Does protracted antiviral therapy impact on HCV-related liver cirrhosis progression?

AIM: To study the outcomes of patients with compensated hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis. METHODS: Twenty-four grade A5 and 11 grade A6 of Child-Pugh classification cirrhotic patients with active virus replication, treated for a mean period of 31.3 ± 5.1 mo with moderate doses of interferon-alpha and ribavirin, were compared to a cohort of 36 patients with similar characteristics, without antiviral treatment. Salivary caffeine concentration, a liver test of microsomal function, was determined at the starting and thrice in course of therapy after a mean period of 11 ± 1.6 mo, meanwhile the resistive index of splenic artery at ultra sound Doppler, an indirect index of portal hypertension, was only measured at the beginning and the end of study. RESULTS: Eight out of the 24 A5- (33.3%) and 5 out of the 11 A6- (45.45%) treated-cirrhotic patients showed a significant improvement in the total overnight salivary caffeine assessment. A reduction up to 20% of the resistive index of splenic artery was obtained in 3 out of the 8 A5- (37.5%) and in 2 out of the 5 A6- (40%) cirrhotic patients with an improved liver function, which showed a clear tendency to decrease at the end of therapy. The hepatitis C virus clearance was achieved in 3 out of the 24 (12.5%) A5- and 1 out of the 11 (0.091%) A6-patients after a median period of 8.5 mo combined therapy. In the cohort of non-treated cirrhotic patients, not only the considered parameters remained unchanged, but 3 patients (8.3%) had a worsening ofthe Child-Pugh score (P = 0.001).CONCLUSION: A prolonged antiviral therapy with moderate dosages of interferon-alpha and ribavirin shows a trend to stable liver function or to ameliorate the residual liver function, the entity of portal hypertension and the compensation status at acceptable costs.

Share of Wallet in FMCGs Retailing:Proposing a Conceptual Model

Recent years,the Marketing Science Institute considered marketing performance measurement(MPM)a priority in marketing research and managerial practice.Several contributions on the same topic have been proposed in literature.The ability to measure the marketing performance is considered,a cognitive gap that determined a decrease of marketing relevance within firm and organizations.Based on relevant literature on retailing and an explorative case study,it will be proposed a conceptual and pragmatic model to investigate MPM for a consumer goods retailer.The model is aimed to identify antecedents of“share of purchase”,“share of wallet”,and“share of visit”.An early test of the model has been carried out on three Italian leading chains:Superò,a master franchisee of SMA Spa(owned of 27 small supermarkets under control of the French Auchan Group),Decò-Multicedi(the Group is a multi-channel company based on network of five Ad Hoc cash&carry centers,253 Decòoutlets and three Ayoka pet shops)located in Campania Region.“U2”(the outlets label of Unes Spa,Finiper Group,operating mostly in northern Italy,with a chain of more than 190 direct and franchise supermarkets).