Early lipid changes with atazanavir/ritonavir or darunavir/ritonavir.

OBJECTIVES: Ritonavir-boosted atazanavir and darunavir are protease inhibitors that are recommended for initial treatment of HIV infection because each has shown better lipid effects and overall tolerability than ritonavir-boosted lopinavir. The extent to which lipid effects and overall tolerability differ between treatments with atazanavir and darunavir and whether atazanavir-induced hyperbilirubinaemia may result in more favourable metabolic effects are issues that remain to be resolved. METHODS: A 96-week randomized clinical trial was carried out. The primary endpoint was change in total cholesterol at 24 weeks. Secondary endpoints were changes in lipids other than total cholesterol, insulin sensitivity, total bilirubin, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and CD4 and CD8 cell counts, and the proportion of patients with plasma HIV RNA < 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL and study drug discontinuation because of adverse effects at 24 weeks. Analyses were intent-to-treat. RESULTS: One hundred and seventy-eight patients received once-daily treatment with either atazanavir/ritonavir (n = 90) or darunavir/ritonavir (n = 88) plus tenofovir/emtricitabine. At 24 weeks, mean total cholesterol had increased by 7.26 and 11.47 mg/dL in the atazanavir/ritonavir and darunavir/ritonavir arms, respectively [estimated difference -4.21 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval (CI) -12.11 to +3.69 mg/dL; P = 0.75]. However, the ratio of total to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol tended to show a greater decrease with atazanavir/ritonavir compared with darunavir/ritonavir (estimated difference -1.02; 95% CI -2.35 to +0.13; P = 0.07). Total bilirubin significantly increased with atazanavir/ritonavir (estimated difference +1.87 mg/dL; 95% CI +1.58 to +2.16 mg/dL; P < 0.01), but bilirubin changes were not associated with lipid changes. Secondary endpoints other than total bilirubin were not significantly different between arms. CONCLUSIONS: Atazanavir/ritonavir and darunavir/ritonavir plus tenofovir/emtricitabine did not show significant differences in total cholesterol change or overall tolerability at 24 weeks. However, there was a trend towards a lower total to HDL cholesterol ratio with atazanavir/ritonavir and this effect was unrelated to bilirubin.

The role of subvocalization in rehearsal and maintenance of rhythmic patterns.

This experiment analyzed the influence of subvocal activity in retention of rhythmical auditory patterns. Retention of sixteen percussion sequences was studied. Each sequence (a 4-s "door-knocking" pattern) was followed by one of the following six retention conditions: silence, unattended music (blocking the inner ear, i.e., Gregorian chanting), unattended music (blocking the inner ear, i.e., rock-and-roll), articulatory suppression (blocking the inner voice), tracing circles on the table with index finger (spatial task), and tapping (motor control). After silence, unattended music (chanting), or the spatial task, participants successfully reproduced most patterns. Errors increased with unattended music (rock-and-roll), but significant disruptions only occurred with tapping and articulatory suppression. Whereas the latter case supports the role of an articulatory loop in retention, the production of successive taps or syllables in both interference conditions probably relies on a general rhythm module, which disrupted retention of the patterns.

Body mass index, life-style, and healthy status in free living elderly people in Menorca Island.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the BMI, life-style, and healthy status, and explore relationships between these parameters, among Menorca's free living elderly people. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey carried out in Menorca Island in 2009. A random sample (n=450) of the elderly population (≥65 years) was interviewed. Anthropometric measurements and a general questionnaire incorporating questions related to socio-demographic and life-style factors and health status were used. RESULTS: Approximately five per cent of elders were underweight and 60% overweight or obese. Underweight were positively and overweight and obesity negatively affected by age. The prevalence of central obesity, according to the WC cut-off points, was 66.8% in men and 85.1% in women. Low education, socioeconomic status and physical activity were risk factors for malnutrition and overweight/obesity. A possible cognitive impairment was found among elderly persons with BMI<22 kg/m2. A J-shaped association between BMI and hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, heart failure and other CV diseases, a U-shaped relation between BMI and diabetes mellitus, arthritis, and chronic bronchitis, and an inverted J-shape between BMI and gastric ulcer, osteoporosis and bone fractures, cancer, and prostatitis (in men) were found. CONCLUSIONS: Both low and high BMI are associated with a wide range of prevalent conditions and diseases in Menorca elderly men and women.

A randomized trial comparing the efficacy and tolerability of two HAART strategies at two years in antiretroviral naive patients.

