Post-Schna-ulations

What I really do....

I have ambivalent feelings about being excited about my job. On the one hand, it's exhilirating to be involved in research that hasn't even NEEDED to exist before. On the other hand, in order for the research that we're doing here to be necessary (or beneficial or whatever), it means that people have to be sick. So I suppose, in light of the fact that people DO have AIDS and are continuing to GET AIDS, then I am thrilled to be involved in research that may be helpful to those people.
For those who don't know, the main study that I work on involves looking at AIDS and Aging, specifically regarding the neurocognitive effects (e.g. dementias) We predominantly work with subjects over 50.
HAD (HIV Related Dementia) and AD (Alzheimer's Disease) have much in common and are often difficult to diagnose. In fact, AD can only be diagnosed posthumously, through autopsy. However, a person can be diagnosed as having Probably AD, and be treated accordingly. The drugs that have been shown to help prevent the rapid progress of HAD and AD are not the same. So, enter a 60-year-old HIV-infected individual suffering from some neurocognitive problems.
Said individual cannot be diagnosed with HAD, as his/her age cannot be ruled out as a potential reason for the problems.
Said individual cannot be diagnosed with Probably AD, as his/her infection cannot be ruled out as a potential reason for the problems.
The result...a medical community with NO IDEA how to treat elderly AIDS patients suffereing from neurocognitive difficulties (and this doesn't even BEGIN to include the problem of the necessity of diagnosis in order to have prescription meds covered by insurance or managed care).
Hopefully, the research we're doing here will lead to enough of an understanding to be able to treat these individuals.

I was prompted into this whole spiel by two things. One, I just read a bunch of articles yesterday in preparation for writing my abstract/paper regarding the interaction of AIDS and Aging on brain atrophy, and two, I read the following article in the New York Times today which, though not in detail, recognizes the relatively new issue of AIDS in older populations.
Facing Middle Age and AIDS

posted by Schna @ 11:15 AM