Viral rebound on antiretroviral therapy in France according to region of origin, sex, and HIV acquisition group. Results from the French Hospital Database on HIV (ANRS CO4-FHDH).

Background: Assessing the potential increased risk of viral rebound (VR) in migrants requires adequate control for sex and acquisition risk groups.

Methods: People living with HIV1, enrolled in the ANRS CO4-French Hospital Database on HIV, who achieved virological suppression with antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiated between 2006 and 2016 were included. We first compared the risk of VR, with loss to follow-up and death considered as competing events, across origin among the HIV acquisition groups, then across acquisition groups among the different origins, and finally across modality of a variable combining sex, acquisition group, and origin.

Nafion: A Flexible Template for Selective Structuring.

The peculiarities of crystal growth on a Nafion polymeric substrate from supersaturated aqueous solutions of initial substances were studied. The solutions were prepared based on deionized natural water and deuterium-depleted water. As was found earlier, in natural water (deuterium content 157 ± 1 ppm) polymer fibers are capable of unwinding towards the bulk of the liquid, while in deuterium-depleted water (deuterium content ≤ 3 ppm) there is no such effect.

Effects of Low-Frequency Randomly Polarized Electromagnetic Radiation, as Revealed upon Swelling of Polymer Membrane in Water with Different Isotopic Compositions.

Photoluminescence from the surface of Nafion polymer membrane upon swelling in water under irradiation by electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 100 MHz was studied. In these experiments, natural deionized (DI) water with a deuterium content of 157 ppm and deuterium-depleted water (DDW, deuterium content is 1 ppm) were explored. We have studied for the first time the effect of linearly and randomly polarized low-frequency electromagnetic radiation on the luminescence excitation.

Striking differences in weight gain after cART initiation depending on early or advanced presentation: results from the ANRS CO4 FHDH cohort.

Background: Many studies have reported weight gain in ART-naive people living with HIV (PWH) initiating an integrase strand-transfer inhibitor-based regimen. We studied the impact of early or advanced presentation and that of individual drugs in PWH initiating combined ART (cART) between 2012 and 2018.

Methods: From the French Hospital Database HIV cohort, we assessed factors associated with a weight gain  ≥10%, weight change after cART initiation or BMI increase  ≥5 kg/m2 up to 30 months.

"Real life" use of raltegravir during pregnancy in France: The Coferal-IMEA048 cohort study.

Introduction: Limited "real life" data on raltegravir (RAL) use during pregnancy are available. Thus, we aimed at describing effectiveness and safety of RAL-based combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) in this setting.

Methods: HIV-1-infected women receiving RAL during pregnancy between 2008 and 2014 in ten French centers were retrospectively analysed for: (1) proportion of women receiving RAL anytime during pregnancy who achieved a plasma HIV-RNA (pVL) < 50 copies/mL at delivery, and (2) description of demographics, immuno-virological parameters and safety in women and new-borns.

Minority resistant variants are also present in HIV-2-infected antiretroviral-naive patients.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of minority resistant variants (MRV) and X4-tropic minority variants in ART-naive HIV-2-infected patients.

Patients And Methods: ART-naive HIV-2-infected patients with detectable plasma viral load (>100 copies/mL) included in the ANRS HIV-2 CO5 Cohort were assessed. We performed ultra-deep sequencing (UDS) of protease, RT, integrase and gp105 regions.

A simple and versatile system for the ATP-dependent assembly of chromatin.

Chromatin is the natural form of DNA in the eukaryotic nucleus and is the substrate for diverse biological phenomena. The functional analysis of these processes ideally would be carried out with nucleosomal templates that are assembled with customized core histones, DNA sequences, and chromosomal proteins. Here we report a simple, reliable, and versatile method for the ATP-dependent assembly of evenly spaced nucleosome arrays.

Prenucleosomes and Active Chromatin.