BACKGROUND: The use of HAART combining 2 nucleoside analogues reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) plus one protease inhibitor (PI) or 2 NRTIs + 1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) has shown comparable efficacy. The study was designed to compare long term (2 years) effectiveness of two antiretroviral (ARV) treatment strategies in patients not previously treated: starting with a nelfinavir based HAART switching to nevirapine in case of failure or side effects or the reverse sequence. METHODS: This multicenter, randomized, open label clinical trial enrolled ARV-naïve HIV patients with CD4 counts below 500 cells/mm3. They were randomly assigned to start ddI + d4T + nelfinavir (switching to ZDV + 3TC + NEV in case of failure or toxicity) (PI-NEV arm) or ddI + d4T + nevirapine, switching to ZDV + 3TC + NFV in case of failure or toxicity (NEV-PI arm). The primary study endpoint was the Kaplan-Meier estimates of the time to failure after switching to second regimen if necessary (considering failure as two consecutive plasma HIV-1 RNA determinations above 200 copies/mL, death, a new category C event or toxicity leading to treatment discontinuation of the second regimen) after a minimum follow-up of two years. RESULTS: A total of 137 patients were evaluable (67 and 70 in the PI-NEV and NEV-PI arms respectively). Baseline characteristics did not differ among groups. Kaplan-Meier estimates of time to failure did not show differences between the two arms neither in the on-treatment (OT) analysis (log rank test, p = 0.81) nor in the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis (p = 0.58). At 24 months, the estimated proportion of patients free of failure were 72% and 66% respectively in the PI-NEV and NEV-PI arms OT analysis (p = 0.54) and 73% and 64% in the PI-NEV and NEV-PI arms in the ITT analysis (p = 0.49). The difference in the median in CD4+ lymphocyte count at 24 months was not significantly different in the two groups: 393 and 307 CD4 cells/mm3 in the PI-NEV and NEV-PI arms respectively (p = 0.167). The incidence of adverse events (AEs) in the two arms was very similar: 50 (75%) in the PI-NEV and 54 (70%) in the NEV-PI group, as it was for grade 3-4 AEs leading to drug switching. CONCLUSION: At two years both treatments strategies (PI-NEV vs NEV-PI) had a high and comparable efficacy and were generally well tolerated.

[Preparatory courses for applicants for medical studies]. / Prínos prípravných kurzu zájemcum o studium medicíny.

From 1991, the First Medical Faculty of the Charles University arranges for applicants for the medical study two-semester preparatory courses paid by the applicants. Their purpose is to improve knowledge of high-school physics, chemistry and biology with orientation to model questions published by the faculty [1, 2, 3]. Variants of 100-questions sets for the examination are generated by a computer and they are altered every year [4]. Two types of preparatory courses are available. Type A--every Monday and Tuesday between 17.00 and 18.45, physics and chemistry in odd weeks, biology and Latin in even weeks. Latin is not a discipline considered during the admission examination, however, managing of its basic knowledge facilitates not only understanding problems considered in the other disciplines, but it is particularly useful for learning the special terminology in the first year of the study of medicine. Course of type B is held once a month, on Saturdays between 8.30 and 14.00 and it is particularly designed for applicants residing beyond the capital city of Prague. In the course of 10 semesters implemented, 980 and 1,410 students passed through courses of type A and B, respectively [5, 6]. The purpose of our analysis was to evaluate the difference between results of admission procedure of applicants who participated and of those who did not participate in the preparatory course. Basic data were yielded by the Department of Students of the Deans Office. We considered the number of applicants, their results in the course of their four years of study at high schools and the number of points acquired in physical, chemical and biological tests. We furthermore obtained applications for preparatory courses in school years 1993/94 and 1994/95. The results were processed with the help of data base programs Access and Excel (Microsoft). In each of the years of interest, the applicants were divided into four groups depending on the type of the study: 1--medicine (L) and 2--stomatology (S) or depending on whether 3--they were registered in preparatory courses or 4--not. The analysis carried out resulted in the following conclusion: a--both groups of applicants (registered and not registered in preparatory courses) had comparable study results during the last four years of their high-school study; b--in the admission procedure, students, who passed through preparatory courses, achieved undoubtedly better results in comparison with those who did not pass through these course, which holds in medicine as well as stomatology; c--there was about the same improvement of knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology in both types of the preparatory courses.

Applicability of a circulatory model for determining the parameters of kinetics of endogenously produced compounds.

The applicability of circulatory model approach for determining the kinetic parameters of endogenously produced substances has been demonstrated based on the assumption that the behaviour of newly produced molecules of a compound inside its production spaces is the same as that of the molecules returned due to recirculation of blood. While extraction and transmission parameters can be estimated by using tracer data, total mass cannot be determined without additional information. This information could be obtained from data of some suitable metabolite by using double tracer method. Circulatory model is especially suitable for studies of substances with a fast kinetics and renewal if blood (plasma) flow is measured independently.