Association of Alcohol Use with COVID-19 Infection and Hospitalization Among People Living with HIV in the United States, 2020.

Alcohol use was associated with elevated COVID-19 risk in the general population. People with HIV (PWH) have high prevalences of alcohol use. To evaluate the effect of alcohol use on COVID-19 risks among PWH, we estimated the risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and COVID-19-related hospitalization among PWH in routine care at 8 HIV primary care centers that contributed data to the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) cohort according to their alcohol use just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low-frequency ultrasound irradiation increases blood-tumor barrier permeability by transcellular pathway in a rat glioma model.

Low-frequency ultrasound (LFU) irradiation under certain acoustic intensity can increase blood-brain barrier permeability non-invasively and reversibly. The aim of this study was to find out the effect of LFU irradiation on blood-tumor barrier (BTB) permeability in rat C6 glioma model and the possible mechanism. In this research, Evans blue and H&E staining were used to evaluate the optimal parameter of LFU to open the BTB without damaging the normal brain tissue.

Effects of combining low frequency ultrasound irradiation with papaverine on the permeability of the blood-tumor barrier.

This study was performed to determine whether low frequency ultrasound (LFU) irradiation, Papaverine (PA) infusion and combination LFU irradiation with PA infusion opened the blood-tumor barrier (BTB) by affecting tight junctions (TJ)-associated proteins zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1), occludin and caludin-5. In a rat brain glioma model, we found that the mRNA and protein expression levels of ZO-1, occludin and claudin-5 were decreased by LFU irradiation and PA infusion. LFU-induced and PA-induced decrease of ZO-1, occludin and claudin-5 was further decreased after combining LFU irradiation with PA infusion.

Synergistic effect of low-frequency ultrasound and low-dose bradykinin on increasing permeability of the blood-tumor barrier by opening tight junction.

Low-frequency ultrasound (LFU) and bradykinin (BK) have been shown separately to increase the permeability of the blood-tumor barrier (BTB) in the rat model of C6 glioma. This study examined the hypothesis that the combination of LFU and low-dose BK has a synergistic effect on increasing the permeability of BTB and explored the possible underlying mechanism including the involvement of tight junction (TJ). The rats were divided into six groups: control group, LFU group, BK group, 2/3LFU + 1/2BK group, 5/6LFU + 2/3BK group, and LFU + BK group.

Mechanisms of the increase in the permeability of the blood-tumor barrier obtained by combining low-frequency ultrasound irradiation with small-dose bradykinin.

The research was conducted to study the characteristics of the noninvasive, reversible, targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by use of low-frequency ultrasound (LFU) irradiation and the selective opening of the blood-tumor barrier (BTB) by intracarotid infusion of bradykinin (BK) in small-dose, with the objective of exploring maximum opening of the BTB by combining LFU irradiation with BK infusion. Thus, it provides new therapeutic strategies for targeted transport of macromolecular or granular drugs to the brain. By using the rat C6 glioma model it was shown that extravasation of Evans blue (EB) through the BTB was significantly increased by combining LFU irradiation (frequency = 1.