"What Is the Benefit?": Perceptions and Preferences for Long-Acting Injectable Antiretroviral Therapy Among People Living With HIV.

Long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LA-ART) expands treatment options for people living with HIV (PLWH). This qualitative study characterizes LA-ART awareness, perceptions, and preferences among PLWH engaged in HIV care. From 2019 through 2021, we conducted semistructured in-depth interviews with 71 PLWH sampled from three clinics in three U.S. settings (North Carolina, Washington, DC, Massachusetts). Transcripts were analyzed using narrative and thematic techniques. Participant mean age was 46 years (range 24-72); most were cisgender men (55%) and virally suppressed (73%). Most participants had not heard of LA-ART and reacted with a mix of excitement and cautiousness. Potential LA-ART benefits included easier adherence, privacy, and effectiveness; concerns included effectiveness, side effects, costs, and increased clinic visits. Participants appreciated that LA-ART could support achieving and sustaining viral suppression. To inform their decision, participants wanted more information and convenient access and administration. Findings indicated that a shared decision-making approach and economic and logistical support for PLWH could facilitate LA-ART uptake.

Superior septal approach for mitral valve surgery: a word of caution.

OBJECTIVE: Superior septal approach provides excellent exposure of the mitral valve and the subvalvular structures. The unavoidable section of the sinus node artery is in relationship with this technique. We have studied the electrical changes associated after using this approach. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 247 cases of mitral valve surgery from 1996 to 2003. The patient population was divided into two comparative groups: group I (128 cases) was represented by the superior septal approach and group II (119 cases) composed the conventional right lateral approach through the left atrium. Preoperatively, 48 patients (37.5%) in group I and 46 (38.6%) in group II were in a normal sinus rhythm. Mean follow-up was 30.7 months in group I and 33.5 months in group II. RESULTS: There was no mortality in group I and eight cases (6.7%) in group II. A high incidence of changes as junctional rhythm was observed in group I, especially after weaning of cardiopulmonary bypass and on the first day after surgery (P>0.001). Postoperative P-R interval of the patients in sinus rhythm was 100+/-30 ms in group I and 148+/-24 ms in group II (P>0.05). P-R interval in group I was shorter than normal. P-wave morphology changed becoming inverted in leads II, III and aVF after surgery in these cases in group I. A full recuperation in P-R interval and the P-wave axis was seen in 52 cases (87.5%) in patients in group I after the third postoperative month. A definitive pacemaker implantation was need in two cases (1.5%) in group I and in six (5%) in group II (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A superior septal approach is directly related with the loss of normal sinus rhythm because of the section of the sinus node artery. After a brief period of transient electrical changes, a new low atrial or coronary sinus rhythm slower than normal sinus rhythm appears. In consequence, a word of caution must be strongly considered in patients critically dependent on normal sinus rhythm, despite the low incidence of definitive electrical changes. Normal sinus rhythm appears again after the third postoperative month.

[Importance of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the pathogenesis of heart failure]. / Importancia del factor de necrosis tumoral alfa en la patogenia de la insuficiencia cardíaca.

Clinical and experimental evidence demonstrating the effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in patients with heart failure continues to accumulate. It is well established that high concentrations of TNF-alpha appear in the circulation of patients with heart failure and that these levels have a directly proportional correlation with the patient's functional class. TNF-alpha levels also show a linear relation with prognosis. These circulating levels are responsible for the decreased expression of myocardial TNF-alpha receptors observed in heart failure. As a result of extrapolation of findings from experimental animals, we assume that TNF-alpha is deleterious to myocardial function in humans because it induces a negative inotropic state in patients who have not undergone heart transplant. Supporting this assumption is the fact that the resolution or improvement of pressure overload (obstructive hypertrophic myocardiopathy, by ethanol ablation) and volume overload (terminal dilated myocardiopathy, by ventricular assistance) states is accompanied by a decrease in myocardial TNF-alpha expression. The use of specific antagonists of circulating TNF-alpha in patients with symptomatic heart failure has been demonstrated to be safe and possibly effective. At present, multicenter studies are under way to assess the efficacy of this antagonism in a larger number of patients. If the results of these studies are favorable, we will have new therapeutic elements for managing patients with advanced hear failure. The transplanted heart behaves differently from the native heart. From the early stages of HTx, myocardial TNF-alpha expression is greatly increased (much more than in patients with heart failure) and not associated with contractile dysfunction, in contrast with what occurs in the native heart. However, we know that the transplanted heart soon develops ventricular hypertrophy, fibrosis, diastolic dysfunction, and late graft failure, even in the presence of normal epicardial coronary arteries. Clinical evidence suggests that TNF-alpha may be involved in these processes.

Importancia del factor de necrosis tumoral alfa en la patogenia de la insuficiencia cardíaca / Importance of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha in the Pathogenesis of Heart Failure

La evidencia clínica y experimental que demuestra los efectos del factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (TNF- ) en pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca continúa acumulándose. Está bien establecido que las concentraciones elevadas de TNF- aparecen en la circulación de pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca y que dichas concentraciones tienen una correlación directamente proporcional con la clase funcional en la que éstos se encuentran; asímismo, existe una relación lineal como factor pronóstico. Dichas concentraciones circulantes son las responsables de la disminución en la expresión de receptores miocárdicos de TNF- observada en la insuficiencia cardíaca. Por lo demostrado en animales de experimentación, suponemos que el TNF- es deletéreo para la función miocárdica en seres humanos, al inducir un estado inotrópico negativo en pacientes no trasplantados de corazón. Para sustentar esta suposición está el hecho de que sabemos que la resolución o mejoría de estados de sobrecarga de presión (cardiomiopatía hipertrófica obstructiva, con ablación con etanol) y de volumen (cardiomiopatía dilatada terminal, con asistencia ventricular) va acompañada de disminución de la expresión miocárdica de TNF- .El uso de antagonistas específicos del TNF- circulante en pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca sintomática ha demostrado ser segura, en primer lugar, y posiblemente eficaz en segundo. En el momento actual se están llevando a cabo estudios multicéntricos que valoran la eficacia de este antagonismo en un número mayor de pacientes. De ser positivos dichos estudios, dispondremos de nuevos elementos terapéuticos para manejar a pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca avanzada. El corazón trasplantado presenta un comportamiento diferente que el corazón nativo. Desde etapas tempranas del trasplante cardíaco se observa una expresión aumentada (muy superior a los valores encontrados en pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca) de TNF- miocárdico, y dicha expresión, a diferencia de los corazones nativos, no se asocia a disfunción contráctil. Sin embargo, sabemos que un corazón trasplantado desarrolla hipertrofia ventricular temprana, fibrosis, disfunción diastólica y fallo tardío del injerto aun en presencia de arterias coronarias epicárdicas normales, pudiendo implicarse en estos procesos el TNF- , de acuerdo con la evidencia clínica comunicada (AU)