Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019693 (HIV)
 170,526 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The health system in Cuba guarantees accessibility to the entire population, and it is free of charge. Cuba's health figures are on a par with developed countries that have 20 times the budget. Each year around 4000 students start their medical training at 23 different universities. Since 1980 there has been a training course for family doctors. By 1995 22,000 of them have been trained covering 90% of the population. Their main work is preventive: health promotion and offering basic curative care. The family doctors are backed up by 400 polyclinics, where specialists offer their services to about 30,000 people. Life expectancy is 77 years and infant mortality a mere 9 per 1000 live births. Malaria has been eradicated and dengue fever successfully reduced. Leading causes of mortality are cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms, accidents, and homicides. Up to now only 1089 people have been diagnosed as HIV positive. From a mere epidemiological point of view, strict isolation could contain the epidemic in a closed society. In practice, however, the island opened the doors to tourism, with a side effect of increasing prostitution. Condoms or any contraceptives are in short supply. Nevertheless, the number of abortions is low, less than 1 per 100 deliveries. The reason is that all women whose expected menstruation is late by two weeks are offered a microaspiration in the polyclinic. 700 regulations are performed for every 5000 fertile women. Pregnancy tests are not performed as they are not available. The country is experiencing a difficult period because of the collapse and loss of support from the Soviet Union; over 30 years' trade embargo by the United States and the gradual change from a centrally planned economy towards more of a free market system. Family planning and AIDS seem two topics that need further exploration. Even if their system is under strain, health indices do not show a deterioration in health yet.
 ...
PMID:Cuba: plenty of care, few condoms, no corruption. 758 May 57

The impact of acute malaria infection on the level of spontaneous apoptosis, i.e., the percentage of apoptotic cells detectable in lymphocytes cultured without any exogenous stimulus for 3 days in vitro, was evaluated. Quantitation of apoptosis was performed by staining of lymphocyte nuclei with propidium iodide and analysis of the fluorescence by cytometry. The mean apoptosis of 23 HIV-negative patients (15 Africans and 8 Europeans) determined during a confirmed Plasmodium falciparum attack was 27.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 23.5-30.7%) i.e., 2.2 times the mean level found in 49 controls (12.4%, CI = 11.1-13.6). These controls included age- and sex-matched Africans (n = 37) and Europeans (n = 12) differing only by their previous level of exposure to P. falciparum. Naive (European) as well as previously exposed (African) subjects showed dramatically elevated levels of spontaneous apoptosis during the malaria attack (mean = 22.5%, CI = 20.7-24.4 for Europeans; mean = 29.7%, CI = 24.6-34.7 for Africans). Such unusually raised levels were observed for at least 1.5 months and were probably detectable for longer periods as suggested by the fact that the mean level of spontaneous apoptosis in healthy Africans was basically higher (13.8%, CI = 12.5-15) than the one found in healthy Europeans (8.2%, CI = 6.3-10.1) (P = 0.0001). Selective immunomagnetic cell isolations carried out immediately before apoptosis quantitation showed that this process affected not only the alpha beta T cells (CD4+ T cells as well as CD8+ T cells) but also the gamma delta T cells and the B-lymphocyte subset.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Acute Plasmodium falciparum infection is associated with increased percentages of apoptotic cells. 759 Sep 29

Liposomes have been proposed as vehicles for vaccines against parasitic and viral illnesses. Experimental vaccines against malaria, HIV, hepatitis A, and influenza virus have been shown to be safe and highly immunogenic in several human trials. Analysis of the intracellular trafficking patterns of liposomal antigen reveals that after being phagocytosed by macrophages, liposomal antigen readily escapes from endosomes into the cytoplasm of the macrophages. It is proposed that liposomal peptide antigen can enter either the Golgi apparatus or the endoplasmic reticulum and thereby interact with MHC class II or class I molecules. The intracellular cytoplasmic trafficking patterns of liposomal antigens raise the possibility that liposomes may have utility in human vaccines for induction of either humoral immunity or cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
 ...
PMID:Liposomal vaccines: clinical status and immunological presentation for humoral and cellular immunity. 762 48

