Prognosis of HIV-1-infected patients up to 5 years after initiation of HAART: collaborative analysis of prospective studies.

Objective: To estimate the prognosis over 5 years of HIV-1-infected, treatment-naive patients starting HAART, taking into account the immunological and virological response to therapy.

Design: A collaborative analysis of data from 12 cohorts in Europe and North America on 20,379 adults who started HAART between 1995 and 2003.

Methods: Parametric survival models were used to predict the cumulative incidence at 5 years of a new AIDS-defining event or death, and death alone, first from the start of HAART and second from 6 months after the start of HAART.

Stable coreceptor usage of HIV in patients with ongoing treatment failure on HAART.

Background: Disease progression in HIV infection has been associated with switch of viral coreceptor usage from CCR5 to CXCR4.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between HIV-coreceptor tropism and clinical and virological outcome in 40 heavily pretreated patients over time.

Methods: Coreceptor phenotype was predicted after sequencing the V3 loop of the HIV glycoprotein 120.

Clinical outcomes of HIV-HCV co-infection in a large cohort of hemophiliac patients.

Objective: To determine the disease progression of HIV-HCV co-infected hemophiliacs in a large cohort of patients (n = 288) cared for at a single medical institution.

Patients And Methods: Annual mortality rates for AIDS- and liver-related death were calculated and Kaplan-Meier survival plots were drawn to determine the progression to AIDS and death.

Results: Between January 1985 and December 2002, 179 (62.

Preferences regarding medical and psychosocial support in HIV-infected patients.

Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is crucial for successful treatment of HIV-infected patients. Among other factors, meeting patients' preferences regarding medical and psychosocial support may have significant impact on adherence to HAART. But, systematic studies on HIV-infected patients' preferences regarding professional support are rare.

Progressive multifocal leukencephalopathy in patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy: survival and risk factors of death.

Objective: To describe the clinical course and risk factors of death in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)-treated patients with progressive multifocal leukencephalopathy (PML); to evaluate the efficacy of cidofovir in addition to HAART.

Methods: Retrospective multicenter cohort study of PML in HIV-1-infected patients. Diagnosis of PML was confirmed by histology or by positive polymerase chain reaction for JC virus (JCV) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or was made by typical radiologic and clinical findings.

[Internet-based conjoint analysis with the example of medical networks].

The present paper will demonstrate the usefulness of conjoint analysis in the area of medicine, a method that is well-known in consumer research. The aim was to investigate the preference structure of network-oriented physicians regarding competitive consulting and information offerings in the context of a hypothetical network between a hospital and office-based physicians. A combination of qualitative ("grounded theory") and quantitative ("conjoint analysis") methods was used.

The tandem-repeat polymorphism of the DC-SIGNR gene does not affect the susceptibility to HIV infection and the progression to AIDS.

DC-SIGNR is a C-type lectin that functions as a transreceptor for HIV-1. The exon 4 of the DC-SIGNR gene comprises a variable number of 69-bp tandem repeats, encoding for parts of the extracellular protein domain. Here, we analyzed the relevance of this gene polymorphism for the interindividual transmission of HIV-1 and the progression to AIDS.