OBJECTIVE Tenofovir (TDF) and entecavir (ETV) are both potent antiviral agents for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Multiple studies have compared efficacy and safety of these two agents, but yielded inconsistent results. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to discern comparative efficacy and safety. METHODS Published data relevant to a comparison of TDF and ETV use...

BACKGROUND Onchocerciasis is targeted for elimination in Africa through annual or biannual ivermectin mass drug administration (MDA). An immunodiagnostic test, based on the detection of human IgG4 antibodies in the blood to the Onchocerca volvulus-specific antigen Ov16, is one of the recommended tools for determining whether transmission is interrupted and mass treatment can stop. For different...

BACKGROUND This study evaluated the persistence of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion (which is considered to be an important therapeutic end point) after adefovir dipivoxil treatment. METHODS Forty-five patients who experienced confirmed HBeAg seroconversion and had a serum hepatitis B virus DNA level < 10(5) copies/mL while receiving 10 mg of adefovir dipivoxil in a prior study we...

In the phase-III GLOBE/015 studies, telbivudine demonstrated superior efficacy vs lamivudine during 2-year treatment in HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB). After completion, 847 patients had an option to continue telbivudine treatment for further 2 years. A total of 596 (70%) of telbivudine-treated patients, who were serum HBV DNA positive or negative and without genoty...

West Nile virus (WNV) infection is mainly asymptomatic but can be severe in elderly persons. As part of studies on immunity and aging in Connecticut, USA, we detected WNV seroconversion in 8.5% of nonimmunosuppressed and 16.8% of immunosuppressed persons. Age was not a significant seroconversion factor. Our findings suggest that immune factors affect seroconversion.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between measles virus (MV) antibodies (abs) in sera and breast milk of nursing mothers, their contributions in seroconversion of children (0-9 months) post vaccination, prevalence of prevaccination measles abs in sera of children brought for measles vaccination and seroconversion rate in vaccinees from nursing and lactating mothers. Also to determine the p...

We examined the role of human cytokines in the natural course of hepatitis B surface Ag (HBsAg) seroconversion in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The clinical course of spontaneous HBsAg seroconversion was assessed in 296 chronically HBV-infected patients. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12β, IL-13, IL-27, and IFN-γ genes were examined in 296 ch...

PURPOSE Although influenza is regarded as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients, vaccine coverage remains poor. We evaluated the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines in colorectal cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, 40 colorectal cancer patients who received an influenza vaccine at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital during the 2009-2010 and 201...

In most cohort studies of HIV infection and AIDS, seroprevalent cases provide a substantial amount of information. Inclusion of these people in natural history studies requires a fairly unbiased method to estimate their seroconversion distribution. When a cohort-based estimate is not feasible, an alternative is to estimate individual seroconversion distributions, based on marker values at entry...

This study assessed the diagnostic value of the cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific IgG avidity index (AI) for pregnant women without a history of CMV seroconversion. Sera were studied from 40 women with CMV seroconversion (group I), 70 with past CMV infection (group II), 10 (20 sera) with serologic reactivation (group III), and 41 with CMV-specific IgM without proven seroconversion (group IV). Sera...