The latest in the crucial series documenting scientific discoveries at the forefront of HIV and AIDS research
This volume updates the most important and controversial issues facing physicians, nurses, microbiologists, pharmacists, and epidemiologists who deal directly with patients suffering from HIV and AIDS, focusing on specific areas in which important new advances have occurred in diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of infection and related complications.
Outlines new disease management strategies being tested in prospective clinical trials and observational studies
Combining elements of virology, epidemiology, immunology, oncology, endocrinology, neurology, psychiatry, and the behavioral sciences, AIDS Clinical Review 2000/2001
clarifies substantive advancements in vaccine development, realistically assessing potential efficacy and limitations
explores short-term antiretroviral therapy for dramatically reducing the rate of vertical transmission from mother to child
evaluates the efficacy of antiretroviral prophylaxis for workers who experience high-risk exposure to HIV-infected blood
discusses preservation of HIV specific immunity when antiretroviral therapy is initiated early in the course of acute infection
considers complex drug interactions that occur when drugs are used in combination
highlights cytokine and other immune-based therapies
suggests chronic hepatitis may ultimately be more fatal than HIV for coinfected patients
and more
Including results recently presented at scientific meetings but not yet published in peer-reviewed journals, AIDS Clinical Review 2000/2001 is essential reading for infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists, pharmacologists, microbiologists, hematologists, hepatologists, oncologists, neurologists, medical students in these disciplines, and all medical professionals involved in both AIDS research and clinical practice.

The three years since our last conference in San Francisco have again seen a dramatic expansion of the number of antivirals either licensed or in the late stages of clinical trials. d4T is now licensed for HIV infection, famciclovir and the oral pro-drug of acyclovir, valacyclovir, are now licensed for VZV infections in some countries. Moreover. oral ganciclovir, cidofovir, and sorivudine are not far behind. Clinical trials with the second-site reverse transcriptase inhibitors and the protease inhibitors for HlV infection are proceeding rapidly and on a broad scale, and the preliminary results would suggest that several of these classes of drugs will be licensed as well. Despite this optimism, however, there is increasing evidence that antiviral-resistant strains of pathogenic viruses will be a significant problem, perhaps especially with therapy of HIV infection, and there remains a desperate need for improved drugs (with either improved efficacy or decreased toxicity, or both) for CMV and HIV infections. This book is the edited proceedings of the Fourth Triennial Conference on Antiviral Chemotherapy, held in San Francisco, in November 1994. The conference was sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco, and co-sponsored by the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR), the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and the Australian National Centre for HIV Virology Research. The conference had been organized to present an overview of the field of antiviral chemotherapy.

Scientists and clinicians attending the last "New Directions in Antiviral Therapy" conference in late 1994 could hardly have predicted the revolution in the management of patients with HIV infection that has occurred since. Two new classes of antiretrovirals have been licensed, the second-site RT inhibitors and the protease inhibitors; the long in cubation period of active HIV infection, when the infection is clinically latent, is now un derstood to be a period of intense viral replication and turnover of CD4 lymphocytes; measurements of HI V RNA concentration in plasma have been shown to be essential tools for monitoring the course of HIV infection, deciding when to treat, and assessing the re sults of treatment; and finally, combinations of antiretrovirals, particularly combinations including protease inhibitors, have been shown to have dramatically beneficial effects on patients with HIV infection. These advances, coupled with new drugs for the management of herpesvirus infections, have made dramatic differences in the quality and length of life of HIV-infected patients. Additional advances have been made since 1994 in the prevention or management of influenza virus (zanamavir), respiratory syncytial virus (palvizumab), hepatitis B virus (lamivudine and famciclovir), and enterovirus infections (pleconaril). It is difficult to re member that only slightly more than a decade ago there were only a handful of antiviral agents available (none of which were antiretrovirals), and a number of those were either highly toxic, of dubious efficacy, or both."

Scientists and clinicians attending the last "New Directions in Antiviral Therapy" conference in late 1994 could hardly have predicted the revolution in the management of patients with HIV infection that has occurred since. Two new classes of antiretrovirals have been licensed, the second-site RT inhibitors and the protease inhibitors; the long in cubation period of active HIV infection, when the infection is clinically latent, is now un derstood to be a period of intense viral replication and turnover of CD4 lymphocytes; measurements of HI V RNA concentration in plasma have been shown to be essential tools for monitoring the course of HIV infection, deciding when to treat, and assessing the re sults of treatment; and finally, combinations of antiretrovirals, particularly combinations including protease inhibitors, have been shown to have dramatically beneficial effects on patients with HIV infection. These advances, coupled with new drugs for the management of herpesvirus infections, have made dramatic differences in the quality and length of life of HIV-infected patients. Additional advances have been made since 1994 in the prevention or management of influenza virus (zanamavir), respiratory syncytial virus (palvizumab), hepatitis B virus (lamivudine and famciclovir), and enterovirus infections (pleconaril). It is difficult to re member that only slightly more than a decade ago there were only a handful of antiviral agents available (none of which were antiretrovirals), and a number of those were either highly toxic, of dubious efficacy, or both."