During the past 20 years, millions of people have died in Cambodia as the result of violence, starvation, and preventable diseases. During this period, the public health system was also decimated as health professionals were killed. Efforts to provide health care were further stymied by inadequate training and low salaries that forced doctors to depend upon private practices in urban areas for their income. The health indicators in Cambodia reflect this situation, with life expectancy at 47 years for men and 49 for women, infant mortality at 120/1000 live births, child mortality at 190/1000, and maternal mortality at 9/1000 births. Malaria causes 5000-10,000 deaths each year, and the annual incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis is 250/100,000. The spread of HIV in South East Asia is also posing a major threat to Cambodia, and each month 300-400 people are injured or die as a result of the explosion of 1 of the 13 million land mines (scattered throughout the country of 9 million inhabitants). Many Cambodians suffer mental illness as a result of the decades of violence and displacement. Today Cambodians are struggling to reestablish their public health system with the help of international donor agencies, and there is hope that an appropriate and sustainable system will be in place within 10 years.
 ...
PMID:Cambodian health in transition. 764 May 94

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of transfusion transmitted diseases (TTDs) among local blood donors, the safety offered by the four mandatory tests (for HIV, HBsAg, syphilis and malaria) and to assess alanine aminotransferase (ALT) as a surrogate test. A total of 313 blood donors were tested for HBsAg, hepatitis B core (HBc) antibody, hepatitis C (HCV) antibody, HIV antibody, and IgM antibody to cytomegalovirus (CMV-IgM). The serum alanine aminotransferase levels were also done on each unit of blood. The prevalence of various markers was 7(2.2%) for HBsAg, 57 (18.2%) for anti HBc (total), 1 (0.3%) for anti HCV, 16 (5.1%) for anti CMV. None of the donors were positive for HIV, VDRL or malaria. ALT level was raised in 16.5 per cent of donors and showed no correlation with hepatitis markers. ALT was not found to be useful as a surrogate marker for routine screening of donors. Sensitive tests like ELISA and immunofluoresence for malaria antigen should be applied for screening for malaria. VDRL test may be used to detect high risk donors rather than detection of syphilis when stored blood is used. HBsAg and HIV tests should be routinely done on every unit of blood and anti HCV tests should be done regularly, if possible.
 ...
PMID:Effectiveness of mandatory transmissible diseases screening in Indian blood donors. 767 31

A successful short-term solution to transmission of AIDS in Western Africa by migrants involves provision of accessible and acceptable basic health and social services to migrants at their destination. The aim is to establish a sense of security and community, which is a health requirement. When migrants are excluded from community life or victimized as carriers of HIV infections, they will be driven by basic survival needs and dysfunctional social organization, which results in the rapid spread of HIV. Closing borders and mass deportation may not be an option. The long-term solution is population policy, environmental protection, and economic development. The focus on mapping the spread of AIDS must shift to a consideration of the migrant social conditions that make them vulnerable to AIDS. The issue of migration and AIDS will be addressed at the First European Conference on Tropical Medicine in October 1995 in Hamburg, Germany. In Uganda, HIV seroprevalence rates ranged from 5.5% among the stable population to 12.4% among internal migrants moving between villages to 16.3% among migrants from other areas. A World Bank project is operating in Western Africa, which traces seasonal male migration from the Cameroon to Liberia, Senegal to Nigeria, and from the Sahel to the coast during dry seasons. National border rules may influence the routes but not the extent of migration. A major destination place is Cote d' Ivoire, which has 25% of total population comprised of migrants from other countries and one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Western Africa. On plantations prostitutes are brought in. Each prostitute serves about 25 workers. The pattern of sexual mixing contributes to the high HIV rates. Female migration is smaller and usually concentrated in prostitution at place of destination. Illiteracy and poverty drive women migrants into the trade. Their frequent health problems are malaria, pelvic pain, menstrual irregularity, vaginal discharge, and genital sores. Drugs are bought on the streets or from friends and may be of questionable efficacy. Health services may be sought upon return to the home country.
 ...
PMID:Migration and AIDS. 747 52

Genetic immunization is a new vaccine technology, where antigen encoding DNA plasmids are directly injected into muscle or skin with the purpose of eliciting an immune response to the gene product. The gene products are correctly glycosylated, folded and expressed by the host cell. This is an advantage when the antigens are difficult to obtain in the desired purity, amount or correctly glycosylated form or when only the genetic sequences are known e.g. HCV. The DNA plasmids are injected into muscles or delivered coated onto gold microparticles into the skin by a particle bombardment device, a "gene gun". Genetic immunization has demonstrated induction of both a specific humoral but also a more broadly reacting cellular immune response in animal models of cancer, mycoplasma, TB, malaria, and many virus infections including influenza and HIV. Thus, the DNA vaccine mimics a live vaccine without the biohazard. Many animal species have responded to genetic immunization and gene vaccine has also been used to induce a desired immuneresponse in patients with cancer and HIV. The technique was first described in 1992 but is developing fast. This review describes the history and principle of the technology, its advantages, problems and possible applications.
 ...
PMID:[Genetic immunization--"the biological equivalent of cold fusion"?]. 767 26

