BACKGROUND AND AIM Chronic hepatitis B infection remains a significant health issue worldwide. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of combined therapy using lamivudine plus adefovir (LAM+ADV) versus telbivudine plus adefovir (LdT+ADV) and the corresponding renal function change and safety. METHODS This study enrolled a total of 171 patients (110 patients received LAM+ADV and 60 patie...

conclusions epo resistance was negatively associated with anti-hbs levels and seroconversion. more studies are needed to highlight the underlying mechanisms regarding epo resistance and response to hbv vaccination in hd patients. results in total 97 patients were enrolled. for the entire group, stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that square root transformed anti-hbs levels were indepe...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of telbivudine and entecavir in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients over a 1 year period. METHODS Ninety-seven telbivudine-naive and 98 entecavir-naive CHB patients who had been treated for at least 1 year were enrolled. Serial serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels were checked at baseline and at weeks 24 and 48 after treatment. RESULTS Entecavir and te...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance and seroconversion are regarded as favorable outcomes of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This study aimed to develop artificial neural networks (ANNs) that could accurately predict HBsAg seroclearance or seroconversion on the basis of available serum variables. METHODS Data from 203 untreated, HBeAg-negative CHB patients with spon...

Introduction: The risk of transmission pathogens such as hepatitis B virus threatens the safety transfused patients especially in high endemic areas. aim this study was to determine incidence and factors associated with surface antigen (HBsAg) seroconversion blood donors at Regional Blood Transfusion Centre Ouagadougou. Methods: A retrospective cohort voluntary non-remunerated (VNRBD), conducte...

OBJECTIVE To assess the immunogenicity and safety of influenza vaccine in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Relevant articles were retrieved from electronic databases. Seroprotection rate, seroconversion rate and factors that increase antibody geometric mean titer (GMT) were used as indices to measure the immunogenicity. The safety of vaccine was assessed through monit...

INTRODUCTION The Prevention of Mother to Child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, an important intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS can only be of benefit if the HIV status of the mother is known. Unfortunately, some women receive HIV counseling and testing (HCT) during the window period or prior to new infection in pregnancy and therefore, miss-out on the gains of PMTCT. A repeat HIV test woul...

OBJECTIVES After Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan in 2009, thousands of Taiwanese citizens were displaced to shelters for several weeks. Others were placed in urban communities where they had family members. This study aimed to investigate serological status in both groups and identify risk factors associated with seroconversion of infectious diseases. DESIGN A longitudinal survey. SETTING All...

BACKGROUND Because of established links between entrenched poverty and risk of HIV infection, there have long been warnings that HIV/AIDS will disproportionately affect Aboriginal people in Canada. We compared HIV incidence rates among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal injection drug users (IDUs) in Vancouver and studied factors associated with HIV seroconversion among Aboriginal participants. ME...