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Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Interest in the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) mainly derives from its associations with congenital malformations, mental retardation, and severe or fatal infections in immunosuppressed individuals such as transplant patients, tumor and AIDS patients. It is evidenced that there has been a need for a rapid and sensitive methods to detect an ongoing acute infection. The recent studies showed that high titers of antibody to the glycoprotein 52kd are present in sera of patients undergoing acute HCMV infection. However, purification of individual glycoprotein from HCMV-infected cells is a daunting prospect. HCMV glycoprotein 52 kd expressed via recombinant DNA techniques are a promising approach to solve this problem. In order to evaluate the diagnostic value of the recombinant glycoprotein 52 kd antigenic code region for HCMV infection, we have used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and recombinant DNA techniques to construct successfully the high-level expression plasmid pHCMV containing the HCMV GP-52 kd antigenic code region, with the predicted protein at levels up to 20% in total bacterial protein. The expressed protein was purified from SDS-PAGE, used as an antigen in Western-blot, and reacted with 12 cases of the positive sera, 4 cases of the negative sera, following by reaction with HRP-labelled horse IgG antibody against human. The results indicated that the approach we are using to detect antibody to HCMV acute infection are as sensitive as general serological methods such as ELISA, with the advantages of easy preparation of antigen with high quantity, and clinical practicability.
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PMID:[Preliminary use of recombinant glycoprotein 52kd as an antigen in the diagnosis of human cytomegalovirus infection]. 132 25

Various studies have reported rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission from mother to child of 13-40%. Vertical transmission occurs in utero, during delivery, or, in a small number of cases, through breast milk. Whether mothers at various stages of HIV infection experience different rates of transmission remains unknown. Maternal antibodies cross the placenta and are present from birth up to 18 months of age. The offspring of HIV-positive mothers tend to be low birthweight, under 37 weeks' gestation, and at high risk of perinatal mortality. It is likely, however, that this profile is indicative of the low socioeconomic status of most women with HIV rather than a result of infection. Also emerging is a psychosocial profile of the HIV child. These children are isolated, neglected, battered, frequently abandoned, and exhibit various degrees of mental retardation. Also common are delayed psychomotor development, loss of developmental milestones, limited attention span, poor language development, and abnormal reflexes. These features result from the interaction of low socioeconomic status, a lack of psychosocial stimulation, nutritional deficiencies, and central nervous system infections. Since HIV-infected children tend to be the offspring of drug addicts, bisexuals, and prostitutes, they are not awarded the same compassion as children afflicted with other terminal illnesses. Moreover, these children are generally neglected by groups formed to provide support to AIDS patients. Thus, it is up to the general public, the mass media, and the health care system to advocate for the needs of these neglected children.
AIDS Care 1991
PMID:HIV infection in children. 193 94

This overview of health programs and conditions in India reveals that health is related to economic development antipoverty measures, food production and distribution, drinking water supply, sanitation, housing, environmental protection, and education. There are urgent requirements for effective intersectorial coordination. Unprecedented growth of 1 million a year has resulted in slums and shanties--a place of epidemics; urbanization has contributed to environmental pollution impacting on health, and water pollution to water-born diseases. Health services are still insufficient to meet the needs. Sanitation practices contribute to cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, enteric fevers, and malaria. Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy must be active in preventive and health care. Accomplishments include in 1987/8 a decline in leprosy cases attributed to the existence of leprosy control units. 40 AIDS Surveillance Units are actively treating and screening. The Naval Goitre Control Programme's goal is replacement of iodized salt for edible salt by 1992, thereby reducing mental retardation and low birth weight babies. The Family Welfare Programme, targets a New Production Rate of Unity before 2000. A National Technology Mission on immunization and the Universal Immunization Programme plans to be operational in all districts by 1990. Oral rehydration therapy programs dispense free packets to fill the needs of 1 million children under 5 who suffer from diarrhea 3 times a year with 3 million facing death. The Primary Health Care Programme provides iron and folic acid to women with nutritional anemia and Vitamin A to children. Health service developments have been increased.
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PMID:Status of health in India and its future prospects. 226 69

The AIDS epidemic poses a serious threat to people with developmental disabilities, the magnitude of which has not yet been fully realized by many professionals working with this population. Models for effective AIDS prevention education have been developed, however, within other populations. Key principles utilized in existing models were discussed and recommendations presented on how to adapt these models when designing programs for people who have developmental disabilities, most specifically, those in the mild/moderate range of mental retardation.
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PMID:Developing an AIDS prevention education program for persons with developmental disabilities. 258 13

