Search results for "VIRUS"
showing 10 items of 5024 documents
Correlation between FIB4, liver stiffness and metabolic parameters in patients with HIV and hepatitis C virus co-infection.
2010
Assessment of liver fibrosis is crucial in HIV/HCV coinfected patients, in whom metabolic disturbances are frequent. Aims of this study were to analyse the association of two non-invasive liver fibrosis evaluation methods, liver stiffness measurement and FIB4, and their correlation with metabolic parameters.This was a single centre cross-sectional study. All patients underwent biochemical and virological assessment, FIB4 score, HOMA and transient elastography.Seventy-five patients were evaluated. Liver stiffness values positively correlated with FIB4 (R = 0.62; p0.0001). By ROC curve analysis the optimal cut-off for liver stiffness to identify high FIB4 was calculated as 10.1 kPa. The area …
Hepatitis C virus genotypes: distribution and clinical significance in patients with cirrhosis type C seen at tertiary referral centres in Europe
2001
The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution and clinical significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in European patients with compensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis C (Child class A) seen at tertiary referral centres. HCV genotypes were determined by genotype-specific primer PCR in 255 stored serum samples obtained from cirrhotics followed for a median period of 7 years. Inclusion criteria were biopsy-proven cirrhosis, absence of complications of cirrhosis and exclusion of all other potential causes of chronic liver disease. The proportion of patients with types 1b, 2, 3a, 1a, 4 and 5 were 69%, 19%, 6%, 5%, 0.5% and 0.5%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier 5-year risk of hepatocel…
Fibrosis staging in chronic hepatitis C: Analysis of discordance between transient elastography and liver biopsy
2009
Summary. In chronic hepatitis C, transient elastography (TE) accurately identifies cirrhosis, but its ability to assess significant fibrosis (Metavir ≥ F2) is variable. Constitutional and liver disease-related factors may influence TE and here we examined the variables associated with differences. Three hundred consecutive hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA positive patients had biochemical tests, TE and a biopsy performed on the same day. The Dale model was used to identify the variables associated with discordance between biopsy and elastography results. In 97 patients (34.2%), TE and histological assessment were discordant. Seventy-six of 286 (26.6%) had stage ≥F2 and TE < 7.1 kPa (false negat…
Predicting Mortality Risk in Patients With Compensated HCV-Induced Cirrhosis: A Long-Term Prospective Study
2009
OBJECTIVES: The identification of prognostic factors associated with mortality is crucial in any clinical setting. METHODS: We enrolled in a prospective study 352 patients with compensated hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced cirrhosis, consecutively observed between 1989 and 1992. At entry, patients underwent upper endoscopy to detect esophageal varices, and were then surveilled by serial clinical and ultrasonographic examination. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was calculated with information collected at enrollment. Baseline predictors and intercurrent events associated with mortality were assessed using the Cox regression model. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 14.4 y…
Transient elastography: A non-invasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV patients
2010
AIM: To assess the prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis (ALF) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV/HCV patients using transient elastography, and to identify factors associated with ALF. METHODS: Between September 2008 and October 2009, 71 HIV mono-infected, 57 HIV/HCV co-infected and 53 HCV mono-infected patients on regular follow-up at our Center were enrolled in this study. Alcohol intake, the main parameters of liver function, presence of HCV-RNA, HIV-RNA, duration of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and CD4 cell count were recorded. ALF was defined as liver stiffness (LS) ≥ 9.5 kPa. To estimate liver fibrosis (LF) a further 2 reliable bio…
Hepatitis C virus-specific T-cell-derived transforming growth factor beta is associated with slow hepatic fibrogenesis.
2011
Up to 4 million persons in the USA have chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (1). Despite a decline in overall HCV infections, the number of patients with end stage liver disease due to CHC will increase for the next 2 decades (2). Even with highly effective novel therapies, currently 30–50% of infected individuals fail treatment (3). Therefore, a better understanding of mechanisms involved in CHC-related liver disease progression could permit more efficient therapies. Adaptive effector T cells (frequently assessed by measuring production of prototypic T helper 1 cytokine IFNγ) play an important role in control of HCV infection during the acute phase (4). In CHC, effector HCV-specific T cell immune re…
IL28B polymorphisms influence stage of fibrosis and spontaneous or interferon-induced viral clearance in thalassemia patients with hepatitis C virus …
2012
Background. Polymorphisms in the interleukin-28B are important determinants in the spontaneous and drug-induced control of hepatitis C virus infection. Design and Methods. We assessed the association of rs8099917 and rs12979860 polymorphisms with spontaneous viral clearance, severity of liver fibrosis, and response to interferon-monotherapy in 245 Thalassemia Major patients with Hepatitis C Virus infection. Results. Ninety-eight patients (40%) had a spontaneous viral clearance, while 147 patients (60%) developed a chronic infection. Spontaneous viral clearance was more frequent among patients with the T/T genotype of rs8099917 polymorphism (OR 2.130; p=0.008) or C/C genotype of rs12979860 p…
Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG in human milk after vaccination is dependent on vaccine type and previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure: a longitudinal study
2022
Breast milk is a vehicle to transfer protective antibodies from the lactating mother to the neonate. After SARS-CoV-2 infection, virus-specific IgA and IgG have been identified in breast milk, however, there are limited data on the impact of different COVID-19 vaccine types in lactating women. This study is aimed to evaluate the time course of induction of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA and IgG in breast milk after vaccination.
The impact of virus population diversity on the dynamics of cytomegalovirus DNAemia in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients
2017
Mixed cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections are associated with delayed viral clearance in solid organ transplant recipients. We investigated whether this could be extrapolated to allogeneic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) recipients. A total of 48 plasma specimens, obtained during 29 episodes of active CMV infection in 25 non-consecutive allo-SCT patients, were analysed. Baseline blood specimens, drawn shortly prior to the inception of pre-emptive antiviral therapy (pre-treatment specimen; n=29), as well as follow-up samples obtained either after the initiation of antiviral therapy (post-treatment specimen; n=15) or during recurrent episodes (n=4) were analysed. Plasma CMV DNA loads were quanti…
Lack of evidence for a reciprocal interaction between bacterial and cytomegalovirus infection in the allogeneic stem cell transplantation setting
2016
Summary Pathogenic interactions between bacteria and cytomegalovirus (CMV) may potentially occur early after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (Allo-SCT). This possibility nevertheless has not been investigated in depth. This was a retrospective study that included 170 consecutive patients who underwent 173 Allo-SCTs. Both bacterial infection (most of which were bacteremic) and CMV DNAemia were detected in 78 Allo-SCTs (62.9%). In total, 51 and 32 episodes of bacterial infection preceded or occurred after CMV DNAemia detection, respectively. Both events were diagnosed concurrently in four Allo-SCTs. The cumulative incidence of bacterial infection (of any type) over the study period was c…