Publications

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed to characterize HIV testing rates among Medicaid recipients with severe mental illness who received public specialty mental health services.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study examined California Medicaid records from October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011 (N=56,895). Study participants were between age 18 and 67, utilized specialty mental health care services, were prescribed antipsychotic medications, and were not dually eligible for Medicare. Adjusted Poisson regression models were used to estimate the overall effects of predictor variables on HIV testing prevalence.

RESULTS

During the study period, 6.7% of people with severe mental illness received HIV testing. Men were 32% less likely to be tested for HIV than women (p<.001). Compared with whites, Asians/Pacific Islanders were 53% less likely and blacks were 82% more likely to be tested (p<.001). Those with comorbid drug or alcohol use disorders were more likely to be tested than those without such disorders (p<.001). Utilization of nonpsychiatric medical care was the strongest predictor of HIV testing (p<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Most adults with severe mental illness receiving public specialty mental health services were not tested for HIV during a one-year period. Public health administrators must prioritize HIV testing for early identification of HIV infection and prevention of HIV transmission.

Low-grade, chronic inflammation has been associated with many diseases of aging, but the mechanisms responsible for producing this inflammation remain unclear. Inflammasomes can drive chronic inflammation in the context of an infectious disease or cellular stress, and they trigger the maturation of interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Here we find that the expression of specific inflammasome gene modules stratifies older individuals into two extremes: those with constitutive expression of IL-1β, nucleotide metabolism dysfunction, elevated oxidative stress, high rates of hypertension and arterial stiffness; and those without constitutive expression of IL-1β, who lack these characteristics. Adenine and N-acetylcytidine, nucleotide-derived metabolites that are detectable in the blood of the former group, prime and activate the NLRC4 inflammasome, induce the production of IL-1β, activate platelets and neutrophils and elevate blood pressure in mice. In individuals over 85 years of age, the elevated expression of inflammasome gene modules was associated with all-cause mortality. Thus, targeting inflammasome components may ameliorate chronic inflammation and various other age-associated conditions.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) YKL-40, a unique biomarker that reflects activation of microglial cells, in acute (AHI) and chronic HIV-1 infection (CHI) and to determine the effect of treatment initiation on levels of this marker.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study of two groups of HIV-infected participants at baseline and follow-up timepoints.

METHODS

AHI (n = 33) and CHI (n = 34) participants underwent CSF and blood sampling before treatment initiation with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and at follow-up on cART in a subset of these individuals [6 months in AHI participants (n = 24), 1 year in CHI participants (n = 10)]. Measured parameters were analyzed at each timepoint. Analyses employed Mann-Whitney tests and Spearman correlations.

RESULTS

Baseline median YKL-40 was higher in CHI than AHI (96844 versus 80754 ng/l; P = 0.011). Elevations in the CHI group relative to the AHI group persisted at follow-up despite treatment (87414 versus 66130 ng/l; P = 0.003). In untreated CHI, YKL-40 correlated with neopterin (r = 0.51, P = 0.0025), chemokine (CXC-motif) ligand-10 (r = 0.44, P = 0.011), and neurofilament light chain (r = 0.56, P = 0.0008) in CSF.

CONCLUSIONS

This study is the first to describe the dynamics of CSF YKL-40 in two groups of HIV-infected individuals before and after cART and demonstrates the value of this marker in understanding HIV neuropathogenesis. The results suggest the utility of further exploring the prognostic value of YKL-40, particularly in individuals with early HIV infection or those initiating treatment during CHI.