High-Performance PEEK/MWCNT Nanocomposites: Combining Enhanced Electrical Conductivity and Nanotube Dispersion.

High-performance engineering thermoplastics offer lightweight and excellent mechanical performance in a wide temperature range. Their composites with carbon nanotubes are expected to enhance mechanical performance, while providing thermal and electrical conductivity. These are interesting attributes that may endow additional functionalities to the nanocomposites.

The Impact of Genital Ulcers on HIV Transmission Has Been Underestimated-A Critical Review.

In the early 1990s, several observational studies determined that genital ulcer disease (GUD), in either the index or the exposed person, facilitates HIV transmission. Several meta-analyses have since presented associated risk ratios (RR) over the baseline per-act transmission probability (PATP) usually in the range of 2-5. Here we review all relevant observational studies and meta-analyses, and show that the estimation of RRs was, in most cases, biased by assuming the presence of GUD at any time during long follow-up periods, while active genital ulcers were present in a small proportion of the time.

Newly Discovered Archival Data Show Coincidence of a Peak of Sexually Transmitted Diseases with the Early Epicenter of Pandemic HIV-1.

To which extent STDs facilitated HIV-1 adaptation to humans, sparking the pandemic, is still unknown. We searched colonial medical records from 1906-1958 for Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, which was the initial epicenter of pandemic HIV-1, compiling counts of treated STD cases in both Africans and Europeans. Almost all Europeans were being treated, while for Africans, generalized treatment started only in 1929.

Comparison of two simulators for individual based models in HIV epidemiology in a population with HSV 2 in Yaoundé (Cameroon).

Model comparisons have been widely used to guide intervention strategies to control infectious diseases. Agreement between different models is crucial for providing robust evidence for policy-makers because differences in model properties can influence their predictions. In this study, we compared models implemented by two individual-based model simulators for HIV epidemiology in a heterosexual population with Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2).

Male Circumcision and the Epidemic Emergence of HIV-2 in West Africa.

Background: Epidemic HIV-2 (groups A and B) emerged in humans circa 1930-40. Its closest ancestors are SIVsmm infecting sooty mangabeys from southwestern Côte d'Ivoire. The earliest large-scale serological surveys of HIV-2 in West Africa (1985-91) show a patchy spread.

On the contribution of Angola to the initial spread of HIV-1.

Angola borders and has long-term links with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as high levels of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) genetic diversity, indicating a potential role in the initial spread of the HIV-1 pandemic. Herein, we analyze 564 C2V3 and 354 pol publicly available sequences from DRC, Republic of Congo (RC) and Angola to better understand the initial spread of the virus in this region. Phylogeographic analyses were performed with the BEAST software.

HIV epidemiology. The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations.

Thirty years after the discovery of HIV-1, the early transmission, dissemination, and establishment of the virus in human populations remain unclear. Using statistical approaches applied to HIV-1 sequence data from central Africa, we show that from the 1920s Kinshasa (in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo) was the focus of early transmission and the source of pre-1960 pandemic viruses elsewhere. Location and dating estimates were validated using the earliest HIV-1 archival sample, also from Kinshasa.

Enhanced heterosexual transmission hypothesis for the origin of pandemic HIV-1.

HIV-1 M originated from SIVcpz endemic in chimpanzees from southeast Cameroon or neighboring areas, and it started to spread in the early 20th century. Here we examine the factors that may have contributed to simian-to-human transmission, local transmission between humans, and export to a city. The region had intense ape hunting, social disruption, commercial sex work, STDs, and traffic to/from Kinshasa in the period 1899-1923.

Phylogeographical footprint of colonial history in the global dispersal of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 group A.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) emerged in West Africa and has spread further to countries that share socio-historical ties with this region. However, viral origins and dispersal patterns at a global scale remain poorly understood. Here, we adopt a Bayesian phylogeographic approach to investigate the spatial dynamics of HIV-2 group A (HIV-2A) using a collection of 320 partial pol and 248 partial env sequences sampled throughout 19 countries worldwide.

Phylodynamics of the HIV-1 CRF02_AG clade in Cameroon.

Evolutionary analyses have revealed an origin of pandemic HIV-1 group M in the Congo River basin in the first part of the XX century, but the patterns of historical viral spread in or around its epicentre remain largely unexplored. Here, we combine epidemiologic and molecular sequence data to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of the CRF02_AG clade. By explicitly integrating prevalence counts and genetic population size estimates we date the epidemic emergence of CRF02_AG at 1973.

High GUD incidence in the early 20 century created a particularly permissive time window for the origin and initial spread of epidemic HIV strains.

The processes that permitted a few SIV strains to emerge epidemically as HIV groups remain elusive. Paradigmatic theories propose factors that may have facilitated adaptation to the human host (e.g.