Viruses are the scourge of mankind, causing devastating pandemics such as the 1918 Spanish flu and AIDS. This Virology Select highlights new studies that shed light on how viruses invade host cells so efficiently and how they evade the host immune response by stowing away in immune cells or by constantly changing their surface armor. The opening decade of the 21 st century witnessed the first f...

levels of illness but low death rates in pigs. These viruses may circulate among pigs throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the autumn and winter months, similar to flu outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930. Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza an...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a variable disorder that is characterized in adolescents and young women by a broad spectrum of anomalies, including hyperandrogenemia, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, body adiposity and low-grade inflammation. At present, there is no approved therapy for PCOS. Recent studies indicate that a low-dose combination of flutamide (Flu; a generic androgen-recepto...

Context: Dry eyes has been associated with inflammation and apoptosis of the ocular surface which is responsible for conjunctival goblet cell loss in long term. Aim: To study the efficacy of carboxymethylcellulose and topical cyclosporine A 0.05% in the treatment of dry eyes and their effect on the density of conjunctival goblet cells (GCD). Settings and design: Hospital based, Randomized clini...

Flutamide (2-methyl-N-[4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-propanamide), a nonsteroidal antiandrogen, is used in the treatment of prostate cancer but is occasionally associated with hepatic dysfunction. In the present study, the metabolism of flutamide including the formation of the possible reactive toxic metabolites was investigated using human liver microsomes and 10 isoforms of recombinant h...

BACKGROUND High rates of bacterial coinfection in autopsy data from the 2009 H1N1 influenza ("flu") pandemic suggest synergies between flu and pneumococcal disease (PD) during pandemic conditions, and highlight the importance of interventions like the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) that may mitigate the impact of a pandemic. METHODS We used a decision-analytic model, estimat...

background pandemic flu is a concerning problem with potentially high mortality and morbidity rates, so needs a proper health system response in each country. objectives to evaluate the nationwide health system response in iran after declaration of h1n1/swine flu pandemic in june 2009. patients and methods a surveillance system in all regions of country was implemented upon declaration of pande...

BACKGROUND During the early stages of the 2009 swine flu (influenza H1N1) outbreak, the large majority of patients who contacted the health services about the illness did not have it. In the UK, the NHS Direct telephone service was used by many of these patients. We used qualitative interviews to identify the main reasons why people approached NHS Direct with concerns about swine flu and to ide...