Specific receptors for leukotriene C4 LTC4 have been identified on intact smooth muscle cells derived from bovine cerebral microvasculatures. Specific pHJLTC4, binding at a fixed input at 25 ℃ was rapid , reaching the maximum at 20min With incremental inputs of radioligand and a constant cell number, specific [3H]LTC4 binding reached a plateau indicative of a saturable binding site. Analysis of Scatchard plots demonstrated a single high affinity binding site with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 2.01?0.4 nmol/L and Bmax = 156.6?13.1 fmol/106 cells. The specific [3H]LTC4 binding could be inhibited by unlabted LTC4, LTD4 and FPL-55712 with an inhibitory rate of 96.9%, 73.9% and 44.9% at 10-5 mol/L, respectively.

BACKGROUNDTo investigate the efficacy, influencing factors and safety of PEG-INF alpha-2a (PEG-INF-2a) in the treatment of hepatitis C.

METHODSTotally 89 patients with hepatitis C were included in this study and 46 patients were treated with PEG-INF-2a (180 microg or 135 microg/week) and RBV 900 mg/d, 43 patients were treated with IFNalpha-2a (5 MIU/qod) and RBV 900 mg/d. The time of treatment was 48 weeks, and all the patients were visited 24 weeks after treatment. There were no significant differences between the two groups in pretreatment HCV-RNA, HCV genotype and other clinical data. The main parameters to evaluate the efficacy were virological and biochemical responses. The side effects were intensively observed.

RESULTSSustained virological response (SVR) rate in PEG-IFNalpha-2a group was significantly higher than that in IFNalpha-2a group (56.5% and 19.5% respectively, P<0.001). As the patients were divided according to HCV genotype 1 and high virus load, the SVR rate of PEG-INF alpha-2a group was higher than IFNalpha-2a group (P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference between two groups in the patients with non-genotype 1 and low viral load (P=0.664, 0.116). Similar side-effects were observed in PEG-IFNalpha-2a group and IFNalpha-2a group, but the rate of weight decline and the degree of leukocyte decrease were more significant in PEG-INF alpha-2a group than in IFNalpha-2a group (P=0.001).

CONCLUSIONThe efficacy of PEG-INF alpha-2a in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C is superior to that of conventional IFNalpha-2a, PEG-INF alpha-2a had good tolerance and safety profiles.

Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Recombinant Proteins ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics and responsible agents of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in pediatric patients.

METHODSThirty-one cases of DILI treated in our hospital's pediatric ward were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data for each patient were extracted from the patient's medical records, and included reported causes, physical and biochemical features, natural history, blood examination results, and hepatic pathology findings.

RESULTSThe 31 pediatric cases of DILI accounted for 1.7% of the 1831 total cases of drug-induced liver injury treated at our hospital between February 2002 to June 2011. The pediatric DILI population was composed of 20 males and 11 females, with an average age of 8.8+/-3.9 years old (range, 0.3-14.0). The liver injury patterns represented among the cases were: hepatocellular (25.8%), cholestasis (25.8%), and mixed hepatocellular-cholestatic (48.4%). Antimicrobials were the most common cause (41.9%) of DILI, followed by the herbal medicine (29.0%) and febrifuge drugs (19.4%). A single drug was implicated in nine cases (29.0%), and two or more drugs were implicated in 22 cases (71%). Most of the children had good prognosis, but those with pre-existing disease had poor prognosis. One child died of hepatic failure, making the death rate 3.23%. The average hospitalization time was 25.2 days, and the patients with hepatocellular injury had shorter hospitalization time than those with mixed injury.

CONCLUSIONDrug-induced liver injury in our pediatric population was most often caused by antimicrobials, followed by herbal medicine and febrifuge drugs. Most patients presented with mixed hepatocellular-cholestatic injury. Children with pre-existing diseases or hepatic failure had poor prognosis.

Adolescent ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use* ; China ; Consensus ; HIV ; HIV Infections/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis