Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) are the fastest-growing population living with HIV globally. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health systems, thereby negatively affecting the quality and availability of HIV care and support services. This study describes the challenges and treatment experiences of ALHIV on ART at a public primary healthcare facility in a low-socioeconomic community in Cape Town, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative photovoice study was conducted with 21 adolescents (aged 14-19 years; 13 females and 8 males). Participants shared pictures illustrating their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in groups. Group discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed in full and subjected to content analysis. Seven themes emerged describing ALHIV's personal, social, and economic challenges, their means of coping, and feelings of vulnerability. Challenges included the loss of significant others, lack of social support and opportunities, experiences of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the household, loneliness, and isolation. In spite of difficulties, some ALHIV displayed resilience by continuing their medication routines during lockdown periods. After the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for the restoration of the health system and services, including psychosocial support to re-engage ALHIV in care and treatment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21111517 | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
December 2024
College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Dalian Minzu University, Dalian, 116650, Liaoning, China.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected more than two million people of the world, and far social distancing and segregated lifestyle have to be adopted as a common solution in recent years. To solve the problem of sanitation control and epidemic prevention in public places, in this paper, an intelligent disinfection control system based on the STM32 single-chip microprocessor was designed to realize intelligent closed-loop disinfection in local public places such as public toilets. The proposed system comprises seven modules: image acquisition, spraying control, disinfectant liquid level control, access control, voice broadcast, system display, and data storage.
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December 2024
Department of Mathematics, GC University, Lahore, Pakistan.
In this article, a nonlinear fractional bi-susceptible [Formula: see text] model is developed to mathematically study the deadly Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), employing the Atangana-Baleanu derivative in Caputo sense (ABC). A more profound comprehension of the system's intricate dynamics using fractional-order derivative is explored as the primary focus of constructing this model. The fundamental properties such as positivity and boundedness, of an epidemic model have been proven, ensuring that the model accurately reflects the realistic behavior of disease spread within a population.
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December 2024
Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Antibody-mediated protection against pathogens is crucial to a healthy life. However, the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shown that pre-existing comorbid conditions including kidney disease account for compromised humoral immunity to infections. Individuals with kidney disease are not only susceptible to infections but also exhibit poor vaccine-induced antibody response.
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December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have proven effective in mRNA delivery, as evidenced by COVID-19 vaccines. Its key ingredient, ionizable lipids, is traditionally optimized by inefficient and costly experimental screening. This study leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual screening to facilitate the rational design of ionizable lipids by predicting two key properties of LNPs, apparent pKa and mRNA delivery efficiency.
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December 2024
Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
The immune escape capacities of XBB variants necessitate the authorization of vaccines with these antigens. In this study, we produce three recombinant trimeric proteins from the RBD sequences of Delta, BA.5, and XBB.
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