"We did more than survive": lessons learned from studies of risk and resilience of young people growing up with HIV and mental health needs.

Despite advances in HIV-treatment, adolescents and young adults (AYA) with HIV (AYAHIV) face myriad challenges. They are less likely than children and older adults to be virally suppressed and are at higher risk for mental health conditions compared to their peers who do not have HIV. AYA are also developing in the context of numerous biomedical, neurocognitive, and psychosocial developmental changes. Normative challenges during this time can be exacerbated by HIV and can result in significant physical and mental health problems. Yet, many AYAHIV have shown resilience with positive assets and resources and few health or mental health problems. Historically research has had a risk-focused approach to understanding AYAHIV needs. This paper discusses the rationale for a shift from a risk-focused only approach to one that examines AYAHIV needs from both a risk and resilience perspective. This paper presents: (1) epidemiological data on AYAHIV; (2) conceptual models for understanding both risk (e.g., poverty, stress, trauma, limited resources) and resilience/protective factors (e.g., family and peer support, future orientation, problem-solving skills); (3) global data examining risk and protective factors for physical and mental health challenges; and (4) promising interventions that incorporate elements of resilience to improve overall outcomes among AYAHIV.

Assessing the Validity of the Social Impact Scale Among a Longitudinal Cohort of Adolescents and Young Adults Living With Perinatally Acquired HIV.

BACKGROUND: With few psychometrically evaluated HIV-related stigma measures for adolescents and young adults living with HIV, we examined the developmental applicability (ie, validity) of 2 subscales of the commonly used stigma measure, the Social Impact Scale, among a cohort of adolescents and young adults with perinatally acquired HIV. SETTING: Data were obtained from a New York City longitudinal study (N = 340). This study primarily comprised Black and Latinx adolescents and young adults with either perinatally acquired HIV or those with perinatal exposure but who are uninfected. Data for this analysis were obtained from the population with perinatally acquired HIV and spanned approximately a 15-year survey period (2003-2018). METHODS: A confirmatory factor analysis was used at 7 time points to assess whether the Social Rejection and Internalized Shame subscales were consistent in this cohort over time. Overall and individual Cronbach alphas were reported to show the strength of the internal consistency. RESULTS: The mean age from baseline to follow-up 6 ranged from 12 to 23 years over the study period. The Social Rejection subscale was acceptably valid across follow-up periods with strong factor loadings and Cronbach alphas higher than 0.70. However, the Internalized Shame subscale was less valid among younger adolescents. Starting at follow-up 2, we observed better validity with the Internalized Shame subscale performance. CONCLUSION: Future research must consider mechanisms for developing and adapting measures from a developmental perspective to best measure the experiences of HIV-related stigma among younger populations.

Three new carbazole alkaloids and biological activities of Murraya koenigii.

Three new carbazole alkaloids, mukoenigatin (1), bikoeniquinonine (2) and murrayadinal (3), were isolated from the aerial parts of Murraya koenigii, along with mukeonine-B (4). Their molecular structures were determined on the basis of spectral analysis including UV, IR, MS, and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activity of different fractions of plant extract was also determined.

Enhanced biocidal activity of Au nanoparticles synthesized in one pot using 2, 4-dihydroxybenzene carbodithioic acid as a reducing and stabilizing agent.

BACKGROUND: The conjugation of gold nanoparticles with biocides such as natural products, oligosaccharides, DNA, proteins has attracted great attention of scientists recently. Gold NPs covered with biologically important molecules showed significant enhancement in biological activity in comparison with the activity of the free biocides. However, these reports are not very systematic and do not allow to draw definitive conclusions. We therefore embarked in a systematic study related to the synthesis and characterization of biocidal activities of Au nanoparticles conjugated to a wide variety of synthetic and natural biomolecules. In this specific report, we investigated the activity of a synthetic biocide, 2-4, Dihydroxybenzene carbodithioic acid (DHT). RESULTS: Au nanoparticles (NP) with a mean size of about 20 nm were synthesized and functionalized in one pot with the help of biocide 2,4-Dihydroxybenzene carbodithioic acid (DHT) to reduce HAuCl4 in aqueous solution. Conjugation of DHT with gold was confirmed by FT-IR and the amount of DHT conjugated to the Au nanoparticles was found to be 7% by weight by measuring the concentration of DHT in the supernatant after centrifugation of the Au NPs. To ascertain the potential for in vivo applications, the stability of the suspensions was investigated as a function of pH, temperature and salt concentration. Antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal and cytotoxic activities of the Au-DHT conjugates were compared with those of pure DHT and of commercially available biocides. In all cases, the biocidal activity of the Au-DHT conjugates was comparable to that of commercial products and of DHT. CONCLUSIONS: Since the DHT concentration in the Au-DHT conjugates was only about 7%, our results indicate that conjugation to the Au NPs boosts the biocidal activity of DHT by about 14 times. The suspensions were found to be stable for several days at temperatures of up to 100°C, salt concentrations up to 4 mol/L and a pH range of 2-13.