Browsing by Author "Combrinck, MI"

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    HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders biomarkers and the response to antiretroviral therapy
    (2012) Cross, Helen Margot; Combrinck, MI
    This study aimed to determine whether highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) improved cognitive function in HIV positive people in South Africa, and whether this effect differed according to the CNS penetration-effectiveness (CPE) of the regimen used. I also investigated potential HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND) biomarkers (serum neopterin, osteopontin and neurofilament H) to determine their relationship to the severity of cognitive impairment at baseline in HAART-naïve patients, and whether initial levels of these biomarkers related to the change in cognitive function a year later.
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    The role of inflammation, oxidative stress and the apolipoprotein E genotype in HIV-associated cognitive impairment: a clinical, biochemical and neuro-imaging study
    (2010) Mahne, Anna Cecilia; Combrinck, MI
    Twenty percent of HIV-infected patients develop HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), a spectrum of neurological diseases which includes HIV-associated dementia (HAD), a debilitating sUb-cortical dementia. HIV-related cognitive impairment is a primary neurological complication of HIV infection, as opposed to neurological diseases secondary to opportunistic infections in the immune compromised host. Our study investigated the role of systemic markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, inflammatory changes in the brain on magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and the role of the APOE E4 allele in HIV-associated dementia (HAD) in a South African population. We hypothesized that cognitive impairment and brain inflammation would correlate with systemic markers of inflammation and oxidative stress; with an inverse relation to anti-oxidant capacity.