Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis implementation in South Africa: a case study of USAID-supported programs.

Since the introduction of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2016, countries have successfully scaled-up PrEP to populations at risk of HIV acquisition, including key populations, serodiscordant couples and pregnant women. Between 2016 and 2023, there were over 5.6 million oral PrEP initiations globally.

Neurotransmitter levels in the basal ganglia are associated with intracortical circuit activity of the primary motor cortex in healthy humans.

Background: The basal ganglia are strongly connected to the primary motor cortex (M1) and play a crucial role in movement control. Interestingly, several disorders showing abnormal neurotransmitter levels in basal ganglia also present concomitant anomalies in intracortical function within M1.

Objective/hypothesis: The main aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between neurotransmitter content in the basal ganglia and intracortical function at M1 in healthy individuals.

Neurophysiological assessment of cortical activity in DEPDC5- and NPRL3-related epileptic mTORopathies.

Background: Mutations in the GATOR1 complex genes, DEPDC5 and NPRL3, play a major role in the development of lesional and non-lesional focal epilepsy through increased mTORC1 signalling. We aimed to assess the effects of mTORC1 hyperactivation on GABAergic inhibitory circuits, in 3 and 5 individuals carrying DEPDC5 and NPRL3 mutations respectively using a multimodal approach including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and electroencephalography (EEG).

Results: Inhibitory functions probed by TMS and MRS showed no effect of mutations on cortical GABAergic receptor-mediated inhibition and GABA concentration, in both cortical and subcortical regions.

The role of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in fever and the acute phase reaction in rabbits.

We investigated the role of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in fever and the acute phase reaction using a specific type-IV phosphodiesterase inhibitor, rolipram, that inhibits the production of TNF-alpha. The body temperatures and serum iron concentrations of rabbits were measured following injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) with either rolipram, diclofenac sodium or the appropriate control solutions.