Chronic HBV (CHB) infected patients with intermediate necroinflammation and fibrosis are recommended to receive antiviral treatment. However, other than liver biopsy, there is a lack of sensitive and specific objective method to determine the necroinflammation and fibrosis stages in CHB patients. This study aims to identify unique serum metabolomic profile associated with histological progressi...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Metabolic syndrome, comprising diabetes, hypertension, central obesity, and dyslipidemia, is increasingly prevalent worldwide. We aimed to study the relationship between metabolic syndrome and the risk of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC). METHODS In total, 954 patients (CHB, 850; CHC, 104 patients) with liver biopsy were i...

The incidence of congenital heart block (CHB) in the offspring of anti-Ro-positive women is approximately 1-2%, and the risk of recurrence is 10 times higher in the following pregnancies. Non-fluorinated steroids (prednisone, prednisolone and methylprednisolone) are recommended only for maternal indications, not for prevention of CHB in anti-Ro/SSA-positive women. Fluorinated steroids (dexameth...

Background: Several factors have been related to response to pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The occurrence of anti-IFN antibodies is associated with non-response to PEG-IFN in chronic hepatitis C. This study investigated the association between anti-IFN antibodies and response to PEG-IFN in CHB. Methods: Presence of anti-IFN antibodies was assessed at baseline and ...

BACKGROUND The differential diagnosis between inactive carrier and active hepatitis is important in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus infection. Serum cytokeratin (CK)-18 fragments (M30-antigen) are proposed as biomarkers of apoptosis. OBJECTIVES We investigated whether serum M30-antigen levels might help to characterize the various phases of CHB and predict the state of significa...

Vitamin D has been identified as an immune-modulator due to its immunomodulatory effects on cells of the immune system during the last decade. Research on vitamin D level in patients with HBV is a relatively new subject, which has been investigated in many studies. As the first step, the beneficial role of vitamin D in patients with HBV was suggested by Luong and Nguyen in 2012 (1). In the foll...

background hepatitis b virus (hbv) is among the leading causes of liver cirrhosis worldwide. predictors of cirrhosis in iranian chronic hepatitis b (chb) patients are yet to be clearly identified. objectives evaluating the predictive factors of liver cirrhosis in chb. patients and methods a longitudinal study was conducted during 1995 - 2014 on all chb patients who were referred to tehran hepat...

In congenital heart block (CHB), binding of maternal anti-SSA/Ro Abs to fetal apoptotic cardiocytes impairs their removal by healthy cardiocytes and increases urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA)/uPA receptor (uPAR)-dependent plasmin activation. Because the uPA/uPAR system plays a role in TGF-β activation, we evaluated whether anti-Ro binding to apoptotic cardiocytes enhances plasmin-mediated ...

Accounting for population genetic substructure is important in reducing type 1 errors in genetic studies of complex disease. As efforts to understand complex genetic disease are expanded to different continental populations the understanding of genetic substructure within these continents will be useful in design and execution of association tests. In this study, population differentiation (Fst...

Soil fertility depletion and the associated soil acidity has become a serious problem to crop production in most highlands of Ethiopia. Fortunately, such problems can be reclaimed by application biochar as amendments which sequestered for several years. A pot experiment was conducted investigate effects on growth response nutrient uptake faba bean nutrients. The design employed randomized compl...