Search results for "AGENTS"
showing 10 items of 7330 documents
Short-term Effects of the Flavour of Drinks on Ingestive Behaviours in Man
1998
To examine the influence of the oro-sensory properties of different beverages on spontaneous intake of drinks, and the consequence of the volume of fluid ingested on subsequent food intake, 24 subjects (12 men, 12 women), slightly dehydrated, had access ad libitum, during four different experimental sessions in a cross-over design, to one of four commercial beverages without any other drink. The four beverages differed in flavour and caloric content: mineral water; the same mineral water flavoured with orange and unsweetened; the same mineral water flavoured with orange and sweetened with 100 g/l sucrose; or equally sweetened with 50 mg/l aspartame. Ad libitum: lunch was served 15 min after…
Reduced oxytocin receptor gene expression and binding sites in different brain regions in schizophrenia: A post-mortem study
2016
Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with impairments in social cognition. Several brain regions have been implicated in social cognition, including the nucleus caudatus, prefrontal and temporal cortex, and cerebellum. Oxytocin is a critical modulator of social cognition and the formation and maintenance of social relationships and was shown to improve symptoms and social cognition in schizophrenia patients. However, it is unknown whether the oxytocin receptor is altered in the brain. Therefore, we used qRT-PCR and Ornithine Vasotocin Analog ([125I]OVTA)-based receptor autoradiography to investigate oxytocin receptor expression at both the mRNA and protein level in the left p…
Liver follicular helper T-cells predict the achievement of virological response following interferon-based treatment in HCV-infected patients.
2012
Background Here, we assessed the presence of intrahepatic follicular helper T-cells (TFH) in a cohort of consecutive genotype 1 (G1) chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients comprising non-responders (NRs), relapsers (RRs) or those with sustained virological response (SVR) to pegylated interferon and ribavirin, and tested their relation with the response to antiviral treatment. Methods A total of 78 patients with G1 CHC (30 SVR, 15 RR and 33 NR), comparable for sex, age, viral load and fibrosis were evaluated by immunohistochemistry for liver content of PD1+Bcl6+ TFH cells. The number of TFH cells in the immunostained sections was counted out of five representative high-power microscopic fields (…
HBV DNA suppression and HBsAg clearance in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B patients on lamivudine therapy for over 5 years
2012
Background & Aims In long-term responder patients, it is unclear whether lamivudine (LAM) monotherapy should be continued or switched to a high-genetic-barrier analogue. This study aims at assessing LAM efficacy over a 5-year period and the residual risk of drug resistance. The rate of HBsAg clearance and LAM long-term safety profile were also evaluated. Methods One hundred and ninety-one patients with chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B successfully treated with LAM monotherapy for at least 5years were included. Biochemical and virological tests were assessed every 3months in all patients and HBsAg quantification was performed in 45/191. Reverse-transcriptase (RT) region was directly sequen…
Intensification with pegylated interferon during treatment with tenofovir in HIV-hepatitis B virus co-infected patients
2016
International audience; In hepatitis B “e” antigen (HBeAg) positive patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) mono-infection, intensification of nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment with pegylated interferon (PegIFN) could help induce higher HBeAg seroclearance rates. Our aim was to determine the long-term effect of adding PegIFN to tenofovir (TDF)-containing antiretroviral therapy on seroclearance in HBeAg-positive patients co-infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HBV. In this prospective matched cohort study, 46 patients with 1-year PegIFN intensification during TDF-containing antiretroviral therapy (TDF+PegIFN) were matched 1:1 to controls undergoing TDF without PegIFN (TDF) u…
Randomised study comparing 48 and 96 weeks peginterferon α-2a therapy in genotype D HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B
2013
Treatment with peginterferon α-2a (PegIFN) for 48 weeks is the standard of care for selected HBeAg-negative patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), but with limited treatment efficacy. A study was undertaken to investigate whether treatment extension to 96 weeks improves the outcome in this patient population.128 HBeAg-negative patients (120 genotype D) were randomised to weekly 180 μg PegIFN for 48 weeks (group A, n=51), 180 μg PegIFN for 48 weeks followed by 135 μg weekly for an additional 48 weeks (group B, n=52) or 180 μg PegIFN plus lamivudine (100 mg/day) for 48 weeks then 135 μg PegIFN for 48 weeks (group C, n=25). Endpoints were alanine aminotransferase normalisa…
Quantitative evaluation of oxidative stress status on peripheral blood in beta-thalassaemic patients by means of electron paramagnetic resonance spec…
2005
Summary High oxidative stress status (OSS) is known to be one of the most important factors determining cell injury and consequent organ damage in thalassaemic patients with secondary iron overload. Using an innovative hydroxylamine ‘radical probe’ capable of efficiently trapping majority of oxygen-radicals including superoxide we measured, by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, OSS in peripheral blood of 38 thalassaemic patients compared with sex-/age-matched healthy controls. Thalassaemic patients showed sixfold higher EPR values of OSS than controls. Significantly higher EPR values of OSS were observed in those with a severe phenotype (thalassaemia major, transfusion-depe…
HVR-1 quasispecies modifications occur early and are correlated to initial but not sustained response in HCV-infected patients treated with pegylated…
2003
Abstract Background/Aims HVR-1 quasispecies composition and evolution were investigated in patients chronically infected with genotype 1b HCV, treated with PEG-IFN α2b or STD-IFN α2b plus RBV. Methods HVR-1 heterogeneity was assessed by calculating nucleotidic complexity, diversity, synonymous (S) and non-synonymous (NS) substitutions at baseline, after 4 weeks of therapy ( T 1) and at follow-up ( T 18). Evolution of viral quasispecies was analysed by constructing phylogenetic trees. Results No correlation of baseline viremia with heterogeneity was observed. Nucleotidic complexity was lower in patients showing early virological response, and tended to be inversely correlated to viral load d…
HCV replication in mononuclear cells stimulates anti-HCV-secreting B cells and reflects nonresponsiveness to interferon-α
1995
Recently, it was demonstrated in chronic hepatitis C that the release of IgG and IgM anti-HCV antibodies by mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlated with inflammatory activity, HCV persistence in serum, and negative outcome from antiviral therapy. Thus, persistent antigenic stimulation of the antibody-secreting B cells has been suggested. In this study, PBMCs were derived from 13 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Nucleic acids were extracted by the guanidine-thiocyanate-method, and plus- and minus-stranded HCV-RNAs were determined using primers from the 5'-untranslated region of HCV. Simultaneously, unstimulated PBMCs were cultured for 8 days and anti-HCV antibodies were detected in the supern…