Hepatitis Monthly
Volume:12 Issue: 9, Sep 2012

Citation analysis as one of the most widely used methods of bibliometrics can be used for computing the various impact measures for scholars based on data from citation databases. Journal Citation Reports (JCR) from Thomson Reuters provides annual report in the form of impact factor (IF) for each journal.. We aimed to evaluate the citation parameters of Hepatitis Monthly by JCR in 2010 and compare them with GS and Sc.. All articles of Hepat Mon published in 2009 and 2008 which had been cited in 2010 in three databases including WoS, Sc and GS gathered in a spreadsheet. The IFs were manually calculated.. Among the 104 total published articles the accuracy rates of GS and Sc in recording the total number of articles was 96% and 87.5%. There was a difference between IFs among the three databases (0.793 in ISI [Institute for Scientific Information], 0.945 in Sc and 0.85 GS). The missing rate of citations in ISI was 4% totally. Original articles were the main cited types, whereas, guidelines and clinical challenges were the least ones.. None of the three databases succeed to record all articles published in the journal. Despite high sensitivity of GS comparing to Sc, it cannot be a reliable source for indexing since GS has lack of screening in the data collection and low specificity. Using an average of three IFs is suggested to find the correct IF. Editors should be more aware on the role of original articles in increasing IF and the potential efficacy of review articles in long term impact factor.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a plus stranded RNA virus which encodes 10 different genes. The HCV NS5B gene encodes a polymerase, which is responsible for the replication of the virus and is a potential target for the development of antiviral agents. HCV has a high mutation rate and is classified into six major genotypes.. The aim of this study was to draw a representing consensus sequence of each HCV genotype, align all six consensus sequences to draw a global consensus sequence and also study the highly conserved residues.. 236 HCV NS5B sequences, belonging to all six genotypes, reported from all over the world were aligned then a representing phylogenetic tree wasdrawn.. The active site residues D220, D225, D318 and D319, which bind the divalent cations, are highly conserved among all the HCV genotypes. The other catalytic pocket residues, R158, S367, R386, and T390 and R394, which interact with the triphosphate of NTPs, are also highly conserved while T390 is mutated to valine in the genotype 5. The motif B residues G283, T286, T287 and N291, which take part in sugar selection by RdRp, are also highly conserved except for T286 which is mutated to proline in the genotypes 3 and 6. The residues E18, Y191, C274, Y276 and H502, which take part in primer/template interaction, are also high conserved except for H502 which is mutated to serine in genotype 2. High variation in all the six consensus sequences was observed in a 12 amino acid beta hairpin loop, which interacts with the double stranded RNA. Nine different peptides from the highly conserved regions of HCV NS5B protein were drawn which can be used as a peptide vaccine. The HCV NS5B phylogenetic tree shows the clusters of different genotypes and their evolutionary association.. In spite of a high mutation rate in HCV, the residues which are present in the catalytic pocket, sugar selection and template/primer interaction are highly conserved. These are target sites for the development of antiviral agents or peptide vaccines. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that different HCV genotypes have been evolved from the genotype 1a.

The impact of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination campaigns on HBV epidemiology needs to be evaluated, in order to assess the long-term immunity offered by vaccines against HBV. To evaluate the current status of anti-HBV vaccine coverage among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Southern Italy, and to determine the long-term persistence of antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigens (anti-HBs) in such a cohort of subjects.Patients and A longitudinal, retrospective seroepidemiological survey was conducted among 451 HCWs, who were working at or visiting, the Occupational Health Department of a city hospital, in Catania, Italy, between January 1976 and December 2010. At the 30-year follow-up (mean follow-up 10.15 ± 5.96 years, range 0.74-30), 261 HCWs had detectable anti-HBs titers indicating a persistence of seroprotection of 89.4% (out of 292 anti-HBs positive results, three months after vaccination). An inadequate vaccination schedule was the strongest predictor of antibody loss during follow-up (OR = 8.37 95% CI: 5.41-12.95, P < 0.001). A Kaplan-Maier survival curve revealed that the persistence of anti-HBs 30 years after vaccination, was 92.2% for high responders, while it was only 27.3% for low responders (P = 0.001).. A good level of seroprotection persisted in 57.9% of the subjects after 30 years. Factors related to this immunization status confirmed the importance of vaccinating HCWs early in their careers and ensuring an adequate vaccination schedule. However, with particular reference to the low rate of hepatitis B vaccine coverage among HCWs in Southern Italy, the implementation of a new educational intervention as part of an active vaccination program is needed.