The three years since our last conference in San Francisco have again seen a dramatic expansion of the number of antivirals either licensed or in the late stages of clinical trials. d4T is now licensed for HIV infection, famciclovir and the oral pro-drug of acyclovir, valacyclovir, are now licensed for VZV infections in some countries. Moreover. oral ganciclovir, cidofovir, and sorivudine are not far behind. Clinical trials with the second-site reverse transcriptase inhibitors and the protease inhibitors for HlV infection are proceeding rapidly and on a broad scale, and the preliminary results would suggest that several of these classes of drugs will be licensed as well. Despite this optimism, however, there is increasing evidence that antiviral-resistant strains of pathogenic viruses will be a significant problem, perhaps especially with therapy of HIV infection, and there remains a desperate need for improved drugs (with either improved efficacy or decreased toxicity, or both) for CMV and HIV infections. This book is the edited proceedings of the Fourth Triennial Conference on Antiviral Chemotherapy, held in San Francisco, in November 1994. The conference was sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco, and co-sponsored by the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR), the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and the Australian National Centre for HIV Virology Research. The conference had been organized to present an overview of the field of antiviral chemotherapy.

More than 900,000 Americans are now living with the HIV virus. Although thousands of them die each year, advances in medical treatment have allowed many people to control the infection and survive longer. But what are their lives like? This book combines superb photographs and compelling first-person accounts to document the feelings and experiences of a wide range of Americans who are carrying the HIV virus. In these pages, men and women speak candidly about their lives, their relationships, and how they have come to terms with the presence of this chronic and potentially deadly disease.

What becomes clear in these interviews is that HIV is everybody's disease -- it knows no boundaries. Yet there are some in our society who still prefer to blame the afflicted rather than embrace them. By allowing HIV-positive people to speak openly and movingly about their lives, Focus on Living seeks to remove the curtain of invisibility that still cloaks the disease and to reduce the stigma that contributes to silence.

Dr. Paul Volberding, who has been treating patients with AIDS since the early days of the epidemic in 1981, contributes an introduction to the volume.

Heritable disorders of connective tissue (HDCTs) are a diverse group of inherited genetic disorders and subtypes. Because connective tissue is found throughout the body, the impairments associated with HDCTs manifest in multiple body systems and may change or vary in severity throughout an affected individual's lifetime. In some cases, these impairments may be severe enough to qualify an eligible child or adult for monetary benefits through the U.S. Social Security Administration's (SSA's) Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income program. SSA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene an expert committee that would provide current information regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of selected HDCTs, including Marfan syndrome and the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, and the effect of the disorders and their treatment on functioning. The resulting report, Selected Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue and Disability, presents the committee's findings and conclusions. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 Overview of Hereditary Disorders of Connective Tissue 3 Marfan Syndrome and Related Hereditary Aortopathies 4 Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders 5 Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue and Effects on Function 6 Overall Conclusions Appendix A: Public Session Agendas Appendix B: Commissioned Paper Appendix C: Selected Resources Appendix D: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. To receive SSDI or SSI disability benefits, an individual must meet the statutory definition of disability, which is "the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity [SGA] by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." SSA uses a five-step sequential process to determine whether an adult applicant meets this definition. Functional Assessment for Adults with Disabilities examines ways to collect information about an individual's physical and mental (cognitive and noncognitive) functional abilities relevant to work requirements. This report discusses the types of information that support findings of limitations in functional abilities relevant to work requirements, and provides findings and conclusions regarding the collection of information and assessment of functional abilities relevant to work requirements. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 Disability and Function 3 Collection of Information on Function and Disability 4 Integrated Assessment of Work-Related Functional Ability 5 Selected Instruments for Assessment of Physical Functional Abilities Relevant to Work Requirements 6 Selected Instruments for Assessment of Mental Functional Abilities Relevant to Work Requirements 7 Selected Impairments and Limitations in Functional Abilities Relevant to Work 8 Review of Selected Disability Benefit Programs 9 Overall Conclusions Appendix A Public Session Agendas Appendix B Glossary Appendix C Literature Search Strategies Appendix D Biographical Sketches of Committee Members