Clinical course and predictive factors of virological response in long-term lamivudine plus adefovir dipivoxil combination therapy for lamivudine-resistant chronic hepatitis B patients.

The aims of this study were to assess the long-term efficacy of lamivudine (LAM) plus adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) combination therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B resistant to LAM, to identify predictive factors of complete viral response (HBV-DNA <2.6  log  copies/ml at 12 months of combination therapy), and to analyze amino acid substitutions associated with treatment resistance in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome. Seventy-two patients who received ADV in addition to LAM for breakthrough hepatitis were enrolled.

A mutation of the start codon in the X region of hepatitis B virus DNA in a patient with non-B, non-C chronic hepatitis.

There are cases of hepatitis involving occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in which, even though the HB surface antigen (HBsAg) is negative, HBV-DNA is detected by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We conducted a sequence analysis of the entire HBV region in a case of non-B non-C chronic hepatitis in a 46-year-old female. A diagnosis of non-B non-C chronic hepatitis was made.

IQGAP1 and vimentin are key regulator genes in naturally occurring hepatotumorigenesis induced by oxidative stress.

To identify key genes involved in the complex multistep process of hepatotumorigenesis, we reduced multivariate clinicopathological variables by using the Long-Evans Cinnamon rat, a model with naturally occurring and oxidative stress-induced hepatotumorigenesis. Gene expression patterns were analyzed serially by profiling liver tissues from rats of a naive status (4 weeks old), through to those with chronic hepatitis (26 and 39 weeks old) to tumor development (67 weeks old). Of 31 099 probe sets used for microarray analysis, 87 were identified as being upregulated in a stepwise manner during disease progression and tumor development.

A novel magnetic crystal-lipid nanostructure for magnetically guided in vivo gene delivery.

Cancer gene therapy requires a safe and effective gene delivery system. Polymer- and lipid-coated magnetic nanocrystals have been used to deliver silencing RNA, but synthesizing these magnetic vectors is difficult. Here, we show that a new nanoparticle formulation can be magnetically guided to deliver and silence genes in cells and tumours in mice.

Bovine lactoferrin potently inhibits liver mitochondrial 8-OHdG levels and retrieves hepatic OGG1 activities in Long-Evans Cinnamon rats.

Background/aims: To assess the effect of lactoferrin on oxidative liver damage and its mechanism, we used Long-Evans Cinnamon (LEC) rats that spontaneously develop fulminant-like hepatitis and lethal hepatic failure.

Methods: Four-week-old female LEC rats were divided into the untreated and treated groups. The latter was fed bovine lactoferrin at 2% mixed with conventional diet.

Rapid identification and specific quantification of Staphylococcus epidermidis by 5' nuclease real-time polymerase chain reaction with a minor groove binder probe.

A species-specific quantitative detection method involving 5' nuclease real-time polymerase chain reaction using a minor groove binder probe that was designed from the sodA gene was developed for Staphylococcus epidermidis. This method distinguished S. epidermidis from other staphylococci and specifically quantified the bacterium.

[A case of leptospirosis caused by Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar sejroe infected in Bali Island, Indonesia].

We report a patient with leptospirosis caused by Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Sejroe infection on Bali Island, Indonesia. This 33-year-old Japanese man had stayed at a resort hotel on the island from July 8 to July 13 2004. At the hotel, he swam in the pool, walked barefoot, and lied down in the grass.

[Evaluation of the simultaneous detection system for Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA by the isothermal and chimeric primer-initiated amplification of nucleic acids (ICAN)].

The isothermal and chimeric primer-initiated amplification of nucleic acids (ICAN) is a new isothermal DNA amplification method composed of exo Bca DNA polymerase, RNaseH and DNA-RNA chimeric primers. We developed the simultaneous detection system for Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA, combined with luminescence detection by a probe hybridization. In the performance tests, this system was able to detect 10 to 100 copies of C.

[Fatal septic shock and rhabdomyolysis following transfusion of platelet concentrates contaminated with Streptococcus pneumoniae].

We report on a 58-year-old male diagnosed as having primary myelofibrosis with thrombocytopenia, who died of fatal septic shock and rhabdomyolysis after platelet concentrates (PCs) transfusion. The initial diagnosis of primary myelofibrosis was established by splenomegaly, leukoerythroblastosis and bone marrow fibrosis. PCs were transfused because of thrombocytopenia with marked bleeding tendency.