Clinical trial: An open-label, randomised trial of different re-start strategies after treatment withdrawal in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B.

Background: Stopping nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) may trigger a beneficial immune response leading to HBsAg loss, but clinical trials on re-start strategies are lacking.

Aim: To assess whether it is beneficial to undergo a prolonged flare after NA cessation.

Methods: One-hundred-and-twenty-seven patients with HBeAg negative, non-cirrhotic CHB with at least 24 months of viral suppression on NA therapy were included.

[A young woman who did not awake after extensive surgery].

Background: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by Echinococcus granulosus, significantly impacts health globally, but is a rare disease in Norway. CE is treated with a combination of anthelmintics and surgery, or percutaneous drainage.

Case Presentation: A woman in her thirties underwent extensive surgery due to disseminated CE in the abdominal cavity and liver.

Schistosomiasis in Norwegian students after travel to Africa.

Background: Schistosomiasis is a tropical infectious disease in which early diagnosis and treatment can prevent serious illness. This study examined the incidence and diagnosis of schistosomiasis in Norwegian exchange students who had been exposed to freshwater in Africa.

Material And Method: Students (n = 318) from Bergen and Oslo who had travelled to Africa as part of an exchange programme in the period 2003-18, were contacted and included in the study if they had been exposed to freshwater during their stay.

A parameter for IL-10 and TGF-ß mediated regulation of HIV-1 specific T cell activation provides novel information and relates to progression markers.

HIV replication is only partially controlled by HIV-specific activated effector T cells in chronic HIV infection and strategies are warranted to improve their efficacy. Chronic T cell activation is generally accompanied by regulation of antigen-specific T cell responses which may impair an effective control of chronic infections. The impact of HIV-induced T cell regulation on individual patients' disease progression is largely unknown, since classical T cell activation assays reflect net activation with regulation as unknown contributing factor.

Bayesian estimation of HIV-1 dynamics in vivo.

Statistical analysis of viral dynamics in HIV-1 infected patients undergoing structured treatment interruptions were performed using a novel model that accounts for treatment efficiency as well as total CD8+ T cell counts. A brief review of parameter estimates obtained in other studies is given, pointing to a considerable variation in the estimated values. A Bayesian approach to parameter estimation was used with longitudinal measurements of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts and HIV RNA.

Distinct mechanisms for mitochondrial DNA loss in T and B lymphocytes from HIV-infected patients exposed to nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors and those naive to antiretroviral treatment.

Objective: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) loss in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has been found in both nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-exposed and antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Persistent immune activation might play a role in this phenomenon in HIV-infected, ART-naive patients. PBMC subsets with differential growth kinetics were therefore purified to study this similarity.

PD-1 predicts CD4 loss rate in chronic HIV-1 infection better than HIV RNA and CD38 but not in cryopreserved samples.

The immunopathogenic factor programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) was compared to CD38 and HIV RNA in predicting actual CD4+ T cell loss rate indicative for clinical progression. This cross sectional exploratory study included 50 consecutive, healthy HIV-infected patients off antiretroviral therapy (ART); 43 had the required observation times > 12 months. PD-1 and CD38 were determined on various T cell subsets by FACS analyses in fresh and later in parallel cryopreserved samples.