Announcing eBooks!

2010-08-25 08:56:29 PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Announcing eBooks! LWW is proud to announce that eBooks are now available on hundreds of our titles. You can now benefit from the same full content as print books but with powerful new tools that make learning easier such as:   Effortlessly search for words and topics across one or more of your eBooks to go directly to the information you need. Modify your eBooks' appearance to show pages side by side, one at a time, bigger, smaller, it's up to you. Highlight content and add notes you can share with other eBook owners and they can share with you. Conveniently categorize notes using any classification or label you choose. Make personal study and review guides by exporting your notes and others' into single, convenient documents. Get instant access to your text at the click of a button.   It's easy to use! Just download a virtual bookshelf onto your computer, choose the books you want to add and click to open. Learn more at lww.com/eBooks or browse our eBook store now.

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Subluxation and Research Quiz

2010-06-25 12:18:28 PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Subluxation Theory Quiz   How much do you know about the controversial concept of subluxation and how familiar are you with some key research concepts? You can now test yourself courtesy of this 10 question quiz by Dr. Robert Leach. Most chiropractors and chiropractic students know Dr. Leach from the editions of his textbook The Chiropractic Theories: A Textbook of Scientific Research.   You can see the questions and answers right here or, for a limited time, you can take the interactive quiz here.

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Preventing depression in high-risk groups

2010-05-28 10:11:27 PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Preventing depression in high-risk groups from Current Opinion in Psychiatry: 23(1) January 2010 Beekman et al     This month, LWWPartnerships' current content focus is on recent publications in the field of mental health. See more resources and the original post at www.lwwpartnerships.com Although most would agree that to prevent is better than to cure, prevention of depression has only recently been studied rigorously. The purpose of the present study is to review the state of the current literature...Download the rest of this free article Mental Health Focus Month View all LWW Mental Health Journals Visit the LWWPartnerships website: www.lwwpartnerships.com

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Win With LWW and YouTube

2010-04-06 12:20:42 PDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Enter LWW's Simple YouTube Contest for a Chance to Win! What do you think the most important medical advancement of the 21st Century will be? Recently, we launched an LWW YouTube channel. As you can see, we're in the process of adding clips we think you might want to watch. We've got everything from information about our textbooks to anatomy demonstrations. To make the deal even sweeter, we are running a video-based contest to give away an iPod Touch pre-loaded with some cool medical apps and some great runner-up prizes (like gift certificates to LWW.com)! All you have to do is post your own video reply to the contest video addressing this question: What will be the most important medical advancement of the 21st century? Film it from your webcam, animate it, upload a slideshow, do anything. Just make sure you show it off, because the video with the most views by August 15th wins!   Learn more

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Carol W. Berman, M.D.: Personality Disorders

2010-02-24 08:33:30 PST | Permalink | Comments (2)

Right now Mary Jo Buttafuoco is in the news because she just published a book, Getting it Through My Thick Skull, about her ex-husband Joey and his lover Amy who shot her in the face 17 years ago. Mary Jo describes him as a "sociopath." In psychiatry we use the term Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). In patients with APD we see a total disregard for and violation of the rights of others starting at 15 years old. Antisocial Personality Disorder individuals fail to conform to social norms since they constantly break the law. They are deceitful, use lying and various con schemes for personal profit and pleasure. They are impulsive, irritable and aggressive with reckless disregard for safety. They are known for their lack of remorse. Mary Jo said she couldn't leave her husband for years even though she realized he was an APD. She kept thinking that she could reform him. Many women are taken in by APD schemes and cunning. Sometimes men are taken in if the APD is female. More often they are male. After Amy shot Mary Jo in the face, Joey didn't show any remorse or empathy. Yet Mary Jo stayed with him. Often APD's are charming, even charismatic. Some of our famous criminals probably had APD, like Billy the Kid or Bugsy Siegel. The jails are full of examples of this disorder. In psychiatry we know that we can't help APD's if they just have the personality disorder itself. If they have mania, depression or psychosis we can use medications to alleviate their problems. Personality Disorders: A Practical Guide This new addition to the Practical Guides in Psychiatry series is a clinically oriented pocket guide to diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders. Using the conversational style and case vignettes found in all Practical Guides in Psychiatry titles, Dr. Berman addresses ... MORE ISBN: 978-0-7817-9401-5 View the Table of Contents About the Author: Carol W. Berman grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the University of California at Berkeley as an undergraduate. She moved to New York and attended NYU Medical School. Her residency in psychiatry was spent at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. She returned to NYU for a research fellowship, where she remains as a clinical instructor in psychiatry. She is also in private practice in New York City. On top of publishing her work with LWW, Dr. Berman wrote One Hundred Questions and Answers About Panic Disorder (Jones & Bartlett) and a monthly column for CNS News called 'Practical Psychiatry' from 1999-2007. Several of her short stories have been published in literary magazines and she is on the editorial board of The Bellevue Literary Review.   Her first play, UNDER THE DRAGON, was produced by The Workshop at The Neighborhood Playhouse in 2002. Her second play, SUNSHINE SALLY, was produced in 2007.  PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT, her third play, about a schizophrenic ER doctor had a production in 2009.  When she is not writing or treating patients, she paints in acrylics, oils or watercolors.

