HIV

• A total of 59 abstracts have been accepted, composed of data evaluating and educating on risk factors, treatment options and ongoing research advances to improve cardiovascular care and outcomes for patients.
• RWJBarnabas Health cardiac centers of excellence are nationally recognized for patient care and superior outcomes, including being named as one of Becker's top 100 Great Heart Programs in the country and recognized by American College of Cardiology as a Proven Quality Program.
• Prior studies suggest that distinct patient subgroups with aortic stenosis may experience left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction before the development of severe AS.
• The study included patients who had received an angiogram done within 14 days of the CMR.

• Emelina Martinez, Safe Syringe Exchange Services Manager for The SPOT, states, "Many spring breakers don't realize that the substances they are purchasing on the street might be laced with fentanyl or xylazine.
• Our goal is to reach more people this year, distributing more Narcan with the hope of saving even more lives."
• This emphasizes the critical need for awareness and harm reduction efforts, such as those undertaken by The SPOT, to mitigate the negative consequences of substance use during spring break and beyond.
• In addition to its primary mission of harm reduction, The SPOT operates as a mobile medical clinic, offering a range of free medical services.

• But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” Twenty-two hours later, he was assassinated.
• He was not optimistic that he would reach the “Promised Land,” yet he was hopeful about the ultimate goal.
• Self-help books on optimism are lined with hacks – like imagining your greatest possible self or focusing on the best-case scenario.
• It is a mindset that helps people endure challenges, tackle them head-on and keep their eyes on the goal – a virtue that King and other community leaders exemplify.

We, not me

• Hope is stronger than optimism at predicting academic success and people’s ability to cope with pain.
• Plenty of scientific evidence suggests that hope improves individuals’ health and boosts their well-being.
• Centuries of spiritual and philosophical work describe hope as a virtue that, like love, is a decision, not a feeling.

The myth of time

• He faced repeated waves of criticism, and, at the time of his death, fewer Americans approved of him than of the Vietnam War.
• In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King lamented the optimism of moderate white Americans who said they supported his goals but took little action.
• There is a “strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills,” he wrote.

King was not alone in leveraging virtuous hope for justice. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire described hope as an “existential imperative” that promotes action. Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, called hope a “powerful weapon.”

Forged in adversity

• I study virtuous hope in a South African Zulu community, where there are few reasons for optimism.
• This is the part of the country where HIV is most widespread, with the percentage near 50% in some communities.
• These individuals demonstrated an unwavering focus on striving for a better future, often unglued from expectations of personal success.
• Like King’s, it manifests in hardship and is refined in adversity.
• Hope enables communities to march for justice and democracy even while tasting the danger of dictatorship, apartheid or oligarchy.

Kendra Thomas receives funding from the John Templeton Foundation

• “ACTG is thrilled to present this ground-breaking study at CROI,” said ACTG Chair Judith Currier, M.D., M.Sc., University of California Los Angeles.
• Participants received incentives and support to adhere to their daily oral medication to first achieve viral suppression and if successful, they were randomized to either receive long-acting injectable treatment every four weeks or continue taking daily oral medication.
• The long-acting injectable treatment was more effective than the daily oral medication at maintaining virologic suppression and avoiding treatment-related discontinuation.
• Twenty-eight participants receiving the long-acting injectable treatment experienced regimen failure (defined as virologic failure or treatment discontinuation), compared to 47 receiving daily oral medication.