HOPE IN HIV-POSITIVE WOMEN

The objective of this study was to assess the hope in the lives of HIV-positive women, using the Herth Hope Scale (HHS). Participants were 111 HIV-positive women who attended a referral outpatient clinic in Fortaleza-CE. From January to May 2009, interviews were held to collect biopsychosocial variables, and the HHS was applied. Data were analyzed using SPSS-8.0 and revealed an average hope index of 34.86, indicating that these women have little hope in life in view of their diagnosis of HIV. The scale item with the highest score was faith. This probably derives from the fact that Aids is incurable, transmissible and generates negative stigma, in addition to its relation with the idea of imminent death. In conclusion, measuring hope among HIV patients through the use of an instrument permits intervention assessment and planning, promoting assistance and motivation to live better and maintain a hopeful attitude.

Differences between female and male adolescents regarding individual vulnerability to HIV

The objective of this study was to comparatively analyze male and female adolescents' vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, based on their knowledge, values and practices. This is an exploratory-descriptive study, performed using a quantitative approach. The students answered a questionnaire from which relevant questions were selected for the analysis. The participants were 207 adolescents, 43.5% male and 56.5% female. Most adolescents report having initiated sexual activities. It was observed that the participants have knowledge deficits regarding HIV transmission and safe sexual practices. Although they report knowing about condom use as a method of protection against HIV, they do not always use them. It was observed that there are values connected to the representations of gender, but it is noticed there is an evolution regarding the autonomy and power of the girls' negotiation regarding condom use.

Evaluation of inadequate anti-retroviral treatment in patients with HIV/AIDS

Introduction: Since the emergence of antiretroviral therapy, the survival of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus has increased. Non-adherence to this therapy is directly related to treatment failure, which allows the emergence of resistant viral strains. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study of the antiretroviral dispensing records of 229 patients from the Center for Health Care, University Hospital, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, was conducted between January and December 2009. Results: The study aimed to evaluate patient compliance and determine if there was an association between non-adherence and the therapy. Among these patients, 63.8% were men with an average age of 44.0 +/- 9.9 years. The most used treatment was a combination of 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors with 1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (55.5%) or with 2 protease inhibitors (28.8%). It was found that patients taking lopinavir/ritonavir with zidovudine and lamivudine had a greater frequency of inadequate treatment than those taking atazanavir with zidovudine and lamivudine (85% and 83.3%, respectively). Moreover, when the combination of zidovudine/lamivudine was used, the patients were less compliant (chi(2) = 4.468, 1 degree of freedom, p = 0.035). Conclusions: The majority of patients failed to correctly adhere to their treatment; therefore, it is necessary to implement strategies that lead to improved compliance, thus ensuring therapeutic efficacy and increased patient survival.

Esperança em mulheres portadoras da infecção pelo HIV

Objetivou-se avaliar a esperança na vida de mulheres infectadas pelo HIV mediante uso da Escala de Esperança de Herth (EEH). Participaram 111 mulheres portadoras de HIV atendidas em ambulatório de referência em Fortaleza-CE. De janeiro a maio de 2009, foram conduzidas entrevistas que captaram variáveis biopsicossociais e aplicou-se a EEH. Os dados analisados pelo programa SPSS-8.0 revelaram índice médio de esperança de 34,86, apontando que as mulheres possuem moderada esperança na vida diante da vigência do HIV, cujo item da escala com maior pontuação relacionou-se à fé (3,57). Isto provavelmente decorre do fato de a AIDS não ter cura, ser transmissível e produzir estigma, estando ainda relacionada à ideia de morte iminente. Conclui-se que a medida da esperança entre portadores de HIV, mediante o uso de um instrumento, possibilita avaliar e planejar intervenções, promovendo ajuda e motivação para viverem melhor e manterem a esperança na vida.

Aids e tuberculose: a coinfecção vista pela perspectiva da qualidade de vida dos indivíduos

A coinfecção tuberculose (TB) e HIV afeta negativamente a vida dos indivíduos, tanto nos aspectos biológicos como nos psicossociais. Com o objetivo de descrever a qualidade de vida de indivíduos com coinfecção HIV/TB, foi realizado este estudo descritivo, de corte transversal, no município de Ribeirão Preto-SP. Foram entrevistados indivíduos soropositivos para o HIV, com e sem TB, por meio do instrumento WHOQOL-HIV bref. Participaram 115 indivíduos soropositivos para o HIV - 57 coinfectados e 58 não coinfectados; a maioria do sexo masculino, heterossexuais, faixa etária predominante de 40-49 anos, com os coinfectados apresentando baixas escolaridade e renda; na avaliação da qualidade de vida os coinfectados apresentaram resultados mais baixos em todos os domínios, com diferença importante no Físico, Psicológico, Nível de Independência e Relações Sociais. TB e HIV/aids são doenças estigmatizadas historicamente e a sobreposição das duas pode ter consequências graves na saúde física e psicossocial do indivíduo.