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Hot Stone demonstration from author Leslie Bruder!

2010-02-24 08:33:08 PST | Permalink | Comments (0)

Visit LWW booth #415 at the AMTA National Convention September 23-26 in Orlando! Check out our newest publications and see a Hot Stone demonstration from author Leslie Bruder! Hot Stone demonstration: Join us on Friday, September 25th at 12:30 to 1:30 pm for a Hot Stone demonstration by Leslie Bruder, author of Hot Stone Massage: A Three Dimensional Approach. Leslie will demonstrate her safe and effective three-dimensional approach to hot stone massage.

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Coming Soon - Quick Look Drug Book 2010

2010-02-24 08:27:13 PST | Permalink | Comments (2)

Julie K. Stegman Senior Publisher Health Professions / Medical Language & Reference As any medical language professional can tell you, when it’s your responsibility to document patient care and facilitate the delivery of healthcare services, there’s a lot depending upon your ability to be knowledgeable, efficient, and most importantly, accurate. As Senior Publisher of Stedman’s Medical Language & Reference products, I understand how important it is for medical language and healthcare professionals to have the latest, most accurate drug information available. So I’m pleased to announce that the Quick Look Drug Book 2010 will be available in December 2009. This edition includes the most current information on thousands of commonly used drugs, both brand-name and generic, including those introduced or approved by the FDA in 2009. It also provides many features designed to help medical transcriptionists and other healthcare professionals boost accuracy and productivity – such as pronunciations, look-alike/sound-alike issues, “tall man” lettering, therapeutic categories, dosages, and dosage forms. In addition, Quick Look’s exclusive Indication/Therapeutic Category Index matches conditions and diseases with the drugs that treat them, making it easier to find what you need, when you need it. On a similar note, our Quick Look Electronic Drug Reference is scheduled to arrive in February 2010, providing yet another resource to help you find up-to-date pharmaceutical information – right from your computer keyboard. I’ll keep you posted on our progress! Click here for more information about Quick Look references.   Quick Look Drug Book 2010 Quick Look Drug Book 2010 includes the most current information on thousands of commonly used drugs, plus a 32-page color insert showing the 200 most commonly prescribed medications. Medical transcriptionists and other healthcare professionals rely on this comprehensive resource for information on brand and generic drug names, pronunciations, look-alike/sound-alike issues, therapeutic categories, dosages, and dosage forms. ... MORE ISBN:978-0-7817-9717-7 Read Reviews of Quick Look Drug Book 2010 About the Author: Julie K. Stegman Senior Publisher, Health Professions and STEDMAN’S Julie has been with Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for sixteen years. As the Senior Publisher of Health Professions and STEDMAN’S she has had the opportunity to create, develop, and deliver medical information to our customers, working with them to create the Best Words in Medicine for over fourteen years.

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Q&A with LWW Author Benjamin J. Sadock, M.D.

