The impact of fibrosis and steatosis on early viral kinetics in HCV genotype 1-infected patients treated with Peg-IFN-alfa-2a and ribavirin

Hepatitis C viral (HCV) kinetics after initiation of interferon-based therapy provide valuable insights for understanding virus pathogenesis, evaluating treatment antiviral effectiveness and predicting treatment outcome. Adverse effects of liver fibrosis and steatosis on sustained virological response have been frequently reported, yet their impacts on the early viral kinetics remain unclear. In this study, associations between histology status and early viral kinetics were assessed in 149 HCV genotype 1-infected patients treated with pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin (DITTO trial). In multivariate analyses adjusted for critical factors such as IL28B genotype and baseline viral load, presence of significant fibrosis (Ishak stage > 2) was found to independently reduce the odds of achieving an initial reduction (calculated from day 0 to day 4) in HCV RNA of ≥2 logIU/mL (adjusted OR 0.03, P = 0.004) but was not associated with the second-phase slope of viral decline (calculated from day 8 to day 29). On the contrary, presence of liver steatosis was an independent risk factor for not having a rapid second-phase slope, that is, ≥0.3 logIU/mL/week (adjusted OR 0.22, P = 0.012) but was not associated with the first-phase decline. Viral kinetic modelling theory suggests that significant fibrosis primarily impairs the treatment antiviral effectiveness in blocking viral production by infected cells, whereas the presence of steatosis is associated with a lower net loss of infected cells. Further studies will be necessary to identify the biological mechanisms underlain by these findings.     

Early HHV-6 replication is associated with morbidity non-related to CMV infection after kidney transplantation

Human herpesvirus type 6-(HHV-6) has been associated with morbidity after liver transplantation.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the HHV-6 seroprevalence among donorrecipient pairs, analyze the incidence of early active infection, its clinical manifestation, interaction with CMV, and the related morbidity in the first year after kidney transplantation.Methods46 donor-recipient pairs had IgG evaluated by ELISA before transplantation: HHV-6-(Pambio – USA) and CMV-(Roche – USA). A frozen whole blood sample collected weekly (from the 1^st to the 6^th week) was retrospectively tested for HHV-6 viral load (VL) determination by real time quantitative PCR (qPCR, Nanogen – Italy). Patients were preemptively surveyed for CMV by pp65 antigenemia (Ag, APAAP, immunohistochemistry, Biotest – Germany) from the 4^th to the 12^th week after transplantation. Active infection was defined as qPCR-HHV6+ (viral-load/mL-VL) and Ag+ (+cells/100.000 granulocytes), for HHV-6 and CMV, respectively. DCMV was defined as simultaneous positive antigenemia and suggestive signs/symptoms. Concerning +qPCR-HHV6, associated factors, clinical manifestation, interaction with CMV and morbidity were searched.ResultsPre-transplant HHV-6 seroprevalence was significantly higher among kidney recipients compared to their donors (82.6×54.8%; p = 0.005 [3.9 (1.4–10.4)]). Active infection by this virus occurred in 26.1% (12/46), with no association with previous IgG (p = 0.412). Median VL was 125 copies/mL (53–11.264), and the median Ag was 21 +cells (2–740). There was no association between HHV-6 and CMV activation after transplantation (p = 0.441), neither concerning DCMV (p = 0.596). Median highest Ag+ and days of ganciclovir treatment were similar between qPCR-HHV6 + or ? (p = 0.206 and p = 0.124, respectively). qPCR-HHV6+ was associated with higher incidence of bacterial (p = 0.009) and fungal (p = 0.001) infections, and higher number (p = 0.001) of hospital admission and longer duration of hospitalization over the first 6 and 12 months post-transplantation (p = 0.033 and p = 0.001).ConclusionLatent HHV-6 infection is more common among recipients than donors before transplantation. Early active infection by this pathogen after transplantation does not increase DCMV incidence or severity during the first 3 months of follow-up. However, early HHV-6 replication is associated with other infections and hospitalizations in the first year.     

Tantalum(v) 1,3-propanediolate β-diketonate solution as a precursor to sol–gel derived,metal oxide thin films

Tantalum oxide is ubiquitous in everyday life, from capacitors in electronics to ion conductors for electrochromic windows and electrochemical storage devices. Investigations into sol–gel deposition of tantalum oxide, and its sister niobium oxide, has accelerated since the 1980s and continues to this day. The aim of this study is to synthesize a near UV sensitive, air stable, and low toxicity tantalum sol–gel precursor solution for metal oxide thin films – these attributes promise to reduce manufacturing costs and allow for facile mass production. By utilizing 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance, this study shows that by removing ethanol from the precursor solution at a relatively low temperature and pressure, decomposition of the photosensitive complex can be minimized while obtaining a precursor solution with sufficient stability for storage and processing in the atmosphere. The solution described herein is further modified for inkjet printing, where multiple material characterization techniques demonstrate that the solution can be utilized in low temperature, photochemical solution deposition of tantalum oxide, which is likely amorphous. Tested substrates include amorphous silica, crystalline silicon wafer, and gold/titanium/PET foil. The hope is that these results may spark future investigations into electronic, optical, and biomedical device fabrication with tantalum oxide, and potentially niobium oxide, based films using the proposed synthesis method.

Synthesis of tantalum(v) 1,3-propanediolate β-diketonate solution and use in photochemical solution deposition to form tantalum oxide films.     

Waste of skin in elliptical excision biopsy of non-melanomatous skin cancer

Our objective was to quantify the skin wasted during elliptical excision biopsy. This is defined as the difference between the excised elliptical area and the area of the original lesion. We used geometrical calculations of 26 excisional biopsy specimens from patients with non-melanomatous malignant tumours. Relative to the lesion area, the largest waste of skin measured was 230% and the smallest was 34% with a mean of 130%. We conclude that for better preservation of tissue when closing circular defects, patterns other than an ellipse should be adopted.     

Baseline knee joint effusion and medial femoral bone marrow edema,in addition to MRI-based T2 relaxation time and texture measurements of knee cartilage,can help predict incident total knee arthroplasty 4–7 years later: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Skeletal Radiology - To evaluate if baseline pathological knee conditions as assessed via single features of the MR-based Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scoring (WORMS), standard T2, and T2...