Kinetics of the T-cell receptor CD4 and CD8 V beta repertoire in HIV-1 vertically infected infants early treated with HAART.

Objectives: To determine the kinetics and the relationship between the T-cell receptor V beta (TCRBV) complementary determining region 3 length, the CD4 T-cell count and HIV viral load changes in HIV-1 infected infants treated early with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) during 1 year of follow-up.

Design: Two HIV-1 vertically infected infants, two HIV-1 vertically exposed uninfected and two healthy controls were analysed by spectratyping. Evaluation of viral load, CD4 naive and memory cell counts and a proliferation test were also carried out.

Verbal working memory storage and processing deficits in HIV-1 asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals.

Background: Verbal working memory (WM), which relies on intact functioning of frontostriatal circuits, has been suggested as a cognitive domain that is preferentially affected in HIV-1 infection. Although several studies have found WM impairments in HIV-1 infected patients, Baddeley's classic WM model has not been studied extensively in this population.

Methods: We used two cognitive neuropsychological approaches to examine verbal WM deficits in 18 HIV-1 seronegative, 16 HIV-1 asymptomatic, and 20 HIV-1 symptomatic patients.

Update on HIV/AIDS in Thailand.

Thailand experienced its first case of AIDS in 1984. Approximately 800,000 Thais were infected with HIV in 1995 and 1 million Thais became infected by the year 2000. There have been 5 major epidemic waves: among male homosexuals (started 1984-5), intravenous drug users (started 1988), female commercial sex workers (started 1989), male clients (started 1990), and housewives and the newborn (started 1991).

Postnatal zidovudine in prevention of vertical HIV-1 transmission in a service setting.

We sought to determine the efficacy of a 4-6 week course of zidovudine (ZDV) in a group of infants exposed to HIV-1. A retrospective chart review was conducted on HIV-1-exposed neonates identified from February 1998 to August 1999. These infants received ZDV and their mothers were counselled regarding the risks and benefits of breastfeeding.

Effect of early chemoprophylaxis with co-trimoxazole on nutritional status evolution in HIV-1-infected adults in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, malnutrition is a major complication of HIV disease. Measuring accurately the nutritional benefits of a therapeutic intervention could be an easy-to-monitor secondary outcome.

Methods: Anthropometric data were analysed from patients participating in a placebo-controlled trial of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in adults recruited at early stages of HIV-1 infection in Côte d'Ivoire (COTRIMO-CI ANRS 059 trial).

Serologic evidence for Cryptococcus neoformans infection in early childhood.

Objective: Cryptococcus neoformans is an important cause of central nervous system infection in adults with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) but an unusual cause of disease in children with AIDS. The basis for this age-related difference in incidence is not known but may be caused by differences in exposure or immune response. The objective of this study was to determine whether the low prevalence of cryptococcal disease among children is related to a lack of exposure to C neoformans.

Primary HIV-1 infection: diagnosis and prognostic impact.

Acute infection with HIV is symptomatic in approximately two thirds to three-fourths of patients. This stage is defined as primary HIV infection or acute HIV illness. The diagnosis is crucial for public health because counseling can be provided to reduce the risk of transmission and for individual because early antiretroviral treatment could improve the prognosis, slowing the rate of disease progression.

Severe, rapidly progressive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 disease in newborns with coinfections.

Aim: To describe a severe form of rapidly progressive HIV-1 infection manifesting in the neonatal period.

Method: Prospective cohort study, King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa. HIV-1-exposed neonates with hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy or persistent pneumonia within the first 28 days of life were investigated for perinatal infections.

Predicting perinatal HIV infection in young Brazilian infants: How accurate are signs, symptoms and immunological abnormalities?

Early identification of infants perinatally infected with HIV (HIV+) requires costly laboratory tests which are not widely available in countries with limited resources. We evaluated the utility of detection of non-specific HIV-related signs and symptoms and immunological abnormalities in the diagnosis of perinatal HIV infection in Brazilian infants younger than 10 months of age and followed from birth. A total of 27 HIV+ and 43 uninfected infants were studied.

Impact of tuberculosis (TB) on HIV-1 activity in dually infected patients.

Active TB in HIV-1-infected subjects is associated with increased HIV-1-related immunodeficiency and mortality. We assessed plasma viral load in HIV-1-infected patients with pulmonary TB (HIV/TB) and non-TB symptomatic HIV-1-infected patients (HIV). HIV-1 load was higher in HIV/TB compared with HIV at higher CD4 counts (> 500/microl) (P < 0.

Macrophage are the principal reservoir and sustain high virus loads in rhesus macaques after the depletion of CD4+ T cells by a highly pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus/HIV type 1 chimera (SHIV): Implications for HIV-1 infections of humans.

The highly pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus/HIV type 1 (SHIV) chimeric virus SHIV(DH12R) induces a systemic depletion of CD4(+) T lymphocytes in rhesus monkeys during the initial 3-4 weeks of infection. Nonetheless, high levels of viral RNA production continue unabated for an additional 2-5 months. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that tissue macrophage in the lymph nodes, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, liver, and kidney sustain high plasma virus loads in the absence of CD4(+) T cells.

Symptomatic hyperlactataemia: an emerging complication of antiretroviral therapy.

Background: Fatal lactic acidosis is a serious complication of therapy with nucleoside analogues.

Objective: To examine symptomatic hyperlactataemia in HIV-infected adults treated with antiretroviral drugs.

Methods: In this prospective study, arterial blood lactate levels were measured in patients presenting with unexplained clinical symptoms.