2010-02-24 08:19:47 PST | Permalink | Comments (4)

Dr. Benjamin J. Sadock speaks with LWW's Jenna Williams about developments in the field of mental health and the new edition of Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. View the original post at www.lwwpartnerships.com 1. This is the ninth edition of Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry to be published; what are some of the additions or updates we can expect to see in this edition? This edition has over 50 new sections that have never appeared before that cover new topics and new advances in psychiatry.  Many previous contributors have been replaced by new contributors to keep the book current and vital.  The book has increased in size compared to the last edition with over 4000 pages of text. 2. You must have seen some great changes in the field of psychiatry since the Textbook was first published in 1967. Can you tell us something about these changes, and comment on how the Textbook has developed over its nine editions? Since the first edition of CTP was published in 1967 there has been an explosion of knowledge in the neural sciences and psychopharmacology. For example, the first edition had only 35 pages covering the use of drugs in psychiatry; this edition has over 400.  In the area of neural sciences, the number of pages has increased more than 100 percent over that contained in the first edition. 3. One of the highlights of the book is the updated sections on Neural Sciences and Neuropsychiatry. What new developments have there been in these fields recently and why are they so important? Neural science covers a wide range of topics that range from functional neuroanatomy to the genetics of psychiatric disorders.  Advances in neurochemistry and neurophysiology have been enormous.  Neuroimaging has been particularly important in allowing behavioral scientists to see how the brain and mind function in both health and disease. The neural sciences represent one of the fastest growing fields in psychiatry and every section has been updated and revised.  There are four new sections in this area.  They include Novel Neurotransmitters which describe the chemical messengers that influence behavior in health and disease and which are the cutting edge of the field. The Neural Science of Pain Systems is a new section that has direct application to diseases associated with severe pain and covers how doctors can use the latest knowledge to treat pain most effectively.  The Neural Science of Social Interaction explains how the brain functions in interpersonal relationships and a new section, the Basic Science of Self explains consciousness from a neuropsychological point of view. Throughout eight prior editions, "CTP" has been established as the cornerstone text in the field of psychiatry and mental health. This Ninth Edition provides a wealth of new and updated information in neural science, genetics, neuropsychiatry ... MORE View the Table of Contents 4. Recently there has been a substantial amount of attention focussed on developing awareness of and treating mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries, where resources allocated to mental health awareness are limited. Do you have any thoughts on this? Psychiatry has become global in scope enabling a greater awareness of the number of mentally ill around the world.  Organizations like the World Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization would benefit from increased funding to attend to these needs. 5. What are some of the new directions regarding research on schizophrenia? Understanding the cause of schizophrenia and developing effective treatment methods   for the disorder represents as much of a challenge as it did 50 years ago.  Great advances have been made in mapping the abnormal neural pathways and the disordered neurochemical factors that account for the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia; but there is still no cure. There are now three sections instead of one [in the book] that cover the rapidly growing field of neuroimaging in schizophrenia:  Structural Brain Imaging, Functional Brain Imaging and Molecular Brain Imaging.  A new section, Post-partum Tissue Findings in Schizophrenia describes, for the first time in a major textbook, the actual brain changes that can be seen under the microscope in the brains of schizophrenic patients.  Three new sections, Phenotypes of Schizophrenia, Phenomenology of Schizophrenia and Psychosis as a Defining Dimension describe this disorder in a new and exciting way.  Other new sections include Medical Health in Schizophrenia and The Concept of Recovery in Schizophrenia.  Together, this section is the most comprehensive of any textbook published. 