Agency: NIH
Agency Award Number: R34 MH097567

To examine whether training to improve how quickly a person can think also improves his/her performance on real-world tasks.

Agency: NIH
Agency Award Number: R21 MH098607

Currently in the absence of clinical or research tools to detect the nature or extent of problems surrounding use of the Internet in the context of managing daily affairs, this study takes an important first step in determining whether Internet technology can be used to more accurately and effectively determine the “real world” impact of HIV infection by developing web-based tests of household shopping, financial management, and route-finding

Agency: NIDA
Agency Award Number: F31DA034510

Agency: NIMH
Agency Award Number: R21MH097112

Agency: REACH

Overlapping geographic distributions have brought malaria and HIV together in many regions of the world. When the two infections occur in the same individual, their interactions adversely affect the outcomes of both diseases. Malarial episodes, for instance, hasten HIV disease progression and HIV+ patients are more likely to contract malaria. This knowledge regarding malaria and HIV co-infection comes from microscopy-based studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa where Plasmodium falciparum is endemic. We cannot extrapolate these findings directly to our study population in southern India. In our proposed cohort, there is predominantly unstable malaria transmission with P. vivax. Recent preliminary studies from India have demonstrated a prevalence of neuropsychological impairment (NPI) in HIV+ individuals and other studies have shown NPI in individuals with malaria in the absence of the severe clinical syndrome of "cerebral malaria". Even though these dangerous pathogens can infect the same host, their combined effects on the brain are virtually uninvestigated. The overall goals of this project will be 1) to identify malaria co-infection and confirm treatment success using a highly sensitive assay, and 2) to demonstrate the effects of previously undetected malaria on HIV disease progression and neuropsychological (NP) performance in HIV+ individuals in southern India. The findings of this study will 1) lead to improvement in HIV/AIDS care of our study population through screening and treatment of asymptomatic malaria, 2) make it possible to apply for NIH and other funding to expand the program, and 3) stimulate research to determine the mechanism behind NPI in co-infected people.

Agency: UCSD/Academic Senate

Award: RH121H-LETENDRE

Overlapping geographic distributions have brought malaria and HIV together in many regions of the world. When the two infections occur in the same individual, their interactions adversely affect the outcomes of both diseases. Malarial episodes, for instance, hasten HIV disease progression and HIV+ patients are more likely to contract malaria. This knowledge regarding malaria and HIV co-infection comes from microscopy-based studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa where Plasmodium falciparum is endemic. We cannot extrapolate these findings directly to our study population in southern India. In our proposed cohort, there is predominantly unstable malaria transmission with P. vivax. Recent preliminary studies from India have demonstrated a prevalence of neuropsychological impairment (NPI) in HIV+ individuals and other studies have shown NPI in individuals with malaria in the absence of the severe clinical syndrome of "cerebral malaria". Even though these dangerous pathogens can infect the same host, their combined effects on the brain are virtually uninvestigated. The overall goals of this project will be 1) to identify malaria co-infection and confirm treatment success using a highly sensitive assay, and 2) to demonstrate the effects of previously undetected malaria on HIV disease progression and neuropsychological (NP) performance in HIV+ individuals in southern India. The findings of this study will 1) lead to improvement in HIV/AIDS care of our study population through screening and treatment of asymptomatic malaria, 2) make it possible to apply for NIH and other funding to expand the program, and 3) stimulate research to determine the mechanism behind NPI in co-infected people.