Prior history of sexually transmitted diseases in women living with AIDS in São Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiological profile, risk behaviors, and the prior history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in women living with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). METHODS: Cross-sectional study, performed at the Centro de Referência e Treinamento em DST/AIDS of São Paulo. The social, demographic, behavioral, and clinical data such as age, schooling, marital status, age at first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, parity, use of drugs, time of HIV diagnosis, CD4 count, and viral load determination were abstracted from the medical records of women living with AIDS who had gynecological consultation scheduled in the period from June 2008 to May 2009. RESULTS: Out of 710 women who were scheduled to a gynecological consultation during the period of the study, 598 were included. Previous STD was documented for 364 (60.9%; 95% CI: 56.9%-64.8%) women. The associated factors with previous STDs and their respective risks were: human development index (HDI) < 0.50 (ORaj = 5.5; 95% CI: 2.8-11.0); non-white race (ORaj = 5.2; 95% CI: 2.5-11.0); first sexual intercourse at or before 15 years of age (ORaj = 4.4; 95% CI: 2.3-8.3); HIV infection follow-up time of nine years or more (ORaj = 4.2; 95% CI: 2.3-7.8)]; number of sexual partners during the entire life between three and five partners (ORaj = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1-4.6), and six or more sexual partners (ORaj = 3.9; 95% CI: 1.9-8.0%); being a sex worker (ORaj = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1-3.1). CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of a prior history of STDs in the studied population was found. It is essential to find better ways to access HIV infection prevention, so that effective interventions can be more widely implemented.

Orfandade por aids ou por homicídio apresenta efeitos sobre o estado nutricional das crianças?

O artigo tem como objetivos avaliar o estado nutricional de órfãos por aids ou homicídios residentes em São Paulo e estimar a associação de índices nutricionais com variáveis relacionadas à orfandade. Trata-se de estudo transversal de base domiciliar que utilizou amostra representativa de 484 indivíduos de 5 a 14 anos que perderam um ou ambos os pais durante os anos de 2000 e 2004 devido à aids ou a homicídio no município de São Paulo. A avaliação nutricional foi feita com o índice de massa corporal-para-idade (IMC) e da altura-para-idade (altura). A associação entre os índices nutricionais e as variáveis relacionadas à orfandade foi estimada em análise hierárquica, com uso de modelo de regressão linear múltiplo. Órfãos por aids ou homicídios diferiram quanto às características da orfandade e à idade média. As condições econômicas, domiciliares, o estado de saúde e o estado nutricional foram semelhantes entre os grupos. O déficit de IMC ocorreu em 1,3% das crianças abaixo de 10 anos e em 2,1% dos adolescentes. O déficit de altura ocorreu em 0,7% das crianças e em 4,0% dos adolescentes. O excesso de peso ocorreu em 19% e 20% das crianças e adolescentes, respectivamente. A análise hierárquica indicou ausência de efeito das variáveis relacionadas à orfandade sobre o IMC ou a altura; o principal determinante do estado nutricional foi de natureza econômica. Os órfãos por aids ou homicídio de São Paulo apresentaram estado nutricional semelhante e majoritariamente influenciado pela situação econômica. O perfil nutricional identificado no grupo, caracterizado pelo excesso de peso, sugere que os órfãos de São Paulo não apresentam riscos adicionais decorrentes da orfandade.

Habilidades de consciência fonológica em criança portadora da síndrome da imunodeficiência adquirida: pré e pós-terapia fonoaudiológica

Este trabalho teve por objetivo caracterizar as habilidades de consciência fonológica em uma criança portadora da Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida (SIDA) pré e pós-terapia fonoaudiológica. A participante foi uma criança do gênero feminino, de 6 anos de idade, aluna do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental, portadora de SIDA adquirida por transmissão vertical. Foi realizada uma avaliação das habilidades de consciência fonológica por meio da aplicação do teste Consciência Fonológica - Instrumento e Avaliação Sequencial (CONFIAS). Após, foi desenvolvido um programa terapêutico fechado (15 sessões) para consciência fonológica, composto por atividades em níveis silábico e fonêmico. Na última sessão, o teste CONFIAS foi reaplicado para investigação da efetividade da terapia. Na avaliação pré-terapia, a criança apresentou escore de 18 pontos nas tarefas em nível silábico e um ponto em tarefas em nível fonêmico, totalizando um escore de 19 pontos. Na avaliação pós-terapia, o escore obtido em tarefas silábicas foi de 26 pontos e em tarefas fonêmicas 11 pontos, totalizando um escore de 37 pontos. Este estudo permitiu-nos caracterizar o desempenho de uma criança com SIDA em tarefas de habilidades de consciência fonológica e a efetividade de um programa terapêutico. A pontuação obtida na avaliação pré-terapia mostrou-se bastante inferior ao esperado para a idade e apresentou evolução significativa após a realização de terapia fonoaudiológica. Assim, os profissionais envolvidos com esta população devem estar atentos aos programas terapêuticos que abordem, além de outros aspectos, as habilidades de processamento fonológico.

