Validation of Thwaites Index for diagnosing tuberculous meningitis in a Colombian population.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of Thwaites Index (TI) in a Colombian population to distinguish meningeal tuberculosis (MTB) from bacterial meningitis (BM) and from non-tuberculous meningitis. Exploratory analyses were conducted to assess the TI's validity for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and children above six-years-old.

Methods: The study included 527 patients, the TI was calculated and results compared with those of a reference standard established by expert neurologists.

Multicentric study of epidemiological and clinical characteristics of persons injured in motor vehicle accidents in Medellín, Colombia, 2009-2010.

Introduction: Traffic accidents (TA) cause 1.23 million deaths each year worldwide while between 20 and 50 million persons are injured each year. In 2011 in Medellin, Colombia, there were 307 traffic deaths and 23.

Predisposition to accelerated Alzheimer-related changes in the brains of human immunodeficiency virus negative opiate abusers.

Cognitive impairment is a recognized effect of drug misuse, including the use of opiates. The pathological basis for this is unknown but the temporal and frontal cortices have been implicated. We have shown previously that deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau in drug user brains exceed those seen in age-matched controls.

Neurobiology of multiple insults: HIV-1-associated brain disorders in those who use illicit drugs.

Despite two decades of research, certain aspects of HIV-related central nervous system (CNS) disease remain poorly understood. HIV targets microglia and macrophages within the CNS and enters the brain compartment early. However, HIV is there held in check apparently until the onset of significant immune compromise, when viral replication, microglial activation, neuronal damage, and cognitive impairment are likely to ensue.

The effects of illicit drugs on the HIV infected brain.

Evidence accumulating from clinical observations, neuroimaging and neuropathological studies suggests that illicit drug abuse accentuates the adverse effects of HIV on the central nervous system (CNS). Experimental investigation in cell culture models supports this conclusion. Injecting drug abuse is also a risk factor for the acquisition of HIV infection, the incidence of which continues to rise in intravenous drug users (IVDU) even in countries with access to effective therapy.

Does drug abuse influence the microglial response in AIDS and HIV encephalitis?

Objectives: To investigate the pathological evidence for a possible interaction between drugs of abuse and HIV infection in terms of microglial responses in early and late HIV/AIDS, and to discuss the possible long-term consequences of microglial activation in chronic HIV infection.

Design: This brain pathology study compared age and sex-matched control patients with HIV-negative intravenous drug users, and with HIV-positive drug users both in the presymptomatic stage and with AIDS. A further group of non-drug-using AIDS patients was included.