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is a global infection. In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of CHC is declining due to the implementation of a blood screening program. However, CHC still remains a leading cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.. This is a retrospective study of CHC patients at the King Abdul Aziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia..Patients and Out of a total of 291 CHC patients from the hepatology clinic at King Abdul Aziz University hospital, Jeddah, 279 patients were included in the present study. They were primarily male (152, 54.5%), with a mean age of 50.41 ± 1.72 years. The majority of patients were either Saudi (108, 38.7%) or Egyptian (60, 21.5%). A total of 61 patients received combination treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, and one patient with sickle-cell anemia received pegylated INF monotherapy. Demographic, clinical and laboratory features of the CHC patients, and their responses to treatment were studied.. Decompensated cirrhosis was documented in 60 patients (21.5%), and hepatocellular carcinoma in 14 (5%). The mean level of serum alanine aminotransferase was 83.6 ± 231 u/L. The predominant genotype among the 70 patients tested, was genotype 4, followed by genotype 1 (39 and 18 patients, respectively). The sustained viral response (SVR) rate was 82.99%. The main predictive factors for SVR were baseline HCV viral load and rapid virologic response (RVR). The mean duration of follow-up was 4.2 ±. 85 years. There were 24 patients who had liver disease-related mortality.. our data showed that 22% of CHC patients progress to cirrhosis and another 22% had treatment. Liver related mortality was more common in patients with advanced cirrhosis.

Despite significant advances in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in the past decades, factors which can affect response rates to combination therapy; peginterferon and ribavirin, are still under study and reaching sustained virological response (SVR) is affected by several different factors.. To investigate predictor factors contributing to SVR in Iranian patients..Patients and The present non-randomized, clinical trial was conducted on 100 patients referred to the Tehran Hepatitis Center in 2009-2011. The patients were administered combined peginterferon α-2a-ribavirin treatment, based on the standard protocol of the Iranian Ministry of Health. At the end of the treatment, the SVR rate and predictors were evaluated.. The mean age of the patients was 42 and 78% were male. Genotype 1a was the most common (70%) and 55% of patients were treatment naïve. The outcomes showed that 12%, 16% and 22% patients were; non-responders, breakthroughs and relapsers, respectively, while 50% of the patients reached SVR. Patients reaching SVR were aged 40 years or lower, they were less likely to have been a non-responder in prior treatments, more likely to have a non-1a genotype and a higher number had an HCV RNA of less than 600 000 IU/ml. The multivariate analysis showed that an age of 40 or lower (OR = 3.74, CI95% = 1.52-9.22), a non-1a genotype (OR = 3.71, CI 95% = 1.40-9.81) and an HCV RNA less than 600 000 IU/ml (OR = 2.52, CI 95% = 1.03-6.15) may be useful SVR predictors.. The findings of the present study showed that half of the patients reached SVR through combined peginterferon α-2a and ribavirin treatment, the majority of whom had genotype 3a and a minority had genotype 1a. In addition, an age of 40 or lower, non-1a genotype and a viral load less than 600 000 IU/ml were strong SVR predictors.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients are also frequently exposed to the hepatitis B virus (HBV), due to the common routes of transmission, therefore, prevention of hepatitis B results in decreased complications of the disease.. Since the immune response of HIV patients to hepatitis B vaccination is less robust than that found in healthy individuals, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of a levamisole adjuvant on increasing the immune response..Patients and In this study, 89 HIV infected patients, without a history of HBV infection or vaccination, were randomly allocated into experimental (44 patients) and control (45 patients) groups. HBV vaccination was performed using the Hepavax-Gene TF vaccine, 40 μg three times at intervals of; zero, one, and three months. Levamisole 50 mg twice a day or a placebo, was administered to the experimental and control groups, respectively, for a period of six days before to six days after the vaccination. Immune response was evaluated by measuring hepatitis B surface antibodies (HBsAb) concurrently with the second and third vaccine administration, and at one and three months at the conclusion of the vaccination program.. The immune response following the threevaccinations was higher in those who were receiving levamisole compared with the controls (90% vs. 65.38%) (P = 0.05). Furthermore, the immune response and the mean antibody titer following the repeated vaccination in the experimental group showed a higher increase than in the control group. The immune response and the mean titer of antibody were not associated with; age, sex, body mass index, history of smoking and/or intravenous drug use in either of the groups. However, regarding CD4+ cells more than 200 cell/mm3, mean antibody production significantly increased in both groups.. Using levamisole with the hepatitis B vaccination can increase the immune response and antibody titer mean in HIV infected patients. Since these patients have a more complete response with CD4+ cells more than 200 cell/mm3, vaccination and effective adjuvants seem to be most beneficial when CD4+ cells are greater than 200 cell/mm3, in HIV infected patients.

