Regional groupings and regional effects are of growing importance inworld politics. Although often described in geographical terms, regionsare political creations and not xed by geography. Even ...regions thatseem most natural and inalterable are products of political constructionand subject to reconstruction attempts. Looking at speci c instances inwhich such constructions have occurred can tell us a great deal aboutthe shape and the shaping of international politics.
The interrelationships between the CD4 lymphocyte count, plasma viral load human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA, beta-2-microglobulin (beta2-M) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) and the mortality risk was ...explored in 234 HIV-infected individuals (median CD4 count 230 cells/mm3, range 1-1,247). Product-moment correlation analysis was used to study the association between beta2-M, IgA and HIV RNA. A proportional hazards Cox model was used to estimate the relative hazard (RH) of death. Both beta2-M (r = 0.49, p < 0.0001) and IgA (r = 0.42, p < 0.0001) were positively correlated with HIV RNA. High beta2-M levels were associated with an increased risk of death in both univariate Cox analysis and after adjustment for HIV RNA, CD4 lymphocyte count and age RH = 1.16 per 100 nmol/l higher beta2-M, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.27. Raised IgA levels were associated with shorter survival in individuals with a CD4 count above 50 cells/mm3 in univariate analysis as well as after adjusting for age and CD4 lymphocyte count (RH = 1.19 per 10 micromol/l higher IgA, 95% CI 1.01-1.39). However, this association was no longer significant after further adjusting for HIV RNA. In conclusion, beta2-M levels provided additional prognostic information for survival to the information obtained by CD4 count and HIV RNA levels, whereas serum IgA only was a weak prognostic marker in this fairly progressed cohort.
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456.
Europe Woodward, Susan L; Ross, George; McCarthy, Patrick ...
Current history (1941),
03/1997, Volume:
96, Issue:
608
Magazine Article
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