What's happening in Without Borders

Gretchen Birbeck, MD, MPH

Work by Dr. Kamtchum-Tatuene et al.,¹ recently published in Neurology Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflamation®, reinforces existing concerns that in sub-Saharan Africa there will be a public price to pay in comorbid health conditions exacerbated by HIV infection—even with excellent access to antiretroviral medications. “The researchers accessed biobanked samples from Dr. Laura Benjamin's previously completed START study—a case-control study designed to identify risk factors for stroke in Malawi.² Taking advantage of the ∼10% HIV prevalence in the population, they evaluated traditional serum markers for endothelial activation and injury among stroke vs non-stroke patients stratified by HIV status. Surprisingly, despite relatively small numbers for analysis, they found an odds ratio of 3.6 (CI 1.3–10.6) for higher plasma levels of ICAM-1 (a biomarker of endothelial activation) among HIV-infected individuals regardless of their stroke status and even when they were on HIV treatments with good viral suppression.”

Advance registration is open for the 2019 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (May 4–10) and will be available until April 11th. Members of the AAN pay a discounted rate to attend the meeting and those residing in low-income countries or lower-middle income countries—as designated by the World Bank—are offered discounted rates on membership. Program offerings for the meeting can now be viewed on the AAN website. Check out the Extra Extra section of Without Borders for information on other meetings, scholarships, grants, trainings, or employment opportunities in global neurology.

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