Evaluation of an enzyme immunoassay for hepatitis C virus antibody detection using a recombinant protein derived from the core region of hepatitis C virus genome

This study was undertaken to evaluate an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for hepatitis C virus antibody detection (anti-HCV), using just one antigen. Anti-HCV EIA was designed to detect anti-HCV IgG using on the solid-phase a recombinant C22 antigen localized at the N-terminal end of the core region of HCV genome, produced by BioMérieux. The serum samples diluted in phosphate buffer saline were added to wells coated with the C22, and incubated. After washings, the wells were loaded with conjugated anti-IgG, and read in a microtiter plate reader (492 nm). Serum samples of 145 patients were divided in two groups: a control group of 39 patients with non-C hepatitis (10 acute hepatitis A, 10 acute hepatitis B, 9 chronic hepatitis B, and 10 autoimmune hepatitis) and a study group consisting of 106 patients with chronic HCV hepatitis. In the study group all patients had anti-HCV detected by a commercially available EIA (Abbott®), specific for HCV structural and nonstructural polypeptides, alanine aminotransferase elevation or positive serum HCV-RNA detected by nested-PCR. They also had a liver biopsy compatible with chronic hepatitis. The test was positive in 101 of the 106 (95%) sera from patients in the study group and negative in 38 of the 39 (97%) sera from those in the control group, showing an accuracy of 96%. According to these results, our EIA could be used to detect anti-HCV in the serum of patients infected with hepatitis C virus.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaInstituto BioMérieuxUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Risk prioritisation of stormwater pollutant sources

This paper describes the development of a pollutant risk prioritisation methodology for the comparative assessment of stormwater pollutants discharged from differing land use types and activities. Guidelines are presented which evaluate available data with respect to ‘likelihood of occurrence’ and ‘severity of impact’. The use of the developed approach is demonstrated through its application to total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, lead and cadmium. The proposed benchmarking scheme represents a transparent and auditable mechanism to support the synthesis of data from a variety of sources and is sufficiently flexible to incorporate the use of chemical, physical and/or ecological data sets. Practitioners involved in developing and implementing pollutant mitigation programmes are assisted in two key ways. Firstly through enabling the risks to receiving waters from diffuse pollution on a source-by-source and/or pollutant-by-pollutant basis at a catchment scale to be comparatively assessed and prioritised. Secondly, the methodology informs the selection of appropriate diffuse pollution control strategies

Urinary abnormalities in chronic hepatitis C - A follow-up study

Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Div Gastroenterol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Div Gastroenterol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

EXACERBATION of TYPE-2 DIABETES-MELLITUS DURING INTERFERON-ALFA THERAPY for CHRONIC HEPATITIS-B

ESCOLA PAULISTA MED,DEPT ENDOCRINOL,BR-04023 São Paulo,BRAZILESCOLA PAULISTA MED,DEPT ENDOCRINOL,BR-04023 São Paulo,BRAZILWeb of Scienc