Semen May Harbor HIV Despite Effective HAART: Another Piece in the Puzzle

The risk of male-to-female intravaginal HIV-1 transmission is estimated at about 1 event per 200–2000 coital acts. The aim of this study was to assess the residual risk of HIV presence in semen in patients under HAART therapy.The study took place in France from October 2001 to March 2009. 394 paired blood and semen samples were provided from 332 HIV-1 infected men. The Roche Cobas AMPLICOR Monitor HIV assay was used to quantify HIV-1 RNA in blood and in seminal plasma. Three percent of 394 HIV-1 infected men enrolled in an assisted reproductive technology program harbored detectable HIV-1 RNA in semen, although they had no other sexually transmitted disease and their blood viral load was undetectable for at least 6 months under antiretroviral treatment.These data suggest that undetectable plasma HIV RNA means a lower risk of viral transmission through seminal fluid on a population level, but not necessarily at the level of the individual

Declarative, Secure, Convergent Edge Computation

Eventual consistency is a more natural model than strong consistency for a distributed system, since it is closer to the underlying physical reality. Therefore, we propose that it is important to find a programming model that is both congenial to developers and supports eventual consistency. In particular, we consider that a crucial test for such a model is that it should support edge computation in a both natural and secure way. We present a preliminary work report with an initial solution, called Lasp, which resembles a concurrent functional language while naturally supporting an eventually consistent coordination-free distribution model

Pure species of grass discrimination with the help of hyperspectral imaging NIR

The possibilities to discriminate with hyperspectral imaging system, SWIR ImSpector N25E in grass mixtures of the pure species Festuca rubra L., Trifolium repens L., Agrostis capillaris L., Hieracium aurantiacum L., Arnica montana L.was the objective of this study. All the samples were collected from natural meadows, from the National Apuseni Park, Apuseni Mountains, from Gârda area. The samples were naturally dried then prepared using the protocol for NIRS analyze. The model built with PLS–DA, was used to demonstrate wether the classes discrimination between pure species is possible or not. The goal of this study was to see in other images if the pure species are or are not recognized according to the spectral data base. The potential of using the Hyperspectral Imaging NIR (Camera NIR) to discriminate or to identify pure species was confirmed. For this technique the MatLab program was used .A percentage of more than 96% correct prediction for species discrimination was obtained. This study should drive to a more important point, which is to verify whether the toxic species are or are not used as food for animals in the natural meadows. The floristic composition of a meadow can be determined only if we have in the data base, dates for each identified species, as being part of the mix