Assessing Molecular Point-of-Care Testing and Dried Blood Spot for Hepatitis C Virus Screening in People Who Inject Drugs.

Background: Injecting drug use is a major driver of hepatitis C virus (HCV) spread worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified people who inject drugs (PWID) as a key population to target for HCV screening and care. Point-of-care (POC) hepatitis C tests and dried blood spot (DBS) sampling offer benefits for the management of patients with HCV infection by increasing HCV testing and linkage to care in different nonclinical settings. The aims of this prospective study were to evaluate the feasibility and the acceptability of use HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) POC and fingerstick DBS testing in social-medical risk-reduction centers and to describe the cascade of care among PWID in France.

Integrated Care for the Use of Direct-acting Antivirals in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C and Substance Use Disorder.

Objectives: Since little is currently known about predictors of response to direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) in people who inject drugs, we undertook an analysis of patients attending a hepatitis clinic with addiction services (outpatient clinics and inpatient services) to examine the outcomes associated with the treatment of difficult-to-manage patients with substance use. Our experience was based on integrated care.

Method: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 50 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and a history of addiction who received treatment with DAAs, according to European guidelines.

Lentiviral protein delivery of meganucleases in human cells mediates gene targeting and alleviates toxicity.

Site-specific endonucleases can be engineered for custom recognition of any genetic locus and used for gene targeting. Yet, the prolonged expression and accumulation of these nucleases in cells lead to toxic effect. Here we describe an efficient and quantitative method for introducing nucleases into cells as proteins packaged within lentiviral vector particles.

Chronic destructive oligoarthritis associated with Propionibacterium acnes in a female patient with acne vulgaris: septic-reactive arthritis?

Propionibacterium acnes is an anaerobic bacillus implicated in certain chronic arthritides. This report describes an HLA-B27+ 17-year-old woman with acne vulgaris who presented with rapidly destructive arthritis in the left shoulder as well as an evolving left subclavicular adenopathy. One year later, arthritis was detected in the left knee; the inflammatory synovial fluid was sterile.

[Gonadal function in primary apparent male osteoporosis. 12 cases].

The testicular endocrine function was studied in 12 patients aged from 33 to 76 years (mean: 56.3 +/- 11.5 years) presenting with an apparently primary vertebral osteoporosis and in 14 age-matched controls (mean: 52.