Materials and Methods:

We prospectively collected clinica

Materials and Methods:

We prospectively collected clinical information and DNA samples from men who underwent diagnostic prostate biopsy between June 2005 and October 2011. We genotyped samples for HOXB13 G84E using the MassARRAY (R) system. We determined the AG-014699 ic50 prevalence of the G84E variant in the overall cohort, among patients with a positive family history and among men age 55 years or younger.

Results: A total of 1,175 subjects underwent biopsy, of whom 948 had a DNA sample for analysis. The G84E variant was detected in 4 patients (prevalence 0.42%, 95% CI 0.12-1.08), of whom 3 had prostate cancer on biopsy. None of 301 patients with a positive family history (prevalence 0.00%, 95% CI 0.00-1.22) and 1 of 226 patients age 55 years or younger tested positive (prevalence 0.44%, 95% CI 0.01-2.44).

Conclusions: The HOXB13 G84E variant is rare in this cohort, even among those with a positive family history. Our findings question the utility of testing for this variant among unselected men presenting for

a diagnostic prostate biopsy.”
“Background: Non-traumatic myelopathy from developing regions has been described widely. In these learn more regions infections, mainly tuberculosis, followed by acute transverse myelitis and neoplasms, dominate. These are also regions of high HIV prevalence. In developed regions, the most prominent reported spinal cord disease in HIV/AIDS is vacuolar myelopathy (VM).

Other myelopathy causes in HIV/AIDS include opportunistic infections, neoplasms, vascular lesions and metabolic disease. In developing regions, opportunistic infections are more commonly click here encountered with VM occurring less frequently.

Aim: To determine the influence of HIV on the myelopathy spectrum in an HIV endemic region.

Design: Prospective case series.

Methods: Hundred unselected consecutive in-patients admitted with myelopathy were studied. Myelopathy aetiologies were established by collating information obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, CSF and blood studies, CXR findings, non-neurological illness and response to treatment. Data were analysed in terms of two cohorts, HIV positive and HIV negative.

Results: Approximately 50% of the patients presenting and admitted to our hospital with non-traumatic myelopathy are HIV positive. The HIV positive myelopathy patients were younger (20-40 years) and had infectious aetiologies. Tuberculosis was the most frequently identified cause of myelopathy. The majority of HIV-positive patients had advanced HIV infection. Anti-retroviral treatment did not influence myelopathy aetiologies. The HIV-negative patients were older and had neoplasms, followed by degenerative spondylosis as the main myelopathy causes.

Conclusions: HIV influences the non-traumatic myelopathy spectrum in regions with high HIV prevalence.

Comments are closed.