University of Pittsburgh

About: University of Pittsburgh is a education organization based out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 87042 authors who have published 201012 publications receiving 9656783 citations. The organization is also known as: Pitt & Western University of Pennsylvania.

Vascular Cognitive Impairment

Abstract: Cerebrovascular disease is the second most common cause of acquired cognitive impairment and dementia and contributes to cognitive decline in the neurodegenerative dementias. The current narrow definitions of vascular dementia should be broadened to recognise the important part cerebrovascular disease plays in several cognitive disorders, including the hereditary vascular dementias, multi-infarct dementia, post-stroke dementia, subcortical ischaemic vascular disease and dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and degenerative dementias (including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies). Here we review the current state of scientific knowledge on the subject of vascular brain burden. Important non-cognitive features include depression, apathy, and psychosis. We propose use of the term vascular cognitive impairment, which is characterised by a specific cognitive profile involving preserved memory with impairments in attentional and executive functioning. Diagnostic criteria have been proposed for some subtypes of vascular cognitive impairment, and there is a pressing need to validate and further refine these. Clinical trials in vascular cognitive impairment are in their infancy but support the value of therapeutic interventions for symptomatic treatment.

The multicenter aids cohort study: rationale, organization, and selected characteristics of the participants

Abstract: The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study was designed to elucidate the natural history of the infection causing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), identify risk factors for occurrence and clinical expression of the infection, and establish a repository of biologic specimens for future study. A variety of recruitment techniques, including special assurance of confidentiality, were used to enroll participants. Nearly 5,000 homosexual men volunteered for semiannual interview, physical examination, and laboratory testing in four metropolitan areas. A significant majority of these men in each center (69-83%) reported having 50 or more lifetime sexual partners, and over 80% had engaged in receptive anal intercourse with at least some of their partners in the previous two years. By the time of the participants' initial evaluation (April 1984-April 1985), infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) had occurred in higher proportions of men in Los Angeles (51%) and Chicago (43%) than in Baltimore/Washington, DC (31%) and Pittsburgh (21%), presumably as a result of the higher number of partners and proportion with whom these men had engaged in high-risk practices (e.g., receptive anal intercourse). Follow-up evaluations are underway in this comprehensive longitudinal investigation of HIV infection.