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Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of Mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) in women living with HIV (WLWH) in a tertiary care institution. Furthermore, we aimed to assess prenatal ultrasound screening for fetal anomalies and outcomes in high-risk pregnancies due to maternal HIV infection." Methods: In this single-center study, retrospective data related to pregnancy and childbirth were collected from 420 WLWH. All data were evaluated descriptively. Results: From January 2014 to December 2020, a total number of 420 pregnant WLWH delivered 428 newborns. 415 (98.8%) were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 88.8% had a viral load of < 50 cop/ml prior delivery. 46 (11%) of the newborns were born prematurely. Low birth weight < 2500 g occurred in 38 (9.1%) of the children. 219 (52.1%) caesarean sections (CS) were performed. The most frequent indication for an elective CS was a previous CS (70.2%). 8 severe malformations were detected using first and second trimester ultrasound. In one child, MTCT was detected postpartum, resulting in an HIV transmission rate of 0.2% in the presented cohort. Conclusions: The low rate of vertical HIV-transmission in our cohort of 0.2% is the result of interdisciplinary prenatal care and high experience of healthcare providers in treatment of WLWH. Despite high ART coverage and adherence, good maternal immune system and very low vertical HIV transmission rate, maternal HIV infection remains a challenge in obstetric care. First and second ultrasound screening should be a part of prenatal care for HIV-infected women and should also be offered to HIV-negative women. A reduction of the rate of unnecessary elective caesarean deliveries in WLWH is necessary to reduce complications in subsequent pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is associated in nearly 100% with persistent high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection. ICC is still one of the leading causes for cancer mortality in women worldwide. The immunosuppressive influence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the immunocompromised period of pregnancy due to tolerance induction against the hemiallogeneic fetus, are generally risk factors for acquisition and persistence of HR-HPV infections and their progression to precancerous lesions and HPV-associated carcinoma. Methods: Overall, 81 pregnant women living with HIV (WLWH) were included. A medical history questionnaire was used to record clinical and HIV data. Participants received cervicovaginal cytological smear, colposcopy and HPV testing. HPV test was performed using BSGP5+/6+ PCR with Luminex read-out. The HR-HPV genotypes 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, 58 were additionally grouped together as high-high-risk HPV (HHR-HPV) for the purpose of risk-adapted analysis. Results: HR-HPV prevalence was 45.7%. Multiple HPV infections were detected in 27.2% of participants, of whom all had at least one HR-HPV genotype included. HR-HPV16 and HR-HPV52 were the most prevalent genotypes and found when high squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) was detected by cytology. HIV viral load of ≥ 50 copies/ml was associated with higher prevalence of HR-HPV infections. Whereas, CD4 T cells < 350/µl showed association with occurrence of multiple HPV infections. Time since HIV diagnosis seemed to impact HPV prevalence. Conclusion: Pregnant WLWH require particularly attentive and extended HPV-, colposcopical- and cytological screening, whereby clinical and HIV-related risk factors should be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors are nowadays standard in computerized visual presentation. However, when millisecond precise presentation is concerned, they have often yielded imprecise and unreliable presentation times, with substantial variation across specific models, making it difficult to know whether they can be used for precise vision experiments or not. The present paper intends to act as hands-on guide to set up an experiment requiring millisecond precise visual presentation with LCD monitors. It summarizes important characteristics relating to precise visual stimulus presentation, enabling researchers to transfer parameters reported for cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to LCD monitors. More importantly, we provide empirical evidence from a preregistered study showing the suitability of LCD monitors for millisecond precise timing research. Using sequential testing, we conducted a masked number priming experiment using CRT and LCD monitors. Both monitor types yielded comparable results as indicated by Bayes factor favoring the null hypothesis of no difference between display types. More specifically, we found masked number priming under conditions of zero awareness with both types of monitor. Thus, the present study highlights the importance of hardware settings for empirical psychological research; inadequate settings might lead to more "noise" in results thereby concealing potentially existing effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with two well-documented phenomena regarding emotional stimuli: emotional memory enhancement-that is, better long-term memory for emotional than for neutral stimuli-and the emotion-induced recognition bias-that is, a more liberal response criterion for emotional than for neutral stimuli. Studies on visual emotion perception and attention suggest that emotion-related processes can be modulated by means of spatial-frequency filtering of the presented emotional stimuli. Specifically, low spatial frequencies are assumed to play a primary role for the influence of emotion on attention and judgment. Given this theoretical background, we investigated whether spatial-frequency filtering also impacts (1) the memory advantage for emotional faces and (2) the emotion-induced recognition bias, in a series of old/new recognition experiments. Participants completed incidental-learning tasks with high- (HSF) and low- (LSF) spatial-frequency-filtered emotional and neutral faces. The results of the surprise recognition tests showed a clear memory advantage for emotional stimuli. Most importantly, the emotional memory enhancement was significantly larger for face images containing only low-frequency information (LSF faces) than for HSF faces across all experiments, suggesting that LSF information plays a critical role in this effect, whereas the emotion-induced recognition bias was found only for HSF stimuli. We discuss our findings in terms of both the traditional account of different processing pathways for HSF and LSF information and a stimulus features account. The double dissociation in the results favors the latter account-that is, an explanation in terms of differences in the characteristics of HSF and LSF stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are frequently affected by cervical dysplasia caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and invasive cervical cancer (CxCa). CxCa screening programs can include colposcopy, cytology, and HPV testing. These methods, however, have limitations in effectively stratifying cervical dysplasia. