Bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide as first-line treatment in naïve HIV patients in a rapid-initiation model of care: BIC-NOW clinical trial.

Objective: Multiple strategies have been utilised to reduce the incidence of HIV, including PrEP and rapid antiretroviral therapy initiation. The study objectives were to evaluate the efficacy, safety, satisfaction, treatment adherence, and system retention obtained with rapid initiation of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/FTC/TAF) in naïve patients.

Methods: This phase IV, multicenter, open-label, single-arm, 48-week clinical trial enrolled patients between January 2020 and June 2022.

Characterization of the temporal phase fluctuations in a weak atmospheric turbulence regime as a random bit-stream generator.

This paper investigates the extent to which atmospheric turbulence can be exploited as a random bit generator. Atmospheric turbulence is considered an inherently random process due to the complex inhomogeneous system composition and its sensitivity to changes in pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind conditions. A self-calibrating Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to collect phase fluctuations in the temporal domain introduced to an optical beam propagating through the atmosphere.

Study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial in general practice investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture against migraine.

Background: Migraine is a chronic neurologic disease that can severely affect the patient's quality of life. Although in recent years many randomised studies have been carried out to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for migraine, it remains a controversial issue. Our aim is to determine whether acupuncture, applied under real conditions of clinical practice in the area of primary healthcare, is more effective than conventional treatment.

Humidity's influence on visible region refractive index structure parameter C(n)(2).

In the near-infrared and visible bandpasses optical propagation theory conventionally assumes that humidity does not contribute to the effects of atmospheric turbulence on optical beams. While this assumption may be reasonable for dry locations, we demonstrate that there is an unequivocal effect owing to the presence of humidity upon the strength of turbulence parameter, C(n)(2), from data collected in the Chesapeake Bay area over 100 m length horizontal propagation paths. We describe and apply a novel technique, Hilbert phase analysis, to the relative humidity, temperature, and C(n)(2) data to show the contribution of the relevant climate variable to C(n)(2) as a function of time.

(201)Tl-SPECT in low-grade gliomas: diagnostic accuracy in differential diagnosis between tumour recurrence and radionecrosis.

Purpose: The aim of this work was to describe the usefulness of a simple (201)Tl single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) technique in the differential diagnosis between tumour recurrence and radionecrosis during the follow-up of patients treated for low-grade gliomas.

Methods: The study population comprised 84 patients treated for low-grade gliomas who showed suspicion of tumour recurrence during their follow-up. All patients were examined by neuro-anatomical imaging procedures (CT, MRI) and (201)Tl-SPECT.