This is illustrated by the observation that our patients with atherosclerosis and high FRS had an increased cholesterol but not MCP-1 concentration, in contrast to those with low FRS. Overall, most data suggest that traditional and nontraditional CVD risk factors may combine in a variety of ways to promote atherosclerosis. These factors warrant further investigation. Another point to be taken into account is the high prevalence

of current smokers in our HIV-infected patients. This high prevalence of current smokers may be associated with a high incidence of injecting drug use, and may influence the mean circulating levels of oxidation and inflammation markers. Therefore, we cannot be certain that our conclusions can be generalized to Fluorouracil in vitro other HIV-infected populations. In conclusion,

the assessment of CVD risk with FRS underestimates atherosclerosis in our HIV-infected patients. Apart from the classical CVD risk factors such as dyslipidaemia, smoking habit, hypertension and diabetes, we propose that the measurement of CIMT, serum MCP-1 and serum oxLDL concentrations may be useful additional tools to evaluate more effectively the level of CVD risk in these patients. This study was funded by the Red de PFT�� Centros de Metabolismo y Nutrición (RCMN C03/08) and the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS 04/1752, 05/1607 and 08/1175) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. SP is the recipient of a career development award from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CM06/00246). GA, RB and AR are recipients of grants from the Generalitat de Catalunya (FI 06/01054,

08/00064 and 05SGR 00503, respectively). We thank Ma Asunción González for her technical expertise. Editorial assistance was provided by Dr Peter R. Turner of t-SciMed. “
“Although HIV-infected patients are at greater risk of presenting with ischaemic necrosis of the femoral head, there have been concerns about whether total hip arthroplasty (THA) may have worse outcomes than expected. From the Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery database we identified all patients who had undergone THA because of ischaemic HSP90 necrosis of the femoral head from January 2001 until March 2010. Patient’s diagnosis of HIV infection was confirmed at the time of arthroplasty by cross-matching with the HIV unit database. For every THA in HIV-infected patients, two THAs in patients not known to be HIV-infected, with the same diagnosis of ischaemic necrosis of the femoral head and having undergone surgery over the same period, were randomly selected. THAs were compared in HIV- and non-HIV-infected patients for surgical procedure, in-patient stay and long-term prognosis. There were 18 THAs in 13 HIV-infected patients and 36 THAs in 27 non-HIV-infected patients. No significant differences were observed in the mean time spent in surgery (106 vs. 109 minutes, respectively; P = 0.