CTL together with anti-envelope Abs represent major effectors for viral clearance during hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The induction of strong cytotoxic and Ab responses against the envelope proteins after DNA-based immunization has been proposed as a promising therapeutic approach to mediate viral clearance in chronically infected patients. Here, we studied the CTL responses against previ...

BACKGROUND Randomized, controlled comparisons between home haemodialysis (HHD) and centre haemodialysis (CHD) have not been performed to date. Reported survival benefits of HHD as compared with CHD from uncontrolled studies have been attributed largely to patient selection. METHODS In order to minimize a selection bias, we have compared the outcome of our HHD and CHD patients with a nested ca...

BACKGROUND The home hemodialysis (HHD) treatment option has been associated with improved patient outcomes compared to in-center hemodialysis (ICHD) programs. What is not quite clear is the influence of patient selection bias on the perceived benefits of HHD. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential benefits of HHD by comparing the admission patterns of HHD patients with a control...

Genetic vaccines are emerging as a powerful modality to induce T-cell responses to target tumor associated antigens (TAA). Viral or plasmid DNA or RNA vectors harbor an expression cassette encoding the antigen of choice delivered in vivo by vaccination. In this context, immunizations with minigenes containing selected, highly antigenic, T-cell epitopes of TAAs may have several advantages relati...

PURPOSE To determine whether the handheld dynamometer (HHD) is an appropriate tool to assess and quantify peak hip extension strength in prone standing position by (1) evaluating the concurrent validity of the HHD versus an isokinetic dynamometer (IKD), (2) establishing the minimal detectable change (MDC), and (3) determining the validity of single-trial versus multi-trial measures. METHOD A ...

BACKGROUND Haemodialysis with the Hemocontrol biofeedback system (HHD) is associated with improved haemodynamic stability compared with standard haemodialysis (HD) (SHD). Although the beneficial effect of HHD on haemodynamic stability is generally explained by its effect on blood volume, we questioned whether additional factors could play a role. Since HHD is associated with higher initial dial...

Acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) may help to reduce demand for homologous blood but requires extra time and apparatus. A more simple procedure is acute hypervolemic hemodilution (HHD), where hydroxyethylstarch is administered preoperatively without removal of blood. In a prospectively randomized study we compared ANH (preoperatively 15 mL/kg autologous blood removal and replacement with 15...

Sir, Saner and colleagues have made a good case for home haemodialysis (HHD) as an effective renal replacement therapy in Switzerland [1]. Yet, in the last paragraph of their case–cohort study of 58 patients, they admit that patient selection may have influenced their results. We agree. Our analysis of a much larger cohort, that of the United States Renal Data System, used the standardized mort...

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS Infection is an important cause of hospitalization and death in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD). Few studies have examined infection-related hospitalizations in home HD (HHD) population. The purpose of this study was to examine the scope of infections and the effect of HHD modality (daily home HD (DHD) and conventional home HD (CHD)) on infection-related hospitalizati...

INTRODUCTION Suitable handheld dynamometer (HHD)-techniques to test hip abduction strength in individuals with a lower extremity amputation, irrespective of their amputation level are absent. The aim of this study was to optimise a HHD-technique and to test its reproducibility and validity. METHODS This study involved three phases, in which two techniques were evaluated. Both HHD-techniques u...