Epidemiological composition, clinical and treatment characteristics of the patient cohort of the German Competence Network for HIV/AIDS.

Objective: As its central basis for research, the Competence Network for HIV/AIDS (KompNet) established a nationwide cohort study on HIV-positive patients being in medical care in Germany. In this paper, we describe the epidemiological composition, and clinical as well as treatment characteristics of the KompNet cohort over time.

Methods: The KompNet cohort is an open, retrospective and prospective, multi-center, disease-specific and nationwide cohort study that started gathering data in June 2004.

Treatment during primary HIV infection does not lower viral set point but improves CD4 lymphocytes in an observational cohort.

Objective: To investigate if early treatment of primary HIV-1 infection (PHI) reduces viral set point and/or increases CD4 lymphocytes.

Methods: Analysis of two prospective multi-centre PHI cohorts. HIV-1 RNA and CD4 lymphocytes in patients with transient treatment were compared to those in untreated patients.

An orally active small molecule TGF-beta receptor I antagonist inhibits the growth of metastatic murine breast cancer.

Background: Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) plays a complex role in breast carcinogenesis. Initially functioning as a tumor suppressor, this cytokine later contributes to the progression of malignant cells by enhancing their invasive and metastatic potential as well as suppressing antitumor immunity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of SM16, a novel small molecule ALK5 kinase inhibitor, to treat a highly metastatic, TGF-beta-producing murine mammary carcinoma (4T1).

Predictors of pregnancy in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common cause of anovulatory infertility. The selection of first-line therapies for ovulation induction is empiric.

Objective: The aim of the study was to develop a clinically useful predictive model of live birth with varying ovulation induction methods.

Comparison of [18F]-tracers in various experimental tumor models by PET imaging and identification of an early response biomarker for the novel microtubule stabilizer patupilone.

Purpose: The suitability of [18F]FDG, [18F]FLT, [18F]FET, and [18F]FCH as non-invasive positron emission tomography (PET) biomarkers for monitoring response to chemotherapy was analyzed in various experimental tumor models.

Procedures: Tracer uptake into three syngeneic rodent tumor models and ten human xenograft models was evaluated using semiquantitative analysis of small-animal PET data. Murine RIF-1 fibrosarcomas and [18F]FLT were selected to monitor the effects of the novel cytotoxic patupilone.

Implications of and perspectives on HIV surveillance using a serological method to measure recent HIV infections in newly diagnosed individuals: results from a pilot study in Berlin, Germany, in 2005-2007.

Objectives: This cross-sectional study was designed to pilot the analysis of clinical data, knowledge about and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, and prevention and risk behaviour in persons recently infected with HIV.

Methods: Blood samples and demographic, laboratory, clinical and behavioural data were collected from patients with newly diagnosed HIV infections. The BED IgG-capture ELISA (BED-CEIA) was used to determine the recency of infection.

Characterization of white matter damage in animal models of multiple sclerosis by magnetization transfer ratio and quantitative mapping of the apparent bound proton fraction f.

Quantitative magnetization transfer magnetic resonance imaging (qMT-MRI) can be used to improve detection of white matter tissue damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) and animal models thereof. To study the correlation between MT parameters and tissue damage, the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), the parameter f* (closely related to the bound proton fraction) and the bound proton transverse relaxation time T(2B) of lesions in a model of focal experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) were measured on a 7T animal scanner and data were compared with histological markers indicative for demyelination, axonal density, and tissue damage. A clear spatial correspondence was observed between reduced values of MTR and demyelination in this animal model.

Ascomycete derivative to MS therapeutic: S1P receptor modulator FTY720.

Fingolimod (FTY720) represents the first in a new class of immune-modulators whose target is sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors. It was first identified by researchers at Kyoto University and Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical as a chemical derivative of the ascomycete metabolite ISP-1 (myriocin). Unlike its natural product parent, FTY720 does not interfere with sphingolipid biosynthesis.

Comparison of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-specific immunoglobulin G capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the avidity index method for identification of recent HIV infections.

The sensitivity and specificity of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-specific immunoglobulin G capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (BED-CEIA) were compared with those of the avidity index method to identify recent HIV infection using a panel of 148 samples (81 patients) representing durations of infection ranging from 0 to 222 weeks. The results from the two tests were similar (sensitivity of 80% versus 74% [P = 0.53]; specificity of 86% versus 82% [P = 0.

Obesity in C57BL/6J mice is characterized by adipose tissue hypoxia and cytotoxic T-cell infiltration.

Background: Obesity is currently viewed as a state of chronic low-grade inflammation in which there is a pro-inflammatory alteration in the serum adipocytokine profile as well as an infiltration of white adipose tissue by activated macrophages. The etiology of this inflammation, however, is poorly understood.

Methods: Hypothesizing that local hypoxia within expanding white adipose tissue depots may contribute to obesity-related inflammation, we compared body composition, serum inflammatory marker concentrations and the expression of several hypoxia-regulated genes in white adipose tissue derived from lean, dietary-induced obese (DIO) and ob/ob male C57BL/6J mice.

