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| Nadir |
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| NEUROPATHY |
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The name given to a group of disorders involving nerves. Symptoms range from a tingling sensation or numbness in the toes and fingers to paralysis. It is estimated that 35 percent of persons with HIV disease have some form of neuropathy. See Peripheral Neuropathy. | |
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| NEUTRALIZING DOMAIN |
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The section of the HIV envelope protein, gp120, that elicits antibodies with neutralising activities. | |
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| NIGHT SWEATS |
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Extreme sweating during sleep. Although they can occur with other conditions, night sweats are also a symptom of HIV disease. | |
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| NON-HODGKIN's LYMPHOMA (NHL) |
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A lymphoma made up of B cells and characterised by nodular or diffuse tumours that may appear in the stomach, liver, brain, and bone marrow of persons with HIV. After Kaposi's Sarcoma, NHL is the most common opportunistic cancer in persons with AIDS. | |
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| NON-NUCLEOSIDE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE INHIBITORS (NNRTI): |
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A group of structurally diverse compounds that bind to the catalytic site of HIV-1's reverse transcriptase. | |
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| NUCLEOSIDE ANALOGUE |
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An artificial copy of a nucleoside. When incorporated into a virus DNA or RNA during viral replication, the nucleoside analogue acts to prevent production of new virus. Nucleoside analogues may take the place of natural nucleosides, blocking the completion of a viral DNA chain during infection of a new cell by HIV. | |
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| NUCLEOSIDE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE INHIBITOR (NRTI) |
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A nucleoside analogue antiretroviral drug whose chemical structure constitutes a modified version of a natural nucleoside. These compounds suppress replication of retroviruses by interfering with the reverse transcriptase enzyme. The nucleoside analogues cause premature termination of the proviral (viral precursor) DNA chain. | |
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| Nucleotide |
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A sub-unit of DNA or RNA, consisting of a base (purine or pyrimidine), a sugar and a phosphate. The sequence of bases in adjacent nucleotides within a gene determines which protein is encoded by the gene. | |
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| NUCLEOTIDE ANALOGUES |
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Nucleotide analogues are drugs that are structurally related to nucleotides; they are chemically altered to inhibit production or activity of disease-causing proteins. The chemical structures of these drugs may cause them to replace natural nucleotides in the viral DNA nucleic acid sequence. | |
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| Nucleus |
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A discrete part of the cell containing the genes and separated from the surrounding cytoplasm by a membrane. | |
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