mHealth for pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence by young adult men who have sex with men.

Background: Young adult men who have sex with men (YMSM) are at increased risk for HIV, especially minority YMSM. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a breakthrough daily pill to prevent HIV. Consistent adherence is key to PrEP effectiveness, which is why the CDC recommends adherence support be provided to all PrEP patients.

Highly diverse and highly successful: invasive Australian acacias have not experienced genetic bottlenecks globally.

Background And Aims: Invasive species may undergo rapid evolution despite very limited standing genetic diversity. This so-called genetic paradox of biological invasions assumes that an invasive species has experienced (and survived) a genetic bottleneck and then underwent local adaptation in the new range. In this study, we test how often Australian acacias (genus Acacia), one of the world's most problematic invasive tree groups, have experienced genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding.

A Web-Based HIV/STD Prevention Intervention for Divorced or Separated Older Women.

Background And Objective: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are increasing among older adults concomitant with a rise in divorce after the age of 50 years. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a web-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/STD risk reduction intervention for divorced and separated women aged more than 50 years.

Research Design And Methods: Two hundred nineteen divorced or separated women, aged 50 years and older, participated in 60-day randomized pre-post control group study.

In vitro evaluation of the internalization and toxicological profile of silica nanoparticles and submicroparticles for the design of dermal drug delivery strategies.

The use of colloidal silica nanoparticles and sub-microparticles (SiPs) have been considered a very interesting strategy for drug delivery applications. In the present study, we have focused our attention on the suitability of these nanomaterials as potential carriers for dermal drug delivery, thus studying their toxicological profile in vitro, cellular uptake and intracellular localization in both human keratinocytes (K17) and human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) as a function of their particle size (SiPs of 20, 70, 200 and 500 nm). Full characterization of these aspects enabled us to observe a strong cell-type dependency in terms of cytotoxicity and cell internalization, whereas particle size was only relevant for ultra-small SiPs (20 nm), being the most toxic SiPs.

Biodistribution of radiolabeled polyglutamic acid and PEG-polyglutamic acid nanocapsules.

Recently we reported the development of 100nm polyglutamic acid (PGA)-based nanocapsules, which were intended to carry anticancer drugs to the lymphatic system (Abellan-Pose et al., 2016). In this work, the objective was to further assess the potential "lympho-targeting" properties of radiolabeled In-PGA and In-PGA-PEG, following intravenous or subcutaneous administration.

Lifting Object Detection Datasets into 3D.

While data has certainly taken the center stage in computer vision in recent years, it can still be difficult to obtain in certain scenarios. In particular, acquiring ground truth 3D shapes of objects pictured in 2D images remains a challenging feat and this has hampered progress in recognition-based object reconstruction from a single image. Here we propose to bypass previous solutions such as 3D scanning or manual design, that scale poorly, and instead populate object category detection datasets semi-automatically with dense, per-object 3D reconstructions, bootstrapped from:(i) class labels, (ii) ground truth figure-ground segmentations and (iii) a small set of keypoint annotations.

Highly versatile immunostimulating nanocapsules for specific immune potentiation.

Aim: To develop a new core-shell type (nanocapsules) adjuvant system composed of squalene and polyglucosamine (PG) and to evaluate its immunostimulant capacity.

Results: The defined PG nanocapsules exhibited the capacity to efficiently associate the selected antigens (recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen and hemagglutinin of influenza virus) onto their polymeric surface (70-75%), and the immunostimulant imiquimod within the oily core. The resulting nanovaccines, with a particle size of 200-250 nm and a positive zeta-potential (∼+60 mV), were able to significantly potentiate and modulate the immune response to the selected antigens upon intramuscular administration to mice.

Biodistribution and lymph node retention of polysaccharide-based immunostimulating nanocapsules.

The adjuvant properties of polyglucosamine/squalene-based nanocapsules (PG-nanocapsules) associated with different subunit antigens has been previously reported. Thus, the aim of the present study was to monitor the biodistribution of PG-nanocapsules and their affinity for the draining lymph nodes after subcutaneous (s.c.

Co-delivery of viral proteins and a TLR7 agonist from polysaccharide nanocapsules: a needle-free vaccination strategy.

Here we report a new nanotechnology-based nasal vaccination concept intended to elicit both, specific humoral and cellular immune responses. The concept relies on the use of a multifunctional antigen nanocarrier consisting of a hydrophobic nanocore, which can allocate lipophilic immunostimulants, and a polymeric corona made of chitosan (CS), intended to associate antigens and facilitate their transport across the nasal mucosa. The Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist, imiquimod, and the recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen (HB), were selected as model molecules for the validation of the concept.

A polymer/oil based nanovaccine as a single-dose immunization approach.

The recognized necessity for new antigen delivery carriers with the capacity to boost, modulate and prolong neutralizing immune responses prompted our approach, in which we describe a multifunctional nanocarrier consisting of an oily nanocontainer protected by a polymeric shell made of chitosan (CS), named CS nanocapsules (CSNC). The CS shell can associate the antigen on its surface, whereas the oily core might provide additional immunostimulating properties. In this first characterization of the system, we intended to study the influence of different antigen organizations on the nanocarrier's surface (using the recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen -rHBsAg- as a model antigen) on their long-term immunopotentiating effect, without any additional immunostimulant.

Chitosan-based nanoparticles for improving immunization against hepatitis B infection.

The design of effective vaccine delivery vehicles is opening up new possibilities for making immunization more equitable, safe and efficient. In this work, we purpose polysaccharidic-based nanoparticles as delivery structures for virus-like particle antigens, using recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen (rHBsAg) as a model. Polysaccharidic-based nanoparticles were prepared using a very mild ionic gelation technique, by cross-linking the polysaccharide chitosan (CS) with a counter ion.