Clinical Profile of Neurological Manifestations in HIV-Reactive Patients and Their Relation with CD4 Count.

Background: Neurologic abnormalities have been noted in one-third of patients with AIDS, but at autopsy the nervous system is affected in all of them. Aim: To study the clinical profile of neurological manifestations in HIV reactive patients and their correlation with CD4 counts. Methods: A randomized case study was conducted at Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Patiala over a period of 2 years. 200 HIV-infected adult and adolescent patients (>15 years of age) were studied. The diagnosis of HIV was confirmed by 3 HIV ELISA& RAPID positive reports in symptomatic patients. Results: In the present study, 37% of the patients were in the age group of 26-35 years. Males are affected more frequently than females, with a male to female sex ratio of 2.56: 1. Meningitis, HIV associated dementia, Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy& peripheral neuropathy are the commonest neurological disorders observed in HIV-infected patients. Tuberculosis is the commonest opportunistic infection in retroviral positive patients. Conclusion: Central nervous system infections, intracranial mass lesions, stroke, and HIV-associated dementia are more common in patients with a CD4+ count less than 200.

Affinity chromatography of estrogen- and progesterone-binding proteins of human uterus.

The purification of estrogen- and progesterone-binding proteins of human uterus by employing affinity resins coupled with steroid-bovine serum albumin conjugates, led to the isolation of preparations with estrogen- and progesterone-binding sites having Kd values in the range of 0·96 to 1·20 × 10–9 M. These were different from the Kd values of 10–10 Μ and 10–8 Μ obtained for two types of binding sites present in the crude cytosolic and nuclear fractions. The purified proteins sedimented on sucrose gradient with S values in the range of 3·6–4·4. The cytosolic and nuclear estrogen- and progesterone-binding proteins, thus purified, showed differences in specificity of binding to the hormone. While the cytoplasmic proteins were more specific in their binding to estradiol or progesterone, the nuclear proteins bound Cortisol with equal or moderate affnity. These results demonstrate the presence of distinct physiological forms of estrogen- and progesterone-binding proteins in the cytoplasm and nucleus, thus pointing to the importance of both these compartments in hormone action. Keywords. Human.