Early decrease in serum IV-7S levels during IFN treatment predicts anti-fibrogenic effect in nonresponders with chronic hepatitis C

Abstract

An early decrease in IV-7S levels after IFN treatment is a useful indicator of anti-fibrogenic effects in nonresponders.

A Glass of Water Immediately Increases Gastric pH in Healthy Subjects

“…Although PPIs are the antisecretory drugs of choice for GERD, they are not considered good candidates for treatment of very short episodes because of the rather long lag time needed to increase intragastric pH [4 [13]. Indeed, our study showed that PPIs required longer time to increase gastric pH above 4 compared to ranitidine, and this finding is compatible with results reported by others [9][10][11][12][14][15][16]. However, our results are in contrast to studies showing that gastric pH failed to rise above 4 in the majority of subjects after PPI treatment during a 6-h period [9,13].…”

“…Gastric pH remained above 4 at the end of the study in all subjects with omeprazole and esomeprazole and in all except one with rabeprazole, while only four subjects with ranitidine sustained a pH [4. This finding was unexpected because previous studies have shown that during the early postadministration period, H 2 RAs had a greater longstanding effect on gastric pH compared to PPIs [9][10][11][12][14][15][16]. All studies were carried out in healthy, H. pylori (-) subjects; thus, we can speculate that differences either in doses and formulations of the drugs or in fasting status of the subjects could explain this discrepancy.…”

Proton Pump Inhibitors versus Histamine-2-Receptor Antagonists for the Management of Iatrogenic Gastric Ulcer after Endoscopic Mucosal Resection or Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials

“…In addition, we discovered PPI was more effective in bleeding prevention than H 2 RA for 8-week medication duration, not for 4-week medication duration. It might be by reason that PPI was not fast acting, compared with more rapid effects of H 2 RA in reaching the optimal gastric pH [12,19]. Some studies reported bleeding and ulcer healing were associated with lesion size and tumor location [20,21], but it was difficult to stratify patients by these factors in our meta-analysis.…”

Effect of combination therapy with ribavirin and high‐dose interferon‐α2b for 24 weeks in chronic hepatitis C

“…Until now, a higher IFN dosage has been administered in Japan than in western countries. In Japan, the standard protocol of IFN‐α2b monotherapy for patients with CHC is 6–10 MU of IFN‐α every day for the first 2–4 weeks and then three times a week for the following 20–22 weeks 31–33 . Medical health insurance can cover medical expenses for up to 6 months of IFN‐α2b and ribavirin therapy, irrespective of a total dose of IFN‐α2b.…”