Thyroid dysfunction (TD) represents an extra-hepatic manifestation of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and it may also be a side effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) based treatment. However, previous studies have shown a wide variation in the incidence of TD in patients with CHC. Furthermore, the long-term outcomes and the predictive factors of TD in patients who receive IFN-α based treatment have still not been fully studied.. The purpose of this study was to describe the incidence and long-term outcomes of TD in Chinese patients with CHC receiving IFN-α based treatment. We also aimed to identify the predictive factors of TD associated with this type of therapy..Patients and A retrospective case-series study of 592 consecutive CHC patients with normal baseline thyroid functions, who received IFN-αbased therapy, was performed. Thyroid function was assessed at baseline and every three months during treatment, as well as in the follow-up after cessation of therapy. The incidence and long-term outcomes of TD were observed. The prevalence of pretreatment thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) were assayed in a sex- and age-matched nested case-control study. Multivariable stepwise regression analysis was used to explore the independent effects of the baseline factors, on the incidence of TD.. At the end of the IFN-αbased therapy, 68 patients (11.5%) in the study had developed TD, 58 patients (85.3%) presented with subclinical TD, and only 10 patients (14.7%) developed overt thyroiditis. The thyroid function of 46 patients (67.8%) spontaneously returned to normal in the six months of follow-up and only three patients (4.4%) had persistent overt TD symptoms after the 24 month follow-up period. Multivariate stepwise analysis suggested that gender and pretreatment TPOAb were the independent factors related to the incidence of TD. Both female patients (OR, 4.31; 95%CI, 2.06–7.31; P = 1.26×10-4) and participants with a positive pretreatment TPOAb (OR = 3.9, 95%CI, 1.72–8.54, P = 0.008) had an increased risk for the development of TD.. The incidence of TD in Chinese patients with CHC during IFN-αbased therapy was 11.5%, the majority of which was subclinical, while only a very small group had long-term overt TD requiring ongoing medical therapy. Female gender and pretreatment TPOAb positivity are risk factors for the development of TD during IFN-αbased therapy.

There have been studies regarding the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-hepatitis C antibody (HCVAb) in Iran. However, the majority of these have reported a variety of rates, depending on their study population, which limits the generalizability of their results to the general population. On the other hand, cultural diversity in the different provinces of Iran also necessitates the performing separate population-based studies in the various regions.. To evaluate the population-based prevalence of HBsAg and HCVAb and their correlates in Zahedan City, Iran..Patients and Included in this study were 2587 individuals, using a random and cluster sampling approach. The participants were drawn from the Family Registry of the public health centers in Zahedan City, Iran, from 2008 to 2009. Following data collection from the interviews, subjects were assessed for seropositivity of HBsAg and HCVAb. We then calculated the prevalence of HBsAg and HCVAb, and evaluated these viral markers for an association with; age, sex and potential risk factors.. Weighted seroprevalence of HBsAg and HCVAb was 2.5% (CI 95%: 1.9 to 3.3 %) and 0.5% (CI 95%: 0.27 to 0.9 %), respectively. Prevalence of HBsAg increased significantly with age (P value < 0.001), but this was not true for HCVAb (P value: 0.67). We observed no sex dominance in the prevalence of HBsAg (3.2% and 2.2% for males and females, respectively, P value: 0.15) or HCVAb (0.4% and 0.7% for males and females, respectively, P value: 0.27). In a multivariate regression analysis, every additional year in age resulted in a 2% increment in the odds of HBsAg seropositivity. HBsAg was also three times more prevalent among married, than single subjects (with a P value reaching toward significance: 0.065) in multivariate analysis. Prevalence of HCVAb did not differ with respect to any of the potential risk factors.. This is the first population-based study on the prevalence of HCVAb and one of the few population based studies on HBsAg in Zahedan City. We detected lower prevalence rates of HBsAg and HCVAb than in previous studies conducted in Zahedan City. In addition to improvements in social awareness and general health elements, we think that the observed low prevalence rates have been achieved due to the efficiency of mass vaccination projects, implemented against HBV infection in Iran.

