Objective: RCAS1 (receptor-binding cancer antigen expressed on SiSo cells) is an apoptosisassociated protein that induces apoptosis in activated T-cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of RCAS1 in HIV-1 infection.
Methods: We examined the serum levels of RCAS1 in HIV-1-infected patientsat different clinical and immunological stages.
Results: Although the RCAS1 levels did not correlate with the clinical stage, they did correlate significantly with the CD8+T cell numbers. Furthermore, the RCAS1 levels were also significantly higher in patients whose CD4+T cell counts did not respond to antiretroviral therapy (ART) than in those who responded to ART.
Conclusions: The present findings therefore suggest that the RCAS1 level affects the CD 4+T cell counts in HIV-1-infected patients with ART.

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Introduction: There have been a variety of reports in the U. S. and Europe on the relationship between depression and HIV infection, including the effects of depression on disease progress and mortality rates, but the results have been inconclusive. In Japan there have been fewer reports that have statistically analyzed the mental states of multiple patients with HIV infection. Therefore, we used a simple, self-rating depression scale (SDS) to study the prevalence of depression among HIV-infected persons visiting our outpatient clinic.
Subjects and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 40 HIV-infected patients visiting our outpatient clinic. We interviewed patients whose total SDS scores were 40 or more, using the Major Depression Episode criteria in mini international neuropsychiatric interview (MINI). We conducted the same procedure on 40 patients who were visiting our outpatient clinic for reasons other than HIV infection; these patients formed the control group.
Results: Eighteen patients had SDS scores of 40 or more. One of these was assessed as having major depression and 4 were determined to have minor depression. A total of 5 patients (12.5% of the subject group) were assessed as having depression. In the control group, 5.0% were judged as having depression. Significantly more patients taking efavirenz had depression than those not taking efavirenz (P=0.015: chi-squared test). Differences in infection route, nationality, number of CD4-positive cells, HIV-RNA level, and HAART regimen were not significantly correlated with differences in prevalence of depression.
Conclusion: There was a significantly greater rate of depression among HIV patients taking efavirenz, suggesting that caution is needed when administering this drug to depressed patients. It may be advisable to conduct depression tests such as the SDS on patients who are to be treated with efavirenz.

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Objective: For patients with HIV/AIDS who visited the Kinki district coremodel hospital for AIDS treatment (Osaka National Hospital (ONH), located in Osaka Prefecture), the place of residence, the medical institutions they were referred to for treatment and change of the hospital were investigated.
Materialand Methods: All HIV/AIDS patients who first visited ONH between 1998 and2003 (N=420) were examined for their place of residence and information on the medical institutions they were referred to for treatment before and after leaving ONH. By place of residence, we counted the subjects with or without referral fortreatment at ONH, thel ocation of medical institutions which made referral, whether they changed hospitals or not after treatment at ONH by the end of 2004, andso on. The places of residence were classified into Osaka, Kinki block (except Osaka) and other locations.
Results: Seventy per cent of subjects resided in Osaka, 25% in Kinki (except Osaka) and 5% in other locations. Subjects who were referred to ONH by a doctor of some other medical institution accounted for 96%. Among subjects with a referral, 28% were referred by other model hospitals and 53% by other hospitals. Among all subjects, 13% changed hospitals, 77% were under treatment at ONH and 5% were dead. Many of the subjects who lived in Kinki (except Osaka) were referred by other model hospitals before visiting ONH and continued treatment in a hospital in the prefecture in which they resided after leaving ONH.
Conclusion: The HIV/AIDS patients residing with entire Kinki block came to the Kinki district core model hospital for AIDS treatment. Many cases were referred to the Kinki core model hospital by other model hospitals, and continued their treatment in the hospitals of the prefecture they resided.

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Objective: By paying attention to the work of people with HIV/AIDS, important side of their living, this study is to analyze cognitions, copings and their factors on the work.
Materials and Methods: Three individual user of NPO care services who confracted HIV by sexual intercourses were selected as of objects analysis by a chance method. This study used a qualitative research method to examine cognition and coping with the work of individuals with HIV/AIDS by listening to their illness experiences.
Results: Findings revealedthat not only the environment of their current workplaces, but also their body and age, and the sense of their social roles have a great influence on the cognition and coping of HIV-positive people.
Conclusion: To support people with HIV/AIDS, aging and the changes of physical condition, anticipated anxiety about discrimination, and the sense of the social roles they have must be taken into consideration.

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