AIM To compare histological endpoint assessment using noninvasive alternatives to biopsy during treatment in a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) cohort. METHODS Patients with chronic HCV were randomized to receive interferon-based therapy for 24 (genotypes 2/3) or 48 (genotype 1) wk. FibroSURE™ (FS) was assessed at baseline and at week-12 post-treatment follow-up. Baseline biopsy for METAVIR wa...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY: We assessed the association of CD4+ T-cell counts and HIV-RNA on sustained viral response (SVR) after therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PR) in HIV/HCV coinfected patients. We examined two large cohorts of coinfected patients treated with PR in Spain between 2000 and 2008. SVR was defined as undetectable HCV-RNA at 24 weeks after ...

Indices of the presence of atoms (IPA) encode the presence or absence of atoms, such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, fluorine, chlorine, and bromine in a molecule. They are calculated with the simplified molecular input line entry system (SMILES). Using the Monte Carlo method for correlation weights of these indices, one can improve the predictive ability of optimal SMILES-based descr...

There is indirect evidence for a gender difference in nitric oxide (NO) synthesis from vascular endothelium. The aim of the present study was to determine NO production more directly in healthy women and men by the measurement of 15N nitrate excreted in urine after the intravenous administration of L-[15N]2-guanidino arginine. Twenty-four healthy volunteers (13 men aged 22 to 40 years and 11 wo...

1 Phenomenological Modeling and Relevance for Sound Localization 2 3 Authors: Sandra Tolnai*, Bernhard Englitz*, Jonathan Scholbach, 4 Jürgen Jost, Rudolf Rübsamen 5 1 Institute of Biology II, University of Leipzig, Talstr. 33, 04103 Leipzig, Germany 6 2 Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstr. 22, 04103, Leipzig, Germany 7 3 Institute for Mathematics, University of Leipz...

Abstract The literature is flooded with scientific information on most durability properties except water absorption coefficient of masonry units like sandcrete blocks. Also, while waste papers disposal a systemic problem due to ineffectiveness management system in developing countries, the price cement increase. This situation, ultimately, causes bane achievement low-cost housing development c...

It has been observed that from the eleventh century onwards one main concern of Tibetan authors to was determine the authenticity of the Buddhist texts received from India and thereby establish different lineages of transmission, by which means they were able to trace back any specifi c teaching either to the historical Buddha or to such representatives of Buddhahood as Vajradhāra or Samantabha...

INTRODUCTION Idiopathic esophageal achalasia was described in 1682 as a motor disorder of smooth muscle. In 1913 transabdominal cardiomyotomy was introduced and in 1958 this technique was popularized via a left thoracotomy, in 1991 laparoscopic cardiomyotomy was introduced since then many surgeons have adopted this technique as the primary treatment of esophageal achalasia. OBJECTIVE Evaluate...

OBJECTIVES Mental illness and psychotropic drugs have been linked with workplace injury, but few studies have measured exposures and outcomes independently or established their relative timings. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a case-control study nested within a database prospectively recording injury consultations, diagnoses and drug prescriptions. METHODS The Clinical Practice Re...