The Impact of Uncertainty in the AIDS Incubation Period on Reconstructions of the HIV Epidemic

Backcalculation is the primary method used to reconstruct past human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates, to estimate current prevalence of HIV infection, and to project future incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The method is very sensitive to uncertainty about the incubation period. We estimate incubation distributions from three sets of cohort data and find that the estimates for the cohorts are substantially different. Backcalculations employing the different estimates produce equally good fits to reported AIDS counts but quite different estimates of cumulative infections. These results suggest that the incubation distribution is likely to differ for different populations and that the differences are large enough to have a big impact on the resulting estimates of HIV infection rates. This seriously limits the usefulness of backcalculation for populations (such as intravenous drug users, heterosexuals, and women) that lack precise information on incubation times.

Platelet chemokines and their receptors: what is their relevance to platelet storage and transfusion practice?

The role of platelets as inflammatory cells is demonstrated by the fact that they can release many growth factors and inflammatory mediators, including chemokines, when they are activated. The best known platelet chemokine family members are platelet factor 4 (PF4) and beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG), which are synthesized in megakaryocytes, stored as preformed proteins in alpha-granules and released from activated platelets. However, platelets also contain many other chemokines such as interleukin-8 (IL-8), growth-regulating oncogene-alpha(GRO-alpha), epithelial neutrophil-activating protein 78 (ENA-78), regulated on activation normal T expressed and secreted (RANTES), macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha), and monocyte chemotactic protein-3 (MCP-3). They also express chemokine receptors such as CCR4, CXCR4, CCR1 and CCR3. Platelet activation is a feature of many inflammatory diseases such as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and congestive heart failure. Substantial amounts of PF4, beta-TG and RANTES are released from platelets on activation, which may occur during storage. Although very few data are available on the in vivo effects of transfused chemokines, it has been suggested that the high incidence of adverse reactions often observed after platelet transfusions may be attributed to the chemokines present in the plasma of stored platelet concentrates.

Variable impact on mortality of AIDS-defining events diagnosed during combination antiretroviral therapy: not all AIDS-defining conditions are created equal

BACKGROUND: The extent to which mortality differs following individual acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining events (ADEs) has not been assessed among patients initiating combination antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: We analyzed data from 31,620 patients with no prior ADEs who started combination antiretroviral therapy. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate mortality hazard ratios for each ADE that occurred in >50 patients, after stratification by cohort and adjustment for sex, HIV transmission group, number of antiretroviral drugs initiated, regimen, age, date of starting combination antiretroviral therapy, and CD4+ cell count and HIV RNA load at initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy. ADEs that occurred in <50 patients were grouped together to form a "rare ADEs" category. RESULTS: During a median follow-up period of 43 months (interquartile range, 19-70 months), 2880 ADEs were diagnosed in 2262 patients; 1146 patients died. The most common ADEs were esophageal candidiasis (in 360 patients), Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (320 patients), and Kaposi sarcoma (308 patients). The greatest mortality hazard ratio was associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (hazard ratio, 17.59; 95% confidence interval, 13.84-22.35) and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (hazard ratio, 10.0; 95% confidence interval, 6.70-14.92). Three groups of ADEs were identified on the basis of the ranked hazard ratios with bootstrapped confidence intervals: severe (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy [hazard ratio, 7.26; 95% confidence interval, 5.55-9.48]), moderate (cryptococcosis, cerebral toxoplasmosis, AIDS dementia complex, disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex, and rare ADEs [hazard ratio, 2.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.76-3.13]), and mild (all other ADEs [hazard ratio, 1.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.00]). CONCLUSIONS: In the combination antiretroviral therapy era, mortality rates subsequent to an ADE depend on the specific diagnosis. The proposed classification of ADEs may be useful in clinical end point trials, prognostic studies, and patient management.

