Clinical impact of recreational drug use among people living with HIV in southern Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear about the impact of recreational drug use on the adherence, drug-drug interaction and the occurrence of sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) among people living with HIV. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted between Dec 2016, and July 2018 to assess the clinical impact of recreational drug consumption in people living with HIV with antiretroviral therapy. We collected data of the demographics, recreational drug use, laboratory results and STDs diagnoses. Potential drug-drug interactions were checked with reference databases. The association between recreational drug use and STDs, HIV viral load suppression and drug interactions were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 462 participants were enrolled, included 384 recreational drug users and 78 non-recreational drug users. Younger age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.94; 95% CI: 0.91-0.98; p = 0.001), longer HIV infection period (aOR, 1.11; 95% CI: 1.03-1.20; p = 0.009) and poor antiretroviral drug adherence (1-2 pills missing per month: aOR, 6.82; 95% CI: 3.50-13.27; p < 0.001; >2 pills missing per month: aOR, 3.50; 95% CI: 1.28-9.61; p = 0.015) were factors associated with recreational drug use. Methamphetamine and nitrites were two most common recreational drugs. Recreational drug use was significantly associated with STDs in one-year follow-up period (aOR, 2.43; 95% CI: 1.11-5.32; p = 0.027) but was not significantly associated with unsuppressed viral load, though a trend was observed (OR, 2.23; 95% CI: 0.92-5.37; p = 0.074). Potential interactions with recreational drugs included 33.1% antiretroviral drugs and 31.3% medications for comorbidities. CONCLUSION: Recreational drug was associated with STDs. A great proportion of the patients consuming recreational drugs had potential interactions with antiretroviral drugs and medications for comorbidities. The association of recreational drug use and unsuppressed viral load warrants further investigation.

Stereoselective Synthesis of Alkenyl Silanes, Sulfones, Phosphine Oxides, and Nitroolefins by Radical C-S Bond Cleavage of Arylalkenyl Sulfides.

A radical-mediated approach has been introduced for the C-S bond activation of arylalkenyl sulfides. The protocol provides an efficient approach for the generation of various alkenes including alkenyl silanes, sulfones, phosphine oxides, and nitroolefins. In most cases, these radical substitutions are performed under metal-free conditions with stereospecificity.

Acid/Phosphide-Induced Radical Route to Alkyl and Alkenyl Sulfides and Phosphonothioates from Sodium Arylsulfinates in Water.

A newly developed aqueous system with acid and phosphide was introduced in which odorless and stable sodium arylsulfinates can in situ generate arylsulfenyl radicals. These radicals have high reactivity to react with alkynes, alkenes, and H-phosphine oxides for the synthesis of alkyl and alkenyl sulfides and phosphonothioates. The control experiments and quantum calculations are also performed to gain insights into the generation mechanism of arylsulfenyl radicals. Notably, the chemistry is free of thiol odors, organic solvents, and metals.

Radical Route to 1,4-Benzothiazine Derivatives from 2-Aminobenzenethiols and Ketones under Transition-Metal-Free Conditions.

Transition-metal-free radical access to 1,4-benzothiazine derivatives from o-aminobenzenethiols is disclosed. This procedure is available for various ketones including α,ß-unsaturated, cyclic, linear, and fluoroalkyl ketones to generate a number of 1,4-benzothiazines, which exist in numerous bioactive and natural molecules, rendering this protocol attractive to both synthetic and medicinal chemistry.

A Route to α-Fluoroalkyl Sulfides from α-Fluorodiaroylmethanes.

α,α-Difluorodiaroylmethane can be used as a nucleophilic difluoromethylation reagent for generating α-thioaryl-α,α-difluoroacetophenones (Ar(1)COCF2SAr) and difluoromethylthiolated arenes (ArSCF2H) under transition-metal-free conditions. The reaction selectivity is mainly dependent on temperature. The method has also been extended to the synthesis of α-thioaryl-α-monofluoroacetophenones using α-monofluorodibenzoylmethane. Moreover, the benzoyl cation derived from α,α-difluorodibenzoylmethane can react with nucleophiles to afford the desired products in a one-pot process.

Odorless, One-Pot Regio- and Stereoselective Iodothiolation of Alkynes with Sodium Arenesulfinates under Metal-Free Conditions in Water.

A newly developed regio- and stereoselective radical addition of alkyne under metal-free conidtions has been disclosed. This chemistry, in which odorless sodium arenesulfinates in place of thiols are used as the sulfur reagent, provides an efficient, one-pot approach for the generation of ß-iodoalkenyl sulfides, which can be easily further functionalized to derive various alkenes and alkynyl sulfides rendering this methodology attractive to both synthetic and medicinal chemistry.

Serum MMP-9 is elevated in children with asthma.

This study explored the association of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) serum concentration and gene polymorphism with childhood asthma. Serum levels of MMP-9 were determined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 65 children with asthma (cases) and 68 healthy children (controls), and the -1562C/T polymorphism in MMP-9 was detected by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The results showed that the mean serum levels of MMP-9 in the children with asthma (136.53 ± 29.96 ng/ml) were significantly higher than that in the healthy controls (45.08 ± 12.53 ng/ml; P<0.05). At MMP-9 base position -1562, the frequencies of the genotypes CC, CT and TT in cases were 67.7, 29.2 and 3.1% and in controls were 73.5, 25.0 and 1.5%. The allele frequencies of C and T in cases vs. controls were 82.3 and 17.7% vs. 86.0 and 14.0%, respectively. No statistically significant difference was detected in genotype or allele frequency between these groups. In addition, no significant difference in serum levels of MMP-9 was observed within groups among children with different genotypes (P>0.05). Therefore, whereas serum levels of MMP-9 are associated with the occurrence of childhood asthma, the MMP-9 -1562C/T gene polymorphism has no correlation with the pathogenesis of childhood asthma.