Arketamine as adjunctive therapy for treatment-resistant depression: A placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background: Racemic ketamine is a mixture of (R)-ketamine (arketamine) and (S)-ketamine (esketamine), with the latter regarded as the main isomer for antidepressant effects. However, preclinical data and one open-label human trial suggest arketamine might exert a more potent and longer-lasting antidepressant effect with fewer side effects. We aimed to explore the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial of arketamine for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and to assess its efficacy and safety compared to placebo.

Genotyping of HBV and tracking of resistance mutations in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Background And Aims: Resistance mutation analogs to nucleos(t)ides have been described in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), with clinical implications. The aim of this study was to investigate primary resistance mutations and genotypes circulating in patients naïve to chronic hepatitis B, in the Northern and Northeastern regions of Brazil.

Methods: We conducted a study of resistance mutations and genotypic characterization of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 189 treatment-naïve patients chronically infected with HBV.

Mutations associated with drug resistance and prevalence of vaccine escape mutations in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection.

The Brazilian public health system (SUS) has provided antiviral drugs for chronic hepatitis B treatment for over 10 years, but a system for monitoring for drug-related resistance mutations is not available. Determine the presence of HBV mutations associated with resistance to nucleos(t)ide analogs among 81 patients with chronic HBV infection in Salvador-BA-Brazil. HBV-DNA was PCR amplified with primers deduced from the rt domain at the HBV P gene, the sequence extended 1032 bp (from amino acid 1 to 344-rt domain).