Two hundred and seventy-one male patients suffering from uncomplicated gonococcal urethritis were treated in an open randomized study with either 250 mg (121 patients) or 500 mg (150 patients) single oral doses of ciprofloxacin. The efficacy of treatment was verified on the third day by direct examination of urethral swabs in 91 patients and by culture and direct microscopic examination in 180 subjects. Cure rates were 100% in the 500 mg group and 96.6% in the 250 mg treated patients. No side effects were seen. Ciprofloxacin appears to be a very effective and safe drug in the treatment of uncomplicated gonococcal urethritis in men.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMed1979

[Activity of coagulation factors in liver coma caused by viral hepatitis].

Coagulation studies were performed on 8 patients with acute liver failure from viral hepatitis. Four died and four recovered. At the time of development of coma, levels of clotting factors resulted markedly reduced in all cases and were not of value as a prognostic index. Subsequent serial determinations (every 8 hours) during the evolution of coma showed that prothrombin activity and levels of factor I, II, V and X were not correlated with clinical conditions, most probably owing to the influence of the administration of blood and blood components. Of all coagulation tests, the assay of factor VII, which has the shortest half-life, appeared the most reliable index of hepatic synthetic function at a particular point in time.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1977

[Histochemical detection of HBsAg in liver biopsies using the orcein staining method].

Liver biopsies from 30 HBsAg seronegative and 33 HBsAg positive subjects affected by liver diseases were stained by orcein method for the histochemical detection of HBsAg. All biopsies from HBsAg negative cases were orcein negative. Staining was positive in 55% of seropositive patients. The frequency of the different patterns of the staining is analyzed and its value as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in chronic liver disease is discussed.

Antibody Formation↗

PubMed1976

Serum alpha-fetoprotein in viral hepatitis and its complications.

Alpha-fetoprotein levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in 40 cases of acute viral hepatitis, 5 cases of chronic persistent hepatitis, 15 cases of chronic aggressive hepatitis and 5 cases of hepatic coma from fulminant viral hepatitis. Serum concentrations were increased in 55% of patients with acute viral hepatitis and in about 33% of patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis. Levels resulted markedly raised among the patients with coma from fulminant viral hepatitis who survived. The high aplha-fetoprotein values may reflect liver cell regeneration after necrosis of a critical mass of hepatic tissue.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1975

[Radioimmunologic determination of the Australia antigen during the course of viral hepatitis].

Australia Antigen was detected by radioimmunoassay technique in 80 cases of viral hepatitis. Incidence of the antigen was 40% in patients with epidemiologic data of infectious hepatitis, 84% in patients with epidemiologic data of serum hepatitis and 61% in a group of patients not reporting a reliable epidemiologic history. The count rate was periodically determined during the course of the illness in the attempt to evaluate, within the limits of the method, the amount of the antigen in the serum samples. Results are briefly discussed, together with the problem of the correlation between the presence of Australia Antigen and the two types of hepatitis infection.

Antibodies, Viral↗

PubMed1971