A challenging case of hypocalcemia supporting the concept that 25-hydroxyvitamin D status is important for intestinal calcium absorption.

Context: Intestinal mucosa seems to be responsive not only to circulating calcitriol but also to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations.

Objective: We report a complex patient with chronic kidney disease who presented with symptomatic hypocalcemia (ionized calcium, 0.77 mmol/liter) despite regular calcitriol and calcium supplementation.

Hepatitis E vaccines: progress and prospects.

Hepatitis E accounts for the major part of enterally transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis worldwide. Its agent, the hepatitis E virus (HEV), is a small, single-stranded RNA virus. Only one serotype of HEV is recognised.

High prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in cyclosporin A-induced post-transplant gingival overgrowth tissue and evidence for the possibility of persistent infection despite short-term treatment with azithromycin.

Background: Cyclosporin A (CsA) induces gingival overgrowth (GO) in up to a quarter of CsA-treated renal transplant recipients. A short-term therapy with azithromycin effectively reduces GO, indicating a possible involvement of microorganisms in the pathogenesis of CsA-induced GO. We aimed to determine if there could be any relationship between infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae and GO pathogenesis.

Hepatitis E and its emergence in non-endemic areas.

In areas with a tropical or subtropical climate and poor sanitary conditions, hepatitis E is the major cause of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis, and is responsible for both waterborne outbreaks of variable magnitude and sporadic cases of acute hepatitis. The causative agent is the hepatitis E virus (HEV), a non-enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA molecule of approximately 7.2 kb in length.

Hepatitis E: an overview.

The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a non-enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus with icosahedral symmetry. Although it is related to the alpha-virus superfamily, the HEV is classified as a separate Hepatitis E-like viruses genus. Infection in humans occurs in sporadic and epidemic forms and can cause an acute, self-limited, icteric hepatitis.

Identification of a novel variant of hepatitis E virus in Austria: sequence, phylogenetic and serological analysis.

We isolated a novel hepatitis E virus (HEV-Au1) variant from a patient in Austria suffering from acute viral hepatitis, who had no known risk factors for acquiring hepatitis E. The clinical presentation and initial serological findings have been reported previously. In this paper we report the results of sequence and phylogenetic analysis of HEV products from viral RNA isolated from acute phase serum.