Facial nerve reconstruction following radical parotidectomy and subtotal petrosectomy for advanced malignant parotid neoplasms.

Introduction: To describe the oncological management and functional outcome of patients with advanced parotid malignant tumors undergoing facial nerve reconstruction after radical parotidectomy and subtotal petrosectomy.

Materials And Methods: A combined approach was used to treat advanced stage parotid malignancies with intrapetrous involvement of the facial nerve main trunk or abutment on the stylomastoid foramen. Patients underwent facial nerve rehabilitation with cable graft reconstruction or with static techniques.

Molecular epidemiology and putative origin of hepatitis C virus in random volunteers from Argentina.

Aim: To study the subtype prevalence and the phylogenetic relatedness of hepatitis C virus (HCV) sequences obtained from the Argentine general population, a large cohort of individuals was analyzed.

Methods: Healthy Argentinian volunteers (n = 6251) from 12 provinces representing all geographical regions of the country were studied. All parents or legal guardians of individuals younger than 18 years provided informed written consent for participation.

Bronchovascular reconstruction with a bovine pericardial conduit and surgical reintervention due to thrombosis with revascularisation.

We present the case of a 57-year-old male with left hilar squamous cell carcinoma infiltrating the pulmonary artery and in whom a sleeve bronchoplasty and angioplasty were performed using a bovine pericardial conduit. Three days post-operatively, graft thrombosis was detected; thrombectomy and graft reconstruction were performed with revascularisation of the graft.

Down-regulation of genes related to the adrenergic system may contribute to splanchnic vasodilation in rat portal hypertension.

Background/aims: Splanchnic vasodilation initiates the hyperdynamic syndrome in portal hypertension. We aimed to explore molecular mechanisms involved in the development of mesenteric vasodilation in portal hypertension.

Methods: Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) samples from portal vein ligated (PVL) and sham rats were compared in a time course experiment using DNA microarrays.

Nosocomial transmission of hepatitis C virus during contrast-enhanced computed tomography scanning.

We have investigated two cases of acute hepatitis C that occurred in patients who underwent digestive endoscopy and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scanning at two different centers. Investigations to identify the sources of infection included an on-site review of diagnostic procedures, interview of the involved healthcare staff, serological testing of the patients who underwent the procedures before and after the index cases and a molecular analysis of viral isolates from the patients and from potential viremic sources. In both cases, the epidemiological investigation identified a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) carrier who had been subjected to CT-scanning immediately before the index patient.

Naturally occurring NS3-protease-inhibitor resistant mutant A156T in the liver of an untreated chronic hepatitis C patient.

An increasing number of new hepatitis C virus NS3-protease inhibitors are being evaluated for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Treatment-induced selection of mutants conferring resistance to protease inhibitors has been shown both in vivo and in vitro. A specific mutation, A156T has been shown to confer high-level resistance to several such agents (BILN2061, VX-950, SCH446211 (SCH6) and SCH503034).

Effect of bottlenecking on evolution of the nonstructural protein 3 gene of hepatitis C virus during sexually transmitted acute resolving infection.

Sexual partners of patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) often have detectable HCV-specific T-cell responses in the absence of seroconversion, suggesting unapparent, spontaneously resolving infection. To determine whether differences in the evolutionary potential of bottlenecked inoculum may explain the low rate of HCV persistence after sexual exposure, we have investigated changes in the entire HCV nonstructural 3 (NS3) gene over time in a chronic carrier and compared his viral quasispecies with that of the acute-phase isolate of his sexual partner, who developed acute resolving hepatitis C. The overall rate of accumulation of mutations, estimated by regression analysis of six consecutive consensus NS3 sequences over 8 years, was 1.