HIV and hepatitis C coinfection

The significant burden of HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection is increasingly recognized worldwide, and in particular within the Asia–Pacific region. Individuals who are coinfected with both viruses are at risk from accelerated liver disease and consequently cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, coinfected individuals may have altered immunological responses to HAART and are at increased risk of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)–related hepatotoxicity. Treatment for HCV infection in HIV-infected individuals is with standard pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy, and all HIV/HCV coinfected subjects should undergo suitability for HCV treatment assessment. Response rates to HCV therapy are generally 10–15% lower than in HCV monoinfection, and therapy may be complicated by issues of drug interactions and significant toxicity. However, greater understanding of baseline factors can contribute to better prediction of treatment outcome, and monitoring of on-treatment virological responses increasingly allows individualization of therapy. Where possible, treatment of HCV is often advisable before HAART is required to avoid the issues of drug interactions on HCV therapy and the risk of HAART-related hepatotoxicity. Early diagnosis of both HIV and HCV infection is essential to most effectively manage HIV-HCV-coinfected individuals. New therapies, including HCV protease and polymerase inhibitors, are in development and may widen therapeutic options for HIV-HCV-coinfected individuals into the future.     

Rotator cuff disruption: diagnosis with digital arthrography

Shoulder arthrography is a reliable technique for use in the diagnosis of tears of the rotator cuff, although delineation of the precise site and size of tears requires meticulous double-contrast technique and considerable examiner expertise. The authors initiated a prospective evaluation of digital arthrography of the glenohumeral joint in 28 patients with clinical manifestations suggesting rotator cuff tear because they believed that examination with this technique would allow more accurate definition of the precise status of the cuff. Fifteen patients had normal studies. Ten complete and three partial rotator cuff tears were demonstrated with digital technique, and the precise site of the tear was demonstrated in all of these cases. The results indicate that digital arthrography of the glenohumeral joint may have some advantages over standard arthrography in the delineation of complete and partial tears of the rotator cuff, particularly in defining the exact site of tears.     

Platelet crossmatching with lymphocytotoxicity test: an effective method in alloimmunized Chinese patients

Fifty-three patients receiving long-term platelet transfusions were regularly screened for platelet-associated antibodies by a platelet suspension immunofluorescence test (PSIFT) and a lymphocytotoxicity test (LCT). Subsequently, 24 patients became alloimmunized; all of their antibodies were of HLA specificity. Eighty-two single-donor platelet transfusions were given, and the clinical responses were considered satisfactory if the 18-hour corrected count increment was 7.5 x 10(3) per microL or higher. In the meantime, 82 pairs of patient sera and donor lymphocytes were crossmatched. Among 63 crossmatched transfusions, 53 (84%) resulted in a satisfactory increment, with a mean (+/- SEM) of 17.71 +/- 1.96 (x 10(3)/microL), and 10 did not result in a satisfactory increment. The increments after 19 unmatched transfusions and 25 random-donor (uncrossmatched) transfusions were 0.7 +/- 0.3 and 2.39 +/- 0.66, respectively. The difference was not significant (p greater than 0.05). The agreement between the LCT results and clinical response was 88 percent. Retrospectively, the corrected count increments showed no significant differences (p greater than 0.05) among three groups of HLA grading: the increments for A/BU/BX, C/D, and random HLA matches were 22.97 +/- 4.07, 15.1 +/- 1.97, and 14.85 +/- 2.04, respectively. These results suggest that platelet crossmatching by LCT is an effective method for use in alloimmunized patients, especially Chinese patients.     

Generation of chromosome size polymorphism during in vivo mitotic multiplication of Plasmodium berghei involves both loss and addition of subtelomeric repeat sequences

Extensive chromosome size polymorphism arises in Plasmodium berghei during in vivo mitotic multiplication. Size differences between homologous chromosomes involve rearrangements occurring in the subtelomeric portions while internal chromosomal regions do not contribute significantly to chromosome size polymorphism. Differences in the copy number of a 2.3-kb subtelomeric repeated unit are shown to correlate with size variations, and in at least one case to account completely for the size difference between two variants of the same chromosome.     

Overall analysis of structural factors responsible for the activity and toxicity of antiparasitic agents used in therapy]

A mini-data bank was constituted from the 73 french antiparasitic patent medicines and was implanted in microcomputer. A maximum of chemical, pharmaceutical, therapeutical and toxicological data were collected and treated by multivariate analysis. Exploitation of these informations processing allows to take out correlations between chemical structure toxicity, and specificity.