BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis is a disease of major public health importance in sub-Saharan Africa. Immunoregulation begins early in schistosome infection and is characterized by hyporesponsiveness to parasite and bystander antigens, suggesting that a schistosome infection at the time of immunization could negatively impact the induction of protective vaccine responses. This study examined whether...

Background and Aims: Recently, a novel DNA virus was isolated from the serum of a patient with post-transfusion non A-G hepatitis and named TT virus. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence TT virus among cirrhotic patients due to hepatitis B & C in infection Ahwaz. Methods: The prevalence of TTV infection was studied in 41 patients with liver cirrhosis. TTV DNA was detected ...

Previous findings in liver transplantation patients have raised the concept that HLA plays a dualistic role. HLA matching will reduce rejection but may augment MHC restricted cellular immune mechanisms of liver allograft injury. To evaluate this concept, we studied CMV hepatitis in 399 FK506-treated liver transplant patients, including 355 cases for which complete HLA-A,B,DR,DQ typing informati...

TWO DISTINCT VIRAL ANTIGENS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE HEPATITIS B VIRUS: the hepatitis B surface antigen (HB(s)Ag, Australia antigen) and the hepatitis B core antigen (HB(c)Ag). HB(s)Ag, purified from the serum of asymptomatic human HB(s)Ag carriers, and HB(c)Ag, purified from the liver of a chimpanzee acutely infected with hepatitis B virus, were examined by serological and immune electron micro...

BACKGROUND The standard three-dose schedule of hepatitis B vaccines is frequently not completed, especially in adolescents. A primary study has confirmed the equivalence of a two-dose schedule of an Adult formulation of hepatitis B vaccine [Group HBV_2D] to a three-dose schedule of a Paediatric formulation in adolescents (11-15 years) [Group HBV_3D]. This follow-up study evaluated the five year...

The study was conducted in Keryab village to investigate the association, if any, between S.mansoni infection and hepatitis B surface antigen. The study revealed that the overall infection rate was 15% (45 out of 300 stool samples examined). The prevalence in females was higher than that of males (17.8% and 13.4respectively). The highest infection rate (17.5%) was reported among the 11-15 years...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the leading causes of liver disorders such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The prognosis of hepatitis B in patients with HIV co-infection is poor and chances of spontaneous clearance of HBV infection is less likely. To investigate if n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) would protect liver from toxic effects of efavirenz (EFVZ) as a possible combi...

A novel DNA assay is demonstrated which relies on the production of a surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERS) signal following sequence specific hybridisation and enzyme hydrolysis. This method achieves high sensitivity and specificity that can be applied to the detection of unlabelled duplex DNA and is the first step towards a SERS based signal amplification approach.

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