[Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of narlaprevir in the composition of interferon and interferon-free treatment regimens for patients with chronic hepatitis C].

Aim: Our aim was to give a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of using narlaprevir in combination with pegylated interferon-alpha-2a (Peg-IFN-alpha-2a) and interferon-free mode in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).

Materials And Methods: The prospective cohort study included 187 patients infected with genotype 1b of hepatitis C virus. Of these, 107 (the 1st group of patients) received narlaprevir 200 mg once a day, ritonavir 100 mg once a day, Peg-IFN-alpha-2a 180 mkg subcutaneously once a week and ribavirin at a dose depending on body weight (10001200 mg per day) for 12 weeks, and then the standart "dual" therapy (Peg-IFN-alpha-2a + ribavirin) was continued until 24 weeks.

Cholesteatoma prevention by local treatment with vitamin A.

Hypothesis: In view of the proven effectiveness of vitamin A for the treatment of hyperkeratosis, it was hypothesized that vitamin A may also be a feasible therapeutic option for cholesteatoma, which has similar histologic features.

Background: Cholesteatoma is a major cause of chronic ear disease, often requiring surgery. The recurrence rate may exceed 20%.

Capsular collagen staining of follicular thyroid neoplasms by picrosirius red: role in differential diagnosis.

A key criterion in the diagnosis of thyroid follicular carcinoma is capsular invasion, but invasion cannot always be demonstrated histologically. Since invasion is likely to evoke reactions in the capsular collagen, we examined the effects of invasion on capsular collagen with the picrosirius orange-red (PSR) staining technique for collagen. Under polarized light, the color of PSR-stained collagen varies as a function of the structural and biochemical properties of the collagen fibers.