Publications

predictors of liver histological changes and a sustained virological response to peginterferon among chronic hepatitis b e antigen-positive patients with normal or minimally elevated alanine aminotransferase levels.	a proportion of chronic hepatitis b patients with normal or only minimally elevated alanine aminotransferase (alt) levels display significant histologic changes and would benefit from antiviral therapy. we aim to evaluate the histologic abnormalities seen in these patients and then determine which of them would most likely respond to peginterferon therapy. one hundred and thirteen hepatitis b e antigen (hbeag)-positive patients with a normal or minimally elevated alt level and moderate-to-severe ...	2017	28107601
predictors of extracapsular extension in hpv-associated oropharyngeal cancer treated surgically.	extracapsular extension (ece) in cervical metastatic lymph nodes remains an indication for adding chemotherapy for patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (opscc). the aim of this study is to identify specific imaging characteristics on computed tomography (ct) scan that are predictive of ece in order to better risk stratify patients preoperatively.	2017	28109475
performance of point-of-care urine test in diagnosing tuberculosis suspects with and without hiv infection in selected peripheral health settings of addis ababa, ethiopia.	there are few rapid point-of-care tests (poct) for tuberculosis (tb) for use in resource-constrained settings with high levels of human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). this hinders early tuberculosis (tb) treatment. this cross-sectional study evaluates the recently developed urine determine tuberculosis lipoarabinomannan (tb lam) antigen test. a total of 122 participants with signs and symptoms of tb, including 21 (17.1%) participants positive for hiv, were enrolled from september 2011 to march 20 ...	2017	28137314
antiviral activity of a novel composition of peracetic acid disinfectant on parvoviruses.	porcine parvoviruses (ppv) are known to be particularly resistant to many disinfectants used to control other non-enveloped viruses. however, effective disinfectants used against ppv are harsh and corrosive to animal health facilities and the environment. we propose a noncorrosive "green" disinfectant that generates peracetic acid in-situ and is capable of inactivating ppv completely at a 1% concentration for a 10-minute contact time.	2017	28154460
experimental and computational surface hydrophobicity analysis of a non-enveloped virus and proteins.	the physical characteristics of viruses needs to be understood in order to manipulate the interaction of viruses with host cells, as well as to create specific molecular recognition techniques to detect, purify, and remove viruses. viruses are generally believed to be positively charged at physiological ph, but there are few other defining characteristics. here, we have experimentally and computationally demonstrated that a non-enveloped virus is more hydrophobic than a panel of model proteins. ...	2017	28219841
pathogen safety of a new intravenous immune globulin 10% liquid.	the manufacturing process of a new intravenous immune globulin (ivig) 10% liquid product incorporates two dedicated pathogen safety steps: solvent/detergent (s/d) treatment and nanofiltration (20 nm). ion-exchange chromatography (iec) during protein purification also contributes to pathogen safety. the ability of these three process steps to inactivate/remove viruses and prions was evaluated.	2017	28236170
an evidence synthesis approach to estimating the proportion of influenza among influenza-like illness patients.	estimation of the national-level incidence of seasonal influenza is notoriously challenging. surveillance of influenza-like illness is carried out in many countries using a variety of data sources, and several methods have been developed to estimate influenza incidence. our aim was to obtain maximally informed estimates of the proportion of influenza-like illness that is true influenza using all available data.	2017	28252453
non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis c: shear wave elastography and colour doppler velocity profile technique versus liver biopsy.	determination of the presence and degree of liver fibrosis is essential for the prognosis and treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis c. non-invasive methods of assessing fibrosis have been developed to reduce the need for biopsy. we determined the efficacy of shear wave elastography (swe) and colour doppler velocity as non-invasive methods for the assessment of liver fibrosis compared to liver biopsy among patients with chronic hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection.	2017	28262531
periodic screening pelvic examination: evidence report and systematic review for the us preventive services task force.	recent changes in the periodicity of cervical cancer screening have led to questions about the role of screening pelvic examinations among asymptomatic women.	2017	28267861
laboratory and molecular characterization of dengue virus during the 2014 outbreak in guangfo region, southern china.	non-specific symptoms and low viremia levels make early diagnosis of dengue virus (denv) infection challenging. this study aimed to 1) identify laboratory markers which can predict a positive laboratory diagnosis, and 2) perform a molecular characterization of denv from the 2014 guangdong epidemic. this retrospective study enrolled 1044 patients from the guangdong epidemic who had clinically suspected dengue. viral rna was detected by real-time rt-pcr and viral-specific ns1 antigen was detected ...	2017	28367875
a novel system for predicting liver histopathology in patients with chronic hepatitis b.	there is currently a lack of reliable, reproducible, and easily applied methods for assessing changes in liver histology in patients in the gray zone phase of chronic hepatitis b (chb). therefore, we aimed to develop a novel predictive scoring system to detect significant liver histological changes in these patients.a total of 388 patients in the gray zone phase of chb who underwent liver biopsy were divided into a training group and a validation group, and their clinical and routinely available ...	2017	28383410
virulence determines beneficial trade-offs in the response of virus-infected plants to drought via induction of salicylic acid.	it has been hypothesized that plants can get beneficial trade-offs from viral infections when grown under drought conditions. however, experimental support for a positive correlation between virus-induced drought tolerance and increased host fitness is scarce. we investigated whether increased virulence exhibited by the synergistic interaction involving potato virus x (pvx) and plum pox virus (ppv) improves tolerance to drought and host fitness in nicotiana benthamiana and arabidopsis thaliana. ...	2017	28718885