The spectrum of thyroid dysfunction in an Australian hepatitis C population treated with combination Interferon-α2β and Ribavirin

BACKGROUND: The study aims to assess the pattern of thyroid response to combination Interferon-α2β (IFN-α) and Ribavirin (RBV) anti-viral therapy in an Australian hepatitis C cohort. These include the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction (TD) including hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism and their possible predictors, the common overall pattern of thyroid function tests whilst receiving therapy and TD outcomes, and the correlation with HCV status outcome. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all medical records was performed to assess thyroid function in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) patients who were treated at the Hunter Area hepatitis C treatment center between 1995 and March 2004. The centre is part of the John Hunter hospital, a major tertiary referral centre in New South Wales, Australia. RESULTS: There were 272 cases available for review. The prevalence of TD is 6.7 percent and is made up predominantly of females (80 percent). There were 3 (1.1 percent) cases of hyperthyroidism with 2 (67 percent) females. Thirteen out of fifteen (80 percent) cases of hypothyroidism were females with the overall prevalence of 5.5 percent. The majority of hypothyroid patients still required Thyroxine supplement at the end of follow up. CONCLUSION: Ninety three percent of HCV treated patients have intact thyroid function at the end of treatment. The predominant TD is hypothyroidism. The predominant pattern of thyrotoxicosis (TTX) is that of thyroiditis although the number is small. Graves' like disease was not observed. People with pre-existing thyroid auto-antibodies should be closely monitored for thyroid dysfunction, particularly hypothyroidism

The prevalence of enteroviral capsid protein vp1 immunostaining in pancreatic islets in human type 1 diabetes.

addresses: Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth, UK.The final publication is available at link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00125-009-1276-0Evidence that the beta cells of human patients with type 1 diabetes can be infected with enterovirus is accumulating, but it remains unclear whether such infections occur at high frequency and are important in the disease process. We have now assessed the prevalence of enteroviral capsid protein vp1 (vp1) staining in a large cohort of autopsy pancreases of recent-onset type 1 diabetic patients and a range of controls

Association of HCV with diabetes mellitus: an Egyptian case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highest Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) prevalence in the world occurs in Egypt. Several studies from different parts of the world have found that 13% to 33% of patients with chronic HCV have associated diabetes, mostly type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM). In Egypt the prevalence of DM is 25.4% among HCV patients. Therefore, it is important to identify the magnitude of the problem of diabetes in order to optimize the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The objective of this case-control study was to evaluate the prevalence of DM and other extrahepatic (EH) manifestations among patients with different HCV morbidity stages including asymptomatic, chronic hepatic and cirrhotic patients. In this study, 289 HCV patients older than 18 were selected as cases. Also, 289 healthy controls were included. Laboratory investigations including Liver Function tests (LFT) and blood glucose level were done. Also serological assays including cryoglobulin profile, rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody, HCV-PCR were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 289 HCV cases, 40 (13.84%) were diabetic. Out of 289 healthy controls, 12 (4.15%) were diabetic. It was found that the diabetic HCV group mean age was [48.1 (± 9.2)]. Males and urbanians represented 72.5% and 85% respectively. Lower level of education was manifested in 52.5% and 87.5% were married. In the nondiabetic HCV group mean age was [40.7 (± 10.4)]. Males and urbanians represented 71.5% and 655% respectively. secondary and higher level of education was attained in 55.4% and 76.7% were married. Comparing between the diabetic HCV group and the non diabetic HCV group, age, residence and alcohol drinking were the only significant factors affecting the incidence of diabetes between the two groups. There was no significant difference regarding sonar findings although cirrhosis was more prevalent among diabetic HCV cases and the fibrosis score was higher in diabetic HCV patients than among the non diabetic HCV cases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The diabetic patients in the HCV group were older, more likely to have a history of alcohol drinking than the non diabetic HCV cases. Age and alcohol drinking are factors that could potentially contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Logistic regression analyses showed that age and residence in urban regions were the predictive variables that could be associated with the presence of diabetes. Alcohol consumption was not a significant predictive factor.</p

Novel NSP4 genotype in a camel G10P[15] rotavirus strain

In this study a Kuwaiti camel rotavirus strain, RVA/Camel-wt/KUW/s21/2010/G10P[15], is characterized by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The strain had multiple genes with high nucleotide sequence similarities to ovine and bovine strains (VP2, ≤ 96%; NSP2 and NSP5, ≤ 97%, NSP3, ≤ 94%), or, to porcine strains (VP1, ≤ 89%). Other genes had moderate sequence similarities (VP4, ≤ 87%; VP6, ≤ 81%; VP7, ≤ 82%) with reference strains from ruminants. The NSP4 gene shared limited sequence identity (≤ 71%) with other mammalian and avian rotavirus NSP4 types, and was designated a novel genotype, E15. This study demonstrates genetic diversity in the outer capsid and some backbone genes of an old-world camelid rotavirus strain and uncovers its common evolutionary roots with strains from other ruminants

Changing facial phenotype in Cohen syndrome:towards clues for an earlier diagnosis

<p>Cohen syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal recessive condition caused by mutations and/or large rearrangements in the VPS13B gene. CS clinical features, including developmental delay, the typical facial gestalt, chorioretinal dystrophy (CRD) and neutropenia, are well described. CS diagnosis is generally raised after school age, when visual disturbances lead to CRD diagnosis and to VPS13B gene testing. This relatively late diagnosis precludes accurate genetic counselling. The aim of this study was to analyse the evolution of CS facial features in the early period of life, particularly before school age (6 years), to find clues for an earlier diagnosis. Photographs of 17 patients with molecularly confirmed CS were analysed, from birth to preschool age. By comparing their facial phenotype when growing, we show that there are no special facial characteristics before 1 year. However, between 2 and 6 years, CS children already share common facial features such as a short neck, a square face with micrognathia and full cheeks, a hypotonic facial appearance, epicanthic folds, long ears with an everted upper part of the auricle and/or a prominent lobe, a relatively short philtrum, a small and open mouth with downturned corners, a thick lower lip and abnormal eye shapes. These early transient facial features evolve to typical CS facial features with aging. These observations emphasize the importance of ophthalmological tests and neutrophil count in children in preschool age presenting with developmental delay, hypotonia and the facial features we described here, for an earlier CS diagnosis.</p>