Chromatin consists of nucleosomes as well as nonnucleosomal histone-containing particles. Here we describe the prenucleosome, which is a stable conformational isomer of the nucleosome that associates with ∼80 bp DNA. Prenucleosomes are formed rapidly upon the deposition of histones onto DNA and can be converted into canonical nucleosomes by an ATP-driven chromatin assembly factor such as ACF.

The prenucleosome, a stable conformational isomer of the nucleosome.

Chromatin comprises nucleosomes as well as nonnucleosomal histone-DNA particles. Prenucleosomes are rapidly formed histone-DNA particles that can be converted into canonical nucleosomes by a motor protein such as ACF. Here we show that the prenucleosome is a stable conformational isomer of the nucleosome.

Sleeve gastrectomy is a safe and efficient procedure in HIV patients with morbid obesity: a case series with results in weight loss, comorbidity evolution, CD4 count, and viral load.

Background: The efficacy and safety of bariatric surgery have been poorly studied in patients affected with HIV. Although sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is the most widely used procedure in many countries, most of the published literature reported results with the gastric bypass (GBP) procedure on morbidly obese HIV patients.

Methods: We have evaluated retrospectively, in eight consecutive patients who underwent a SG, its effect in weight loss and its impact on the treatment and on the markers of HIV infection.

ATP-dependent chromatin assembly is functionally distinct from chromatin remodeling.

Chromatin assembly involves the combined action of ATP-dependent motor proteins and histone chaperones. Because motor proteins in chromatin assembly also function as chromatin remodeling factors, we investigated the relationship between ATP-driven chromatin assembly and chromatin remodeling in the generation of periodic nucleosome arrays. We found that chromatin remodeling-defective Chd1 motor proteins are able to catalyze ATP-dependent chromatin assembly.

Visiting one's native country: the risks of nonadherence in HIV-infected sub-Saharan migrants--ANRS VIHVO study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate to what extent travel-related factors may cause adherence failure to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in otherwise adherent migrants when traveling back to Africa. HIV-infected sub-Saharian migrants living in France with a plasma HIV viral load < 200 copies/mL, with no change in ART for ≥3 months and who were about to visit their native country for between 2 weeks and 6 months were enrolled for the study. Patients completed a self-administered adherence questionnaire both at enrollment and during the week following their return to France.

Biochemical analysis of histone deacetylase-independent transcriptional repression by MeCP2.

MeCP2 is an abundant methyl-cytosine-guanine (CG)-binding protein and transcriptional repressor. We developed a biochemical system that exhibits CG methylation-specific transcriptional repression by purified human MeCP2. MeCP2 represses transcription by histone deacetylase (HDAC)-dependent and HDAC-independent mechanisms.

[Efavirenz (Sustiva) in pregnancy: a study about 12 HIV patients].

Objective: In developed countries, where the mother-to-child transmission rate of HIV is low (1 to 1,5%), a major medical concern is the safety of new therapies during pregnancy. Teratogenicity has been described with an NNRTI, efavirenz (Sustiva), in animal model, regarding neural tube defects.

Patients And Methods: We have made a retrospective study of pregnancies starting with efavirenz with a special focus on foetal and infant abnormalities.

Albendazole versus thiabendazole as therapy for trichinosis: a retrospective study.

An outbreak of trichinosis caused by ingestion of horse meat occurred in December 1993 in France; more than 500 people were affected. We compared the immediate and midterm efficacy and tolerability of thiabendazole and albendazole as therapy for the 46 patients seen in our department. Forty-four patients (96%) were treated.

OKT4 epitope deficiency in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus: a cause of underestimation of the CD4 lymphocyte count.

Two black patients who were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who had hereditary deficiency of OKT4 epitope were investigated. The patients' lymphocytes lacked the OKT4 surface antigen but reacted with other monoclonal antibodies recognizing the CD4+ helper-inducer T lymphocytes. The CD4 lymphocyte count is a surrogate marker for clinical progression of HIV disease, but it could be unreliable in regard to patients with partial or complete OKT4 epitope deficiency.