The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of hydroxyurea (HU) in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Thirty-four patients with sickle cell anemia (hemoglobin S [HbS]/HbS), 131 with HbS/ 0-thal, and 165 with HbS/ -thal participated in this trial. HU was administered to 131 patients, whereas 199 patients were conventionally treated. The median follow...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the ability of various clinical and laboratory parameters to predict the results of hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HBS) in patients with suspected acute cholecystitis. METHODS This was a retrospective chart review of all patients referred from the emergency department for an HBS in 1993 to exclude acute cholecystitis. The setting was a university-affiliated tertiary car...

It is claimed that the possibility of non-specific reactions in ELISA tests for HBsAg has been substantially eliminated (1), though like any other highly sensitive immune test system, ELISA does still have the potential of yielding false-positive reactions. Such reactivity in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) hyperendemic focus of the Gizan Area of Saudi Arabia was encountered using a two-titer test ...

BACKGROUND The interleukin (IL)18 rs360719 CC genotype is associated with the development of antibodies to hepatitis B virus surface antigen (anti-HBs) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. IL18 shares biological properties with IL12 in promoting the T-hepler 1 (Th1) system. We studied whether polymorphisms in the IL12A 3` untranslated region (UTR) and IL12B 3`UTR may contribute to anti-HBs developmen...

A renal transplant recipient became persistently positive for hepatitis B virus (HBV) despite preexisting anti-hepatitis B surface (HBs) antibodies. The antigenicity and immunogenicity of wild-type (wt) and mutant HBs antigens (Ags) were compared. In contrast to wt HBsAg, genetic vaccination with mutant HBsAgs did not induce anti-HBs. Thus, mutations within HBsAg may enable HBV to escape immuno...

Results: Gender, animal density, and concurrent disease were not associated with death due to HBS. Rates of death due to HBS were higher for pigs finished during the summer than for those finished in the winter. Rates of death due to HBS were lower in pigs fed rations containing bacitracin methylene disalicylate or chlortetracycline than in pigs on rations containing virginiamycin or no antibio...

INTRODUCTION    Hemodialysis (HD) patients show a weaker response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination than the healthy population. Several gene variants were reported to be associated with the levels of antibodies to HBV surface antigen (anti-HBs) after HBV vaccination among healthy individuals. OBJECTIVES    The aim of the study was to determine the effect of immunity-related genes on the m...

UNLABELLED Hepatic resection is the therapy of choice for malignant and symptomatic benign hepatobiliary tumors. The concept of remnant liver volume (RLV) has been introduced and can be assessed with CT. However, inhomogeneous liver function distribution and a lack of correlation between morphologic hypertrophy and functional recovery fuelled the enthusiasm for functional imaging. The aim of th...