Between 1982 and 1986 in western Zaire, a pediatrician collected data on 206 children under 5 years old presenting at the Institute Medical Evangelique, a 400-bed mission hospital (60 pediatric beds), in Kimpese with persisting fever despite chloroquine therapy for falciparum malaria, a negative or scanty positive thick film for malaria, and no clear localizing signs of infections. The pediatrician suspected that these cases had an extraintestinal Salmonella infection and took blood, synovial fluid, and/or cerebrospinal fluid samples for diagnostic analyses. Salmonella serotypes other than Salmonella typhi (non-S. typhi) were responsible for most bacteremia cases (83%). The clinical features of non-S. typhi and S. typhi infections were basically the same. The case fatality rate for non-S. typhi and S. typhi an S. typhi infections were 22.7% and 29.4%, respectively. Infants under 6 months old had a significantly higher case fatality rate than older children (relative risk [RR] = 1.7; p .0005; e.g., 66% and 100% for infants under 3 months old). Meningitis was significantly associated with increased mortality, regardless of age (RR = 4.68). Jaundice was the only clinical sign significantly linked to increased mortality (RR = 2.35), especially among children who had S. typhi infection (80%). Mortality occurred significantly more often when children fell ill with Salmonella bacteremia in the late rainy season, coinciding with the peak of malnutrition, than in the dry season (RR = 2.62). Chloramphenicol-resistant non-S. typhi isolated were significantly associated with increased mortality (RR = 3.19). Hemoglobin levels below 6 g (i.e. severe anemia) has a strong link to increased mortality (RR = 1.77). Salmonella bacteremia will become more difficult to treat as antibiotic resistance and the prevalence of HIV infection increases in African countries.
 ...
PMID:Salmonella bacteraemia among young children at a rural hospital in western Zaire. 768 45

Anemia is an important cause of morbidity and probably mortality in patients with acute Plasmodium falciparum infection. The authors investigated the association between P. falciparum malaria and anemia in children living in holoendemic malaria areas in their population-based study of 338 children aged 6-40 months living in the Bagamoyo area of Tanzania. The study was conducted from late May to October 1992 when malaria transmission is high in coastal Tanzania. The children were selected at random from seven villages in the study area and not on the basis of a history of illness, suspected malaria, or any other health reason. All children were examined by a physician and detailed medical histories were taken. At enrollment, 2.5% of the children were severely anemic and 74.1% were anemic. With treatment and active surveillance, the incidence of severe anemia dropped to 1.4% and anemia to 69.5%. Stepwise regression analysis found fever and parasitemia to effectively predict anemia and that the anemic condition was age dependent. The majority of children infected with P. falciparum were iron deficient, followed by normochromic macrocytic anemias, with strong evidence that the anemia was associated with malaria and not geohelminth infection. The authors consider the importance of malaria and anemia as a cause of childhood morbidity in Africa and comment on the realization that blood transfusions commonly used to treat severe anemia are a major vehicle for HIV transmission.
 ...
PMID:Anaemia and Plasmodium falciparum infections among young children in an holoendemic area, Bagamoyo, Tanzania. 778 26

We investigated prospectively the cause of fever in patients requiring hospitalization after returning from the tropics. All consecutive admissions (n = 195) with oral temperature > 37.0 degrees C at the time of admission were enrolled. Final diagnosis as recorded on the discharge summary by the attending physician and results of any relevant laboratory or radiological investigations were recorded on standard proforma. Malaria accounted for 42% of admissions; two patients had returned to Britain more than 6 months before presentation. The second largest group was assumed to have a non-specific viral infection (25%). Cosmopolitan infections (urinary tract infection, community-acquired pneumonia, streptococcal sore throat, etc.) accounted for 9%. Coincidental infections (schistosomiasis, filariasis, intestinal helminths) were found in 16%. Serology was positive for HIV infection in 3%. The most useful investigation was a malaria film, which was positive in 45% of cases in which it was performed. The combination of thrombocytopaenia (platelet count < 100 x 10(9)) and hyperbilirubinaemia (bilirubin > 18 IU/ml) were useful predictive markers of malaria: all 23 patients with both abnormalities had positive malaria films. Malaria must be excluded in any febrile patient returning from the tropics. In the absence of a positive malaria film, the combination of a low platelet count and raised bilirubin may suggest the need for an empirical course of therapy.
 ...
PMID:Fever as the presenting complaint of travellers returning from the tropics. 779 78


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>