Frequency and significance of HIV infection among patients diagnosed with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

BACKGROUND: Case series of patients with a diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) have reported different frequencies of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; some series suggest that HIV infection may cause TTP. METHODS: We systematically reviewed all reports of HIV infection in case series of patients with TTP. We analyzed data from the Oklahoma TTP-HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome) Registry, an inception cohort of 362 consecutive patients, for 1989-2007. RESULTS: Nineteen case series reported the occurrence of HIV infection at the time of diagnosis of TTP in 0%-83% of patients; individual patient data were rarely described. The Oklahoma TTP-HUS Registry determined the HIV status at the time of diagnosis of TTP in 351 (97%) of 362 patients. HIV infection was documented in 6 (1.84%; 95% CI, 0.68%-4.01%) of 326 adult patients (age, 26-51 years); follow-up data were complete for all 6 patients. The period prevalence of HIV infection among all adults in the Oklahoma TTP-HUS Registry region for 1989-2007 was 0.30%. One patient had typical features of TTP with 5 relapses. Five patients had single episodes; in 4, the clinical features that had initially suggested the diagnosis of TTP were subsequently attributed to malignant hypertension (in 3 patients) and disseminated Kaposi sarcoma (in 1 patient). CONCLUSIONS: HIV infection, similar to other inflammatory conditions, may trigger acute episodes of TTP in susceptible patients. More commonly, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related disorders may mimic the clinical features of TTP. If the diagnosis of TTP is suggested in a patient with HIV infection, there should be careful evaluation for alternative diagnoses and cautious consideration of plasma exchange, the required treatment for TTP.

Incidence and outcome of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy over 20 years of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: We investigated the incidence and outcome of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals before and after the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in 1996. METHODS: From 1988 through 2007, 226 cases of PML were reported to the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. By chart review, we confirmed 186 cases and recorded all-cause and PML-attributable mortality. For the survival analysis, 25 patients with postmortem diagnosis and 2 without CD4+ T cell counts were excluded, leaving a total of 159 patients (89 before 1996 and 70 during 1996-2007). RESULTS: The incidence rate of PML decreased from 0.24 cases per 100 patient-years (PY; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.20-0.29 cases per 100 PY) before 1996 to 0.06 cases per 100 PY (95% CI, 0.04-0.10 cases per 100 PY) from 1996 onward. Patients who received a diagnosis before 1996 had a higher frequency of prior acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-defining conditions (P = .007) but similar CD4+ T cell counts (60 vs. 71 cells/microL; P = .25), compared with patients who received a diagnosis during 1996 or thereafter. The median time to PML-attributable death was 71 days (interquartile range, 44-140 days), compared with 90 days (interquartile range, 54-313 days) for all-cause mortality. The PML-attributable 1-year mortality rate decreased from 82.3 cases per 100 PY (95% CI, 58.8-115.1 cases per 100 PY) during the pre-cART era to 37.6 cases per 100 PY (95% CI, 23.4.-60.5 cases per 100 PY) during the cART era. In multivariate models, cART was the only factor associated with lower PML-attributable mortality (hazard ratio, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.07-0.50; P < .001), whereas all-cause mortality was associated with baseline CD4+ T cell count (hazard ratio per increase of 100 cells/microL, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32-0.85; P = .010) and cART use (hazard ratio, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.19-0.75; P = .006). CONCLUSIONS: cART reduced the incidence and PML-attributable 1-year mortality, regardless of baseline CD4+ T cell count, whereas overall mortality was dependent on cART use and baseline CD4+ T cell count.

A decade of AIDS literature.

From 1983 through mid-1991, more than 200,000 MEDLINE entries were AIDS-related. Close to 60% of the journals indexed in MEDLINE published at least one article on AIDS during the past ten years. As reflected by a subset of 29,077 MEDLINE records, the literature of AIDS has grown to encompass 29 languages and 65 countries. A bibliometric study of the medical literature helps to demonstrate the progression of AIDS as a world health problem and the concomitant expansion of the research effort underway to control it.

Multicentric hepatic EBV-associated smooth muscle tumors in an AIDS patient: a case report, investigation of mTOR activation and review of the literature.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) - associated smooth muscle tumors (EBV-SMT) are a rare, recently recognized distinct group of mesenchymal tumors that develop exclusively in patients with immunosuppression. It is believed that tumorigenesis is, at least in part, through the activation of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signal pathway. We describe the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features of a multifocal hepatic EBV-SMT in a 34-year-old acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient and investigate the activation status of the mTOR signal pathway in this tumor. In addition, we provide a review of the literature on the clinicopathologic findings of hepatic EBV-SMT in adult AIDS patients, and discuss their biologies and possible therapeutic strategies.