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common agent of prenatal (peri- and early postnatal) infection of the newborn with an incidence of 0.2-2.0% (5-10%) depending on the socio-economic status. Only one out of 20 congenitally CMV-infected newborns shows serious symptoms. Another two may reveal mental retardation and other significant handicaps in later age. Perinatal CMV infection occasionally causes atypical pneumonia, mostly combined with Pneumocystis carinii infections similar to reports of AIDS cases. The risk of vertical infection has been quantified. About 2-4% of pregnant seronegative women (40-60% of all) pass a primary, 10-20% of seropositives a recurrent CMV infection. Every third primary infection may result in vertical CMV transmission with poor prognosis in about 25% (40%) of the offspring infected (in the first half of pregnancy). Sources of vertical infection are semen, maternal cell-associated viraemia, ascending genital virus (prenatally), cervical secretion (perinatally), breast milk and saliva (early postnatally). Laboratory diagnosis of CMV infection is performed by many virological and immunological techniques for detecting viral infectivity, structural components, humoral and cellular immunoresponses. Routine diagnostic service is mainly established by virus cultivation in human fibroblasts and by ELISAs on antibodies and antigens.
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PMID:Cytomegalovirus infection in pregnancy. 282 48

Infection with the AIDS virus itself (HIV, HTLV-III, LAV, ARV) is associated with a full spectrum of neurological disorders. The application of diagnostic studies for HTLV-III infection has demonstrated that these neurologic disorders can be the first manifestation of AIDS or occur in the absence of AIDS. The most common conditions associated with HTLV-III infection alone are a subacute encephalopathy (AIDS dementia) and peripheral neuropathy; however, vacuolar myelopathy and both acute and chronic aseptic meningitis are also common. Congenital (or neonatal) transmission of the virus can result in a mental retardation syndrome of delayed onset. The AIDS virus is neurotropic as well as targeting T-helper lymphocytes. The virus has been readily identified in neural tissues and cerebrospinal fluid, including instances in which other central nervous system infections, such as toxoplasmosis, coexist. Hence, recognition of an appropriate syndrome, neurodiagnostic studies, and exclusion (or treatment) of other infections, as well as evidence for HTLV-III infection are required for diagnosis. The development of successful therapy will require agents which cross the blood-brain barrier.
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PMID:Neurology of AIDS virus infection: a clinical classification. 282 50

Screening programs for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome have been proposed to several categories of persons at increased risk for AIDS. On the other hand, it is still controversial if people with mental retardation may be candidates for mandatory screening. In our opinion, the reduced competence and diminished autonomy that characterize institutionalized mentally retarded subjects, it might be appropriate those who are uninfected from possible human immunodeficiency virus infection.
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PMID:[The problem of screening for HIV infection in mentally retarded institutionalized subjects]. 322 99

Health practitioners (N = 665) from the Chinese, Italian, German, Greek, Arabic and Anglo Australian communities used social distance scales to rate the attitudes of people in their communities toward 20 disability groups. Significant differences were found in community attitudes toward people with 19 of these disabilities. Overall the German community expressed greatest acceptance of people with disabilities, followed by the Anglo, Italian, Chinese, Greek and Arabic groups. However the relative degree of stigma attached to the various disabilities by the communities was very similar. In all communities, people with asthma, diabetes, heart disease and arthritis were the most, and people with AIDS, mental retardation, psychiatric illness and cerebral palsy, the least accepted of the disability groups. These stigma hierarchies were remarkably similar to other hierarchies reported over the last 23 years. The findings have important implications for people with disabilities and health practitioners in multicultural societies.
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PMID:Attitudes towards disabilities in a multicultural society. 845 31

Because individuals with mental retardation have recently been identified as a group at-risk for developing HIV infection, HIV/AIDS training programs for service providers working with this population are critical. In this study an HIV/AIDS education program for family-based foster care providers was described and evaluated. The results indicate that although these service providers had some prior knowledge about HIV and AIDS, there were significant improvements in knowledge following the training. Implications of these findings for individuals with mental retardation were discussed.
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PMID:Evaluation of an HIV/AIDS education program for family-based foster care providers. 893 87

Experimental evidence and pathological observation indicate that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a tropism for cells of the nervous system, including both neuronal and glial cells. As demonstrated in animal models, after a viremic phase, the virus may reach the brain, where it may cause mild infection or severe encephalitis. The nervous system is one of the principal target organs in congenital HCMV infections and in HCMV-infected AIDS patients. In the former case, mortality is high and neurological sequelae, such as mental retardation, are frequent; in the latter it may lead to a progressively wasting encephalopathy and death within a few weeks. The diagnosis of the nervous system manifestations due to HCMV can now rely upon the detection of HCMV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid by means of polymerase chain reaction. However, the current antiviral treatments of these complications are of limited effect.
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PMID:Cytomegalovirus infections of the nervous system. 945 Feb 26


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