Objectives To estimate the number of men who have sex with men and women who are HIV-positive in the United States, and to compare HIV prevalence rates between men who have sex with men and women, men who have sex with men only, and men who have sex with women exclusively. Methods Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of reports referencing HIV prevalence and men who have sex with men and women. We searched PubMed and Ovid PsycINFO for peer-reviewed, U.S.-based articles reporting on HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men and women. We conducted event rate, effect size, moderation and sensitivity analyses. Results We estimate that 1.0% of U.S. males are bisexually-behaving, and that 121,800 bisexually-behaving men are HIV-positive. Men who have sex with men and women are less than half as likely to be HIV-positive as men who have sex with men only (16.9% vs. 33.3%; OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.54), but more than five times as likely to be HIV-positive as men who have sex with women exclusively (18.3% vs. 3.5%; OR = 5.71, 95% CI: 3.47, 9.39). They are less likely to engage in unprotected receptive anal intercourse than men who have sex with men only (15.9% vs. 35.0%; OR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.28, 0.46). Men who have sex with men and women in samples with high racial/ethnic minority proportions had significantly higher HIV prevalence than their counterparts in low racial/ethnic minority samples. Conclusions This represents the first meta-analysis of HIV prevalence in the U.S. between men who have sex with men and women and men who have sex with men only. Data collection, research, and HIV prevention and care delivery specifically tailored to men who have sex with men and women are necessary to better quantify and ameliorate this population’s HIV burden.

The Standard Model fermion sector is enlarged by either one light singlet vector-like down-type quark or one light vector-like lepton doublet, which might be accommodated within a five-dimensional representation of SU(5). At low energies the inclusion of these states affects precisely measured observables in flavor physics, as well as electroweak precision measurements. These experimental results strongly constrain couplings of vector-like states to the Standard Model particles. Having these bounds, we investigate the impact of vector-like fermions on the mass matrices for down-type quarks and charged leptons in an SU(5) setting. We find that unitary transformations relating an arbitrary flavor basis to the mass eigenstate basis depend only on three free parameters. Then we discuss the parameter space constrained by low-energy data assuming vector-like quark and vector-like lepton masses to be 800 GeV and 400 GeV, respectively. We demonstrate that these two scenarios generate unique patterns for relevant proton decay widths. A further improvement of experimental bounds on proton decay modes would thus differentiate the allowed parameter space. We finally present two full-fledged SU(5) models that allow for gauge coupling unification with light vector-like fermions under consideration and discuss their viability.

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) among outpatients of city region Novi Sad, Serbia, and to investigate predictors of potential DDIs.MethodsCross-sectional prescription database study was conducted. In the analysis were randomly included 10% outpatients with polypharmacy (n=4467), who visited Health Center over 1-month period (November 1–30, 2011). All drug combinations with potential for clinical significant DDIs were identified, according to Drug Interaction Facts by David S Tatro. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine patient and drug therapy characteristics as predictors of potential DDIs.ResultsThe prevalence of clinical significant potential DDIs was 33.31%. Odds of exposure were the highest among those aged 65 years or older (odds ratio (OR)=5.204; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.694–10.052, p<0.001), those with ≥ 4 diagnosed diseases (OR=4.451; 95% CI 3.349–5.914, p<0.001), and those who used ≥ 5 drugs (OR= 5.735; 95% CI 4.876–6.747, p<0.001). Chronic diseases as well as their therapy also presented predictors of DDIs.ConclusionApproximately one-third of outpatients living in Novi Sad were exposed to potential DDIs. Based on the present results could be defined recommendations for the management potential clinical significant DDIs.

In epithelial and stem cells, lethal giant larvae (Lgl) is a potent tumour suppressor, a regulator of Notch signalling, and a mediator of cell fate via asymmetric cell division. Recent evidence suggests that the function of Lgl is conserved in mammalian haematopoietic stem cells and implies a contribution to haematological malignancies. To date, direct measurement of the effect of Lgl expression on malignancies of the haematopoietic lineage has not been tested. In Lgl1−/− mice, we analysed the development of haematopoietic malignancies either alone, or in the presence of common oncogenic lesions. We show that in the absence of Lgl1, production of mature white blood cell lineages and long-term survival of mice are not affected. Additionally, loss of Lgl1 does not alter leukaemia driven by constitutive Notch, c-Myc or Jak2 signalling. These results suggest that the role of Lgl1 in the haematopoietic lineage might be restricted to specific co-operating mutations and a limited number of cellular contexts.

The health informatics profession in Bosnia and Herzegovina has relatively long history. Thirty five years from the introduction of the first automatic manipulation of data, thirty years from the establishment of Society for Medical Informatics BiH, twenty years from the establishment of the Scientific journal “Acta Informatica Medica (Acta Inform Med”, indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central Scopus, Embase, etc.), twenty years on from the establishment of the first Cathedra for Medical Informatics on Biomedical Faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ten years on from the introduction of the method of “Distance learning” in medical curriculum. The author of this article is eager to mark the importance of the above mentioned Anniversaries in the development of Health informatics in Bosnia and Herzegovina and have attempted, very briefly, to present the most significant events and persons with essential roles throughout this period.