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Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia), traditionally used as an herbal medicine in Southeast Asia, is known to have a variety of effects, including stress reduction. The authors divided 5-month-old pigs (three males and three females) into four groups consisting of a control group, which was not administered Tongkat Ali extract (TAE), and three groups administered TAE at 0.25%, 0.50%, or 0.75% of their feed, respectively, and observed the pigs for a period of eight weeks under conditions of disturbed sleep due to prolonged illumination. In terms of observation items, the pigs' vitality, appetite, fecal characteristics, respiration, emaciation, anxiety, restlessness, body temperature, body weight, and salivary amylase were measured as clinical symptom scores, and the intestinal microbiota in their feces was analyzed using nextgeneration sequencing (NGS). Although members of the control group showed anxiety and restless behaviors; such stress behaviors were clearly inhibited in the groups administered with TAE. Groups of pigs administered with TAE at the ratios of 0.25% and 0.50% showed a decrease in salivary amylase concentration (p<0.05) whereas the results from the control and 0.75% group were not significant. Analyses of intestinal bacteria using NGS showed that Lachnospiraceae, a family of bacteria known for producing butyric acid, increased significantly in the group administered with TAE at 0.50%, whereas it was not changed in the other groups. Based on the above findings, administration of TAE to fattening pigs under high levels of lighting-induced stress is expected to be effective and administration of TAE at 0.25% of the feed intake in particular, has been shown to effectively inhibit behaviors associated with stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA of GB virus C was searched for in sera from 109 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma. It was detected in 11 patients (10%), and was more frequent than in 3 of 342 blood donors (0.9%) (P < 0.001). The 11 patients included 4 of 29 patients (14%) with hepatitis B surface antigen and 7 of 74 patients (9%) with antibody to hepatitis C virus. RNA of GB virus C was not detected in any of 4 patients without hepatitis B surface antigen or antibody to hepatitis C virus. These results suggest that GB virus C may contribute little to the development of primary hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An immune adherence receptor exists on the surface of primate erythrocytes, and has been characterized as a receptor for the activated third component of complement (C3b). We have applied human red blood cells (RBCs, blood group O) to a sensitive determination of complement-fixing, soluble immune complexes in serum. The method involved the binding of immune complexes with RBCs in the presence of complement and the detection of cell-bound IgG molecules by radiolabelled anti-human IgG antibodies. Since the binding of RBCs with monomeric IgG was minimal, cell-bound IgG molecules were taken as representing immune complexes. When aggregated human gammaglobulin (AHG) was used as a model of immune complexes, as littLe as 5 μg dissolved in 1 ml of normal human serum were detected. The binding of RBCs with AHG was inhibited in EDTA solution where the classical complement pathway could not be activated. The RBC radioimmune assay was successfully applied to the determination of soluble immune complexes in pathological serum samples obtained from the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and those with fulminant Type B hepatitis. False-positive results by autoantibodies against RBCs could be excluded by performing a Coombs test and by comparing the binding in the presence of complement with that in EDTA solution. The ubiquitous availability of RBCs coupled with a high sensitivity would allow the RBC radioimmune assay to be added to the battery of previous methods to determine immune complexes in the serum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis B subviral particles, purified from plasma of asymptomatic carriers seropositive for hepatitis B e antigen, were treated with various conditions reported for the processing of vaccines. Thereafter, antigenic activities displayed by the translation products of pit- S(1), pre-(2) regions and the S gene were determined with monoclonal antibodies, and the reactivity for polyalbumin receptor was tested. Heating at 100°C for 1.5 mm and then at 65°C for 10 h preserved more than 1/2 of antigenic activities representing products of pre- S(1), pre-S(2) regions and the S gene. After incubation in the presence of 8 M urea at 37°C for 4 h, more than 2/3 of antigenic activities still remained. The antigenic activity of the S gene product was decreased to 2/3 and that of pre-S(2) region product to 1/3, after treatment with formalin at the final concentration of 1:4000 at 37°C for 72 h, whereas the activity of pre-S(1) region product was affected drastically. Although 1/5 of the antigenic activity of the S gene product survived the digestion with pepsin for 18 h, antigenic activities of pre-S(l) and pre-S(2) region products were destroyed almost completely. Polyalbumin receptor, borne by the pre-S(2) region product, was lost by pepsin digestion also. Based on the results obtained, heating may be most appropriate for sterilizing plasma-derived hepatitis B particles for use as a vaccine, because it is reliably virucidal and would not affect the protective efficacy to an extent as the other virucidal methods would. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serum samples containing hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) were subjected to electrophoresis in agarose, and fast-migrating 'small' HBeAg and slow-migrating "large" IgG-associated HBeAg were pooled separately. HBeAg of each category was determined by a two-site radioimmunoassay that sandwiched HBeAg between monoclonal antibody (anti-HBe) against one epitope of HbeAg, fixed on a solid support, and anti-HBe against another epitope, labelled with radioiodine. Eighteen sera in which small HBeAg dominated revealed activities of hepatitis B surface antigen-associated DNA polymerase significantly higher than 14 sera in which large HBeAg dominated (logarithm of et/min. mean±s.e. 3.36±0.08 versus 2.14 ± 0.11, P<0.01). Shift from small HBeAg lo large HBeAg was observed, along with the disappearance of DNA polymerase, in the serum from two carriers who seroconverted to anti-HBe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Survey for markers of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in spouses of patients with HCV-related chronic liver disease.Design: Cross-sectional clinical, serologic, and molecular biological study of spouses of patients with HCV viremia and chronic liver disease.Setting: University and city hospitals.Participants: Spouses (52 men and 102 women; mean age, 56 +/- 11 years) of 154 patients with HCV viremia (102 men and 52 women; mean age, 58 +/- 10 years), of whom 66 had chronic hepatitis, 49 had liver cirrhosis, and 39 had primary hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods: Tests for HCV-associated antibodies were done using a second-generation enzyme immunoassay and immunoassays with synthetic oligopeptides deduced from the HCV core gene. Hepatitis C virus RNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction with primers deduced from the 5'-noncoding region and HCV genotypes by reaction with type-specific primers deduced from the HCV core gene.Results: Hepatitis C virus-associated antibodies were detected in 42 (27%) spouses, of whom 25 were also positive for HCV RNA. Of 112 (73%) spouses without detectable antibodies, 2 had chronic liver disease. The development of markers of HCV infection in spouses increased with the duration of marriage, ranging from 1 to 60 years (30 +/- 11 years).Conclusions: Spouses of patients with HCV viremia and chronic liver disease have an increased risk for acquiring HCV, which is proportional to the duration of marriage. They should be followed routinely for markers of HCV infection and liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]