The Characteristics and HIV-Related Outcomes of People Living with Co-occurring HIV and Mental Health Conditions in the United States: A Systematic Review of Literature from 2016 to 2021.

Considering advances in HIV prevention and treatment, jurisdictional efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and reduced stigma towards people living with HIV infection and mental health conditions, the authors systematically reviewed studies published between 2016 and 2021 and identified 45 studies that met the eligibility criteria. The review found that stigma towards mental health conditions still acts as a barrier to accessing HIV treatment, which impacts treatment outcomes. Additionally, social determinants of health, such as housing instability and poverty, appear to impact mental health and, therefore, HIV-related outcomes. The review also highlighted the mutually reinforcing effects of HIV, mental health, and substance use conditions, providing valuable insights into the syndemic effects of these co-occurring conditions. Overall, the review highlights the need to address stigma and social determinants of health in HIV prevention and treatment efforts and to integrate mental health services into HIV care to improve outcomes for people living with both HIV and mental health conditions.

HIV policy legacies, pandemic preparedness and policy effort to address COVID-19.

That the world was unprepared for a major infectious disease outbreak is now readily apparent to all credible observers. However, some countries were more prepared than others and we have seen a variety of responses to COVID-19 emerge across nations. While recognizing that the sources of variation in country responses to COVID-19 are many and varied, in this study we seek to examine how policy legacies from national responses to HIV have influenced countries' responses to COVID-19. The aim of this study was to examine whether countries with a more conducive HIV policy environment were better prepared for COVID-19 and have therefore had more preemptive and rights-based responses. Using data from the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker, we develop measures of country effort to respond to COVID-19 including early containment and closure policies, prevention policies, economic policies, and health system policies. We combine this with data from the HIV Policy Lab and correlate overall and disaggregated country HIV Policy scores with COVID-19 Policy scores. We find that the COVID-19 Containment and Closure Measures Index was negatively correlated with supportive social policies related to HIV in the early stages of the pandemic, but the association did not persist as time went on. The COVID-19 Economic Support Measures had prolonged positive associations with supportive social policies related to HIV and negative association with clinical and treatment policies. Countries with stronger structural responses to HIV have been less inclined towards involuntary measures and more prepared for the social and economic elements of COVID-19 pandemic response.

Barriers to accessing pre-exposure prophylaxis among women experiencing intimate partner violence in the United States: a systematic literature review.

Women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) are at increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection but have limited uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We systematically reviewed the existing evidence for the association between IPV and PrEP use, and barriers to accessing PrEP among women with a history of IPV in the United States. A keyword search of PubMed, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science for relevant articles within the United States from 2012 to 2022 yielded 133 articles, of which 15 were ultimately included in the analysis. A qualitative synthesis of evidence suggests that the association between IPV and PrEP awareness, PrEP acceptability, PrEP use, and HIV risk perception was contingent on the mediating or moderating effects of women's relationship status, social network characteristics, and the timing and types of IPV. Controlling partners' reactions and a lack of independent decision-making in the abusive relationship were salient barriers. The methodological quality of qualitative studies was high; however, there were important risks of bias among quantitative and mixed-method studies. Additional studies are needed to understand barriers to PrEP use among women with IPV in more diverse settings and to provide rigorous evidence for developing targeted HIV prevention strategies for them.

Is the male disadvantage real? Cross-national variations in sex gaps in COVID-19 incidence and mortality.

ABSTRACTAlthough the excess male mortality from COVID-19 is well-known, the variations in sex gaps in incidence and mortality across countries and the sources of such variations are not well understood. This study explored the patterns and the sources of variation in the sex gap in COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates across 100 countries where sex-disaggregated cases and deaths were available as of September 2020. Our results show that there is generally a male disadvantage in both incidence and mortality; however, COVID-19 incidence exhibited a lower male disadvantage (1.2 times higher risk for males) than COVID-19 mortality (1.5 times higher risk for males). The extent of male disadvantages in COVID-19 outcomes across countries varied by societal gender inequalities and behavioural factors. Greater gender equality, both socially and behaviourally, was associated with more equal COVID-19 incidence and mortality between men and women. The findings imply that male disadvantages in COVID-19 outcomes, particularly incidence, are socially determined, whereas further investigation is needed to understand behavioural and biological elements yielding a male disadvantage in mortality.

Trp17 and Glu20 residues in conserved WMN(D/E)PN motif are essential for Aspergillus ficuum endoinulinase (EC 3.2.1.7) activity.

The importance of the WMN(D/E)PN motif, which is well conserved among beta-fructofuranosidases grouped in the glycosylhydrolase family 32, in Aspergillus ficuum endoinulinase was accessed. Each mutant enzyme generated by site-directed mutagenesis of Trp17 in the conserved motif to Gln, Leu, Ser, Pro, Thr, or Met had an activity of less than 1% of the wild type. Another mutant enzyme obtained by mutation of Glu20 in the motif to Ser, Leu, Thr, Gln, Ala, or Val had an enzyme activity of less than 1% of the wild type. Furthermore, the E20D mutant enzyme, in which Glu20 in the conserved motif was replaced with Asp, had 1.1% of the wild type activity. These results clearly indicated that Trp17 and Glu20 are essential for the enzyme activity.

Expression of the mnpA gene that encodes the mannoprotein of Aspergillus nidulans is dependent on fadA and flbA as well as veA.

The single copy mnpA gene that encodes a mannoprotein of Aspergillus nidulans and its cDNA were isolated from the genomic and cDNA libraries, respectively. The determined nucleotide sequences of the genomic DNA and its cDNA revealed that the gene has an open-reading frame of 261 amino acids without introns. The deduced amino acid sequence showed a 60% identity to that of Aspegillus fumigatus galactomannoprotein MP1. The mnpA gene was expressed more abundantly in the wild-type than in the veA-null mutant. It was expressed at a lower level in fadA-null mutants, veA(+) or veA1 (regardless of their genetic background), than in the fadA(+) strain. However, the expression level was slightly higher in the veA(+) DeltafadA strain than in the veA1 DeltafadA strain. Furthermore, the amount of the mnpA transcript was higher in the flbA(+) strain than in the flbA-null mutant. These results indicate that the fadA and flbA genes in addition to the veA gene are necessary for the mnpA expression. The mnpA gene was expressed highly in vegetative mycelia and at a reduced level in sexual structures, but not in conidia. Its expression was almost constitutive during asexual development up to 18h after the transfer of mycelial balls onto a solid medium, and decreased thereafter. During sexual development, its expression reached its maximum 0-20h after the induction of sexual development, and then decreased thereafter. The mnpA-null mutant, that was still viable, showed no phenotypic difference in development, growth rate, protein secretion, and germination of both the ascospores and conidia from the wild-type. This suggests that the mannoprotein that is encoded by the mnpA gene is dispensable.