HIV stroke risk: evidence and implications.

An estimated 34 million men, women, and children are infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Current technology cannot eradicate HIV-1, and most patients with HIV-1-infection (HIV+) will require lifelong treatment with combined antiretroviral therapy (cART). Stroke was recognized as a complication of HIV-1 infection since the early days of the epidemic.

The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium brain gene array: two types of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment.

Background: The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC) performed a brain gene expression array to elucidate pathophysiologies of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1)-associated neurocognitive disorders.

Methods: Twenty-four human subjects in four groups were examined A) Uninfected controls; B) HIV-1 infected subjects with no substantial neurocognitive impairment (NCI); C) Infected with substantial NCI without HIV encephalitis (HIVE); D) Infected with substantial NCI and HIVE. RNA from neocortex, white matter, and neostriatum was processed with the Affymetrix® array platform.

Nuclear factor IA is expressed in astrocytomas and is associated with improved survival.

Nuclear factor IA (NFIA) is a transcription factor that specifies glial cell identity and promotes astrocyte differentiation during embryonic development. Its expression and function in gliomas are not known. Here, we examined NFIA protein expression in gliomas and its association with clinical outcome in pediatric malignant astrocytomas.

An exploratory study of long-term neurocognitive outcomes following recovery from opportunistic brain infections in HIV+ adults.

Central nervous system opportunistic infections (CNS-OI) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in AIDS. While current interventions are increasingly successful in treating CNS-OI, little information exists regarding long-term behavioral outcomes among survivors. In this exploratory study we examined neurocognitive data among three groups of adults with different AIDS-related CNS-OI: 15 with past cryptococcal meningitis (CM), 8 with toxoplasmosis encephalitis (TE), and 8 with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

Review of meningioma histopathology.

The histological appearance of a meningioma is an important predictor of tumor behavior and is frequently a factor in decisions concerning therapy. The relationship between histological features and prognosis is formalized in grading schemes such as those published by the World Health Organization (WHO), most recently in 2007. Although the latest edition is an improvement over previous grading schemes, the WHO scheme still fails to fully address a variety of important issues regarding the relationship between meningioma histological characteristics and behavior.

Pathology of primary central nervous system lymphoma.

The understanding of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has lagged behind that of the much more common systemic, nodal lymphomas. Reasons for this include the relative rarity of PCNSL and the fact that these lesions differ in some ways from their histologically similar systemic counterparts. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, the author provides concise descriptions of the pathological features of both common and uncommon types of PCNSL while discussing issues such as the confusion surrounding histological classification of PCNSLs, problems related to intraoperative diagnosis, and the appropriate diagnostic work up.

A rare case of periosteal osteoblastoma located in the frontal cranial bone.

Periosteal osteoblastoma is an extremely rare bone-forming neoplasm located on the surface of cortical bone. Of the fewer than 30 cases of periosteal osteoblastomas found in the literature, 2 have been reported to be located in cranial bone, and these have not been documented in detail with clinical history, radiographic findings, macroscopic features, and microscopic findings. Although the differential diagnoses of periosteal lesions include parosteal and periosteal osteosarcoma, periosteal chondroma and chondrosarcoma, osteochondroma, osteoid osteoma, periostitis ossificans, and myositis ossificans, an important differential diagnosis both radiologically and pathologically of such a lesion in the cranium is meningioma.