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We demonstrate a remarkable integration of metallacycles and polyoxometalate (POM) macrocycles at the molecular level, forming a series of unprecedented organic–inorganic hybrid POM–metallacycle composite macrocycles with interesting bi-layer and tri-layer cyclic structures, as well various compositions, nuclearities, geometries, and sizes. These molecular composite macrocycles show a fusion of metallacycle and POM chemistry, which opens new perspectives for developing brand-new ring-shaped composite materials.

A rare 3D porous inorganic–organic polyoxoniobate framework based on the cubic polyoxoniobate-cupric-complex cage {[Cu(en)2]@{[Cu2(en)2(trz)2]6(Nb68O188)}} (1a), has been successfully synthesized b...

The combination of polyoxoniobates (PONbs) with 3d metal ions, azoles, and organoamines is a general synthetic procedure for making unprecedented PONb metal complex cage materials, including discrete molecular cages and extended cage frameworks. By this method, the first two PONb metal complex cages K4 @{[Cu29 (OH)7 (H2 O)2 (en)8 (trz)21 ][Nb24 O67 (OH)2 (H2 O)3 ]4 } and [Cu(en)2 ]@{[Cu2 (en)2 (trz)2 ]6 (Nb68 O188 )} have been made. The former exhibits a huge tetrahedral cage with more than 120 metal centers, which is the largest inorganic-organic hybrid PONb known to date. The later shows a large cubic cage, which can act as building blocks for cage-based extended assembly to form a 3D cage framework {[Cu(en)2 ]@{[Cu2 (trz)2 (en)2 ]6 [H10 Nb68 O188 ]}}. These materials exhibit visible-light-driven photocatalytic H2 evolution activity and high vapor adsorption capacity. The results hold promise for developing both novel cage materials and largely unexplored inorganic-organic hybrid PONb chemistry.

This study mainly probed into the factors influencing consumers’ OGB intention on community e-commerce platforms, built models that included facets of conformity behaviors, perceived risks, customer engagement, and OGB intention, and focused on whether there is a mediating effect on customer engagement and an interference effect on perceived risks. The subjects of this study were consumers with OGB experience on community e-commerce platforms. The results show that conformity behaviors have a significant positive impact on customer engagement and OGB intention; thus, when customers have insufficient information or relevant knowledge of OGB, the comments or recommendations of their relatives and friends would influence their engagement and OGB intention. Moreover, this study found that customer engagement has a complete mediating effect, which indicates that conformity behaviors can influence OGB intention through customer engagement. In addition, this study found that perceived risks have an interference effect, meaning that when consumers sense high risks, the OGB intention is weakened through customer engagement. This shows that in the OGB organizations of the community e-commerce platforms, it is recommended that more attention be paid to customer engagement; it is also a topic worthy of discussion in practical business applications.

Objective To analyze the detection rate of occult HBV infection (OBI) and the characteristics of immune escape mutation in major hydrophilic region (MHR) of HBV S-gene with a large sample of liver diseases. Methods The clinical and genetic sequencing data of 11,650 patients with liver diseases admitted in Beijing 302 Hospital from July 2007 to August 2011 were retrospectively collected. The detection rate of OBI and the immune escape mutation in MHR of HBV S-gene were analyzed, and then compared with those in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with different HBsAg levels. Results Twelve OBI patients with negative serum HBsAg level and positive HBV DNA level were screened from 6,996 patients with HBsAg quantitation, the detection rate of OBI was 0.172%(12/6,996). HBV S gene was sequenced successfully in 8 OBI patients. Ten MHR associated immune-escape mutations were detected in 6 OBI patients, and 9 mutations among them were well documented to be OBI-associated mutations including classical mutation sG145R. While, the main MHR mutations were sL110I, sT113S, sS143T, sR160K and sF161Y in both CHB patient groups with low- and medium to high-titers of HBsAg, and these mutations were not recognized OBI-related mutations except sS143T. Conclusion The findings of present paper show a high detection rate of OBI in a large clinical sample of patients with liver diseases, and most OBI patients harbor OBI associated MHR immune escape mutation, indicating these mutations are closely associated with OBI occurrence. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2018.05.04

Fan Gao,1 Wen-Tao Zhang,2 Ya-Yun Lin,2 Wei-Min Wang,2 Na Xu,2 Gui-Qin Bai2 1Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Gui-Qin BaiDepartment of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 277 Yanta West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-18991232517Email baigq@126.comPurpose: To investigate whether tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) treatment that started from the second trimester had an advantage over TDF treatment that started from the third trimester.Patients and methods: Twenty 35-year-old pregnant women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA >2×106 IU/mL were prospectively enrolled in this study. All participants were divided into two subgroups: the second trimester group who started TDF treatment at 24–27 weeks and the third trimester group who started TDF treatment at 28–30 weeks. The primary outcome was the change in serum HBV DNA level from baseline to delivery. Each parameter was tested every 4 weeks from TDF initiation to 3 months postpartum.Results: There were 80 pregnant women in the second trimester group and 49 pregnant women in the third trimester group. The decline in HBV DNA from baseline to delivery was more obvious in the second trimester group (4.8±1.2 log10 IU/mL) than that in the third trimester group (4.3±1.1 log10 IU/mL, p=0.041). The downward shift of haemoglobin (HB) from baseline to delivery was greater in the second trimester group (10.6±10.7 g/L) than in the third trimester group (6.3±12.3 g/L, p=0.041). The decline in HBV DNA from baseline to delivery was linearly related to the start of TDF treatment from the second trimester (β=0.50 and 95% CI: 0.26–0.75, p

Anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy has established efficacy in metastatic colorectal cancer, but a significant number of patients do not respond to such treatment. Recently, various biomarkers were reported to be useful in predicting resistance to anti-EGFR. All the potential biomarkers predicting resistance to anti-EGFR are reviewed herein from five aspects. First, upstream molecules, including epiregulin (EREG) and amphiregulin (AREG), might play different roles according to their abnormal levels in tumor tissue and serum. Second, the EGFR amplification and distinct polymorphisms may have roles in identifying patients for initial anti-EGFR mAbs therapy, while rare EGFR mutations have limited predictive values. Third, among the downstream molecularly related factors, rat sarcoma viral oncogene (Ras) has been identified as a successful predictor, while B-Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) is considered as a prognostic factor rather than a predictor. Fourth, among the molecular bypass pathway components, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) may be potential biomarkers in the future, while activation of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/c-Met signaling confers resistance to anti-EGFR therapy. Fifth, many microRNAs and additional molecular biomarkers are promising in predicting the efficacy of anti-EGFR therapy. Applications of multiple biomarkers are more effective than the use of a single biomarker in selecting patients who might benefit from cetuximab- or panitumumab-based treatments. Comprehensive molecular analyses of the EGFR signaling pathways should be considered in the future. Subsequent prospective trials will be required to further confirm the clinical utility of these biomarkers.

Mother-to-child transmission is the major cause of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This double-blind trial tested the effect of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in preventing vertical transmission. Pregnant women who were HBsAg/HBeAg-positive with a HBV DNA titer ≥ 2×106 IU/mL were randomly assigned to the control (n = 60) and TDF-treated (n = 60) groups. TDF treatment (oral dose 300 mg/day) was initiated at 24 weeks of gestation and continued to 4 weeks after delivery. The subjects were followed up to 28 weeks postpartum. The effects of TDF on vertical transmission, outcomes of the mothers and infants and virological changes were monitored. TDF dynamically reduced the serum HBV DNA level of the mothers, particularly during the first 4 weeks of treatment. The lower viral loads were maintained in the pregnancies until delivery. Approximately 90% and 33.9% of the TDF-treated mothers had viral loads ≤2000 IU/mL after delivery and at 28 weeks postpartum, respectively. No cervical transmission or adverse effects were observed in the TDF-treated individuals, whereas 13.5% of the infants were infected with HBV in the control group. We conclude that TDF treatment initiated at 24 weeks of gestation in high-viremia, HBsAg/HBeAg-positive mothers efficiently prevents mother-to-child HBV transmission without adverse events in mothers and infants.

This paper studies the calculation model of the power frequency electric field surrounding the high voltage transmission line, and establishes the analysis model of the ball type sensor for measuring the alternating electric field. The distortion and the measurement error of the electric field caused by the sensor are discussed in the paper. For the 35KV transmission line, the paper compare the electric field (with the sensor in) with the electric field (with no sensor) by simulation, and achieve the conclusion that putting the ball type sensor into the electric field can cause the distortion, and the value of the distortion increases with the increase of the height, which leads to the increase of relative error.

The Berkovich nanoindentation-induced characteristic “pop-in” phenomena observed in ZnSe thin films are investigated in this study. The ZnSe thin films are grown on the GaAs(0 0 1) substrates by using the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. No evidence of nanoindentation-induced phase transformation was revealed in ZnSe thin film by the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and selected area diffraction (SAD) analyses. Furthermore, as displayed in the SAD results, the distortion of diffraction spots did indicate severe deformation of indented ZnSe thin films resulting from the nanoindentation load. Based on this scenario, an energetic estimation of dislocation nucleation is made.

We investigate a new topology for realizing a compact frequency-reconfigurable self-oscillating active integrated antenna. The new design consists of a passive ring radiator, an unstable transistor, and two p-i-n diodes. Two gaps are etched across the radiator, with the diodes bridging the gaps to switch the antenna topology. By properly selecting the location of the gap with respect to the gate/drain terminals, the oscillation can be stabilized at two distinct frequencies, each associated with a resonance mode of the ring radiator. The simulated methods and experimental results are introduced in this letter, along with the discussion of design principles and considerations.

