Brief Datasets Descriptions

In this web portal, we provide two types of laboratory datasets for each patient (in addition to patients’ treatments, laboratory test dates, and names). The first measurable laboratory data is the absolute CD4+ count. These are specialized immune system cells that help protect the body from infection. HIV attacks these types of cells and uses them to make more copies of HIV. In doing so, HIV weakens the immune system, making it unable to protect the body from illness and infection. One treatment mission would be to increase and protect the CD4 count to strengthen the immune system. In this database absolute CD4 values are utilized in data presentation. It is important to remember that variations in the CD4 absolute count can be observed even with a controlled viral load. Percent CD4 is a more accurate estimation of CD4 level in blood but is not as often utilized in datasets. The other measurable laboratory data is the HIV Ribonucleic acid (RNA) level which measures the density of HIV viral load per a mm^3 of the blood. More information about these two measures (CD4 count and RNA level) and about different HIV/AIDS treatments can be obtained from the Mayo Clinic and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration websites.