Promotion of Cardiovascular Health in Africa: The Alliance for Medical Research in Africa (AMedRA) Expert Panel.

This proposed scientific statement is focused on providing new insights regarding challenges and opportunities for cardiovascular health (CVH) promotion in Africa. The statement includes an overview of the current state of CVH in Africa, with a particular interest in the cardiometabolic risk factors and their evaluation through metrics. The statement also explains the main principles of primordial prevention, its relevance in reducing noncommunicable disease and the different strategies that have been effective worldwide.

HIV and Tuberculosis co-infection impacts T-cell activation markers but not the numbers subset of regulatory T-cells in HIV-1 infected patients.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) has been shown to accelerate the clinical course of HIV infection, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are not well understood. Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) are known to dampen hyperactivation of the immune cells, but it remains unclear whether hyperactivation of T-cells in HIV infection is associated with a decrease of Tregs and what the effect (MTB) co-infection has on T-cell activation and Tregs.

Objectives: In this study, we aim to evaluate whether active TB is associated with the increased expression of T-cell activation markers and reduced number of Treg cells in HIV-1-infected patients.