The Effects of Prescribed Medications on Depressive Symptoms and Neurocognitive Performance in People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Background: Alterations in brain function and structure, such as depression and neurocognitive impairment, continue to occur in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PWH) taking suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART). The lifespan of PWH has improved but the healthspan remains worse than people without HIV, in part because of aging-related diseases. As a result, polypharmacy is common and increases the risk of drug-drug interactions and adverse reactions.

Sex-specific effects of low-dose hydrocortisone on threat detection in HIV.

One sex differences in the perception of emotion is that females, particularly those with high anxiety, often show heightened identification of fearful faces. To better understand the causal role of glucocorticoids in this sex difference, we examine these associations in people with HIV(PWH) where emotion perception is impaired and mental health disorders are frequent. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, we used a single low-dose of hydrocortisone (10 mg; LDH) as a mechanistic probe of the effects of elevated glucocorticoids on negative emotion perception in 65 PWH (31 women).

Current Considerations for Clinical Management and Care of People with HIV: Findings from the 11th Annual International HIV and Aging Workshop.

The number of people with HIV (PWH) aged 50 years or older continues to steadily increase. The convergence of age- and HIV-related complications in these individuals presents a challenge for both patients and clinicians alike. New findings continue to emerge, as numerous researchers evaluate the combined impact of these two factors on quality of life, physiological systems, and mental health in PWH.

Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitor Start or Switch Impacts Learning in Women With HIV.

Background: Integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) are first-line regimens for HIV treatment. We aimed to examine their impact on cognitive performance and depressive symptoms in women with HIV (WWH).

Setting: Women's Interagency HIV Study, a multisite, prospective, cohort study.

Starting or Switching to an Integrase Inhibitor-Based Regimen Affects PTSD Symptoms in Women with HIV.

As the use of Integrase inhibitor (INSTI)-class antiretroviral medications becomes more common to maintain long-term viral suppression, early reports suggest the potential for CNS side-effects when starting or switching to an INSTI-based regimen. In a population already at higher risk for developing mood and anxiety disorders, these drugs may have significant effects on PTSD scale symptom scores, particularly in women with HIV (WWH). A total of 551 participants were included after completing ≥ 1 WIHS study visits before and after starting/switching to an INSTI-based ART regimen.

Brief Report: Higher Peripheral Monocyte Activation Markers Are Associated With Smaller Frontal and Temporal Cortical Volumes in Women With HIV.

Background: Persistent inflammation is a life-long complication of HIV infection, even in virally suppressed individuals. Elevated plasma concentrations of soluble(s) CD14 and CD163 have been established as biomarkers of chronic inflammation, conferring higher risk for cognitive, neurovascular, and structural abnormalities.

Methods: Structural magnetic resonance imaging (frontal and temporal regions) as well as plasma inflammatory biomarkers of monocyte activation (sCD14 and sCD163), general inflammation (plasma C-reactive protein, interleukin[IL]-6), and gut microbial translocation (plasma intestinal fatty acid-binding protein) were available on 38 women (25 with HIV) from the Chicago Women's Interagency HIV Study site.

Mechanisms of Cognitive Aging in the HIV-Positive Adult.

Purpose Of Review: As of the year 2016, an estimated 50% of the United States' HIV-Positive population is aged 50 years or older. Due to a combination of increased rates of infection in older adults, and successful anti-retroviral (ART) regimens allowing HIV-positive adults to survive for decades with the disease, we are now faced with a steadily graying HIV-positive population, with only limited knowledge of how the cognitive and physiological effects of aging intersect with those of chronic HIV-infection.

Recent Findings: Age-related changes to mood, cognition, and neurological health may be experienced differently in those living with HIV, and research concerning quality of life, mental health, and cognitive aging needs to account for and explore these factors more carefully in the coming years.

Subjective memory complaints are associated with poorer cognitive performance in adults with HIV.

With successful antiretroviral therapy in the US, HIV-positive adults now routinely survive into old age. However, increased life expectancy with HIV introduces the added complication of age-related cognitive decline. Aging with HIV has been associated with poorer cognitive outcomes compared to HIV-negative adults.

Beyond Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors: Novel Cholinergic Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease.

The major components of the cholinergic receptor system of the human brain include projections from the basal forebrain nuclei, and utilize the two types of receptors that they synapse on, nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. With the widespread cortical and subcortical projections of the basal forebrain, activity of these two receptor systems provide modulation of neurotransmitter activity underlying normal cognitive processes, such as attention, episodic memory, and working memory. Alzheimer's disease (AD) targets and damages cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain, and as these projections are lost, cognitive performance progressively declines.

Civilian PTSD symptoms and risk for involvement in the criminal justice system.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has received considerable attention with regard to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In studies of veterans, behavioral sequelae of PTSD can include hostile and violent behavior. Rates of PTSD found in impoverished, high-risk urban populations within U.

Dark-enhanced startle responses and heart rate variability in a traumatized civilian sample: putative sex-specific correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objective: Trauma is associated with increased risk for anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To further understand biologic mechanisms of PTSD, we examined the dark-enhanced startle response, a psychophysiological correlate of anxiety, and heart rate variability (HRV) in traumatized individuals with and without PTSD. The associations of these measures with PTSD may be sex-specific because of their associations with the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, a sexually dimorphic brain structure in the limbic system that is approximately 2.

Physiological markers of anxiety are increased in children of abused mothers.

Background: A growing number of studies indicate that low income, African American men and women living in urban environments are at high risk for trauma exposure, which may have intergenerational effects. The current study employed psychophysiological methods to describe biomarkers of anxiety in children of traumatized mothers.

Methods: Study participants were recruited from a highly traumatized urban population, comprising mother-child pairs (n=36) that included school-age children.