South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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Healthcare providers face the challenging task of managing patients who suffer from chronic nociplastic pain conditions. Pain is a multidimensional experience, and the current approach to managing people in chronic pain often fails to meet the needs of these patients. Novel ways of treating people who suffer from chronic nociplastic pain with classic psychedelic agents may offer a new lens through which to approach their pain. ⋯ We conducted an online search using Pubmed with keywords 'chronic pain' AND/OR 'psilocybin' AND/OR 'lysergic acid diethylamide' AND/OR 'psychedelics' with no date limit applied. We identified further articles that contained information on the neuroscience of psychedelics and the serotonergic system using Google Scholar. During the final stages of writing the article, the latest publications on psychedelics and chronic pain in leading pain journals were again included to update the information.
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Bronstein and Nyachowe recently argued that the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information, as provided in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), do not apply to health research in South Africa. This article critically analyses the authors' interpretation of section 3(2)(b) of POPIA and challenges two of its aspects.
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The pattern of HIV-associated eye disease has changed with ongoing advancements in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HIV-infected individuals now live longer, enabling us to observe the long-term effects of HIV and HAART on the eye. There are few recent studies on HIV-related ocular disease in sub-Saharan Africa. ⋯ With the advent of HAART, ocular manifestations of HIV are changing and the incidence of severe ocular opportunistic infections and HIV retinopathy has decreased precipitously. Although this study has shown that patients with a CD4 count <200 cells/μL are at increased risk of developing anterior ocular manifestations of HIV, including cataracts, these diseases are relatively innocuous or easily treatable. Routine ocular screening of HIV patients seems to be substantially less important now than it was in the pre-HAART era.