Brain plasticity and adolescent HIV: A randomised controlled trial protocol investigating behavioural and hemodynamic responses in attention cognitive rehabilitation therapy.

Despite advances in antiretroviral pharmacology, neuroHIV in the central nervous system (CNS), causes neuronal dysregulation, which is associated with compromised neurocognition. Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as HIV cognitive rehabilitation training (HIV-CRT), have shown potential to partially reverse cognitive deficits, sequent HIV neuroinvasion. Nonetheless, no studies exist pairing cognitive outcomes with objective neuroimaging biomarkers in adolescent HIV-CRT. This longitudinal pre-post-quasi-experimental protocol examined cognitive outcomes, paired with optimal neuroimaging outcomes following customised attention training in adolescent HIV. Twenty-six adolescents living with HIV were randomly assigned to either the treatment group, which received attention CRT using ACTIVATE™, (n = 13), or to the treatment as usual group (n = 13). Cognitive outcomes were examined using the NEPSY-II, and BRIEF; whilst neuroimaging outcomes were determined by changes in oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO), as determined by functional near-infrared spectrometry (fNIRS). Functional connectivity fNIRS measures were evaluated using seed-based correlation analysis, located in the central executive network (CEN). This study serves to guide the development and identification of objective biomarkers for adolescent neuroHIV, sequent CRT amongst children living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The cognitive remediation of attention in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND): A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: Despite medical advances in Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), patients living with HIV continue to be at risk for developing HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The optimization of non-HAART interventions, including cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT), shows promise in reversing the impact of HAND. No data exist indicating the efficacy of CRT in remediating attention skills following neuroHIV. This paper presents a meta-analysis of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to remediate attention skills following HIV CRT. Methods: The database search included literature from Google Scholar, ERIC, Cochrane Library, ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, PsycINFO, and grey literature published between 2013 and 2022. Inclusion criteria included studies with participants living with HIV who had undergone CRT intervention to remediate attention skills following neuroHIV. Exclusion criteria included case studies, non-human studies, and literature reviews. To assess study quality, including, randomisation, allocation concealment, participant and personnel blinding, the Cochrane Collaboration ratings system was applied. Results: A total of 14 studies met the inclusion criteria (n = 532). There were significant pre- to post-intervention between-group benefits due to CRT in the experimental group relative to control conditions for the remediation of attention skills following HIV acquisition (Hedges g = 0.251, 95% CI = 0.005 to 0.497; p < 0.05). No significant effects (p > 0.05) were demonstrated for subgroup analysis. Conclusions: To the author's knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis that exclusively analyses the remediation of attention skills in the era of HAART and neuroHIV, where all studies included participants diagnosed with HIV. The overall meta-analysis effect indicates the efficacy of CRT in remediating attention skills in HIV and HAND. It is recommended that future cognitive rehabilitation protocols to remediate attention skills should be context and population-specific and that they be supplemented by objective biomarkers indicating the efficacy of the CRT. Registration: Protocols.io (01/03/2023).

Could differences in implicit attitudes to sexual concurrency play a role in generalized HIV epidemics?

Background: Sexual partner concurrency has been implicated in the genesis of generalized HIV epidemic in South Africa. Most South Africans, however, disapprove of concurrency in surveys. These surveys test individuals' explicit attitudes which are susceptible to a number of important biases such as the social desirability bias. Assessment of implicit cognitions have been found to be better predictors of behaviour in socially sensitive domains. We hypothesized that South Africans may have implicit attitudes more tolerant of concurrency than lower concurrency prevalence populations. Methods: To test this hypothesis, we developed a concurrency-implicit association test (C-IAT) and compared the C-IATs of samples of South African and Belgian university students. Results: We found a large and statistically significant difference in the C-IAT between the South Africans (D600-score = -0.009, indicating absence of preference for concurrency or monogamy) and Belgians (D600-score = 0.783, indicating a strong preference for monogamy; t-test = 13.3; P < 0.0001). The effect size measure, Cohen's d, was found to be 0.88, which is considered a large effect size in this field. Conclusions: Our results are compatible with the thesis that differences in implicit attitudes to concurrency play a role in the genesis of generalised HIV epidemics.

