Background Despite the increased prevalence of HIV in the rural female population of India, adherence to antiretroviral therapy continues to be low due to several barriers which discourage rural women. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of an intervention (Asha-Life) delivered by Accredited Social Health Activists to improve antiretroviral therapy adherence of rural women living with AIDS in India compared to that of a usual care group. Method A total of 68 rural women living with AIDS, aged 18–45 years, participated in a prospective, randomized pilot clinical trial and were assessed for several factors affecting adherence, such as sociodemographic characteristics, health history, CD4 cell count, enacted stigma, depressive symptomology, help getting antiretroviral therapy, and perceived therapy benefits. Results Findings at 6 months revealed that, while both groups improved their adherence to antiretroviral therapy, there was greater improvement in the Asha-Life group (p < .001), who reported a greater reduction in barriers to antiretroviral therapy than those in the usual care group. Discussion Antiretroviral therapy adherence showed significant increase in the Asha-Life cohort, in which basic education on HIV/AIDS, counseling on antiretroviral therapy, financial assistance, and better nutrition was provided. The Asha-Life intervention may have great potential in improving antiretroviral therapy adherence and decreasing barriers among rural women living with AIDS in India.

Synaptosomal expression of NCX1, NCX2, and NCX3, the three variants of the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger (NCX), was investigated in Alzheimer’s disease parietal cortex. Flow cytometry and immunoblotting techniques were used to analyze synaptosomes prepared from cryopreserved brain of cognitively normal aged controls and late stage Alzheimer’s disease patients. Major findings that emerged from this study are: (1) NCX1 was the most abundant NCX isoform in nerve terminals of cognitively normal patients; (2) NCX2 and NCX3 protein levels were modulated in parietal cortex of late stage Alzheimer’s disease: NCX2 positive terminals were increased in the Alzheimer’s disease cohort while counts of NCX3 positive terminals were reduced; (3) NCX1, NCX2 and NCX3 isoforms co-localized with amyloid-beta in synaptic terminals and all three variants are up-regulated in nerve terminals containing amyloid-beta. Taken together, these data indicate that NCX isoforms are selectively regulated in pathological terminals, suggesting different roles of each NCX isoform in Alzheimer’s disease terminals.