AIDS
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Large unselected studies on representative samples of HIV-infected patients with a whole battery of neuropsychological tests and cerebral MRI scan are required to assess the frequency of neurocognitive impairment (NCI), the determinants of mild neurocognitive disorders (MNDs), or HIV-associated dementia (HAD) and the relationship between NCI and MRI scan findings. ⋯ In this large unselected cohort, a high prevalence of symptomatic neurocognitive disorders was mainly related to its traditional determinants and associated with gray matter atrophy at early stages of the disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Efficacy and immunogenicity of influenza vaccine in HIV-infected children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial.
HIV-infected children are at heightened risk for severe influenza illness; however, there is no study on the efficacy or effectiveness of influenza vaccine in these children. We evaluated the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of nonadjuvanted, trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) against confirmed seasonal influenza virus illness in HIV-infected children. ⋯ Poor immunogenicity of TIV, coupled with drift of circulating H3N2 wild-type compared to vaccine strain, may explain the lack of efficacy of TIV in young HIV-infected children. Alternate TIV vaccine schedules or formulations warrant evaluation for efficacy in HIV-infected children.
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Multicenter Study
Preexposure prophylaxis for the prevention of HIV transmission to women.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) indication for emtricitabine/tenofovir for men and women, allowing a new effective HIV prevention intervention. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of PrEP in reducing the risk of HIV acquisition among women. Its efficacy depends largely on adherence. ⋯ HIV-uninfected women in serodiscordant couples seeking conception may prove to be an ideal population for PrEP. Periconceptional PrEP in highly motivated couples could be not only effective but also affordable and feasible. In order to make PrEP accessible to those populations most vulnerable to HIV infection, the following steps need to occur: PrEP needs to be affordable, particularly for those uninsured; HIV providers, primary care practitioners, and reproductive healthcare providers need to welcome PrEP as a component of their scope of practice; clinicians need to take adequate sexual histories of all their patients in order to identify those at risk and best candidates for PrEP; and identifying ways to promote adherence must include population-specific PrEP adherence interventions.