Why do some South African ethnic groups have very high HIV rates and others not?

The differences in HIV prevalence between South Africa's racial/ethnic groups (19.9%, 3.2%, and 0.5% among 15-49-year-old blacks, coloureds and whites, respectively) are as big as those between the countries with the highest and lowest levels of HIV prevalence worldwide. These large racial/ethnic differences are largely determined by different sexual network structures. In networks among black South Africans, sexual partnerships are more likely to be arranged concurrently - a configuration that leads to exponential increases in the spread of HIV. An examination of the historical origins of polygamy (where it is normative for partnerships to be arranged concurrently) and monogamy (serial or lifetime) reveals that it is the practice of universal monogamy in stratified societies which is the outlier. The ideology and practice of universal monogamy originated in Europe as the result of several factors, most prominently conflicts between the Christian Church and the nobility. After its imposition in Europe, the European colonial project would see this ideology disseminated around the world. Under the influence of liberalism it would mutate into a secular and unacknowledged value-programme of monogamy as a universal norm. This value-programme and practice of monogamy (mostly serial) is still the norm for white South Africans; thus, this sexual behaviour 'spandrel' (by-product of other historical processes) is a large contributor to the lower levels of HIV prevalence among whites. In pre-colonial African societies, polygyny was normative, and the Christian value-programme of monogamy never achieved the hegemonic status it did in Europe and other areas of conquest. Married black African men who converted to Christianity were no less likely to have additional sexual partners, but only more likely to conceal them. The ongoing secrecy about having concurrent partners has contributed to the connectedness of sexual networks among black Africans at large and in this manner has contributed to the rapid spread of HIV.

Determinants of self-perceived HIV risk in young south Africans engaged in concurrent sexual relationship.

Concurrent sexual partnerships are increasingly believed to be a key factor explaining the size of the HIV pandemic in Southern and Eastern Africa. Little, however, is known about what determines if persons in concurrent relationships develop a perception of being at risk for HIV infection. Data from a representative sample of 2245 young sexually active inhabitants of Cape Town, South Africa, were analysed using multivariate logistic regression to examine what the correlates of HIV risk were in both those involved in concurrent relations (termed the high risk group) and in those not (the low risk group). A considerable difference was noted between males and females. In the high risk group, amongst the males, secondary level education (as compared with primary or post-secondary level), and believing in monogamy (as a means of HIV risk reduction) were correlated with a decreased-perception-of-HIV-risk. The usage of drugs was associated with an increased-perception-of-HIV-risk. Amongst the females, a longer time since sexual debut, having experienced sexual coercion, a greater number of sex partners in the past year and knowing someone who died of AIDS were correlated with an increased-HIV-risk-perception.

Determinants of self-perceived HIV risk in young south africans engaged in concurrent sexual relationships

Concurrent sexual partnerships are increasingly believed to be a key factor explaining the size of the HIV pandemic in Southern and Eastern Africa. Little, however, is known about what determines if persons in concurrent relationships develop a perception of being at risk for HIV infection. Data from a representative sample of 2245 young sexually active inhabitants of Cape Town, South Africa, were analysed using multivariate logistic regression to examine what the correlates of HIV risk were in both those involved in concurrent relations (termed the high risk group) and in those not (the low risk group). A considerable difference was noted between males and females. In the high risk group, amongst the males, secondary level education (as compared with primary or post-secondary level), and believing in monogamy (as a means of HIV risk reduction) were correlated with a decreased-perception of-HIV-risk. The usage of drugs was associated with an increased-perception-of-HIV-risk. Amongst the females, a longer time since sexual debut, having experienced sexual coercion, a greater number of sex partners in the past year and knowing someone who died of AIDS were correlated with an increased HIV-risk-perception (Afr. J. Reprod. Health 2010; 14[3]: 171-181)