The aim of the thesis was to undertake an evaluation of the neuropsychological functioning of non-demented and demented patients with advanced HIV-infection who have been treated with Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) for several years. One hundred and one non-demented HIV-infected individuals and 23 patients with mild or moderate AIDS Dementia Complex (ADC), from the outpatient clinics and Neurology department at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia were randomly selected to participate in a prospective study of the neurological and neuropsychological complications of HIV disease. All had advanced HIV-infection and all had been on HAART for five years on average. Thirty-one seronegative controls were recruited as controls. All participants completed a standard neuropsychological examination assessing nine cognitive domains. Non-demented advanced HIV-infected individuals participated in three follow-up visits. In addition, we report the results of a multi-centre cohort of 78 patients with mild to moderate ADC on HAART (Abacavir ADC trial). The main findings of our research were that the prevalence of neuropsychological impairment in advanced HIV-infected individuals remains equivalent to the era that preceded the introduction of HAART. Moreover, while complex attention / psychomotor speed remained a marker of HIV-related neuropsychological impairment in the HAART era, impairment in learning, memory and aspects of complex attention may be new indicators of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment. While progression of neuropsychological impairment is associated with past HIV-related history of brain involvement, we demonstrated that deterioration does not occur in a linear fashion and that over a 27 month period neuropsychological performance stabilizes in the majority. Stabilization of performance may be related to relapses in the course of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment and HAART optimization especially with antiretrovirals that have good brain tissue penetrance. Our research showed that plasma viral load and current CD4 cell count were generally not associated with the neuropsychological performance, but rather that nadir CD4 cell count was associated with neuropsychological performance suggesting a relation between past immune deterioration and current cognitive status. Cerebrospinal markers of immune and virological activity were found to be partly dissociated from current neurological in contrast to what was observed in the pre-HAART era. Future studies will need to evaluate new factors for underlying HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment as well as factors for underlying partial recovery.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 2, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-92).

No description available.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world. Several studies that were carried out suggest that there is a negative impact of HIV and AIDS on the health sector. This impacts directly on health care providers as they are the first point of contact for ill people. This study seeks to explore the impact of HIV and AIDS on health care provision looking at the perception of health care providers. Qualitative methods were used for collecting data from the health care providers. Two focus group discussions were conducted and ten in-depth interviews were conducted in three health care facilities in Lesotho. Audio tapes were used to record the interviews and thematic analysis was utilized to analyse the data. The results showed that the workload has increased due the increased number of people who seek health care services. There is also a shortage of staff in facilities which leads to health workers having to work extra hours. The study further indicated that there is lack of knowledge among health care providers regarding the management of HIV and AIDS. Consequently, the health care providers fear the risk of contracting HIV from their patients. In addition, the results revealed that the poor infrastructure at the facilities hinder health care providers from performing their duties effectively. The other concern was the lack of support structures from the management. Furthermore, stigma and discrimination emerged as the major problems for providers as work and home. As a result, the health care providers are stressed and suffered from burnout. There is a need for further research on the impact of HIV and AIDS on health providers. Government should take more responsibility for encouraging students to enroll at health training institutes. The curriculum should include an emphasis on HIV and AIDS and workshops on HIV and AIDS should be held. