Vascular access for optimal hematopoietic stem cell collection.

BACKGROUND: Autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of cytokine-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) is increasingly used to treat patients with hematologic disorders. Different types of vascular access have been exploited for the apheresis procedure, including peripheral veins (PV) and central venous catheter (CVC). In some cases, PV access is unavailable. There are few published data on the efficiency and quality of harvesting with different types of vascular access. This study brings out complications and morbidity of this procedure linked to these different access. METHODS: We performed a comparative, retrospective, single-center study of hematopoietic stem cell collection using these two types of vascular access. We compared the efficiency and complication rate for 617 adults apheresis sessions in 401 patients and healthy donors, for PBSC collection via PV or CVC between 2010 and 2016. The quality of the HSC product was evaluated in terms of the total CD34 + count and neutrophil contamination. RESULTS: The PV and CVC groups did not differ significantly in terms of the quality of the apheresis product, mean ± SD CD34 + cells collected in PV group was 383.1 ± 402.7 × 10e6 and 298.8 ± 372.7 × 10e6 and the level of neutrophil contamination was 21.0 ± 17.8% in the PV group and 20.6 ± 18.4% in the CVC group. The complication rate did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The type of vascular access for apheresis hematopoietic stem cell harvesting must be determined by trained staff. Successful harvesting can be performed via PV then CVC is not needed or not available.

Antiretroviral therapy and weight gain in antiretroviral treatment-experienced HIV patients: A review.

The risk of developing non-AIDS events (NAEs) remains higher in persons living with HIV-1 (PLWH) compared to the general population despite progress made in the treatment by antiretroviral (ARV). Particular attention is therefore given to the management of risk factors associated with NAEs during the follow-up of PLWH, including overweight. Factors associated with weight gain in PLWH are multifactorial and include demographics, HIV disease-related, lifestyle, cultural, and antiretroviral therapy (ART)-associated factors. All these confounding factors make it difficult to interpret the potential link between ARVs and weight gain. In antiretroviral treatment- experienced PLWH, confounding factors such as the return to normal health or the advanced stage of disease can be ruled out compared to naïve patients which somewhat facilitates the interpretation of weight gain. Weight gain after ART switch is modest, not generally a big concern in clinical practice in this population and correlated more strongly with baseline regimen, especially after the stop of TDF or EFV, than with sex-, race-, or HIV-related factors. It remains uncertain whether this is due to the loss of a weight suppressive effect of prior regimens with older agent such as TDF or EFV or a weight gain effect of the newer regimens especially TAF and/or INSTI, or both. The mechanisms linked to weight gain attributed to the new ARVs as well as its possible reversibility are not yet elucidated. Clinicians who switched ARV regimen of experienced PLWH should be aware of this side effect and of this potentially consequences on the global health.

Antiretroviral therapy and weight gain in naive HIV-1 infected patient: a narrative review.

The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in recent decades worldwide. An increase in the prevalence of obesity has also been observed among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in high and low incomes countries. Antiretroviral therapy (ART), by controlling the viral load (VL) and restoring cellular immunity, has improved the health status and life expectancy in PLHIV. However, the risk of developing non-AIDS events (NAEs) remains higher than the general population. Therefore, specific attention is given to managing risk factors associated with NAEs during the follow-up of PLHIV, including obesity. Factors related to weight gain in PLHIV include demographic factors, HIV disease-related factors, and ART-associated factors. In naive PLHIV, weight gain after the initiation of ART is expected. The weight gains observed are generally not severe even if there appear to be risk factors such as the advanced stage of disease (low CD4 cells count and high VL), female sex, black race, and taking integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTI) associated or not with tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF). The role of each antiretroviral drug per-se remains to clarify. As INSTI ± TAF has been associated with significant weight gain, further research is needed to identify the individual-level factors predictive of weight gain, the mechanisms of ART-associated weight gain and the clinical relevance of this weight gain. As PLHIV survive longer on effective ART, the prevention and management of NAEs will remain a challenge for healthcare providers.

Is Antiretroviral Two-Drug Regimen the New Standard for HIV Treatment in Naive Patients?

The use of a combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has changed dramatically the prognosis and the life expectancy of people living with HIV. The current treatment guidelines continue the convention of preferred cART based on combining a dual nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) backbone with a third "anchor" agent, such as a ritonavir (r)- or cobicistat (c)-boosted protease inhibitor (PI), a non-NRTI (NNRTI), or an integrase inhibitor (INI) boosted or unboosted. However, due to toxicities of NRTIs, sparing NRTI regimen has been studied for a long time with moderate success due to low efficacy (especially in patients with high viral load and low CD4) compare to standard triple therapy. New strategy with lamivudine (3TC) plus a boosted PI or INI showed promise results and indicated that modern two-drug regimens might now, in fact, become a reliable treatment for HIV-infected naïve patients. This article discusses recent data from dual therapy studies in naïve HIV-infected patients and the challenges behind this strategy.

Mesoscopic resonating valence bond system on a triple dot.

We theoretically introduce a mesoscopic pendulum from a triple dot. The pendulum is fastened through a singly occupied dot (spin qubit). Two other strongly capacitively coupled islands form a double-dot charge qubit with one electron in excess oscillating between the two low-energy charge states (1,0) and (0,1). The triple dot is placed between two superconducting leads. Under realistic conditions, the main proximity effect stems from the injection of resonating singlet (valence) bonds on the triple dot. This gives rise to a Josephson current that is charge- and spin-dependent and, as a consequence, exhibits a distinct resonance as a function of the superconducting phase difference.