In patients with chronic hepatitis C, once-weekly peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin was tolerated as well as interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin and produced significant improvements in the rate of sustained virologic response, as compared with interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin or peginterferon alfa-2a alone.

In patients with chronic hepatitis C, a regimen of peginterferon alfa-2a given once weekly is more effective than a regimen of interferon alfa-2a given three times weekly.

In patients with chronic hepatitis C and cirrhosis or bridging fibrosis, 180 microg of peginterferon alfa-2a administered once weekly is significantly more effective than 3 million units of standard interferon alfa-2a administered three times weekly.

From socialization theory, it was hypothesized that parental support and monitoring as well as peer deviance would influence individual trajectories of alcohol misuse, other substance use, and delinquency. Six waves of data were analyzed using interviews with 506 adolescents in a general population sample. Results from multilevel modeling showed that monitoring significantly predicted adolescents’ initial levels (intercepts) of alcohol misuse and delinquency. Parental monitoring strongly predicted the rates of increase (slope) in all 3 problem behaviors. Peer deviance significantly predicted initial levels of all problem behaviors and the rates of increase in them. This study provides evidence that both effective parenting and avoidance of associations with delinquent peers are important factors in preventing adolescent problem behaviors.

Objective: Women who experience sexual victimization, whether in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, are at elevated risk of sexual revictimization. The mechanism responsible for this robust association is unclear, however. The present study proposed and tested a prospective, mediated model that posited that the association between adolescent and college victimization is mediated via two types of risk exposure in the first semester of college: alcohol-related and sexual risk behaviors. Method: Female adolescents (N = 469) were recruited from the community at the time of high school graduation. They completed baseline assessments as well as follow-ups at the end of the first and second semesters of college. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, adolescent sexual victimization was associated indirectly, via high school risk behaviors, with increased first semester college risk behaviors (i.e., sexual partners, hookups, heavy episodic drinking and heavy drinking contexts), which were, in turn, strongly predictive of sexual victimization experiences in the first year of college. College risk behaviors partially mediated the significant association between adolescent and first year college victimization; however, even women without prior victimization faced elevated risk of college victimization with higher levels of college risk behaviors. Conclusions: Women who have experienced adolescent sexual victimization engage in higher levels of risk-taking in college, thereby increasing vulnerability to college victimization. Intervention to reduce these primarily alcohol-related risk-taking behaviors may reduce vulnerability to college sexual victimization.