6. To return to the Textbook: Pedro Ruiz has been brought onboard as a co-author for the ninth addition for the first time. What prompted this addition, and what do you feel that Prof Ruiz has contributed to this edition? Dr. Ruiz contributed immensely to the development of this new edition.  He is an expert in Transcultural Psychiatry about which he wrote a chapter in the book.  He was also instrumental in identifying experts in their respective fields and inviting them to participate.  He is President of the World Psychiatric Association and organized a section in the book on World Aspects of Psychiatry, which is unique.  7. On a personal note, what has it been like to work on the Textbook with your wife, co-author Virginia Sadock, who is also a highly respected expert in the field? When Dr. Harold  Kaplan, the founding editor of the textbook died in 1998, my wife stepped into the breach.  She had been active in all aspects of the textbook for many editions and had been thanked as the “unsung heroine” of the book by Dr Kaplan and me in the Preface of each edition.  She has sound judgment, excellent writing and editorial skills, and a personality that allows her to  interact   smoothly  with over 500 contributors.  It’s a pleasure working with her. 8. Anything else you would like to add? Sir William Osler wrote a textbook of medicine that went into 16 editions.  When asked what it was like to be involved in publishing so many books he said:  “The birth of a successful textbook is like having a child. It keeps its author in unexpected bondage."  I have a plaque above my desk with that quote. View sample content from Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry! 13-1 Mood Disorders 13-2 Mood Disorders - Epidemiology 13-3 Mood Disorders - Genetics 13-4 Mood Disorders - Neurobiology 13-5 Brain Circuits in Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder About the Author: Benjamin James Sadock, M.D., is the Menas S. Gregory Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. He is a graduate of Union College, received his M.D. degree from New York Medical College, and completed his internship at Albany Hospital. He completed his residency at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital and then entered military service as Captain US Air Force, where he served as Acting Chief of Neuropsychiatry at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. He has held faculty and teaching appointments at Southwestern Medical School and Parkland Hospital in Dallas and at New York Medical College, St. Luke's Hospital, the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and metropolitan Hospital in New York City. Dr. Sadock joined the faculty of the NYU School of Medicine in 1980 and served in various positions: Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry, Co-Director of Residency Training Program in Psychiatry, and Director of Graduate Medical Education. Currently, Dr. Sadock is Co-Director of Student Mental Health Services, Psychiatric Consultant to the Admissions Committee, and Co-Director of Continuing Education in Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. He is on the staff of Bellevue Hospital and Tisch Hospital and is a Consulting Psychiatrist at Lennox Hill Hospital. Dr. Sadock is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and served as an Associate Examiner for the Board for more than a decade. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He is active in numerous psychiatric organizations and was president and founder of the NYU — Bellevue Psychiatric Society. Dr. Sadock was a member of the National Committee in Continuing Education in Psychiatry of the American Psychiatric Association, served on the Ad Hoc Committee on Sex Therapy Clinics of the American Medical Association, was a Delegate to the Conference on Recertification of the American Board of Medical Specialists, and was representative of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on the national Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In 1985, he received the Academic Achievement Award from New York Medical College and was appointed Faculty Scholar at NYU School of Medicine in 2000. He is the author or editor of more than 100 publications (including 49 books), a reviewer for psychiatric journals, and lectures on a broad range of topics in general psychiatry. Dr. Sadock maintains a private practice for diagnostic consultations and psychiatric treatments. He has been married to Virginia Alcott Sadock, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, since completing his residency. Dr. Sadock enjoys opera, golf, skiing, traveling, and is an enthusiastic fly fisherman.

