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DT imaging is a promising noninvasive technique for functional assessment of renal allografts. FA values in the renal medulla exhibit a good correlation with renal function.

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This study compares the sensitivity of whole-body multidetector CT (MDCT) and conventional radiography (CR) in the staging of multiple myeloma (MM). Twenty-nine patients with MM underwent a staging examination both by MDCT and CR. CT examination was performed with a collimation of 64x0.6 mm, a tube potential of 100 kVp, an effective tube current-time product of 100 mAs and automatic dose modulation as low-dose protocol. Number, size and diagnostic confidence of osteolytic lesions were determined and compared. The effective dose of MDCT and CR was assessed. Using MDCT, the detection of osteolysis was increased seven-fold concerning the spine. Ninety-seven lesions in 18 patients were detected exclusively by MDCT. The detection rate concerning the spine, pelvic skeleton and thoracic cage was significantly higher (p< or =0.001), and diagnostic confidence was increased by MDCT (p<0.02) compared to CR. Therapy was changed after MDCT in 18.2% of the patients with a clinical suspicion of progressive disease. The estimated effective dose of MDCT (4.8 mSv) and CR (1.7 mSv) was comparable. In conclusion, MDCT has a significantly higher sensitivity and reliability in the detection of osteolysis than CR and can be recommended as standard imaging method in the staging of MM.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the leading infectious diseases worldwide associated with high morbidity and mortality. 1 Successful interferon (IFN) treatment improves the long-term clinical outcome. 2 Only 30% to 40% of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and 10% to 50% of HBeAg-negative patients are reported to respond to IFN monotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate molecular viral parameters for prediction of IFN response.Most studies so far have shown that for HBeAg-positive patients low transaminase levels (alanine transaminase [ALT] Ͻ200 U/L), high viral replication (HBV DNA Ͼ300 pg/mL), long duration of disease, and low inflammatory score in liver histology 2-4 are associated with low response rates to IFN therapy. Furthermore, hepatitis delta virus (HDV) coinfection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection, and chronic dialysis negatively influence IFN response in chronic hepatitis B. The significance of the HBeAg status for the long-term outcome after IFN therapy is still under debate. It has been reported that HBeAg-negative status is associated with a high relapse rate and a poor sustained response of 10% to IFN therapy. [5][6][7][8][9] However, these data contrast with sustained response rates of 25% to 50% in HBeAg-negative patients. [10][11][12][13][14] Genetic viral factors have been poorly investigated for their effect on the outcome of IFN therapy. As yet, attention has focused on the precore region, the G1896A mutation in the precore region, and the core gene of HBV. The occurrence of the G1896A mutation, converting a tryptophane (TGG) into a translational stop codon (TAG), has been reported to be associated with a bad prognosis 15-17 and a poor response to IFN therapy 6 in replicative hepatitis B negative for HBeAg. However, the results are controversial. [10][11][12]18,19 Mutations in the polymerase gene play an important role for resistance to nucleoside analogues, but do not seem to have an effect on the outcome of IFN therapy. Whether variations of the core gene affect the response to IFN is under discussion. [20][21][22] As yet the relevance of mutations of the HBV X gene and the core promoter region for responsiveness to IFN has not been evaluated.The basic core promoter (BCP; at nucleotide [nt] region 1742-1849), the core upstream regulatory sequences (CURS; at nt region 1643-1742), and the negative regulatory element (NRE; at nt region 1611-1634) are located mainly in the HBV X gene and play an important role in replication and hepatitis B core antigen/HBeAg formation. Formation of the 3.5-kb pregenome messenger RNA (mRNA), which serves for translation of the core and polymerase proteins, and the precore/ core mRNA for translation of HBeAg is controlled by the BCP and CURS. The NRE abolishes the function of the CURS and BCP (Fig. 1). Within these regions various mutations have