Search results for "VIRUS"

Vitamin D levels and IL28B polymorphisms are related to rapid virological response to standard of care in genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C.

2011

Background Genotype 1 (G1) chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients achieving a rapid virological response (RVR) on pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin have a high chance of sustained virological response (SVR), influenced by IL28B status, viral load, fibrosis and insulin resistance. We assessed whether 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) serum levels are linked to RVR and can be used together with IL28B to construct a pretreatment model to predict RVR. Methods A total of 117 consecutive patients with G1 CHC were evaluated by biopsy and anthropometric and metabolic measurements. 25(OH)D serum levels were measured by HPLC. IL28B rs12979860 and rs8099917 polymorphisms were also evaluated. All p…

Changes in At-Risk Behavior for HIV Infection among HIV-Positive Persons in Italy

2009

Many HIV-positive persons reportedly continue to engage in at-risk behavior. We compared the sexual and drug-using practices of HIV-positive persons before and after the diagnosis of HIV infection to determine whether their behavior had changed. To this end, in 2006, we conducted a cross-sectional study involving clinical centers in five Italian cities. Each center was asked to enroll 100 persons aged 18 years or older who had a diagnosis of HIV infection that dated back at least 2 years. Data were collected with a specifically designed questionnaire, administered during a structured interview. The McNemar chi2 test was used to compare the data before and after the diagnosis. A total of 497…

Neutralizing antibody and clinical status of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals

1989

An assay based on inhibition of cytopathic effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strains in Molt 4 cells was developed to quantitate neutralizing antibodies (NA) in sera of HIV-infected individuals. The assay was specific and gave results comparable to those obtained by the inhibition of immunofluorescence (IFI) and reverse transcriptase (RT) activity. Attempts were made to correlate the presence and the antibody titres with the clinical status of HIV-infected individuals classified according to Walter Reed staging classification scheme. NA titres correlated inversely with the stage of HIV infection: Compared with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, HIV-infected subje…

The cellular immune responses induced in the follow-up of interferon-α treated patients with chronic hepatitis C may determine the therapy outcome

1998

Abstract Background/Aims: To study whether the host's immune response determines viral clearance in chronic hepatitis C, virological markers and antigen-specific T cell reactions were analysed in 30 chronic HCV carriers followed up during interferon-α therapy, 11 untreated anti-HCV positive individuals and 10 healthy controls. Methods: Proliferative T helper cell responses to recombinant HCV core and non-structural antigens were monitored by 3 H-thymidine uptake assay and compared to quantitative viraemia levels and HCV genotypes. Results: Of the 30 treated patients, six had sustained complete responses (20%), another six were transient therapy responders (20%) and 18 were non-responders (6…

Alteration of Smell and Taste in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients in Sicily, Italy

2020

Objectives: Alteration of smell and taste has been reported in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence and clinical-symptomatic manifestation of COVID-19 is different between northern and southern Italy. This study aims to evaluate the onset of alteration of smell and taste in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in Sicily (extreme south of Italy). Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was performed on asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) from May 1 to May 15, 2020. A questionnaire was used for evaluating the prevalence of smell and taste disorders in COVID-19 patients befor…

Plasma metabolomics profiling for the prediction of cytomegalovirus DNAemia and analysis of virus–host interaction in allogeneic stem cell transplant…

2015

Metabolomics analysis of biofluids is increasingly being recognized as a useful tool for the diagnosis and management of a number of infectious diseases. Here we showed that plasma metabolomics profiling by untargeted 1H nuclear magnetic resonance may allow the anticipation of the occurrence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNAemia in allogeneic stem cell transplant. For this purpose, key discriminatory metabolites were total glutathione, taurine, methylamine, trimethylamine N-oxide and lactate, all of which were upregulated in patients eventually developing CMV DNAemia. The overall classification accuracy (predictability) of the projection to latent structure discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model i…

Telemedicine allows quantitative measuring of olfactory dysfunction in COVID‐19

2020

Telemedicine and COVID-19 pandemic: The perfect storm to mark a change in diabetes care. Results from a world-wide cross-sectional web-based survey

2021

Abstract Background Telemedicine for routine care of people with diabetes (PwD) during the COVID‐19 pandemic rapidly increased in many countries, helping to address the several barriers usually seen. Objective This study aimed to describe healthcare professionals' (HCPs) experience on telemedicine use in diabetes care and investigate the changes and challenges associated with its implementation. Methods A cross‐sectional electronic survey was distributed through the global network of JENIOUS members of ISPAD. Respondents' professional and practice profiles, clinic sizes, their country of practice, and data regarding local telemedicine practices during COVID‐19 pandemic were investigated. Re…

Peginterferon alfa-2b plus weight-based ribavirin for 24 weeks in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 with low viral load who achieve …

2012

. In chronic hepatitis C (CHC), treatment duration may be individualized according to time to first undetectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, with patients who attain undetectable HCV RNA early in treatment being candidates for shorter regimens. The aim of this study was to determine the relapse rate in patients with CHC genotype (G) 1 infection and low baseline viral load who achieved undetectable HCV RNA by week 4 [rapid virologic response (RVR)] when treated for 24 weeks. This was an open-label, multicentre, noninterventional study. Adult patients with G1 CHC infection and baseline viral load <600,000 IU/mL who attained RVR were treated with peginterferon alfa-2b (1.5 mu g/kg/week) plus …

Diversity and dynamic changes of anelloviruses in plasma following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

2020

Monitoring of alphatorquevirus (torque teno virus [TTV]) DNA in plasma may prove to be useful to assess the net state of immune competence following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). There are scarce data published on the prevalence of beta (torque teno mini virus [TTMV]) and gammatorqueviruses (torque teno midi virus [TTMDV]) and, in particular, on the dynamics of anelloviruses in allo-HSCT patients. Twenty-five allo-HSCT recipients with available plasma specimens obtained before conditioning and after engraftment were included. Degenerated primers targeting a highly conserved genomic sequence across all anelloviruses were designed for genomic amplification an…