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The European Journal of Anaesthesiology: Interview with Prof Johannes T.A. Knape

2010-02-24 08:17:46 PST | Permalink | Comments (2)

Interview with Prof Johannes T.A. Knape Prof. Johannes T.A. Knape, MD, PhD, FRCA, FCARCSI, FSSAB, is president of the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA) and Deputy Chair of the Department of Anaesthesiology, Division of Perioperative and Emergency Care, at the University Medical Center Utrecht. View the original post at www.lwwpartnerships.com The European Journal of Anaesthesiology is the Official Journal of the European Society of Anaesthesiology. Susan: What do you think have been the greatest advances in anaesthesiology in recent years? Dr Knape: In my opinion, there have been many advances in anaesthesiology in the last few years that meet the challenges posed to the specialty today. Although the number of new drugs that have advanced our specialty are limited (e.g., sugammadex), great progress has been made in monitoring and information technologies that not only provide the anaesthesiologist with adequate and relevant information, but also enable anaesthesiology departments to develop a stronger position in hospitals and to take the lead in organising operating room (OR) departments, thus leading to improved efficiency and quality of care.  In Europe, the harmonisation of training requirements and examinations (the European Diploma) has definitely benefited the overall quality of care and the exchange of ideas between anaesthesiologists of various countries, which would not have been possible before.  The greatest advance for anaesthesiology in my opinion has been the leading role of the specialty for patient safety in OR departments, emergency departments and intensive care departments in many hospitals, thereby contributing significantly to the reduction of patient morbidity and patient mortality now and in the years to come. Safety in medical practice is one of the cornerstones of the specialty, and due to developments in information technology, which are instrumental for implementation of standardized safety procedures, anaesthesiology is the "natural" specialty to play a key role in advancement of patient safety, which is a hot issue worldwide. Susan: In your opinion, what are the most promising areas of research to watch? Dr Knape: Basic research is and will be vital to further develop our understanding of the fundamental physiologic and pharmacologic principles of our specialty. But in these days, both the general public and the financial care providers, due to limited resources in many countries, have a great need to be informed about the cost/benefit aspects of the work we do. Therefore, we will have to put more and more emphasis in research activities for clinical outcome studies.   These studies will have to take into account the development of prediction factors that will assist medical specialists in decision making for difficult ethical questions. Can we afford to provide expensive medical care to one patient whose likelihood to recover to a meaningful life is less than 1% at a price that could also be spent on a potentially successful outcome for 50 other patients? Further promising areas of research may focus on safety issues in areas which anaesthesiologists share with others such as in sedation by non-anaesthesiologists. Susan: What do you view as the greatest challenges facing the field of anaesthesiology today? Dr Knape: Anaesthesiology is developing from an OR-based medical specialty to a specialty with responsibilities both in and outside the operating rooms. As a result of significant changes in expectations both from the public and from the authorities; developments in medicine leading to further (sub-)specialisation; and social factors such as reduced working hours and part-time employment, the traditional role patterns between surgeons, physicians and anaesthesiologists are changing rapidly. The anaesthesiologist is now the physician to take on responsibilities as perioperative doctor and to show leadership in the control of the process that guides the surgical and emergency patient through the hospital. All this against the background of anaesthesiologists continuing to be closely involved with safety principles.  Susan: Looking down the road, how do you think the practice of anaesthesiology will differ 10 or 20 years from now? Dr Knape: In my view, the anaesthesiologist will have taken the responsibilities to direct the perioperative process as a process manager. In many countries, a number of medical activities, now typically the domain of the doctor-anaesthesiologists, will be transferred to health care professionals with specific and limited expertise in well-defined areas, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, sedation practitioners, but under final responsibility of an anaesthesiology department. This will require new, non-anaesthesiology-specific skills in the field of communication, cooperation and professional behaviour, which are being incorporated now in some specialist training curricula. Furthermore, a number of fields of expertise will have been developed where not only anaesthesiologists, but also other medical specialists will have input in a multidisciplinary context, such as pain medicine, intensive care medicine, emergency medicine and others. A main challenge for the next few years will be the capacity and ability to train sufficient residents in every European country to meet these new tasks in the future and also to try and harmonize working conditions in all countries to reduce the incentive for experts to switch to other countries due to significant differences in working conditions. With this in mind, anaesthesiology is and will be the most rewarding medical specialty today and in the future. European Journal of Anaesthesiology The European Journal of Anaesthesiology, the Official Journal of the European Society of Anaesthesiology, publishes original, peer-reviewed articles of a high scientific quality in the specialties of anaesthesia, intensive care and related disciplines. Preference is given to experimental work or clinical observation in humans, and to laboratory work of clinical relevance. The Journal also publishes comprehensive review articles by an authority in a field, abstracts of scientific meetings, editorials, book reviews, and news and lists future meetings. Learn more Visit the journal website: http://www.ejanaesthesiology.com/ Subscribe Now

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Q&A with Jens D. Lundgren

2010-02-24 08:15:28 PST | Permalink | Comments (1)

