a b s t r a c tThe antiretroviral therapy has remarkably modified the process of HIV disease, enhancing higher quality of life and longer survival, however it has contemporaneously lead to the occurrence of earlier unrecognized complications, such as endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular events. The endothelial dysfunction is directly caused by HIV-induced endothelial cell death (effects on metabolism, increase level of proinflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules). Endothelial dysfunction accelerates the process of atherosclerosis and causes an increase of cardiovascular risk. In addition, HIV-infected patients who are coinfected with HCV have higher cardiovascular risk as a result of the increase of serum levels of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1, and production of inflammatory cytokines and lipids. Despite the treatment effects of antiretroviral therapy on HIV-positive patients, some drugs cause endothelial damage and increased risk of heart disease. This review attempts to summarize the HIV infection mechanism and other factors associated with infection and treatment that affect the endothelium resulting in cardiovascular events.

Diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is based on clinical evaluation and eosin-5'-maleimide (EMA) test. A decrease in EMA fluorescence compared with healthy individuals is typical for HS and serves as a basis for HS diagnosis. Sensitivity and specificity of the test is high and false-positive results rarely occur. Studies have shown that anticoagulated blood sample when stored at 4°C for 7 days do not affect the test results. This case study is about an autoimmune hemolytic anemia patient who showed a primary positive result for EMA test (decrease in EMA fluorescence-47% compared with 100% for samples of healthy individual), when the test was performed in the sample stored for 48 hours after venipuncture and before staining. An irrelevant decrease (92.5% compared with 100% for samples of healthy individual) was found when freshly collected sample was analyzed. On the basis of the results obtained, it is recommended that EMA staining should be performed on the same day of blood collection for patients with significant hemolysis.