Ethical assessment of hepatitis C virus treatment: The lesson from first generation protease inhibitors
Abstract Since chronic hepatitis C has mostly become curable, issues concerning choice and allocation of treatment are of major concern. We assessed the foremost ethical issues in hepatitis C virus therapy with 1st generation protease inhibitors using the personalist ethical framework within the health technology assessment methodology. Our aim was to identify values at stake/in conflict and to support both the physicians’ choices in hepatitis C therapy and social (macro-) allocation decision-making. The ethical assessment indicates that: (1) safety/effectiveness profile of treatment is guaranteed if its use is restricted to the patients subgroups who may benefit from it; (2) patients shoul…
Evidence for the neuronal origin of immunoreactive interleukin-1 beta released by rat hypothalamic explants.
In this study, we have investigated the release of immunoreactive interleukin-1 beta (irIL-1 beta) from the rat hypothalamus in vitro. It was found that (1) tissue explants release sizable amounts of irIL-1 beta (ranging from 0.43 to 0.52 pg/mg of wet tissue) in 20 min incubations; (2) basal release in significantly increased by depolarization induced with 56 mM KCl; (3) K(+)-induced irIL-1 beta release is inhibited by the specific blocker of N-type calcium channels, omega-conotoxin, and by verapamil, but not by nifedipine; (4) K(+)-induced release is also inhibited by the Na+ channel blockers tetrodotoxin and lidocaine; (5) irIL-1 beta release is significantly increased by noradrenalin; su…