Diabetes mellitus is an independent prognostic factor for major liver-related outcomes in patients with cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis C.

Unlabelled: In patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), cirrhosis is associated with age, gender, diabetes, alcohol abuse, and coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV). The effect of these factors on the outcome of cirrhosis is unknown. This study in CHC patients with cirrhosis aimed to assess the influence of these factors on decompensation, liver transplantation, and death.

Fibrosis progression under maintenance interferon in hepatitis C is better detected by blood test than liver morphometry.

We evaluated whether quantitative measurements of liver fibrosis with recently developed diagnostics outperform histological staging in detecting natural or interferon-induced changes. We compared Metavir staging, morphometry (area and fractal dimension) and six blood tests in 157 patients with chronic hepatitis C from two trials testing maintenance interferon for 96 weeks. Paired liver biopsies and blood tests were available for 101 patients, and there was a significant improvement in Metavir activity and a significant increase in blood tests reflecting fibrosis quantity in patients treated with interferon when compared with controls - all per cent changes in histological fibrosis measures were significantly increased in F1 vs F2-4 stages only in the interferon group.

Pharmacokinetics and diffusion into sputum of oseltamivir and oseltamivir carboxylate in adults with cystic fibrosis.

Oseltamivir is a prodrug of oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), a neuraminidase inhibitor used for treatment and prevention of influenza. The pharmacokinetics of these 2 compounds were investigated after a single 75-mg oseltamivir dose in 6 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Means ± standard deviations of the area under the curve from time zero to infinity (AUC) were 173 ± 58 μg · h/liter for oseltamivir and 2,256 ± 394 μg · h/liter for OC.

Pharmacological exposure to ribavirin: a key player in the complex network of factors implicated in virological response and anaemia in hepatitis C treatment.

Ribavirin remains today a pivotal drug in the treatment of hepatitis C; in standard double therapy, as well as in triple combination with direct antiviral agents, ribavirin reduces relapse and can double the sustained virological response obtained with peginterferon alone or in association with direct antiviral agents. In the complex network of interacting factors determining sustained virological response independently of known predictive factors related to host and virus, two modern tools are emerging: polymorphisms in the IL28B gene and very early exposure to ribavirin. The use of a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model of early ribavirin exposure to adjust the dose individually would help promote a safer ribavirin use and improve sustained virological response.