Presence of the 70Q quasispecies at baseline was associated with an increased risk of treatment failure, as indicated by the positive selection of the 70Q clones induced by treatment with pegylated interferon with ribavirin. These results urge further investigation of the mechanisms of this association.
Two commercial real-time PCR assays are currently available for sensitive hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA quantification: the Abbott RealTime HCV assay (ART) and Roche Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HCV assay (CAP/CTM). We assessed whether the two real-time PCR assays were more effective than Roche Cobas Amplicor HCV Monitor test, v.2.0 (CAM) for prediction of the sustained virological response (SVR) to pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) in chronic hepatitis C. Sixty patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1b (37 males and 23 females, 53 ؎ 12 years of age) were treated with PEG-IFN␣2b plus RBV for 48 weeks. Stored specimens at nine time points for each patient (at baseline, on treatment, and 24 weeks after treatment) were tested by the two real-time PCR assays and CAM. Twenty-six (43.3%) patients reached SVR. The positive predictive values (PPVs) for SVR of undetectable HCV RNA at week 12 by CAM, ART, and CAP/CTM were 74.3%, 88.0%, and 95.2%, respectively. An undetectable HCV RNA level by CAM, ART, and CAP/CTM correctly predicted SVR at week 4 in 100%, 100%, and 100% of patients, at weeks 5 to 8 in 91.7%, 100%, and 100% of patients, at weeks 9 to 12 in 55.6%, 75%, and 87.5% of patients, and at weeks 13 to 24 in 0%, 26.7%, and 40% of patients, respectively. Of 16 patients who relapsed after treatment, HCV RNA was detectable in 2 patients at the end of treatment by CAP/CTM but undetectable by ART and CAM. HCV RNA tests using ART and CAP/CTM are considered to be more effective at predicting SVR than CAM, and the PPV for SVR was slightly higher in CAP/CTM than in ART.The quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is essential for the management of chronic hepatitis C therapy based on the combination of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). Based on pivotal trials in large multicenter studies, positive and negative predictions of sustained virological response (SVR) using viral load kinetics have been established and are now used for recommendations on antiviral therapy management by the American and European international consensus conferences (6, 9, 17). Initially, the effectiveness of antiviral therapy had been controlled by HCV RNA tests using end-point PCR assays sensitive to a level of 50 to 100 IU/ml, according to the Roche Cobas Amplicor HCV Monitor test, v.2.0 (CAM; Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., Pleasanton, CA). Recently, two novel commercial real-time PCR assays became available for highly sensitive HCV RNA quantification: the Abbott RealTime HCV assay (ART; Abbott Molecular, Inc., Des Plaines, IL) and the Roche Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HCV assay (CAP/CTM; Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., Pleasanton, CA). The reported sensitivity of these real-time PCR assays is higher than that of CAM, they are reportedly not prone to carryover contamination, and they have a consistently wider dynamic range of quantification, which makes them particularly useful for quantifying the full range of viral genome levels observed in treated and untreated patients. Real-time PCR is rapidly r...
Explants from stipes and meristems of Ecklonia cava were incubated on six media under several culture conditions . Both stipe and meristem explants developed calluses three to six weeks after inoculation onto all media except AS PC-1 . Calluses developed on stipe explants but did not develop on meristem explants at a temperature of 23 'C . Temperatures from 8 to 13 ° C were favorable for callus development . Callus development on meristem explants required light but callus development on stipe explants did not .
VRD) with neurogenic malignancies, including neuroendocrine tumors, is well established, whereas its association with nonneurogenic malignancies is considered to be coincidental. We describe a rare case of periampullary somatostatinoma (neurogenic malignancy) and multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs, non-neurogenic malignancy) associated with VRD.A 62-year-old man with VRD was admitted to our hospital with a poor appetite and weight loss. Gastroduodenoscopy revealed a protuberant tumor with an irregular surface occupying half of the lumen in the second part of the duodenum. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed a tumor, 5 cm in diameter, extending from the second part of the duodenum to the head of the pancreas. Angiography showed a tumor stain with an increase in vascularity. Histological examination of a tumor biopsy specimen revealed that atypical small cells with low-grade growth had invaded the connective tissue of the duodenal mucosa, forming trabecular and tubular arrangements, suggesting a diagnosis of carcinoid. The tumor was positive for keratin, somatostatin ( Fig. 1b), synaptophysin (Fig. 1c), and chromogranin A (Fig. 1d) on immunohistochemical examination. The plasma somatostatin level was markedly elevated, but the plasma levels of glucagon, gastrin, serotonin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and calcitonin were in the normal ranges. Under the diagnosis of somatostatinsecreting periampullary carcinoid, pancreatoduodenectomy was considered to be indicated for this patient with VRD.At the operation, the tumor was palpable from the inner and dorsal aspects of the duodenum to the head of the pancreas. There were four miliary white nodules on the surface of the liver. Histopathological examination of a frozen section taken from the nodule for rapid diagnosis during the operation showed atypical cells that formed a glandular structure, with stromal cell proliferation in normal hepatic tissues, indicating metastasis.As the tumor was considered to be unresectable because of the liver metastases, a gastrojejunal bypass was created. Immunohistochemical staining showed that atypical cells in the white nodules on the surface of the liver were positive for somatostatin, indicating that the nodules were metastases from a somatostatinoma (malignant endocrine tumor). A psammoma body was present in biopsy samples of liver (Fig. 1a). Several subserosal white nodules, 1 cm in diameter, were also found at operation, on the anterior wall of the stomach and small intestine. On histological examination, the nodules in the stomach and small intestine consisted of atypical cells of spindle shape showing a bundle pattern, and the cells were immunohistochemically positive for CD34 and C-KIT (Fig. 2a), but not for S-100 protein (Fig. 2b). Thus, we diagnosed these lesions as multiple GISTs.The neural tissues of patients with VRD contain high levels of a neuronotropic factor that stimulates DNA synthesis by neurofibroblasts. As a result, VRD is associated with neurogenic malignancies. Thus, in our current patien...
Calli were formed on the explants of midrib, meristem and immature stipe parts from freshly collected Undaria pinnatifida sporophytes. Each part was sterilized by Betadine and ethanol, and was cut into explants. The explants were incubated on an agar medium at 10 hours light and 14 hours dark photoperiod under a photon flux density of 80 #mol m-2 s -. Callus was formed best on the explants of meristem parts at a temperature of 13 C on PESI medium. Calli were cut off from the explants and were transferred into a sterile liquid PESI medium in flasks. Callus was dark brown in colour and was composed of well-pigmented cells. The cells were loosely bound and were separated by low power sonication, and were easy to attach to vinylon strings. From the calli formed on the explants of meristem parts, entire fronds were regenerated, but from the calli formed on the explants of midrib parts, only thin layered laminae were regenerated. The calli formed on the explants of immature stipe parts did not exhibit any regeneration at all.
Evaluating the contribution of wild and hatchery fish to a fishery is essential to understand economic feasibility as well as the impact of hatchery fish on the ecosystem. However, a precise estimate of this contribution is often difficult to obtain, particularly when hatchery and wild fish are mixed in the catch. In this study, we quantified the contribution of hatchery and wild Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha to the mixed-stock commercial fishery in Japan by identifying the ratio of otolith-marked hatchery fish to unmarked and presumably wild fish. The contribution of hatchery fish to the total coastal catch of Pink Salmon in Japan was estimated to be 16.6% and 26.4% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Thus, the majority of the commercial salmon catch originated from naturally spawned wild fish. Economic yield per release by Japanese hatcheries was 2.2 yen (<2.2) (US$0.022) and <1.5 in 2011 and 2012.
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