The use and impact of European Testing Week regional awareness campaigns to increase HIV and viral hepatitis testing coverage.

Introduction: Since 2013, the European Testing Week (ETW) awareness campaign has become a key regional event influencing testing efforts for HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) through participation of 720 organizations. Here, we report on a survey from May to June 2022 aimed at assessing the participant-reported impact of the campaign.

Methods: All past and current participating organizations were asked to complete an online questionnaire between 12 May and 17 June 2022.

Protein Degradation by Gammaherpesvirus RTAs: More Than Just Viral Transactivators.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a member of the Gammaherpesvirus subfamily that encodes several viral proteins with intrinsic E3 ubiquitin ligase activity or the ability to hijack host E3 ubiquitin ligases to modulate the host's immune response and to support the viral life cycle. This review focuses specifically on how the immediate-early KSHV protein RTA (replication and transcription activator) hijacks the host's ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) to target cellular and viral factors for protein degradation to allow for robust lytic reactivation. Notably, RTA's targets are either potent transcription repressors or they are activators of the innate and adaptive immune response, which block the lytic cycle of the virus.

Late diagnosis of HIV: An updated consensus definition.

Introduction: In recent years, HIV testing frequency has increased, resulting in more people being diagnosed during seroconversion with a temporarily low CD4 count. Using the current consensus definition of late HIV presentation ('presenting for care with a CD4 count < 350 cells/μL or an AIDS-defining event, regardless of CD4 count') these individuals would be incorrectly assigned as being diagnosed late.

Methods: In spring 2022, a European expert group convened to revise the current late HIV presentation consensus definition.

KSHV RTA Induces Degradation of the Host Transcription Repressor ID2 To Promote the Viral Lytic Cycle.

The immediate early viral protein replication and transcription activator (RTA) of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is essential for activating the lytic cycle of KSHV. RTA induces the KSHV lytic cycle by several mechanisms, acting as a viral transcription factor that directly induces viral and host genes and acting as a viral E3 ubiquitin ligase by degrading host proteins that block viral lytic replication. Recently, we have characterized the global gene expression changes in primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) upon lytic reactivation of KSHV, which also led to the identification of rapidly downregulated genes such as ID2, an inhibitor of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors.

HIV seroprevalence in five key populations in Europe: a systematic literature review, 2009 to 2019.

BackgroundIn Europe, HIV disproportionately affects men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), prisoners, sex workers, and transgender people. Epidemiological data are primarily available from national HIV case surveillance systems that rarely capture information on sex work, gender identity or imprisonment. Surveillance of HIV prevalence in key populations often occurs as independent studies with no established mechanism for collating such information at the European level.

Increasing integrated testing in community settings through interventions for change, including the Spring European Testing Week.

Background: Maximising access to testing by targeting more than one infection is effective in identifying new infections in settings or populations. Within the EU funded Joint Action INTEGRATE, this paper examined the feasibility and impact of expanding integrated testing for HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), chlamydia, gonorrhoea and/or syphilis in four community-based pilots through targeted interventions in Croatia, Italy and Poland and the Spring European Testing Week since community settings are key in detecting new infections and reaching key populations.

Methods: Pilots led by local INTEGRATE partners prioritised testing for other infections or key populations.

An Aggressive Liposarcoma Presenting as a Perforated Colon Mass.

Dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLS) is a high-grade sarcoma that usually arises from a well-differentiated liposarcoma, which most commonly presents as a retroperitoneal mass. DDLS involving the colon is extremely rare, and only a few cases have been reported. We present a case of a DDLS that was found in the cecum and adjacent mesentery.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on testing services for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections in the WHO European Region, March to August 2020.

We present preliminary results of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impact assessment on testing for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections in the WHO European Region. We analyse 98 responses from secondary care (n = 36), community testing sites (n = 52) and national level (n = 10). Compared to pre-COVID-19, 95% of respondents report decreased testing volumes during March-May and 58% during June-August 2020.

HIV testing strategies employed in health care settings in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA): evidence from a systematic review.

Objectives: Despite the availability of HIV testing guidelines to facilitate prompt diagnosis, late HIV diagnosis remains high across Europe. The study synthesizes recent evidence on HIV testing strategies adopted in health care settings in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA).

