1. Among hepatitis B virus carriers, infection with genotype C significantly increases the risk of developing hepatocellular cancer compared to those without this genotype. 2. Among hepatitis C virus carriers, infection with genotype 1b increases the risk of hepatocellular cancer twofold compared to controls without this genotype. 3. Such increased risk should be explained as risk over and abov...

Cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6) is the principal enzyme involved in the metabolic activation of tobacco-specific nitrosamines to their ultimate carcinogenic forms and metabolism of nicotine. We investigated the effects of the CYP2A6*4, an entire CYP2A6 gene deletion-type polymorphism, on lung cancer risk and daily cigarette consumption in Japanese male smokers via a hospital-based case control stu...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Cytokine gene polymorphisms may alter Th1/Th2 balance with major implications in tuberculosis. The aim of our study was to find out whether Interferon gamma +874A and IL-4 -590T polymorphisms were associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis as well as the level of IFNgamma and IL-4 in south Indian population. METHODS Interferon gamma +874A and IL-4 -590T p...

To the Editor: Group A rota-viruses are the most common viral cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children. The most frequently detected group A rotavirus genotype coma large number of unusual G-P combinations have been reported, and among these is the rare G9P[4] genotype, which was identified in Brazil in the 1990s (2), and later reported infrequently elsewhere in Latin America (3). In 20...

BACKGROUND The progression of liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is influenced by host and viral factors. Distinct clinical outcomes in patients infected with different HCV genotypes have been described in the literature. However, the association between specific HCV genotype and clinical outcome remains unclear. We set out to study the natural history of H...

Dengue virus serotype 4 (DENV-4) reemerged in Roraima State, Brazil, 28 years after it was last detected in the country in 1982. To study the origin and evolution of this reemergence, full-length sequences were obtained for 16 DENV-4 isolates from northern (Roraima, Amazonas, Pará States) and northeastern (Bahia State) Brazil during the 2010 and 2011 dengue virus seasons and for an isolate from...

OBJECTIVE To establish the role of liver fibrosis as a predictive tool of response to pegylated interferon alpha (Peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) treatment in human immunodeficiency (HIV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients, in addition to recognized predictive factors (HCV load, HCV genotype, IL-28B polymorphism). PATIENTS AND METHODS A sample of 267 HIV/HCV coinfected patients was trea...

Noroviruses are a leading cause of epidemic and sporadic acute gastroenteritis worldwide. The development of sensitive molecular diagnostic techniques has revolutionized our understanding of norovirus epidemiology over the past two decades, but norovirus strain types associated with sporadic gastroenteritis remain poorly described. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of studies performe...

The aim of this study was to determine in patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 the performance at week 4 of two assays with different sensitivities for HCV RNA detection, for the prediction of SVR and stratification for treatment duration (14 and 24 weeks). Recruitment was from two trials comparing 14 and 24 weeks treatment to patients with rapid virological response (RVR) (n = 550). RVR was origi...