Spontaneuous clearance of chronic hepatitis C infection in a patient with a 20-year-old HIV-hepatitis C co-infection and chronic active hepatitis

We report a case of spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a patient co-infected for 20 years with HCV and HIV, and with an chronic active hepatitis C never treated with anti-HCV regimens. We review the literature of eight anecdotal reports describing the spontaneous resolution of chronic HCV infection among HIV-infected patients, and discuss the virological, immunological, pathogenetic and therapeutic implications of this observation

Self-reassurance, not self-esteem, serves as a buffer between self-criticism and depressive symptoms

Objectives: Several studies suggest that self-criticism and self-reassurance operate through different mechanisms and might interact with each other. This study examined the hypothesis that self-reassurance serves as a buffer between self-criticism and depressive symptoms in a way that self-esteem, which is rooted in a different motivational system, may not. Design: We hypothesized that self-criticism would be correlated with high levels of depressive symptoms, but that this association would be weaker at higher levels of self-reassurance abilities. We also hypothesized that self-esteem, a self-relating process based on feeling able and competent to achieve life goals, would not buffer the relationship between self-criticism and depression. Methods: Self-criticism, self-reassurance, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem were assessed in a sample of 419 participants (66% females; Mage = 33.40, SD = 11.13). Results: At higher levels of self-reassurance, the relationship between self-criticism and depressive symptoms became non-significant, supporting the buffering hypothesis of self-reassurance. Despite the high correlation between self-esteem and self-reassurance, self-esteem did not moderate the relationship between self-criticism and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Results support the growing evidence that not all positive self-relating processes exert the same protective function against psychopathological consequences of self-criticism. Implications for psychotherapy and the validity of using compassion-focused interventions with clients with self-critical issues are discussed. Practitioner points: Self-reassurance and self-criticism are distinct processes and they should not be considered positive and negative variations of a single dimension Different types of positive self-relating do not show the same correlation with depressive symptoms. The ability to be self-reassuring protects against the psychopathological correlates of self-criticism while having high self-esteem does not. Compassion-focused interventions are promising avenues to help clients counteract the negative impact of self-criticism on mood

Inattesa guarigione di un'epatopatia cronica da HCV in un paziente con infezione da HIV a seguito di aumentata aderenza e successo della terapia antiretrovirale di combinazione. Clearance di un'infezione cronica da HCV in corso di potente terapia antiretrovirale

Ottimizzazione della terapia antiretrovirale e clearance spontanea di infezione cronica da HC