Low bone mineral density (BMD) in HIV-infected individuals has been documented in an increasing number of studies. However, it is not clear whether it is the infection itself or the treatment that causes bone impairment. Microindentation measures bone material strength (Bone Material Strength index) directly. We recruited 85 patients, 50 infected with HIV and 35 controls. Median Bone Material Strength index was 84.5 (interquartile range 83-87) in HIV-infected patients and 90 (88.5-93) in controls (P < 0.001). No significant differences in BMD between cases and controls at any of the sites examined (total hip, femoral neck, and lumbar spine). HIV infection is associated with bone damage, independently of BMD.

Gram-negative bacterial infections of the central nervous system are generally associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. In patients with ventriculitis induced by gram-negative liquoral sepsis, a reduction in cerebrospinal fluid formation has been reported, suggesting that gram-negative ventriculitis is able per se to alter the normal functioning of the choroid plexus. The aim of the present study was to analyse, for the first time in the rat, the effects of acute ventriculitis on the ultrastructure of the choroid plexus. A simple and inexpensive experimental model of acute ventriculitis was developed: we injected into the cisterna magna of rats 10(3) CFU of live Escherichia coli, inducing septic ventriculitis without major neurological deficits. Histological examinations of rodent choroid plexus 24 h after the injection revealed patches of altered epithelium, with swollen and vacuolated ependymal cells associated with leukocyte infiltration. Electron microscopy demonstrated a reduced number of microvilli and flattening of the epithelial surface. These results (a) indicate that gram-negative septic ventriculitis is able to induce visible ultrastructural alterations of the choroid plexus which (b) are consistent with a picture of marked reduction of the functioning epithelial choroid plexus surface, and (c) highlight the potential usefulness of our rodent acute ventriculitis model for developing treatment modalities.

A case of Turcot's syndrome is described in an 8-year-old girl. Turcot's syndrome is a rare hereditary disease in which malignant glioma of the central nervous system is associated with colonic polyposis. The patient initially presented with a left parietal glioblastoma diagnosed by computed tomography (CT), and was subsequently found to have nonfamilial colonic polyposis.

No abstract