Psychosocial Resources and Emotions in Women Living With HIV Who Have Cognitive Impairment: Applying the Socio-Emotional Adaptation Theory.

Decreased cognitive function is related to undesirable psychological outcomes such as greater emotional distress and lower quality of life, particularly among women living with HIV who experience cognitive impairment (WLWH-CI). Yet, few studies have examined the psychosocial resources that may attenuate these negative emotional outcomes. The current study sought to identify the interrelated contributions of social relationships and psychological resources in 399 WLWH-CI by applying Socio-Emotional Adaptation (SEA) theory using data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). Cognitive impairment (CI) was defined as impairment on two or more cognitive domains. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of experiencing specific emotions due to a combination of four psychosocial resources. Emotions (i.e., depression, apathy, fear, anger, and acceptance) were related to a combination of binary (positive/negative) psychosocial resources including relationship with an informal support partner, relationship with a formal caregiver, coping, and perceived control. Understanding the conditions that may influence emotions in WLWH-CI is important for identifying and appropriately addressing the needs of this population. As CI increases, these individuals experience increasing challenges with articulating their care needs and having their needs met. As such, it becomes increasingly important to identify possible triggers for emotional responses to best address these underlying challenges.

Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) levels in human plasma are associated with active TB.

Neutrophils are increasingly associated with tuberculosis (TB) disease. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which are released by neutrophils as a host antimicrobial defense mechanism, are also associated with tissue damage. However, a link between NET levels and TB disease has not been studied. Here we investigate plasma NETs levels in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis using an ELISA assay that is suitable for high-throughput processing. We show that plasma NETs levels at baseline correlated with disease severity and decreased with antibiotic therapy. Our study demonstrates the biologic plausibility of measuring NETs in plasma samples from patients with TB.