The Effect of Partnership Presence and Support on HIV Viral Suppression Among Serodiscordant Partnered and Single Heterosexual HIV-Positive Individuals in Brazil.

HIV-negative individuals in serodiscordant partnerships experience reduced risk of HIV acquisition when their partners adhere to ART and achieve undetectable viral loads. Partnership support may encourage ART adherence, reducing viral load and the risk of HIV transmission. This study aims to determine whether HIV viral suppression is associated with partnership status and partnership support among 201 HIV positive (HIV+ individuals in serodiscordant partnerships and 100 HIV+ unpartnered individuals receiving care at Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Porto Alegre, Brazil between 2014 and 2016. Clinical data and patient-reported questionnaire data were assessed, and propensity scores were used to control for confounding variables in adjusted logistic regression models. Viral suppression did not significantly differ between HIV+ partnered (78.5% virally suppressed) and unpartnered (76.0% virally suppressed) individuals. Among individuals in partnerships, viral suppression was significantly associated with having a partner who attended monthly clinic visits (AOR 2.99; 95% CI 1.00-8.93). Instrumental social support-attending monthly visits-may improve the odds of viral suppression among HIV+ individuals in serodiscordant relationships.

Stable microbubble test and click test to predict respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants not requiring ventilation at birth.

AIMS: To determine the usefulness of the stable microbubble test (SMT) and of the click test (CT) on gastric aspirates obtained soon after birth to predict respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm babies not requiring ventilation at birth. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was carried out with a cohort between 24 and 34 weeks of gestational age. Gastric secretions were collected before 1 hour of life and frozen for further analysis. RESULTS: 110 neonates were studied. For a cut-off value 10 microbubbles/mm2 (mb/mm2) the sensitivity and specificity to predict RDS were 73.9 % and 92%, respectively, in the SMT. The best SMT cut-off point to predict RDS was < or = 15 mb/mm2 (sensitivity = 82.6% specificity = 85.1%) if equal weight was given to false-positive and false-negative results. CT (104 samples) showed a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 45.1% to predict RDS. The overall accuracy of the SMT was better than the overall accuracy of the CT (87.5% vs. 64.4%; p < 0.001) to predict RDS. CONCLUSIONS: The SMT is more accurate than the CT to predict RDS in infants below 35 weeks of gestational age and may be helpful to select patients to receive surfactant.