Effect of the interleukin-6 C174G gene polymorphism on treatment of acute and chronic hepatitis C in human immunodeficiency virus coinfected patients.

Unlabelled: Hepatitis C virus (HCV)/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection poses a difficult therapeutic problem. Response to HCV-specific therapy is variable but might be influenced by host genetic factors, including polymorphisms of cytokine genes. Here, we studied whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) C174G gene polymorphism affects the response to antiviral treatment in HCV-infected HIV-positive subjects.

In vivo monitoring the fate of Cy5.5-Tat labeled T lymphocytes by quantitative near-infrared fluorescence imaging during acute brain inflammation in a rat model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

T cells and macrophages directed against myelin proteins orchestrate the inflammation process in multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). So far, assessment of macrophages infiltration or structural alterations has been achieved by in vivo imaging. In this work, we show the infiltration of Cy5.

Use of neostigmine to relieve a suspected colonic pseudoobstruction in pregnancy.

Neostigmine is a treatment option for colonic pseudoobstruction. However, experience in using neostigmine for this indication in pregnant women is limited. We present a case of a woman with an estimated fetal gestational age of 34 weeks presented with what was believed to be a pseudoobstruction and when conservative management failed, neostigmine was administered with no adverse side effects.

Pegylated interferon-alpha for the treatment of sexually transmitted acute hepatitis C in HIV-infected individuals.

Background: Sexually transmitted acute hepatitis C among HIV-positive homosexual men has been noted as an emerging epidemic.

Methods: Forty-seven patients with mainly sexually acquired, acute hepatitis C were enrolled in this prospective, multicentre trial, and 36 of these patients were treated within the acute phase of hepatitis C infection with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) therapy.

Results: Early treatment resulted in sustained virological response in 61% of patients.

Escape from HER-family tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy by the kinase-inactive HER3.

Oncogenic tyrosine kinases have proved to be promising targets for the development of highly effective anticancer drugs. However, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) against the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family show only limited activity against HER2-driven breast cancers, despite effective inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER2 in vivo. The reasons for this are unclear.

Feasibility and limits of magnetically labeling primary cultured rat T cells with ferumoxides coupled with commonly used transfection agents.

Visualization and quantification of inflammatory processes is of high importance for early diagnosis of a multitude of diseases. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using iron oxide (FeO) nanoparticles as contrast agents allows the study of macrophage infiltration during inflammation in a variety of tissues. Macrophages are effectors of the immune response, their appearance being orchestrated by activated T lymphocytes.

Quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in tumor-bearing rats and mice with inversion recovery TrueFISP and two contrast agents at 4.7 T.

Purpose: To characterize tumor vascularization by dynamic-contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI using low and medium molecular weight paramagnetic contrast agents (CA) and inversion recovery (IR) true fast imaging with steady state precession (TrueFISP) in tumor-bearing rats and mice.

Materials And Methods: T(1) mapping was performed using IR True FISP in phantoms and in vivo at 4.7 T and validated with a segmented IR gradient-echo (IR GE) method.

Therapy-induced plasticity of cognitive functions in MS patients: insights from fMRI.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system whose pathological mechanisms are still not completely understood. Physical as well as cognitive deterioration are consequences within the disease process that have an extensive impact on the patient's quality of life. Therefore, understanding the functional background of spontaneous as well as induced remission is of high relevance.

Analysis of lesion development during acute inflammation and remission in a rat model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by visualization of macrophage infiltration, demyelination and blood-brain barrier damage.

In vivo tracking of macrophage migration is feasible by labeling cells with ultra-small particles of iron oxide (USPIO). It is demonstrated that it is possible to monitor distinct patterns of macrophage migration during the early states of inflammation in a rodent model of chronic relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). As previous MRI studies showed that EAE inflammation processes are clearly linked to macrophage infiltration in the brain, a longitudinal protocol for macrophage visualization was designed, where USPIOs were injected repeatedly during the acute phase of the disease, the remitting phase and the first relapse.

Understanding recent increases in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections in men having sex with men: changes in risk behavior from risk avoidance to risk reduction.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore risk behavior and routes of transmission in men having sex with men (MSM) with newly diagnosed sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Methods: A questionnaire on clinical diagnosis and manifestation site for acute STIs was completed by physicians participating in a sentinel study. Patients contributed information on sexual risk behavior and the likely route of STI transmission.

Recovery and brain reorganization after stroke in adult and aged rats.

Stroke is a prevalent and devastating disorder, and no treatment is currently available to restore lost neuronal function after stroke. One unique therapy that improves recovery after stroke is neutralization of the neurite inhibitory protein Nogo-A. Here, we show, in a clinically relevant model, improved functional recovery and brain reorganization in the aged and adult rat when delayed anti-Nogo-A therapy is given after ischemic injury.