Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ) for People Living With HIV in a National Hospital in Mexico: Instrument Validation Study.

Background: Adherence to antiretroviral therapy is a critical component in achieving viral suppression in people living with HIV in addition to increasing overall quality of life. Several indirect methods have been used to measure adherence including the Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ).

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the SMAQ in men living with HIV/AIDS attending a Mexican national hospital.

Effect of antiretroviral therapy on decreasing arterial stiffness, metabolic profile, vascular and systemic inflammatory cytokines in treatment-naïve HIV: A one-year prospective study.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death among people living with HIV (PLH). Non-treated PLH show increased levels of inflammation and biomarkers of vascular activation, and arterial stiffness as a prognostic cardiovascular disease risk factor. We investigated the effect of one year of ART on treatment-naïve HIV(+) individuals on arterial stiffness and inflammatory and vascular cytokines.

Oral Manifestations Associated with HIV/AIDS Patients.

Oral manifestations are early and important clinical indicators of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection since they can occur in up to 50% of HIV-infected patients and in up to 80% of patients at the AIDS stage (<200 CD4+ T lymphocytes). Oral health is related to physical and mental well-being because the presence of some lesions can compromise dental aesthetics, and alter speech, chewing, and swallowing, thus impacting the quality of life of patients. For this reason, it is necessary to integrate, as part of the medical treatment of HIV-positive patients, the prevention, diagnosis, and control of oral health.

Clinical features associated with neurosyphilis in people living with HIV and late latent syphilis.

Background: The diagnosis of neurosyphilis is a challenge, and the criteria for deciding when to perform a lumbar puncture are still controversial, especially in people living with HIV with a late latent syphilis diagnosis.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of people with HIV and documented late latent syphilis or syphilis of unknown duration with a cerebrospinal fluid VDRL test.

Results: 122 patients were evaluated, of whom 52 had the diagnosis of neurosyphilis.

Long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine dosed every 2 months in adults with HIV-1 infection (ATLAS-2M), 96-week results: a randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 3b, non-inferiority study.

Background: Long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine administered monthly or every 2 months might address the challenges associated with daily oral antiretroviral therapy. The ATLAS-2M week 48 results showed non-inferiority of long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine administered every 8 weeks compared with that of every 4 weeks. In this study, we report the efficacy, safety, and tolerability results from the week 96 analysis.

Long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine dosed every 2 months in adults with HIV-1 infection (ATLAS-2M), 48-week results: a randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 3b, non-inferiority study.

Background: Phase 3 clinical studies showed non-inferiority of long-acting intramuscular cabotegravir and rilpivirine dosed every 4 weeks to oral antiretroviral therapy. Important phase 2 results of every 8 weeks dosing, and supportive modelling, underpin further evaluation of every 8 weeks dosing in this trial, which has the potential to offer greater convenience. Our objective was to compare the week 48 antiviral efficacy of cabotegravir plus rilpivirine long-acting dosed every 8 weeks with that of every 4 weeks dosing.

ZBTB gene expression in HIV patients: a possible new molecular mechanism of viral control.

HIV infects its target cell and integrates into its genome as an essential step in its replication cycle. Proviral DNA is also subjected to the same transcriptional regulation as the host cell genome by its own transcriptional factors, with activating or repressive activity. There is a clear interaction between the presence of transcriptional repressors and a decrease in the rate of HIV replication, promoting gene silencing in infected cells, which serve as viral reservoirs.

Aortic stiffness and central hemodynamics in treatment-naïve HIV infection: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). HIV infection causes a chronic inflammatory state and increases oxidative stress which can cause endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness. Aortic stiffness measured by carotid femoral-pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and central hemodynamics are independent cardiovascular risk factors and have the prognostic ability for CVD.

Microbiome alterations are related to an imbalance of immune response and bacterial translocation in BDL-rats.

Objectives: Bacterial translocation in patients with cirrhosis is an important triggering factor for infections and mortality. In the bile duct ligation (BDL) model, crucial players of bacterial translocation are still unknown. This study aims to determine the interrelation between microbiome composition in the colon, mesenteric lymph nodes, and liver, as well as the local inflammatory microenvironment in the BDL model.

Long-Acting Cabotegravir and Rilpivirine for Maintenance of HIV-1 Suppression.

Background: Simplified regimens for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection may increase patient satisfaction and facilitate adherence.

Methods: In this phase 3, open-label, multicenter, noninferiority trial involving patients who had had plasma HIV-1 RNA levels of less than 50 copies per milliliter for at least 6 months while taking standard oral antiretroviral therapy, we randomly assigned participants (1:1) to either continue their oral therapy or switch to monthly intramuscular injections of long-acting cabotegravir, an HIV-1 integrase strand-transfer inhibitor, and long-acting rilpivirine, a nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor. The primary end point was the percentage of participants with an HIV-1 RNA level of 50 copies per milliliter or higher at week 48, determined with the use of the Food and Drug Administration snapshot algorithm.

Rectal Plasmablastic Lymphoma in HIV/AIDS: Two Cases.

Plasmablastic lymphoma is an aggressive variant of large B-cells lymphoma in which the infection by Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Epstein-Barr herpesvirus are involved. This recently denominated neoplasia has a special tropism through the oral cavity. However, its presence has been reported in the digestive tract, abdominal cavity and retroperitoneum.