V3 sequence analysis and biological characterization of HIV-1 isolates from asymptomatic and early symptomatic Tanzanian individuals.

The aim of this study was to determine HIV-1 V3 sequences, in vitro biological characteristics and co-receptor usage of virus isolates from Tanzania. Virus was isolated from 14 of 17 samples investigated. Four of the isolates induced syncytia in MT-2 cells and used the CXCR4 co-receptor, while the remaining 10 isolates used the CCR5 co-receptor characteristic of non-MT-2 tropic viruses.

Trichomonas vaginalis epidemiology: parameterising and analysing a model of treatment interventions.

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis, which affects at least 170 million individuals globally, may increase the risk of transmission of HIV and predispose pregnant women to premature rupture of membranes and early labour.

Objective: To more clearly define the epidemiology of trichomoniasis and to develop a mathematical model of disease transmission dynamics in order to explore various treatment strategies.

Design: A deterministic model of trichomoniasis was constructed.

Tuberculosis and HIV illness.

The HIV infection leading to AIDS is considered to be one of the greatest biomedical challenges in the present century. Like all other communicable diseases AIDS is gradually penetrating the underprivileged sections of society in all countries. Nearly 5 million people in India are living with AIDS at present that makes India a single country with highest number of HIV infected people in the world.

HIV-1-associated central nervous system dysfunction.

Despite more than 15 years of extensive investigative efforts, a complete understanding of the neurological consequences of HIV-1 CNS infection remains elusive. Although the resources of numerous investigators have been focused on studies of HIV-1-associated CNS disease, the complex nature of the disease processes that underlie the clinical, pathological, and cellular manifestations of HIV-1 CNS infection have required a larger volume of studies than was initially envisioned. Several major areas remain as the focus of current research efforts.

Sensory evoked potentials in SIV-infected monkeys with rapidly and slowly progressing disease.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infects the central nervous system (CNS) early in the course of disease progression and leads to some form of neurological disease in 40-60% of cases. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic HIV-infected subjects also show abnormalities in evoked potentials. As part of an effort to further validate an animal model of the neurological disease associated with lentiviral infection, we recorded multimodal sensory evoked potentials (EPs) from nine rhesus macaques infected with passaged strains of SIVmac (R71/E17), prior to and at 1 month intervals following inoculation.

[Peripheral nerve diseases and myopathies associated with HIV infection].

Diseases of the peripheral nervous system occur in up to 50% of persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In early stages of the infection, Guillain-Barré syndrome or a spontaneously remitting mononeuropathy can occur. The most frequent occurrence is distal symmetrical polyneuropathy associated with HIV, which can only be treated symptomatically.

Immediate versus deferred zidovudine (AZT) in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic HIV infected adults.

Background: Zidovudine (AZT) monotherapy was the first antiretroviral drug to be tested widely. Subsequent trials in asymptomatic or early symptomatic HIV infection indicated short-term delays in disease progression with AZT, but not improved survival.

Objectives: To assess the effects of immediate versus deferred zidovudine (AZT) on HIV disease progression and survival.

[Role of cytokines and chemokines in the non-progression of HIV infection in vertically infected children].

Background: To study the cytokine production in vertically HIV-1-infected children with more of 7 years of HIV infection and different pattern of progression.

Patients And Methods: We study 32 HIV-1-infected children: 8 NA children (age > 7 years, asymptomatic or with light symptoms, without antiretroviral treatment and TCD4+ > 25%); 10 NE1 children (> 6 years, symptomatic, with antiretroviral treatment and TCD4+ > 25%); 14 NE2-3 children (> 6 years, symptomatic, with antiretroviral treatment and TCD4+ < 25%) and 16 (C) controls, children non-VIH+. The peripheral mononuclear cells of HIV-infected children (PBLs) were cultivated and cytokine production was quantified in the supernatant.

HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy: epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment.

Peripheral neuropathy is the most frequent neurological complication associated with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) infection and advanced acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There are at least 6 patterns of HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy, although these diagnoses are often overlooked or misdiagnosed. Distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSP) is the most common form of peripheral neuropathy in HIV infection.

Neurological symptoms during primary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection correlate with high levels of HIV RNA in cerebrospinal fluid.

This analysis involves 22 patients with diagnosed symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Neurologic symptoms were present in 11 patients, ranging from severe and persistent headache to clinical signs suggestive of meningitis. A strong correlation between neurological symptoms and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) viral load was found.

Absence of coreceptor switch with disease progression in human immunodeficiency virus infections in India.

The envelope glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) utilizes CD4 as a receptor and CCR5 and/or CXCR4 as coreceptor to gain entry into the cell. The CCR5-tropic viruses, observed early in infection, could be important in transmission and the CXCR4-tropic viruses, observed late, may play an important role in disease progression. Viruses from 40 HIV-positive, asymptomatic or symptomatic individuals in India were isolated.

In vitro and in vivo responses to interleukin 12 are maintained until the late SIV infection stage but lost during AIDS.

The in vitro proliferative responses of macaque peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to IL-12 appeared similar before and early after SIV infection, whereas macaque PBMCs sampled during symptomatic stages of SIV infection showed markedly decreased responses. IL-12 was administered to SIVmac239-infected rhesus macaques either during the asymptomatic or the AIDS stage of infection in efforts to evaluate the effect of this cytokine on immune responses, viral loads, and hematopoietic functions in vivo. IFN-gamma secretion levels induced during the asymptomatic or early symptomatic phase were similar to preinfection induced levels, whereas in later AIDS stages this response was lost.