Alcohol, smoking, recreational drug use and association with virological outcomes among people living with HIV: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Objectives: There is increasing evidence to suggest that people living with HIV (PLWH) have significant morbidity from alcohol, recreational drug use and cigarette smoking. Our aim was to report associations of these factors with antiretroviral therapy (ART) non-adherence, viral non-suppression and subsequent viral rebound in PLWH.

Methods: The Antiretroviral Sexual Transmission Risk and Attitudes (ASTRA) study recruited PLWH attending eight outpatient clinics in England between February 2011 and December 2012.

A randomized controlled trial of a controlled breathing protocol on heart rate variability following myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Objectives: To determine whether a controlled breathing programme increases heart rate variability following an acute myocardial infarction and/or coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Rationale: Heart rate variability is reduced following a myocardial infarction, and low heart rate variability is associated with a high mortality risk. By changing tidal volume and rate of breathing, individuals can alter beat-to-beat heart rate variability.