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This study focuses on the history of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Methodist churches reaction to HIV and AIDS in Manicaland province, Zimbabwe between 1985 and 2005. It attempts to document and analyse what the three so called ‗mainline‘ churches did and failed to do in responding to a new epidemic. The findings that culminated in this work were obtained mainly from primary written and oral sources that were collected between 2009 and 2011. These comprise oral testimonies of Christians from the Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Methodist churches including bishops and lay members of the churches. In addition, information from medical personnel serving at the churches‘ healthcare as well as that from officers serving in the National AIDS Council (NAC) and the Zimbabwe Association of Church-Related Hospitals (ZACH) were incorporated. Primary written sources include statements issued by the church leaders, the synod and annual conference resolutions, the minutes of parish council meetings, the ad clerums, reports by the church HIV and AIDS structures among others. The study establishes that HIV and AIDS, which emerged in Zimbabwe in the early 1980s, definitely affected the church and also seeks to show that the churches‘ reactions in turn had an influence on the epidemic. The state came out to publicly acknowledge AIDS in Zimbabwe in 1985 and two years later the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops‘ Conference became the first ecclesiastical body to issue a statement on HIV and AIDS in 1987. In 1989 the churches issued a collective statement under the Heads of Christian Denominations (HOCD) in Zimbabwe, which publicised their views on the Christian response to AIDS. The messages were largely moralistic in nature and the churches maintained this stance throughout the period of study. However, it has also been established that the church healthcare centres were involved in accessing condoms to people living with HIV (PLHIV) and other members of the public. Throughout the twenty-two years covered by this study the church healthcare system made an impact on the epidemic through offering treatment to PLHIV. The input of the church healthcare system underwent a three phased evolutionary process: the complementary stage between 1985 and 1994, the church paralleling of the state healthcare system from 1995 to 1999, and replacement of the responsibility of the government in healthcare between 2000 and 2007. Generally, the responses have been subdivided into three phases, which were the early years: from 1985 to 1994, the middle years lasting between 1995 and 1999 and finally the later years falling between 2000 and 2007. The individual churches appear to have been involved in responding to HIV and AIDS with the same motive of serving humanity starting with their followers and moving beyond. Within the Roman Catholic Church the intervention such as care of PLHIV and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) became a national and diocesan priority that witnessed the birth of the Mutare Community Home Care project in 1992. The new initiative grew stronger over the years and expanded from nine to nineteen stations covering the province. The Anglican Church launched its institutional AIDS care initiatives between 1999 and 2006. The main thrust was on training of Anglicans in responding to the epidemic and the establishment of AIDS care and treatment centres in selected rural areas. Within the United Methodist Church, the thrust was on care of orphans and vulnerable children and home-care at the station, circuit and annual conference levels. All the three churches received donor funding for HIV and AIDS interventions and this became important at a time when the state healthcare and welfare systems were unable to provide care and support to people infected and affected by the epidemic. The study argues that indeed HIV and AIDS like other earlier epidemics such as Black Death in Europe and influenza in Southern Africa is a historical phenomenon which received mixed responses from the community including Christians. It brought to light some of the negative reactions such as denial, stigma and discrimination and yet the epidemic also drew in Christian communities, individuals and institutions to show compassion by caring for people affected and infected by HIV and AIDS. At the institutional level bishops were in a dilemma of maintaining the moral teaching of the church on sexuality and yet they were also expected to be flexible in finding practical ways of preventing HIV. There were other dynamics such as culture, which prevented people from using condoms. The church followers made a very essential contribution in mitigating the effects of the epidemic by being the army of caregivers to people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Despite their unique dedication to caring for AIDS clients, women were the most affected by the epidemic because of the patriarchal nature of the churches and the cultural perceptions of gender and sexuality. It is hoped that the churches will draw on this history to shape future HIV and AIDS interventions. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This study proposed a modification of the traditional cost-of-illness approach. It considered additional indirect cost parameters that yield a comprehensive cost structure for human capital at a micro level. Although HIV/AIDS is an epidemiological problem, it has enormous direct and indirect economic costs. Arguably, the most important cost associated with HIV/AIDS results from the high rates of morbidity and mortality among working age adults, the vast majority of those infected. These are essentially losses in an economy's existing stock and potential accumulation of human capital, implying lower levels of labor productivity and eventually loss of labor. These impacts are accounted for in existing macroeconomic and microeconomic impact studies. Indirect costs, such as forgone earnings due to illness, are included whereas forgone earnings of caregivers in the household are unaccounted for.

Thesis (M.P.H.M.)--Mahidol University, 2000. / LICL has E-Thesis 0038 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Chemistry)) - Rhodes University, 2008.

