Neurological and cognitive problems

Neurological and cognitive problems features

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  Efavirenz and the brain: are we nearer to solving a mysterious side-effect?

  One of the most potent HIV drugs, efavirenz, unfortunately also causes mysterious and sometimes chronic disruptions of mood, thought and sleep. Researchers may have found the key to...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Are we thinking clearly about brain impairment?

  For the last three years the UK’s HIV doctors’ and patients’ organisations - the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the UK Community Advisory Board (UKCAB) - have collaborated...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Scattered pictures – brain impairment and HIV

  Gus Cairns and Theo Smart investigate HIV-related brain impairment, memory loss and dementia ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Screening for HIV dementia

  Cli nical review of how to diagnose HIV dementia and other cognitive disorders in adults with HIV infection in resource-limited settings, with discussion of treatment...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Neuro AIDS

  Clinical review of the neurological disorders that can occur in HIV in resource-limited settings, and their prevalence and prognosis....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

Neurological and cognitive problems news from aidsmap

• Neurocognitive impairment results in poorer adherence to HIV therapy

  Neurocognitive impairment and problems with memory are associated with poorer adherence to antiretroviral therapy, investigators from the United States report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The study also showed that better adherence ...

  07 January 2013 | Michael Carter

• HIV and hepatitis C co-infection increases the risk of cognitive impairment

  Co-infection with HIV and hepatitis C is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment, according to research published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Investigators from the United States Department of Veterans ...

  11 December 2012 | Michael Carter

• Traditional risk factors predict neurocognitive impairment in people with HIV

  Neurocognitive impairment in people with HIV – loss of memory, poor concentration and declining mental ability – is most likely to be happening for the same reasons as in the wider population, and the risk of ...

  31 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• European guidelines on management of mental health for people with hepatitis C published

  European investigators have developed a consensus statement on hepatitis C and mental health. Published in the online edition of the Journal of Hepatology, the wide-ranging document assesses evidence concerning the effect of hepatitis C infection and its treatment on the ...

  16 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• Starting HIV treatment reduces the risk of serious non-AIDS-related diseases

  Serious non-AIDS-defining illnesses are common in people recently diagnosed with HIV, Spanish investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. “Clinicians should be aware that during the initial follow-up after HIV diagnosis NAE [non-AIDS events] do occur,” comment the authors. ...

  09 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• Watch for cryptococcal disease in children with HIV, South African doctors warn

  Clinicians in low- and middle-income countries should give greater consideration to the possibility that infants and children with HIV are presenting with symptoms of cryptococcal disease, according to a report from South Africa published in the advance online edition of ...

  17 September 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Double trouble: daily function and the impact of old age and HIV

  Older age exacerbates the deleterious effect of HIV on daily functioning, investigators from the US report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Investigators compared ability to perform daily tasks, cognitive function and quality of ...

  11 September 2012 | Michael Carter

• Detectable viral load and low CD4 cell count are risk factors for shingles in HIV-positive people

  A CD4 cell count below 500 cells/mm3 and a detectable viral load are risk factors for herpes zoster (shingles) in HIV-positive people, US investigators report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Complicated herpes ...

  21 August 2012 | Michael Carter

• Peripheral neuropathy in South African children highlights limited ARV choices

  Peripheral neuropathy was identified in one-in-four children on HIV treatment in rural Mopani District, one of the poorest and least well-resourced areas in South Africa, Dr Remco Peters reported today at the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, ...

  23 July 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Early antiretroviral therapy improves neurodevelopment in HIV-positive infants

  Starting antiretroviral therapy soon after birth improves neurodevelopment in HIV-positive infants, South African investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. The development observed in children who started treatment early was in most respects similar to that seen ...

  11 July 2012 | Michael Carter

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Neurological and cognitive problems news selected from other sources

• Nanoparticles May Transport HIV Meds to the Brain

  Researchers have had early success in a method that might one day thwart the powerful blood-brain barrier and effectively deliver antiretrovirals to the brain.

  16 May 2013 | AIDSMeds

• Scientists explore mystery of a psychedelic HIV/AIDS drug

  For those taking antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, there is one drug in the mix that can put a particular kick in the cocktail: the drug efavirenz, marketed under the commercial names Sustiva and Stocrin, appears to have an "LSD-like interaction" with the receptors in the brain that govern the activity of serotonin, says a study presented in Boston today.

  23 April 2013 | Los Angeles Times

• Over 10% in Older HIV Group Fit Alzheimer's Biomarker Risk Profile

  Slightly more than 10% of older Australian patients with well-controlled HIV infection had cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) marker profiles consistent with Alzheimer's disease--a risk prevalence more than 10 times higher than in the general population at the same age.

  13 March 2013 | NATAP

• Long-term efavirenz linked to worse neurocognitive function in US CHARTER group

  Long-term treatment with an efavirenz-based regimen correlated with worse neurocognitive function than did treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir, according to results of a retrospective case-control comparison within the US CHARTER cohort.

  07 March 2013 | EATG / NATAP

• Young Males With HIV Face Greater Risk of Hearing Loss

  HIV infection is significantly associated with an increased risk of developing sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), according to research published online Feb. 21 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

  02 March 2013 | Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants

• HIV Linked to Sudden Loss of Hearing

  Having HIV appears to increase the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, at least among younger patients, researchers reported.

  22 February 2013 | MedPage Today HIV/AIDS

• A 'neurosteroid' found to prevent brain injury caused by HIV/AIDS

  A report in the The FASEB Journal describes how a network of steroid molecules in the brain, termed "neurosteroids," is disrupted during HIV infection leading to brain damage.

  31 January 2013 | Eurekalert Inf Dis

• Neuropathy and HIV: A Progress Report

  Neuropathy affects up to 40% of all people with HIV, yet the treatment has remained more or less the same for decades. Prescribing drugs meant for other diseases, has led to haphazard results; time for a change - but is it happening?

  11 January 2013 | PositiveLite

• HIV-positive MSM have neurologic disease earlier than HIV-negatives

  HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) had neurologic disease at a younger age than HIV-negative MSM at risk for HIV infection in the US Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Compared with the HIV-negative group, HIV-positive men had significantly higher rates of four types of neurologic disease, including dementia.

  20 November 2012 | International AIDS Society

• Is protease inhibitor monotherapy sufficient to keep HIV under control in the brain?

  Researchers in Sweden and Switzerland have been conducting clinical trials of PI monotherapy and HIV-related neurological research. Recently, two teams have separately reported that their data strongly suggest that injury to cells within the brain has occurred in some participants when exposed to PI monotherapy. The Swedish team recommends that PI monotherapy be used cautiously until further clinical trials are completed and more detailed information on the brain health of participants becomes available.

  02 November 2012 | CATIE

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