaling spores and mycotoxins, which causes illness. In this review, we focused on mold and mycotoxin exposure and brain disorders.
The front transparent conductive oxide layer is a source of significant optical and electrical losses in silicon heterojunction solar cells because of the trade-off between free-carrier absorption ...and sheet resistance. We demonstrate that hydrogen-doped indium oxide (IO:H), which has an electron mobility of over 100cm2/Vs, reduces these losses compared to traditional, low-mobility transparent conductive oxides, but suffers from high contact resistance at the interface of the IO:H layer and the silver front electrode grid. This problem is avoided by inserting a thin indium tin oxide (ITO) layer at the IO:H/silver interface. Such IO:H/ITO bilayers have low contact resistance, sheet resistance, and free-carrier absorption, and outperform IO:H-only or ITO-only layers in solar cells. We report a certified efficiency of 22.1% for a 4-cm2 screen-printed silicon heterojunction solar cell employing an IO:H/ITO bilayer as the front transparent conductive oxide.
•High-mobility indium oxide (IO:H) is used in silicon heterojunction solar cells.•Cells with IO:H have excellent EQE but low FF because the IO:H/Ag contact is poor.•We propose IO:H/ITO bilayers for low contact resistance and high mobility.•Solar cells with IO:H/ITO bilayers outperform cells with pure IO:H or ITO layers.•With an IO:H/ITO bilayer, our best cell achieves a certified efficiency of 22.1%.
•The presented model couples both heat and mass transfer phenomena relevant to the thermal extraction of volatile water from lunar regolith.•The established combined model allows studying the ...interplay of temperature- and pressure-dependent molecular desorption, gas transport, and heat transfer in a lunar regolith sample.•The established combined model allows the prediction of gas pressure evolution during the extraction process and the assessment of major process parameters such as duration and temperature distribution.•The presented model can help interpreting the gas analysis of volatile water released from lunar samples.
Chemical analysis of lunar soil samples often involves thermal processing to extract their volatile constituents, such as loosely adsorbed water. For the characterization of volatiles and their bonding mechanisms it is important to determine their desorption temperature. However, due to the low thermal diffusivity of lunar regolith, it might be difficult to reach a uniform heat distribution in a sample that is larger than only a few particles. Furthermore, the mass transport through such a sample is restricted, which might lead to a significant delay between actual desorption and measurable outgassing of volatiles from the sample. The entire volatiles extraction process depends on the dynamically changing heat and mass transfer within the sample, and is influenced by physical parameters such as porosity, tortuosity, gas density, temperature and pressure. To correctly interpret measurements of the extracted volatiles, it is important to understand the interaction between heat transfer, sorption, and gas transfer through the sample. The present paper discusses the molecular kinetics and mechanisms that are involved in the thermal extraction process and presents a combined parametrical computation model to simulate this process. The influence of water content on the gas diffusivity and thermal diffusivity is discussed and the issue of possible resorption of desorbed molecules within the sample is addressed. Based on the multi-physical computation model, a case study for the ProSPA instrument for in situ analysis of lunar volatiles is presented, which predicts relevant dynamic process parameters, such as gas pressure and process duration.
Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), little is known about whether changes in HIV-1 mortality and morbidity rates have been sustained. We aimed to assess possible ...changes in these rates across Europe.
We analysed data for 9803 patients in 70 European HIV centres including ones in Israel and Argentina. Incidence rates of AIDS or death were calculated for overall and most recent CD4 count in 6–monthly periods and in three treatment eras (pre-HAART, 1994–1995; early-HAART, 1996–1997; and late-HAART, 1998–2002).
The incidence of AIDS or death fell after September, 1998, by 8% per 6–month period (rate ratio 0·92, 95% CI 0·88–0·95, p<0·0001). When AIDS and death were analysed separately, the incidence of all deaths during the late-HAART era was significantly lower than that during the early-HAART era in patients whose latest CD4 count was 20 cells/μL or less (0·43, 0·35–0·53, p<0·0001), but at higher CD4 counts, did not differ between early-HAART and late-HAART. Incidence of AIDS was about 50% lower in late-HAART than in early-HAART, irrespective of latest CD4 count (p<0·0001). In multivariate Cox's models, with early-HAART as the reference, there was an increased risk of AIDS (relative hazard 1–39; 95% CI 1–16–1–67, p=0·0004) and all deaths (1–29; 1–08–1–56, p=0·0065) in the pre-HAART era, and a reduced risk of AIDS (0·62; 0·50–0–77, p<0·0001) and all deaths (0·66; 0·53–0·82, p=0·0002) in the late-HAART era.
The initial drop in mortality and morbidity after the introduction of HAART has been sustained. Potential long-term adverse effects associated with HAART have not altered its effectiveness in treating AIDS.
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