Overall survival is significantly better in the era of the stool card screening program. Dorsomorphin chemical structure Other studies show that the better the results of the Kasai operation, the better the overall survival.16, 18 Although more developed transplantation techniques in the stool card screening era partly contribute to survival, the need for liver transplantation still adds the risk to impair the prognosis. Successful Kasai operation still provides patients with the best chance of survival, and every effort should be made to improve its results.16

The stool card screening program is a step in this direction, because it efficiently increases the success rate of Kasai operation and contributes to better overall survival. The 5-year survival rate with native liver and 5-year overall survival rate in other studies range from 30.1% to 59.7% and from 75.5% to 85%, respectively.13, 19, 20 In Taiwan, these rates are 64.3% and 89.3%, respectively (Table 1). This corroborates the promising results of intervention using the stool card screening program. In conclusion, the stool card screening program for BA enhances early Kasai operation and increases the jaundice-free rate at 3 months postsurgery, which is a valuable predictor of 5-year outcome. In Taiwan, the infant stool selleckchem color card screening program has markedly improved the

5-year outcome of BA patients. We appreciate the valuable contribution of the members of the Taiwan Infant Stool Color Card Study Group and thank Li-Chin Fan, Cheng-Hui Hsiao, Yu-Ru Tseng, and Szu-Ta Chen for assistance in preparing this article. Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article. “
“Acute hepatitis C continues to be a concern in men who have sex with men (MSM), and its optimal management has yet to be established. In this study, the clinical, biological, and therapeutic data of 53 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected MSM included in a multicenter prospective study on acute hepatitis C in 2006-2007 were retrospectively collected

and analyzed. The mean hepatitis C virus (HCV) viral load at diagnosis was selleck 5.8 ± 1.1 log10 IU/mL (genotype 4, n = 28; genotype 1, n = 14, genotype 3, n = 7). The cumulative rates of spontaneous HCV clearance were 11.0% and 16.5% 3 and 6 months after diagnosis, respectively. Forty patients were treated, 38 of whom received pegylated interferon and ribavirin. The mean duration of HCV therapy was 39 ± 17 weeks (24 ± 4 weeks in 14 cases). On treatment, 18/36 (50.0%; 95% confidence interval 34.3-65.7) patients had undetectable HCV RNA at week 4 (RVR), and 32/39 (82.1%; 95 confidence interval 70.0-94.1) achieved sustained virological response (SVR). SVR did not correlate with pretreatment parameters, including HCV genotype, but correlated with RVR (predictive positive value of 94.