Methods: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed and systematic searches were run in five databases (2010-2017) to identify studies describing HIV testing interventions in health care settings in the EU/EEA.

HIV testing strategies outside of health care settings in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA): a systematic review to inform European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidance.

Objectives: In recent years, new technologies and new approaches to scale up HIV testing have emerged. The objective of this paper was to synthesize the body of recent evidence on strategies aimed at increasing the uptake and coverage of HIV testing outside of health care settings in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA).

Methods: Systematic searches to identify studies describing effective HIV testing interventions and barriers to testing were run in five databases (2010-2017) with no language restrictions; the grey literature was searched for similar unpublished studies (2014-2017).

The effects of metal ion PCR inhibitors on results obtained with the Quantifiler(®) Human DNA Quantification Kit.

Forensic DNA samples may include the presence of PCR inhibitors, even after extraction and purification. Studies have demonstrated that metal ions, co-purified at specific concentrations, inhibit DNA amplifications. Metal ions are endogenous to sample types, such as bone, and can be introduced from environmental sources.

Effect of chlorhexidine gluconate on the skin integrity at PICC line sites.

Objective: To determine the effects of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) on skin inflammation and stratum corneum barrier integrity at peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) sites among patients in the neonatal intensive care setting.

Study Design: In a within-subject design, PICC sites with CHG plus semipermeable dressing (PICC) were compared with contralateral dressing sites and untreated controls among 40 neonates (gestational age 32.1+/-4.

Hazards of stigma: the sexual and physical abuse of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents in the United States and Canada.

Some studies suggest lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) teens are at higher risk than peers for violence at home, in school, and in the community. That can bring them into the child welfare system or services for runaway and homeless teens. This study compared self-reported experiences of sexual and physical abuse based on sexual orientation and gender in seven population-based surveys of youth.

P3a from auditory white noise stimuli.

Objective: P3a and P3b event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were elicited with an auditory 3-stimulus (target, distracter, standard) paradigm in which subjects responded only to the target.

Methods: Distracter stimuli consisted of white noise, novel sounds, or a high frequency tone, with stimulus characteristics perceptually controlled. Task difficulty was varied as easy and hard by changing the pitch difference between the target and standard stimuli.

Evaluation of spleen in children with heterotaxia and congenital heart disease.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects 8 to 10 children out of every 1,000 live births. Of these, 2.2% have an abnormality associated with the spleen.

American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine and Committee on Medical Liability. Pediatric physician profiling.

Employers, insurers, and other purchasers of health care services collect data to profile the practice habits of pediatricians and other physicians. This policy statement delineates a series of recommendations that should be adopted by health care purchasers to guide the development and implementation of physician profiling systems.

Morphometric Differentiation among Experimental Lines of the Housefly in Relation to a Bottleneck.

Differentiation in morphometric traits among experimental populations of the housefly subjected to an experimental bottleneck was examined for replicate lines founded with one, four or 16 pairs of flies. Differentiation among lines within a bottleneck size was significantly greater than predicted by drift in relation to the additive genetic variation for these traits within the founding population. Two models of nonadditive genetic variance were investigated to interpret these results, one involving dominance of allelic effects within loci and another incorporating multiplicative epistasis.

The Effect of an Experimental Bottleneck upon Quantitative Genetic Variation in the Housefly.

Effects of a population bottleneck (founder-flush cycle) upon quantitative genetic variation of morphometric traits were examined in replicated experimental lines of the housefly founded with one, four or 16 pairs of flies. Heritability and additive genetic variances for eight morphometric traits generally increased as a result of the bottleneck, but the pattern of increase among bottleneck sizes differed among traits. Principal axes of the additive genetic correlation matrix for the control line yielded two suites of traits, one associated with general body size and another set largely independent of body size.

Stepfamilies as patients.

Census figures point out the increase in the population of stepfamilies, families in which one adult is a stepparent. Since it is likely that family physicians will have more stepfamilies in their patient populations than in previous times, it is important for physicians to be aware of the characteristics of stepfamilies that are not present in intact nuclear families. These characteristic are (1) the formation of the stepfamily out of loss, (2) a common history of some family members, (3) a parent-child bond that predates the couple bond, (4) a biological parent elsewhere, (5) children as members of two households, and (6) the legal limitations of the step relationship.