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of an innovative mRNA-based multiplexed expression-quantifying assay in the detection and assessment of cervical dysplasia in WLWH.The QuantiGene-Molecular-Profiling-Histology Assay (QG-MPH) was used to detect and quantify HPV oncogene and cellular biomarker mRNA expression. These results were included in the Risk Score (QG-MPH RS) calculations that inform about the presence and severity of dysplasia. QG-MPH RS results were compared to the highly sensitive Multiplexed Papillomavirus Genotyping (MPG) Assay and clinical results obtained by cytology, colposcopy and histology. For a standardized nomenclature of clinical results, the clinical ASSIST Score was used.Of 241 WLWH, including 96 pregnant women, a concordance between the QG-MPH RS and the ASSIST Score was found to 36.3% (49/135) in non-pregnant WLWH and 67.1% (57/85) in pregnant WLWH. The QG-MPH method demonstrated high specificity for detecting high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes and high-grade cervical dysplasia, achieving 89.6% and 82.4%, respectively, including pregnant and non-pregnant WLWH.The QG-MPH assay shows potential for improving the detection and management of HPV-related cervical dysplasia in WLWH, including pregnant women. Its high specificity, however, is tempered by its tendency to overestimate dysplasia severity in certain cases, indicating that further research is needed to refine its use as a reliable diagnostic tool for this high-risk population.Methods: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are frequently affected by cervical dysplasia caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and invasive cervical cancer (CxCa). CxCa screening programs can include colposcopy, cytology, and HPV testing. These methods, however, have limitations in effectively stratifying cervical dysplasia. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of an innovative mRNA-based multiplexed expression-quantifying assay in the detection and assessment of cervical dysplasia in WLWH.The QuantiGene-Molecular-Profiling-Histology Assay (QG-MPH) was used to detect and quantify HPV oncogene and cellular biomarker mRNA expression. These results were included in the Risk Score (QG-MPH RS) calculations that inform about the presence and severity of dysplasia. QG-MPH RS results were compared to the highly sensitive Multiplexed Papillomavirus Genotyping (MPG) Assay and clinical results obtained by cytology, colposcopy and histology. For a standardized nomenclature of clinical results, the clinical ASSIST Score was used.Of 241 WLWH, including 96 pregnant women, a concordance between the QG-MPH RS and the ASSIST Score was found to 36.3% (49/135) in non-pregnant WLWH and 67.1% (57/85) in pregnant WLWH. The QG-MPH method demonstrated high specificity for detecting high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes and high-grade cervical dysplasia, achieving 89.6% and 82.4%, respectively, including pregnant and non-pregnant WLWH.The QG-MPH assay shows potential for improving the detection and management of HPV-related cervical dysplasia in WLWH, including pregnant women. Its high specificity, however, is tempered by its tendency to overestimate dysplasia severity in certain cases, indicating that further research is needed to refine its use as a reliable diagnostic tool for this high-risk population.Results: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are frequently affected by cervical dysplasia caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and invasive cervical cancer (CxCa). CxCa screening programs can include colposcopy, cytology, and HPV testing. These methods, however, have limitations in effectively stratifying cervical dysplasia. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of an innovative mRNA-based multiplexed expression-quantifying assay in the detection and assessment of cervical dysplasia in WLWH.The QuantiGene-Molecular-Profiling-Histology Assay (QG-MPH) was used to detect and quantify HPV oncogene and cellular biomarker mRNA expression. These results were included in the Risk Score (QG-MPH RS) calculations that inform about the presence and severity of dysplasia. QG-MPH RS results were compared to the highly sensitive Multiplexed Papillomavirus Genotyping (MPG) Assay and clinical results obtained by cytology, colposcopy and histology. For a standardized nomenclature of clinical results, the clinical ASSIST Score was used.Of 241 WLWH, including 96 pregnant women, a concordance between the QG-MPH RS and the ASSIST Score was found to 36.3% (49/135) in non-pregnant WLWH and 67.1% (57/85) in pregnant WLWH. The QG-MPH method demonstrated high specificity for detecting high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes and high-grade cervical dysplasia, achieving 89.6% and 82.4%, respectively, including pregnant and non-pregnant WLWH.The QG-MPH assay shows potential for improving the detection and management of HPV-related cervical dysplasia in WLWH, including pregnant women. Its high specificity, however, is tempered by its tendency to overestimate dysplasia severity in certain cases, indicating that further research is needed to refine its use as a reliable diagnostic tool for this high-risk population.Conclusion: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are frequently affected by cervical dysplasia caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and invasive cervical cancer (CxCa). CxCa screening programs can include colposcopy, cytology, and HPV testing. These methods, however, have limitations in effectively stratifying cervical dysplasia. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of an innovative mRNA-based multiplexed expression-quantifying assay in the detection and assessment of cervical dysplasia in WLWH.The QuantiGene-Molecular-Profiling-Histology Assay (QG-MPH) was used to detect and quantify HPV oncogene and cellular biomarker mRNA expression. These results were included in the Risk Score (QG-MPH RS) calculations that inform about the presence and severity of dysplasia. QG-MPH RS results were compared to the highly sensitive Multiplexed Papillomavirus Genotyping (MPG) Assay and clinical results obtained by cytology, colposcopy and histology. For a standardized nomenclature of clinical results, the clinical ASSIST Score was used.Of 241 WLWH, including 96 pregnant women, a concordance between the QG-MPH RS and the ASSIST Score was found to 36.3% (49/135) in non-pregnant WLWH and 67.1% (57/85) in pregnant WLWH. The QG-MPH method demonstrated high specificity for detecting high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes and high-grade cervical dysplasia, achieving 89.6% and 82.4%, respectively, including pregnant and non-pregnant WLWH.The QG-MPH assay shows potential for improving the detection and management of HPV-related cervical dysplasia in WLWH, including pregnant women. Its high specificity, however, is tempered by its tendency to overestimate dysplasia severity in certain cases, indicating that further research is needed to refine its use as a reliable diagnostic tool for this high-risk population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]