Validation of the mobile verbal learning test: Illustration of its use for age and disease-related cognitive deficits
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
Authors: Moore, Raeanne C.; Paolillo, Emily W.; Sundermann, Erin E.; Campbell, Laura M.; Delgadillo, Jeremy; Heaton, Anne; Swendsen, Joel; Depp, Colin A.
Abstract
Objective We developed a mobile cognitive test of verbal learning and memory, the mobile verbal learning test (mVLT), to allow for brief, repeated and portable delivery of a 12-item list learning test through a smartphone. This study examined the psychometric properties of the mVLT among older persons with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Methods Sixty-eight persons with HIV and 36 HIV-negative individuals (aged 50-74) completed three trials of the mVLT on a smartphone once daily for 14 days. A different word list was administered each day. Results Participants completed 80% of the 14 mVLT administrations, equating to 1166 valid and complete mVLTs. Neither adherence nor mean mVLT total score (number correct in 3 recall trials) differed by HIV status. No practice effects from repeated mVLT administration were observed, and there were moderately strong correlations of mVLT performance with performance on the in-lab version of the task and with traditional cognitive assessments of cognitive processes contributing to memory. We found evidence of within-person learning across mVLT trials, with persons with HIV demonstrating less learning from trials 1 to 3 compared to HIV-negative participants. Conclusions The mVLT is a valid method to assess learning in the real world in older adults with and without HIV.
Vaginal microbiota diversity and paucity of Lactobacillus species are associated with persistent hrHPV infection in HIV negative but not in HIV positive women
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Authors: Dareng, Eileen O.; Ma, Bing; Adebamowo, Sally N.; Famooto, Ayotunde; Ravel, Jacques; Pharoah, Paul P.; Adebamowo, Clement A.
Abstract
The vaginal microbiota is thought to play a role in modulating risk of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) infection. We examined the relationship between the vaginal microbiota and persistent hrHPV infection in HIV-negative and HIV-positive women. We used 16S-rRNA sequencing to characterize the vaginal microbiota of two serial samples taken six months apart from 211 Nigerian women (67%, 142/211 HIV-positive and 33%, 69/211 HIV-negative) and evaluated the association between the vaginal microbiota and persistent hrHPV infection using generalized estimating equation logistic regression models and linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) algorithm to identify phylotypic biomarkers of persistent hrHPV infection. The high diversity microbiota, Community State Type IV-B, was the most prevalent in both HIV-negative (38% at baseline, 30% at the follow-up visit) and HIV-positive (27% at baseline, 35% at the follow-up visit) women. The relationship between the vaginal microbiota and persistent hrHPV was modified by HIV status. In HIV-negative women, women with Lactobacillus dominant microbiota had lower odds (OR: 0.35, 95% CI 0.14-0.89, p = 0.03) of persistent hrHPV compared to women with Lactobacillus deficient microbiota. While among HIV-positive women, the odds of being persistently infected with hrHPV was higher in women with Lactobacillus dominant microbiota (OR: 1.25, 95% CI 0.73-2.14 p = 0.41). This difference in effect estimates by HIV was statistically significant (p = 0.02). A high diversity vaginal microbial community with paucity of Lactobacillus species was associated with persistent hrHPV infection in HIV-negative women but not in HIV-positive women.