A missing piece in the puzzle: HIV in mature adults in sub-Saharan Africa

Healthcare and social needs for mature adults aged 50 years or older differ from those of younger adults due to stigma concerning HIV in older people, beliefs that engagement in sexual activity no longer applies, age driven comorbidities and responses to antiretroviral treatment, which complicate HIV diagnosis and management. In the face of a growing HIV epidemic in mature adults, mostly due to infected people aging with HIV, but also due to new infections in this age group, HIV services, which mostly cater for HIV in young adults and children, and HIV education messages and interventions, which mainly target young adults, leave the mature adult exposed and vulnerable to HIV transmission and to a lack of care and treatment thereafter.     

Cardiac lipoprotein lipase: effects of lipopolysaccharide and tumor necrosis factor

Summary Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the active principle of certain endotoxins, protein-free perfused in rat hearts leads in 3 h to a considerable loss of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity. In the presence of albumin LPS has virtually no effect. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) added instead of LPS had no effects on LPL activity during 3 hin vitro perfusion. LPS injected into rats intravenously leads within 3 h to severe toxic phenomena amongst which increased capillary permeability. This was visualized as increased rate of interstitial fluid formation in Langendorff hearts mounted 3 h after rats had been treated with LPS. LPL activity did not decline in 3 h lasting endotoxemia. Six hours after LPS injection, however, cardiac LPL activity was considerably lowered, although immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry still showed LPL protein to be present. These date indicate the presence of a considerable pool of inactive LPL protein in addition to active LPL, that can be released in the presence of heparin. The LPL activity is lowered by LPS injection after a lag phase of at least 3 h, while capillary endothelial cells are influenced more rapidly. The relatively late expression of TNF toxicity in cardiomyocytes of the intact heart is discussed.     

Effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) on lipolytic activities of rat heart

Summary Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) inhibits lipoprotein lipase activity in cultured myocytes and in the Langendorff rat heart after 3 h perfusion with TNF of glucocorticoid-pretreated rats. TNF acutely stimulates glyc(ogen)olysis and concomitantly endogenous lipolysis. The latter was significantly increased only when rats had been pretreated with glucocorticoid or fed a trierucate-rich diet. Under these conditions, contractile activity of the Langendorff hearts was acutely increased by TNF The mechanism of the actue increase of contractile function and the accompanying increased glycolytic and lipolytic activities, by TNF, may be explained by increased cytosolic Ca²⁺ and cAMP levels.     

Association of spectrin with manchette microtubules in mammalian spermatids

Summary— In hamster and mouse spermatozoa a spectrin immunogold labeling was found under the plasma membrane in the principal piece of the flagellum. During spermatid differentiation, the spectrin labeling was associated with the manchette, a transient microtubular network involved in nuclear shaping and organelle translocation.