A Mobile Health Service to Manage Diabetic Foot in Homeless Patients.

Background: Homeless people live in poverty, with limited access to public health services. They are likely to experience chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes mellitus; however, they do not always receive the necessary services to prevent complications. This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of a volunteer health service outreach to reduce disparity in diabetic foot care for homeless people.

Good safety profile and efficacy of leucocyte interferon-alpha in combination with oral ribavirin in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C: a multicentre, randomised, controlled study.

Background: The differential tolerability profile of various interferon (IFN)-alpha preparations used in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C needs to be elucidated. Approximately 8% of patients receiving recombinant IFNalpha-2b plus ribavirin discontinue treatment because of adverse events. Human leucocyte IFNalpha is deemed to have a better safety profile than recombinant IFNalpha.

A case of dengue from Pune, India.

Dengue is an acute infectious disease, caused by a single stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus of the family of Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitos, the most important vectors being Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. There are four serotypes, DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4 that are nearly human specific. The geographical distribution of dengue is pantropical, except for Madagascar and some African regions.

Interferon alpha-2B and ribavirin in combination for patients with chronic hepatitis C who failed to respond to, or relapsed after, interferon alpha therapy: a randomized trial.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of interferon alpha-2b and ribavirin in combination in the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C who had either failed to respond to therapy with interferon alpha (nonresponders), or who had relapsed after interferon therapy (relapsers).

Subjects And Methods: Four hundred patients with chronic hepatitis C (200 nonresponders and 200 relapsers) were randomly assigned in equal numbers to receive either subcutaneous administration of recombinant interferon alpha-2b (3 million units three times per week) and ribavirin (1,000 to 1,200 mg/daily orally) or interferon alpha-2b alone (6 million units three times per week). Both ribavirin and interferon alpha-2b were given for 24 weeks.

Anti-HBV vaccination before therapy with interferon (IFN) in chronic B hepatitis.

Thirty-five outpatients (7 F, 28 M, mean age 39.8 years) with histologically confirmed active chronic B hepatitis, have been immunised with specific anti-HBV vaccine (Engerix B 20 mcg, SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, Rioxensart, Belgium) on days 0, 30 and 60. Hepatitis B markers, HBV-DNA and anti-HDV antibodies were determined on the same day of vaccination.