Orientador: Mariza Correa / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T01:15:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Passador_LuizHenrique_D.pdf: 15504513 bytes, checksum: ba82e021b1774ffbe8562473e06d4635 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Esta tese é resultado de pesquisas etnográficas realizadas no distrito de Homoíne, Província de Inhambane, no Sul de Moçambique. Visando compreender como se dá a experiência da população local com o HIV/Aids num contexto rural, a partir de suas concepções "tradicionais" sobre as doenças e curas, o trabalho investiga os elementos que constituem o campo reconhecido emicamente como "tradição" e suas conseqüências pragmáticas no trato com a epidemia. Analisando o parentesco, as relações de gênero, a feitiçaria e a medicina tradicional, procura-se demonstrar como as concepções de doenças tradicionais estão associadas a um contexto de predação que tem suas raízes nas guerras que construíram as formas de socialidade na região Sul de Moçambique. Nesse contexto de conflitos que atravessam a história desde o período pré-colonial, as doenças tendem a ser experimentadas pelo viés persistente dessas concepções tradicionais, que associam as enfermidades a formas de predação fundadas no estatuto de alteridade dos agentes sociais que as produzem ou como rupturas de ordens internas ao campo social. A experiência com o HIV/Aids se dá dentro desse cenário, o que interfere nas formas de concepção local da doença e afeta as formas de controle da epidemia / Abstract: This thesis is the result of ethnographic researches conducted in the district of Homoíne, Inhambane Province, southern Mozambique. In order to comprehend the local experience with HIV / AIDS in a rural context through the "traditional" concepts about diseases and healing, the paper investigates the elements that constitute the emic field known as "tradition" and their pragmatic consequences in dealing with the epidemic. Analyzing kinship, gender relations, witchcraft and traditional healing, it seeks to demonstrate how traditional conceptions of disease are associated with a context of predation that has its roots in the wars that built the forms of sociality in the southern Mozambique. In this context of conflicts that pervade the story since the pre-colonial period, diseases tend to be experienced by the persistent bias of these traditional views, that the diseases associated with forms of predation based on the status of alterity of the social agents that produce them or as internal breaks the social order. The experience with HIV / AIDS takes place within that scenario, which interferes with the local ways to conceive the disease and affects the ways to control the epidemic / Doutorado / Doutor em Antropologia Social

Orientadores: Hyun Mo Yang, Norberto Anibal Maidana / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matemática, Estatística e Computação Científica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T00:06:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Malaquias_AngeloMiguel_D.pdf: 3743949 bytes, checksum: d321f27ce84d0589990109a3ee8d2ab3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Esta tese tem como objetivo abordar, matematicamente, a mutação do vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV) por meio de um processo de difusão e advecção. é dividida em três partes: estudo e compreensão do fenômeno biológico; formulação e análise de um primeiro sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias para estudar o tema e, finalmente, construção e análise de um modelo de equações diferenciais parciais envolvendo a mutação. Os modelos são formulados com base em características biológicas, e procurando, sempre que possível, estabelecer um paralelo entre Biologia e Matemática. Com o modelo de equações diferenciais ordinárias mostrou-se que um sistema imunológico que perde sua capacidade de resposta permite a persistência do vírus HIV no organismo infectado. Também, do modelo com equações diferenciais parciais, concluímos que usar as próprias mutações para combater o vírus pode ser uma alternativa, assim como na idéia de mutagênese letal / Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to study mathematically the mutation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) taking into account the process of diffusion and advection. The thesis is divided in three parts: the current understand of the HIV biology; formulation and analysis of a system of ordinary differential equations to understanding the persistent HIV infection; and, finally, construction and analysis of a model of partial differential equations considering the mutation. The models are formulated based on biological characteristics and whenever it is possible, a parallel between biology and mathematics was established. From system of ordinary differential equations, the persistent HIV infection can be explained by exhausting immune system response. From partial differential equations, the main conclusion is that mutations themselves can be used to fight the virus based on the idea of lethal mutagenesis / Doutorado / Matematica Aplicada / Doutor em Matemática Aplicada