In order to understand the life cycle of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and to develop efficient anti-HBV drugs, a useful in vitro cell culture system which allows HBV infection and recapitulates virus-host interactions is essential; however, pre-existing in vitro HBV infection models are often problematic. Here, we examined the potential of human induced-pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived hepatocyte...

In this study we assessed the growth of university students' conceptual understanding of the seasons of the Earth, and eclipses and phases of the Moon upon completing a threedimensional (3-D) modeling-based Introduction to Astronomy course. Interviews prior to the course identified a range of student alternative frameworks regarding the composition and mechanics of the Solar System. During the ...

During hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication, spliced HBV genomes and splice-generated proteins have been widely described, however, their biological and clinical significance remains to be defined. Here, an elevation of the proportion of HBV spliced variants in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is shown to correlate with an impaired respond to interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy. Tran...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B coinfection is common in HIV-positive individuals and as antiretroviral therapy has made death due to AIDS less common, hepatitis has become increasingly important. Several drugs are available to treat hepatitis B. The most potent and the one with the lowest risk of resistance appears to be tenofovir (TDF). However there are several questions that remain unanswered regard...

Background. Ninety-percent of perinatal hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection results in chronic HBV which usually is asymptomatic, but carries a 25% risk of premature death from progressive liver injury, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. In 1990, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program (PHBPP) to accelerate elimination of perinatal HBV tr...

background: peritoneal dialysis is one of the most prevalent types of dialysis prescribed to the patients suffering from renal failure. studies on the factors affecting the survival of these patients have mainly used log-rank test and cox analysis. the present study aimed to investigate the risk factors affecting short- and long term survival of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dial...

A conceptual modeling approach for Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) is presented as a central part of a UIS design methodology. Three conceptual models are used for step-wise derivation of machine-executable design models for distributed service infrastructures: narratives, pattern-based diagrammatic conceptual models (Pre-Artifacts), and formalized propositional conceptual models.

This article reviews the relationship between organizational culture Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Although, Organizational culture and SHRM are important factors influencing organizational citizenship behaviors but little research has been done about how these two factors influencing the organizational citizenship behavior. The main p...

In antiviral therapy of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, drug resistance remains a huge obstacle to the long-term effectiveness of nucleoside/tide analogs (NAs). Primary resistance mutation (rtM204V) contributes to lamivudine (LAM)-resistance, and compensatory mutations (rtL180M and rtV173L) restore viral fitness and increase replication efficiency. The evaluation of new anti-viral agents aga...