Bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced people with HIV: 12-month virologic effectiveness and safety outcomes in the BICSTaR Japan cohort.

BICSTaR (BICtegravir Single Tablet Regimen) is an ongoing, observational cohort study assessing the virologic effectiveness and safety of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) in treatment-experienced (TE) and treatment-naïve (TN) people with HIV across 14 countries over 24 months. We present 12-month outcomes from participants in the BICSTaR Japan cohort. Retrospective and prospective data were pooled from people with HIV aged ≥20 years receiving B/F/TAF within routine clinical care in Japan.

Effectiveness, safety, and patient-reported outcomes of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide in routine clinical care in Italy: 12-Month results from the BICSTaR cohort.

Background: BICSTaR is a multi-national, observational cohort evaluating the effectiveness, safety, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in treatment-naïve (TN) and -experienced (TE) people with HIV-1 receiving bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) in routine clinical care. We present the 12-month (M12) outcomes of the Italian BICSTaR cohort.

Methods: Participants initiating B/F/TAF in routine care were prospectively followed.

Assessing the impact of different donor milk treatments on infant health and growth: a systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Donor human milk (DHM) is the first alternative if mother's own milk is unavailable or contraindicated. Much DHM research has focused on its nutritional, immunological and biochemical composition in response to various maternal variables, standard human milk banking procedures and storage protocols. The current systematic review protocol, however, aims to systematically gather and analyse existing data pertaining to the impact of these aforementioned factors on the clinical, health-related and developmental outcomes observed in infants fed with DHM.

Clinical and Biomarker Determinants for Recurrent Stroke in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background And Objectives: Despite effective secondary prevention, including oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy, the risk of recurrent stroke (RS) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) remains substantial with an annualized risk of 3.2%-6.5% per year.

Measuring Metabolic Changes in Cancer Cells Using Two-Photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy and Machine-Learning Analysis.

Two-photon (2P) fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) was used to track cellular metabolism with drug treatment of auto-fluorescent coenzymes NAD(P)H and FAD in living cancer cells. Simultaneous excitation at 800 nm of both coenzymes was compared with traditional sequential 740/890 nm plus another alternative of 740/800 nm, before and after adding doxorubicin in an imaging time course. Changes of redox states at single cell resolution were compared by three analysis methods: our recently introduced fluorescence lifetime redox ratio (FLIRR: NAD(P)H-a %/FAD-a %), machine-learning (ML) algorithms using principal component (PCA) and non-linear multi-Feature autoencoder (AE) analysis.

Anticoagulation Usage and Thrombolytic Therapy in Subjects with Atrial Fibrillation Associated Ischaemic Stroke.

Background: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) causes up to 20% of ischaemic strokes and 30% in some populations such as those over 80 years. Previous research in our population showed that widespread adoption of Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC) prophylaxis had not been associated with a reduction in AF associated stroke prevalence but there was a considerable rate of breakthrough stroke in patients receiving anticoagulation and anticoagulation rate may be affected by increasing use of DOACs.

Aims: We undertook a more detailed study using the Irish National Audit of Stroke (INAS) to determine the characteristics of anticoagulation practice in AF associated stroke, particularly breakthrough stroke, adherence to prescribing guidelines and effect on thrombolysis rate.

An integrated quantitative systems pharmacology virtual population approach for calibration with oncology efficacy endpoints.

In drug development, quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) models are becoming an increasingly important mathematical tool for understanding response variability and for generating predictions to inform development decisions. Virtual populations are essential for sampling uncertainty and potential variability in QSP model predictions, but many clinical efficacy endpoints can be difficult to capture with QSP models that typically rely on mechanistic biomarkers. In oncology, challenges are particularly significant when connecting tumor size with time-to-event endpoints like progression-free survival while also accounting for censoring due to consent withdrawal, loss in follow-up, or safety criteria.

It Is Leadership, but (Maybe) Not as You Know It: Advocating for a Diversity Paradigm in Sports Leadership and Beyond.

The need to 'rethink leadership' is on the radar of many, from global finance and auditing organisations (e.g., Deloitte) and global sports organisations (e.

Hospital overcrowding and care of stroke patients: Irish national audit of stroke.

Introduction: Hospital overcrowding where patient admissions exceed capacity is associated with worse outcomes in Emergency Department. Developments in emergency stroke care have been associated with improvements in stroke outcome but are dependent on effective, organised care. We examined if overcrowding in the hospital system was associated with negative changes in stroke outcome.

Lactation Newsmakers: Documenting our History - Supporting Breastfeeding Exchange Relations by Building Equitable and Innovative Solutions: An Interview With João Aprigio Guerra de Almeida.

Professor Joao Aprigio Guerra de Almeida graduated in Food Engineering (UFV-1981) with a Master in Microbiology (UFV-1986) and a doctorate in Women's and Children's Health (Fiocruz/IFF, 1998) He is founder and coordinator of the Brazilian Human Milk Banks Network (Ministry of Health-Brasil/Oswaldo Cruz Foundation-Fiocruz, 1987 to 2024); Head of the National Reference Center for Human Milk Banks at the National Institute of Women, Children and Adolescent Health Fernandes Figueira-IFF (Fiocruz/IFF, 1987 to 2024); Executive Secretary of the Ibero-American Human Milk Banks Network Program (Ibero-American General Secretariat-SEGIB/Brazilian Cooperation Agency-ABC/MS-FIOCRUZ, 2008 to 2020); Coordinator of International Technical Cooperation in Human Milk Banks ABC/Fiocruz/MS (2005 to 2024); and Coordinator of the Human Milk Banks Network of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries - CPLP (2017 to 2024). He has been recognized with the Sasakawa Health Prize (World Health Organization [WHO], 2001); as Officer of the Order of Rio Branco (Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil, 2001); with Global Health Challenges and Responses of the South in Time of Crisis (WHO, 2009); as Commendator of the Order of Rio Branco-Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil (2018); and Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health (WHO, 2020). His areas of activity include Public Health, breastfeeding, Human Milk Banks, Public Management, and International Technical Cooperation.

