BACKGROUND It has been suggested that superinfection of HIV positive individuals with heterologous HIV strains could lead to faster progression to AIDS, generating concern over the risks of exposure to new infections in those already infected. METHODS A mathematical model of the within-host dynamics of two sequential infections with strains of HIV describing activation and infection of immune...

The parahippocampal cortex (PHC) has been implicated in both place/scene processing and episodic memory. We proposed that this region should instead be seen as intrinsically mediating contextual associations and not place/scene processing or episodic memory exclusively. Given that place/scene processing and episodic memory both rely on associations, this modified framework provides a platform f...

BACKGROUND Type 1 reactions (T1R) affect a considerable proportion of patients with leprosy. In those with T1R, the host immune response pathologically overcompensates for the actual infectious threat, resulting in nerve damage and permanent disability. Based on the results of a genome-wide association study of leprosy per se, we investigated the TNFSF15 chromosomal region for a possible contri...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We conducted a prospective randomized study of patients with acute low back pain and/or radiculopathy to assess the effect of knowledge of diagnostic findings on clinical outcome. The practice of ordering spinal imaging, perhaps unintentionally, includes a large number of patients for whom the imaging test is performed for purposes of reassurance or because of patient exp...

CONTEXT Information about the risk and course of coronary artery disease (CAD) in acromegaly is limited. OBJECTIVE To evaluate CAD risk in acromegalic patients at diagnosis and after successful treatment during follow-up. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Twenty-five consecutive patients (age 45.1+/-10.6 years, 15 women) were studied at the time of diagnosis, and 19 patients were re-evaluated after 4.6+...

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMF) is thought to be important in human decision making, but studies to date have focused on decision making under conditions of uncertainty, including risky or ambiguous decisions. Other lines of evidence suggest that this area of the brain represents quite basic information about the relative "economic" value of options, predicting a role for this region in va...

Although aging has been associated to slower V̇O2 kinetics, some evidence indicates that fitness status and not aging per se might modulate this response. The main goal of this study was to examine the V̇O2, deoxygenated hemoglobin+myoglobin (deoxy-[Hb+Mb]) kinetics, and the NIRS-derived vascular reperfusion responses in older compared to young men of different training levels (i.e., inactive, re...

It is argued that complexity has only a limited use as a paradigm against reductionist approaches and that it has a much richer potential as a comparable property. What can complexity be usefully said to be a property of is discussed. It is argued that it is unlikely to have any useful value as applied to “real” objects or systems. Further that even relativising it to an observer has problems. ...