PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 8345654

[Hepatitis C].

T Matsushima·Y Karino·S Hige·Y Sasaki
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of post transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis. The virus contains a positive-strand RNA genome comprised of approximately 9,400 nucleotides. HCV E2/NS1 is probably an envelope glycoprotein (E2). The E2 hypervariable domain appears to contain isolate-specific antibody-binding linear epitopes. Recently, comparative sequence analysis of all the complete and partial HCV sequences published to date indicates that known genotypes of HCV can be classified into six basic groups. We report here that the prevalence of HCV-I, HCV-II, and a mixed form are 77.2%, 11.4%, and 11.4%, respectively. Patients with anti-HCV and HCV-RNA positive chronic active hepatitis received 6MU of interferon-alpha or beta everyday for two weeks followed by 6MU thrice a week for 14 weeks. Complete response to interferon treatment was defined as an ALT level normalized within six months after the end of treatment and maintained within the normal limit for an additional six months. Complete response was found in 42.9% of patients treated for 16 weeks. In a six month follow-up of the complete responders, clearance of viremia was observed in 90.3% at the end of interferon treatment and in 71.0% six months after the end of interferon treatment.

Explore related subjects

Chronic DiseaseHepatitis CHumansEnglish AbstractJournal ArticleReview

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

T Matsushima, Y Karino, S Hige, Y Sasaki. 1993. [Hepatitis C].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8345654/

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2000

Chronic pain: 1. A new disease?

Chronic pain continues to be perceived as a characterologic disorder rather than a serious, potentially fatal, medical disease. The general lack of understanding of how persistent pain becomes magnified and ingrained prevents many patients from receiving the level of care that they need to regain control of their lives and resume normal activities.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2000

Clinical approach to excessive daytime sleepiness.

Subjective sleepiness is defined as "an elemental feeling state" by which the subject, and only him/her knows whether he/she is alert or sleepy. Subjective sleepiness has little been used for the clinical evaluation of sleepiness. Objective sleepiness is defined as a consequence of the homeostatic need for sleep. In the absence of a measurable marker of the fulfillment of the function of sleep, the evaluation of objective sleepiness has to rely on a behavioral approach based on the postulate that the more you need sleep (i.e., the sleepier you are), the more likely you are to fall asleep. However, as for many other fundamental human behaviors (drinking, eating, sexual behavior), it is likely that the sleeping behavior serves other purposes than its primary objective, which distorts the relationship between the observed sleeping behavior and the actual need for sleep. The likelihood to fall asleep can be measured by the speed with which a sleep episode occurs under standardized laboratory conditions (multiple sleep latency test, maintenance of wakefulness test, OSLER test), or by the frequency of unwanted sleep episodes under the more naturalistic conditions of daily life (Epworth Sleepiness Scale). These various approaches have advantages and drawbacks, but none of them can be considered the "gold standard".

Chronic Disease↗