The CNS HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) was funded in September 2002 in response to RFA NIMH-00-AI-0005 with the aim of exploring the changing presentation of HIV neurological complications in the context of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). CHARTER?s major aims were to determine how central and peripheral nervous system complications of HIV were being affected by different histories and regimens of ART. Over the past 8 years, the six-site CHARTER project has accumulated invaluable clinical and research data on 1598 participants, with longitudinal data being collected on 674 of these participants. Data includes neuromedical characterization, neuropsychological functioning, psychiatric and drug abuse variables, treatment data, brain imaging, and viral and host genetics information. Each CHARTER visit generates approximately 4000 individual variables;currently the database contains over 5 million datapoints. A key component of CHARTER is to serve as a catalyst for additional studies/analyses by making this wealth of data available to investigators. To date, the CHARTER Coordinating Core and CHARTER Resource have facilitated research requests for 70 investigators across 18 institutions. In order to continue to make samples and data available to the neuroAIDS community, we propose to extend the ?CHARTER as a Resource? facilities beyond the original CHARTER Option Period.
