Diagnostic Performance of Two Point-of-Care Tests for Anti-HCV Detection.

Background: Besides the great importance of the issue in terms of public health, there is a lack of studies evaluating the performance of several of the currently used point of care tests (POCTs) for the detection of anti-HCV.

Objectives: To investigate the performance of two POCTs for anti-HCV detection and to assess the impact of the reading time on diagnostic performance.

Patients And Methods: A total of 307 subjects were divided into three groups (1- HCV infected; 2- other chronic liver diseases; and 3- controls).

Cholestasis as the initial presentation of relapsing polychondritis.

Relapsing polychondritis is an immune-mediated disease associated with inflammation in cartilaginous structures and other tissues throughout the body, particularly the ears, nose, eyes, joints, and respiratory tract. Although association with other conditions is seen in about one-third of the cases, liver involvement is not usually observed in those patients. We described a case of liver involvement in relapsing polychondritis, presenting with a predominantly cholestatic pattern.

Radiographic alterations in patients presenting human immunodeficiency virus/tuberculosis coinfection: correlation with CD4+ T cell counts.

Objective: To look for correlations between radiological patterns and CD4+ T cell counts in patients coinfected with tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus.

Methods: Patients included were selected from among those presenting human immunodeficiency virus/tuberculosis coinfection and admitted to the Nereu Ramos Hospital, located in Florianópolis, Brazil, between January of 2000 and December of 2003.

Results: A total of 87 patients were included.