Combined bictegravir, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide for treating people with HIV: a plain language summary of the BICSTaR study up to 1 year.

What Is This Summary About?: This is a summary of an article about an ongoing study called the BICSTaR study.The BICSTaR study includes people with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) who are taking a medicine called bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (shortened to B/F/TAF). B/F/TAF is a single tablet that contains 3 different drugs for the treatment of HIV.

Establishing the Predictive Validity of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills for Driving Performance Outcomes.

Importance: Although the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) is an excellent tool for evaluating the functional performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), a limited number of studies have used the AMPS for decisions regarding the IADL of fitness to drive and community mobility.

Objective: To determine the specificity and sensitivity of the AMPS as a tool for determining a person's fitness to drive.

Design: Cross-sectional observational design.

A multiscale model of the action of a capsid assembly modulator for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is strongly associated with increased risk of liver cancer and cirrhosis. While existing treatments effectively inhibit the HBV life cycle, viral rebound occurs rapidly following treatment interruption. Consequently, functional cure rates of chronic HBV infection remain low and there is increased interest in a novel treatment modality, capsid assembly modulators (CAMs).

New alternatives to holder pasteurization in processing donor milk in human milk banks.

Infectious and toxicological risks are the main potential hazards that operators of Human Milk Banks (HMBs) encounter and must eliminate. HMBs are trying to implement procedures that allow to manage and sanitize human milk without altering significantly its nutritional and biologically protective components, obtaining a product characterized by a valid balance between safety and biological quality. The history of human milk processing is linked to the origins of HMBs themselves.

Building Breastfeeding Research Relations and Beyond: An Interview With Fiona Dykes.

Professor Fiona Dykes is Professor Emerita of Maternal and Infant Health at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom (UCLAN). Fiona has a particular interest in the global, sociocultural, and political influences upon infant and young child feeding practices; her methodological expertise is in ethnography and other qualitative research methods. She founded the Maternal and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Unit (MAINN) in 2000 which she led until she retired from her full-time professorship in 2020.

Modeling resistance to the broadly neutralizing antibody PGT121 in people living with HIV-1.

PGT121 is a broadly neutralizing antibody in clinical development for the treatment and prevention of HIV-1 infection via passive administration. PGT121 targets the HIV-1 V3-glycan and demonstrated potent antiviral activity in a phase I clinical trial. Resistance to PGT121 monotherapy rapidly occurred in the majority of participants in this trial with the sampled rebound viruses being entirely resistant to PGT121 mediated neutralization.

Supporting re-engagement with HIV services after treatment interruption in South Africa: a mixed method program evaluation of MSF's Welcome Service.

Psychosocial challenges impact patients' ability to remain on antiretroviral therapy lifelong, magnified by disorganized health-systems and healthcare worker (HCW) attitudes. To address this, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Department of Health developed the Welcome Service intervention, to provide person-centered care at re-engagement after HIV treatment interruption. Implemented in Khayelitsha, South Africa, between August 2020 and February 2021, the intervention aimed to reorganize triage, optimize clinical and counselling services and address HCW attitudes.

The Formal Demography of Peak Population.

When will the human population peak? In this article, we build on classical results by Ansley Coale, who showed that when fertility declines steadily, births reach their maximum before fertility reaches replacement level, and the decline in total population size does not occur until several decades after fertility has reached that level. We extend Coale's results by modeling longevity increases, net immigration, and a slowdown in fertility decline that resembles current projections. With these extensions, our models predict a typical lag between replacement-level fertility and population decline of about 35 to 40 years, consistent with projections by the United Nations and about 15 years longer than the lag predicted by Coale.

Co-Production of a Flexibly Delivered Relapse Prevention Tool to Support the Self-Management of Long-Term Mental Health Conditions: Co-Design and User Testing Study.

Background: Supported self-management interventions, which assist individuals in actively understanding and managing their own health conditions, have a robust evidence base for chronic physical illnesses, such as diabetes, but have been underused for long-term mental health conditions.

Objective: This study aims to co-design and user test a mental health supported self-management intervention, My Personal Recovery Plan (MyPREP), that could be flexibly delivered via digital and traditional paper-based mediums.

Methods: This study adopted a participatory design, user testing, and rapid prototyping methodologies, guided by 2 frameworks: the 2021 Medical Research Council framework for complex interventions and an Australian co-production framework.

Culture, Cultural Competence, and Clinical Care.

Culture competence is a concept that can be traced back to health care considerations in the 1960s and 1970s, and in particular to nursing education. Critics of the concept have argued that this was not simple a listing of cultural facts, behaviors, and practices, but instead follow a more ethnographic understanding of culture. In this article, I recognize that culture is not simply about the other, but something we all possess, and is also always changing throughout our lives.

Twelve-month effectiveness and safety of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide in people with HIV: Real-world insights from BICSTaR cohorts.

Background: Real-world evidence is an essential component of evidence-based medicine. The aim of the BICSTaR (BICtegravir Single Tablet Regimen) study is to assess effectiveness and safety of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) in antiretroviral treatment-naïve (TN) and treatment-experienced (TE) people with HIV.

Methods: BICSTaR is a prospective, observational cohort study.