BACKGROUND Previous meta-analyses of treatments for Bell's palsy are still inconclusive due to different comparators, insufficient data, and lack of power. We therefore conducted a network meta-analysis combining direct and indirect comparisons for assessing efficacy of steroids and antiviral treatment (AVT) at 3 and 6 months. METHODS We searched Medline and EMBASE until September 2010 using ...

BACKGROUND Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has dramatically decreased HIV-related morbidity and mortality, the associated costs, toxicities, and resistance risks make the potential delay of HAART initiation an attractive goal. Suppression of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) may be a novel strategy for achieving this goal because HSV-2 is associated with clinically signi...

Abstract Background and Aims Antiviral therapy is commonly used to treat herpes zoster. Though antivirals are generally considered nephrotoxic, few studies compared the relative risk of acute kidney injury in patients with zoster that attributable different antivirals. We aim examine association use hospital-acquired (HA-AKI) among Chinese adults Method The study population was derived from Chi...

Herpes zoster-associated urinary retention is an uncommon event related to virus infection of the S2-S4 dermatome. The possible major reasons are ipsilateral hemicystitis, neuritis-induced or myelitis-associated virus infection. We report a case of a 65-year-old immunocompetent female patient who presented an acute urinary retention after four days under treatment with valacyclovir for gluteal ...

Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) populations have significantly declined throughout their range (Currylow et al., 2011). While a combination of factors are likely playing a role in the decline of the box turtle, disease outbreaks have been emerging across the Eastern United States in chelonians and may be important (De Voe et al., 2004; Johnson et al., 2008; Allender et al., 2011). Herpe...

Recent studies have revealed that diverse compounds lacking peptide bonds, such as valacyclovir and delta-aminolevulinic acid (delta-ALA), can be recognized by H+-coupled peptide transporters (PEPT1 and PEPT2). In the present study, recognition and transport characteristics of nonpeptidic compounds by the basolateral peptide transporter, which is distinct from PEPTs, were compared with those by...