Objective We evaluated whether regular mobile phone text reminders improved patients’ retention in antiretroviral therapy (ART) care in Mozambique. Design SMSaúde was a randomised control trial of HIV-infected patients on ART who received regular text message reminder vs. standard of care at three public health facilities in Maputo Province, Mozambique. The primary outcome was retention in HIV care. Between November 2011 and March 2012, 830 eligible HIV-infected patients on ART were randomized 1:1 to the text reminder intervention or standard of care. Methods We used Kaplan-Meier estimators and log-rank tests to compare proportions of patients who received SMS reminders who were retained in HIV care compared to the control group which received standard of care. Post-hoc analyses were done using Cox proportional-hazards models stratified by urban/rural facility and when initiated ART (<3-months vs. >3-months). Hazard ratios and confidence intervals are reported. Analysis was with intention to treat. Results Patients who received text messages had lower attrition from HIV care at 12-months, though the difference was non-significant (RR=0.68, 95%CI=0.41–1.13). Among urban patients, text messages improved retention in HIV care (RR=0.54, 95% CI=0.31–0.95). Intervention patients newly initiated on ART (<3-months) had lower attrition compared to control patients (HR=0.54; 95% CI=0.23–0.91), especially urban newly initiated patients (HR=0.20, 95% CI=0.06–0.64). Text messages had no effect on retention among rural patients. Conclusion Text messages did not improve retention in HIV care for all patients on ART, but improved retention in care of urban patients and those who recently started ART and received text reminders compared with standard of care. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01910493

Retinoids and interferon alpha have shown synergistic activity against metastatic renal cell carcinoma in previous preclinical and clinical studies. Based on these results, we conducted a phase II trial of 13-cis-retinoic acid (cRA) at 1 mg/kg/dose interferon alpha2a (IFN) at initial dose of 9 MU three times a week. Thirty-one patients were entered, all evaluable for toxicity and 30 evaluable for response. One patient achieved a partial response and 10 patients achieved stable disease. Toxicity was mild and primarily related to interferon. No toxic deaths were reported. Median survival time was 10 months. At the dose and schedule used, cRA and interferon-alpha2a showed low activity against metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Further studies with this combination are not recommended.