Rapid Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation for Women in an HIV-1 Prevention Clinical Trial Experiencing Primary HIV-1 Infection during Pregnancy or Breastfeeding

During an HIV-1 prevention clinical trial in East Africa, we observed 16 cases of primary HIV-1 infection in women coincident with pregnancy or breastfeeding. Nine of eleven pregnant women initiated rapid combination antiretroviral therapy (ART), despite having CD4 counts exceeding national criteria for ART initiation; breastfeeding women initiated ART or replacement feeding. Rapid ART initiation during primary HIV-1 infection during pregnancy and breastfeeding is feasible in this setting.     

Particle Pollution Estimation Based on Image Analysis

Exposure to fine particles can cause various diseases, and an easily accessible method to monitor the particles can help raise public awareness and reduce harmful exposures. Here we report a method to estimate PM air pollution based on analysis of a large number of outdoor images available for Beijing, Shanghai (China) and Phoenix (US). Six image features were extracted from the images, which were used, together with other relevant data, such as the position of the sun, date, time, geographic information and weather conditions, to predict PM_2.5 index. The results demonstrate that the image analysis method provides good prediction of PM_2.5 indexes, and different features have different significance levels in the prediction.     

Cortical Plasticity Induced by Spike-Triggered Microstimulation in Primate Somatosensory Cortex

Electrical stimulation of the nervous system for therapeutic purposes, such as deep brain stimulation in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, has been used for decades. Recently, increased attention has focused on using microstimulation to restore functions as diverse as somatosensation and memory. However, how microstimulation changes the neural substrate is still not fully understood. Microstimulation may cause cortical changes that could either compete with or complement natural neural processes, and could result in neuroplastic changes rendering the region dysfunctional or even epileptic. As part of our efforts to produce neuroprosthetic devices and to further study the effects of microstimulation on the cortex, we stimulated and recorded from microelectrode arrays in the hand area of the primary somatosensory cortex (area 1) in two awake macaque monkeys. We applied a simple neuroprosthetic microstimulation protocol to a pair of electrodes in the area 1 array, using either random pulses or pulses time-locked to the recorded spiking activity of a reference neuron. This setup was replicated using a computer model of the thalamocortical system, which consisted of 1980 spiking neurons distributed among six cortical layers and two thalamic nuclei. Experimentally, we found that spike-triggered microstimulation induced cortical plasticity, as shown by increased unit-pair mutual information, while random microstimulation did not. In addition, there was an increased response to touch following spike-triggered microstimulation, along with decreased neural variability. The computer model successfully reproduced both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the experimental findings. The physiological findings of this study suggest that even simple microstimulation protocols can be used to increase somatosensory information flow.