Role of the AntiRetroviral Therapy: Management of non-infectious co-morbidities in HIV-infected persons Q&A with Jens D. Lundgren Professor of Viral Diseases at University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health Sciences Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen HIV Programme     In recognition of World AIDS Month, LWWPartnerships' current content focus is on recent research in the field of HIV and AIDS. See more resources and the original post at www.lwwpartnerships.com By Andrea Massa Professor, what's the state of the play of anti-retroviral therapy for HIV patients, particularly here in Europe? Hopefully, the idea in Europe at the moment is that we need to make sure that people are initiated before they develop severe immune deficiency. You are a co-PI on the START study (Strategic Timing of AntiRetroviral Therapy). What sort of indications are coming from this trial? What's your view about the timing for antiretroviral therapy? The START study is trying to address whether we should hit hard and hit early. We are not done with the trial yet, so until such time we don't know whether it is a good idea to hit hard and hit early. The point is that the current guidelines are aimed to initiate therapy before people are risk of AIDS defining events. The only reason to start therapy earlier would be because treatment is postulated to prevent end organ disease, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, etc. We don't know, we have a hypothesis that it may, but there is a big difference between a hypothesis, however compelling, and actual data to show that is how things are together. One of the hypotheses is that untreated HIV leads to chronic inflammation and the chronic inflammation progresses the end organ diseases, renal, liver disease and etc. That is what the START study aims to do - study whether it is actually possible to prevent the serious non AIDS events by initiation of therapy earlier, we don't know and that's why we need to do the study. So, it's too early to say how correct the inflammation hypothesis is? I have seen data recently to suggest it may be correct and data to suggest it is not correct. The data sets I am looking at are too small to make conclusive evidence. And that's fine, we are used to that in research - having research questions, hypotheses that we are debating. Just because we are debating them and just because it is very intriguing doesn't mean that it is correct. Think back six or eight years ago when everybody thought that it was good to interrupt therapy once in a while. The SMART study showed it was actually extraordinarily harmful. We need to be a little bit more humble and differentiate between what we think we know and what we actually know. To mix those two together is a big mistake. Do we have enough data to review current guidelines for when HIV-positive patients should start ART? Absolutely, that would be a huge mistake. That would be to react on indicia rather than on substance and data. We have done that before and we realised at the time it was a big mistake and so the guidelines became very conservative. How do you respond to concerns over drug toxicity and possible long-term side effects of AntiRetroviral Therapy? We know that some of the side effects from exposure to drugs but we certainly don't know all of them. We have only used these drugs for six to up to 10 years and we need to use them for 20, 30, 40 up to 50 years. So, we don't know what the long term side effects are. There may still be surprises coming up. I have some sense that there may be new surprises in 2010. We are not done in understanding the full profile of adverse effects from using anti-retroviral therapy and we shouldn't just put people on treatment because we think it may be good, we have to do it because we know it will be good. What strategies are we putting in place specifically to prevent non-infectious co-morbidities? That relates to the EACS guidelines on co-morbidities. There is very little mentioning of anti-retroviral therapy but there is a lot of essentially reminding colleagues of the internal medicine background, what they learned in medical school in terms of what are the preventative measures for cardiovascular diseases and how do we actually do that. Well, we calculate the underlying risk of cardiovascular disease, identify those at high risk, and then we consider using statins or aspirin. This is really where HIV medicine and internal medicine are coming together. It is a huge mistake to believe that anti-retroviral treatment is a strong and important intervention to prevent these co-morbidities. We need to remind ourselves of the important contribution that is used in the general population and to start to use them as well in HIV populations. The point is that they are not currently being used appropriately, and hopefully these guidelines will help us and remind colleagues how to do this. I very strongly believe that HIV physicians have an obligation to make sure that these preventative measures are actually implemented. The analogy is there are two chefs to make a fine dinner and it always goes wrong. There needs to be one chef who deals with this, and either it's the HIV doctor or it's the general doctor. But the HIV doctor needs to make sure that some one takes care of this. So, the medical community still has to report success in the management of such diseases? Absolutely, we need to come away from the situation where we are focusing on the virus. That's wrong. We are focusing on a human being that happens to be infected with a virus so of course we need to attend to the virus but we still need to tend to the rest of the body. Looking at recent data, which one of these non-infectious co-morbidities is putting HIV patients at major risk today? It is very diverse and depends on which person you are talking about. For the co-infected viral hepatitis contracted clearly liver disease is a major problem. For older people it's the cancers and the cardiovascular disease. In particular, black people are prone to develop renal disease although we see that also being developed in others. So, it depends on who you are, on your lifestyle, age, genetic background, and how good your doctor is. Cardiovascular disease is not a problem in the 35-year olds but it is a big problem in a 55-year old man. Finally, we are also experiencing a higher prevalence of depression in HIV patients. 20-40% compared to an average of 7% in the general population. How to tackle such an issue? I agree in principal that depression is a bigger problem in AIDS patients than in the general population, for many good reasons. Being infected with HIV is a stress factor for many people, it creates a trauma for them that it is difficult to deal with for many and on top of that there is social isolation, the stigmatisation, discrimination. Also to some extent although that is by no means the only explanation, there is also a certain lifestyle that is seen to occur more frequently in people with psychiatric disease which gets some people infected with HIV. So it's a mixture of those. The bottom line is that we need to remind ourselves as HIV doctors that HIV patients are at risk of depression and we need to have tools at our disposal to diagnose that condition because we can help them. World AIDS month content View all LWW AIDS Journals Visit the LWWPartnerships website: www.lwwpartnerships.com

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