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a chronic, serious and sometimes lethal parasitic infection, which is caused by Echinococcus multilocularis (EM). AE has been reported to occur in people from the north of Iran; however, until now there have been no cases of AE reportedfrom the southern provinces, such as Khuzestan.. Herein, we report our experiences with three cases of hepatic AE, who presented with large masses in the liver, from both the northern and southern provinces of Iran. Three patients are described who were presented with hepatic masses from different provinces of the country.. There were three female patients, 21, 47 and 53 year-old. They were presented with liver masses from different centers of the country i.e. Khorasan, Ardabil and Khuzestan. According to our experience, AE is not an uncommon disease in Iran. Moreover, it has a widespread epidemiology, i.e., this disease should be suspected in all provinces of Iran, not only in the northern, but also in the southern regions of the country.

Living in a region with a high prevalence of liver diseases especially Hepatitis B and C Virus infections is not sufficient to compensate the gap of knowledge in the field of hepatology. Despite the fact that the knowledge in the field of hepatology is in logarithmic increasing, we are still facing many challenges and gaps in hepatology. There are still many subjects that should be clarified by researchers and scientists but we should not forget knowledge of generation is quite different from publication and knowledge of translation. One of the previous challenges was absence of a peer reviewed high quality journal in general hepatology and hepatitis from developing countries particularly. By establishment of Hepatitis monthly as a leading journal in the field of hepatology in 2004, this tool became available to scientists and a tribune for presentation of research activities which mostly aimed on the real problems of daily practice. The journal aimed to make a link among researchers and clinicians to solve health problems and improve patient’s life quality. After nine years Hepatitis Monthly now is an international journal with a reasonable impact factor, indexed in major internationally recognized databases including ISI web of sciences and PubMed. The presence of a kind of transparent online submission system played an important role in journal progression. Progression was continuous in the journal’s quality during last five years and the number of submissions has increased dramatically, for instance it has been doubled since last year. Simultaneously and regards to using high level technologies for absorbing researcher’s attention toward latest publications and sharing our knowledge with them, we could establish a favorable framework to publish international original works from even outside of the region. After all, the journal has now the highest ranking position among all journals in the field of hepatology in Asia, Middle East and Africa based on ISI JCR report; 2012. With this position we are now receiving much more articles and due to limited space of publication our rejection rate is increasing more and more now approaching 70%. There were many outstanding articles that we had to reject only because of limited number of issues and articles per issue. The establishment of a robust editorial board, engagement of expert reviewers from abroad and settlement of stricter standards were considered as the main reasons for the mentioned alteration. Hence we have to extend our apologies to those whose submissions had been rejected not for that they were less valuable but because of the limited space availability of each issue. But now and by this message we announce to all our distinguished readers that Hepatitis Monthly succeed to open a new window toward its authors and readers. Form August 2012 we will publish our journal as an open access journal per article with no limitation in number of issues as well as articles. Thanks to the new open access strategy and omission of hard copy publishing we are able to publish all submitted manuscripts with acceptable standard of medical writing and methodology. Indexing in major and well known databases such ISI and PubMed make these articles more visible to researchers in near future. Respect to the journals’ policies and in cooperation with COPE guidelines; a clear approach in plagiarism detection and their treatment are recruited as well. These experiences trained us to be more serious regarding the human ethics and medical journalisms in future. Finally we would like to mention that all of us as scientists have a special responsibility regarding the science and our community. We should publish our experiences in such a better style. We should respond to the challenges and gaps in our scientific fields with relevant answers. Therefore again we invite all researchers in the field to send their valuable manuscripts to this journal. Certainly through this new policy we would see more relevant researches in a timely manner.