Subject(s)
Flaviviridae Infections/epidemiology , Flaviviridae , HIV Infections/complications , HIV Infections/transmission , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/epidemiology , Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Flaviviridae Infections/virology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/virology , Humans , Infant , MaleABSTRACT
Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a recently discovered virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family. Prevalence of HGV active infection (presence of HGV-RNA) in HIV-1-infected patients has been reported in various categories of patients. Our study aimed to find out its prevalence in our cohort of HIV-1-infected children. No investigated child presented with signs of HGV active infection notwithstanding the presence of many risk factors for HGV infection. Prevalence of HGV active infection in our cohort was <2.7%.
Subject(s)
Flaviviridae , HIV Infections/complications , HIV-1 , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/complications , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Female , Flaviviridae/immunology , HIV Infections/immunology , HIV Infections/virology , HIV-1/immunology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/epidemiology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/immunology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/virology , Humans , Immunologic Tests , Infant , Male , Prevalence , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Lithocholic acid (LCA) is a promoting agent in colon carcinogenesis. In this work we have tried to characterize the DNA alteration induced by LCA in cells grown in vitro and in nuclei. Confirming previous findings, a clear increase in elution rate was observed at both alkaline and neutral pH. The extent of the increase was very similar at the two pHs. However, an increased elution rate could be observed only when lysing the nuclei at high ionic strength and low detergent concentration (2 M NaCl + 0.2% N-lauroylsarcosine sodium salt). No effect could be observed when the nuclei were lysed with a high detergent concentration (2% sodium dodecyl sulfate). In addition, a slight effect could be observed using a method for the evaluation of DNA unwinding in alkali. After termination of the incubation with LCA, the DNA alteration observed with DNA elution disappeared very rapidly both in intact cells and nuclei, even when the incubation buffer was totally unsuitable for the repair of the type of DNA damage induced by typical genotoxic agents. The effect of LCA on DNA was apparently not mediated through an inhibition of topoisomerase II. Only the intact chromatin of nuclei was responsive, not the quasinaked DNA of nuclei lysed at high ionic strength. We advance the hypothesis that the increased alkaline and neutral elution rate observed with LCA could be independent of DNA fragmentation and related to changes in chromatin structure.