Hepatitis C virus core antigen testing: Role in diagnosis, disease monitoring and treatment

While hepatitis B virus(HBV)screening relies on hepatitis B surface antigen to confirm HBV infection since the early days of hepatitis B disease management,hepatitis C virus(HCV)infection screening is based on anti-HCV testing which does not discriminate active from past infection.Thus to confirm infection HCV RNA testing has been required;recently a HCV core antigen assay became widely commercially available which could serve to confirm infection.That assay is less sensitive than current HCV RNA assays,but as more than 50%of anti-HCV positive persons will be HCV core antigen positive,HCV core antigen testing can be a cost effective and reflex test to confirm HCV infection in anti-HCV positive individuals and will be easier as it can be applied on the same platform.For treatment monitoring,more data need to be generated,but the early data available at present suggest that HCV core antigen may be an alternative to HCV RNA monitoring.With direct antivirals,HCV core antigen could even be superior to HCV RNA testing,as direct antivirals might already prevent virus formation when HCV core antigen is still produced and thereby correlates better with eventual viral clearance.

Microsurgerical treatment of PCA aneurysms via subtemporal approach monitored by microvascular Doppler(10 cases report)

Objective To summarize the clinical features of intracranial aneurysms of posterior cerebral artery (PCA) ,and the surgical approaches and operative skills to treat them . Methods The aneurysms arose from the P1 segment in 3 patients,the P2 segment in 5 patients and the P3 segment in 2 patients.

Characterization of odorous charge and photochemical reactivity of VOC emissions from a full-scale food waste treatment plant in China

Food waste treatment plants （FWTPs） are usually associated with odorous nuisance and health risks, which are partially caused by volatile organic compound （VOC） emissions. This study investigated the VOC emissions from a selected full-scale FWTP in China. The feedstock used in this plant was mainly collected from local restaurants. For a year, the FWTP was closely monitored on specific days in each season. Four major indoor treatment units of the plant, including the storage room, sorting/crushing room, hydrothermal hydrolysis unit, and aerobic fermentation unit, were chosen as the monitoring locations. The highest mean concentration of total VOC emissions was observed in the aerobic fermentation unit at 21,748.2-31,283.3 μg/m^3, followed by the hydrothermal hydrolysis unit at 10,798.1-23,144.4 μg/m^3. The detected VOC families included biogenic compounds （oxygenated compounds, hydrocarbons, terpenes, and organosulfur compounds） and abiogenic compounds （aromatic hydrocarbons and halocarbons）. Oxygenated compounds, particularly alcohols, were the most abundant compounds in all samples. With the use of odor index analysis and principal components analysis, the hydrothermal hydrolysis and aerobic fermentation units were clearly distinguished from the pre-treatment units, as characterized by their higher contributions to odorous nuisance. Methanthiol was the dominant odorant in the hydrothermal hydrolysis unit, whereas aldehyde was the dominant odorant in the aerobic fermentation unit. Terpenes, specifically limonene, had the highest level of propylene equivalent concentration during the monitoring periods. This concentration can contribute to the increase in the atmospheric reactivity and ozone formation potential in the surrounding air.