HUMANS: An English and Spanish neuropsychological test battery for assessing HIV-1-infected individuals--initial report.

A neuropsychological battery for testing HIV-1-infected individuals in Spanish was developed. We refer to this battery as the HIV/University of Miami Annotated Neuropsychological test battery in Spanish (HUMANS). The HUMANS battery includes recommendations of the National Institute of Mental Health Neuropsychology Workgroup on HIV-1 infection and measures processes in the following 7 cognitive domains: attention, verbal and visual memory, information processing speed, abstraction and executive functioning, language, visuospatial and visuoconstructive, and motor.

Psychological burden in the era of HAART: impact of selenium therapy.

Objective: To determine the impact of nutritional (selenium) chemoprevention on levels of psychological burden (anxiety, depression, and mood state) in HIV/AIDS.

Method: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled selenium therapy (200 microg/day) trial was conducted in HIV+ drug users from 1998-2000. Psychosocial measures (STAI-State and Trait anxiety, BDI-depression, and POMS- mood state), clinical status (CD4 cell count, viral load), and plasma selenium levels were determined at baseline and compared with measurements obtained at the 12-month evaluation in 63 participants (32 men, 31 women).

"Putting a face" on HIV infection/AIDS in older adults: a psychosocial context.

Older HIV-1-seropositive individuals largely have not been investigated with respect to their psychosocial characteristics. In this article, the authors review research reported to date regarding the psychosocial context of this growing subgroup of HIV-1-infected individuals. Specifically, the authors consider the characteristics of mood state, life stressor burden, social support network, and coping strategies that individuals older than 50 years are more likely to adopt in adjusting to HIV-1 infection.

Cognitive functioning in younger and older HIV-1-infected adults.

In young adults, a major neurologic complication of HIV-1 infection is cognitive motor impairment. Epidemiologic findings suggest that increasing age is a significant risk factor for HIV-1-associated dementia as the AIDS-defining illness. Findings from the few studies that have directly measured cognition in younger and older HIV-1-infected adults, however, have been mixed, in part, because of small sample sizes and other methodologic differences between studies.

Impact of a selenium chemoprevention clinical trial on hospital admissions of HIV-infected participants.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of selenium chemoprevention (200 microg/day) on hospitalizations in HIV-positive individuals.

Method: Data were obtained from 186 HIV+ men and women participating in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled selenium clinical trial (1998-2000). Supplements were dispensed monthly, and clinical evaluations were conducted every 6 months.

Neuroprotection in HIV-positive drug users: implications for antioxidant therapy.

Impaired neuroprotection resulting from oxidative stress has been implicated in neurodegeneration in a number of pathologic conditions of the brain, including both subcortical and cortical type dementias. Production of excessive oxidative stress, moreover, can lead to elevated levels of certain proinflammatory cytokines that are considered to be contributing factors to neuronal injury and are evident in HIV-related dementia as well as in other neurodegenerative conditions. Inhibitors of oxidative damage could thus be promising therapeutic agents for preventing progressive nerve cell death and slowing the advance of neurodegenerative disease.

Continued high risk behaviors in HIV infected drug abusers.

To characterize current risk behaviors of HIV drug abusers in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, socio-demographic, medical and behavioral information were obtained and immune measurements determined. High-risk sexual practices were prevalent. Participants diagnosed before 1995 were 6 times more likely to have unprotected sex with HIV+ partners (p = 0.

Impact of selenium status on the pathogenesis of mycobacterial disease in HIV-1-infected drug users during the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

The risk of mycobacterial disease is significantly increased in drug abusers as well as in immunocompromised HIV-1-infected individuals. The essential trace element selenium has an important function in maintaining immune processes and may, thus, have a critical role in clearance of mycobacteria. The impact of selenium status on the development of mycobacterial diseases in HIV-1-seropositive drug users was investigated over a 2-year period (1999-2001).