Zhe-Ling Chen, Yan-Wei Shen, Shu-Ting Li, Chun-Li Li, Ling-Xiao Zhang, Jiao Yang, Meng Lv, Ya-Yun Lin, Xin Wang, Jin Yang Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China Background: The addition of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) therapies to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) during treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer has been proposed as an effective way to improve the prognosis. However, the treatment outcomes of adding trastuzumab, lapatinib, or both to NAC were not unequivocal in randomized clinical trials. Based on these data, a meta-analysis was performed. Objective: The main objective was to evaluate the efficiency and safety of trastuzumab and lapatinib added to NAC for treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer. Methods: ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed were searched for randomized clinical trials that compared trastuzumab, lapatinib, or both, added to NAC. The main endpoint was a pathologically complete response (pCR) rate, in breast only or in breast and lymph nodes. The drug safety and the influence of hormone-receptor status, comparing the clinical response and the rate of breast conservation, were evaluated. Results: A total of eight publications were included in the primary analysis, designed as two or three subgroups. The cumulative cases were 2,349 and the analyses of all the clinical trials showed that the pCR rate was significantly higher in the group receiving trastuzumab than that in the group with lapatinib, either in breast only (P=0.001) or in breast and lymph nodes (P=0.0001). Similar results could be seen in comparisons of the combination versus trastuzumab group. Further studies of subgroups divided into hormone receptor-positive or-negative patients showed that the addition of trastuzumab or dual Her2-targeted therapy significantly improved the pCR rate in patients who were hormone-insensitive. Regarding the toxic effects, we found more grade 3 and 4 toxic effects, such as diarrhea, skin disorder, and hepatic biochemical changes in the lapatinib and combination groups. No temporally significant differences were found when the clinical response and the rate of breast conservation in the groups were analyzed. Conclusion: The combination of trastuzumab and lapatinib was superior to single-agent treatment for improved pCR rate. However, combination treatment was not effective in improving the rate of breast conservation. Furthermore, a higher risk for toxicity was associated with combined administration. Keywords: breast cancer, trastuzumab, lapatinib, human epidermal growth factor receptor, neoadjuvant, pathologically complete response

Many foreigners enter Taiwan for the purpose of marriage or study, or as dependants or relatives of Taiwanese citizens. The aim of this study was to investigate the proportions of these immigrants infected with intestinal parasites. A total of 2875 foreigners from 39 countries or regions underwent stool examination in our hospital within the study period, and the merthiolate iodine formaldehyde method was used to diagnose intestinal parasite infections. In total, 214 foreigners (7.4%) were found to be infected, and hookworm was identified as the most prevalent intestinal parasite (2.92%). Infection was most prevalent in the Vietnamese foreigners (46.3%), followed by the Chinese (38.8%), and was more prevalent in females (92.3%) than in males. Among the intestinal parasites identified, hookworm (2.92%), Trichuris trichiura (1.18%), and Blastocystis hominis (1.14%) were the three most prevalent. Infection was most prevalent in the foreign brides group (11.9 %), hookworm and Trichuris trichiura being the two most common species of intestinal parasite in the foreign brides and foreign dependants/relatives of Taiwanese citizens, while the proportion of foreign students infected was lower. Most foreigners enter Taiwan for the purpose of marriage or study, or as dependants/relatives of Taiwanese citizens, and originate from countries or regions in which public health is poorer than in Taiwan. Therefore, close monitoring and examination of these foreigners continue to be indicated.

With a direct integration of a field effect transistor (FET) into a C-shaped ring radiator, a novel miniaturized self-oscillating annular ring active integrated antenna is proposed and investigated in this paper. The direct integration approach provides a solid basis for the miniaturization while the slow-wave loading effect from the unstable transistor further enhances the reduction ratio. It makes the proposed design show an extraordinarily compact size of 0.041λg2 , which is 40% the size of the second smallest one in literature using printed circuit board technology. The proposed active antenna, providing overall comparable performance to the previous designs, has an EIRP of 7.30 dBm, DC-to-RF efficiency of 25.9%, phase noise of -91.9 dBc/Hz@100 kHz offset, and an oscillator FOM of -168.76 dBc/Hz. By introducing a reverse-biased varactor diode, this miniaturized active antenna also demonstrates promising voltage controllability with a high VCO gain of 48.7 MHz/V. The antenna geometry and modeling, design concept, simulation scheme, and experimental results are discussed thoroughly in this paper.

The main aim of this study was to explore the safety differences when using aluminum alloy and three different fiber reinforced composites as material for the cockpit and fuselage of light aircraft under crash landing. In accordance with the cockpit reduction amount stipulated by MIL-STD-1290A in which the reducing rates in all directions cannot exceed 15%, this study established the safety zones of impact speeds and impact angles. The overall safety zones of the carbon fiber reinforced composites and glass fiber reinforced composites cockpits were higher than that of the aluminum alloy cockpit by 38.56% and 32.12%, respectively. Among the four different fuselage materials, when carbon fiber reinforced composites was used as the cockpit material, except that the reducing rate for the crashing in the Y direction was slightly higher than the aluminum alloy cockpit, the reducing rate in the X direction and the inclined beam A direction during crashes were less than other materials, and the safety of its overall cockpit was also the most superior to other materials. The energy absorption capability of the aluminum alloy fuselage was better than the fuselages of all composite materials.

Curcumin has been shown to possess potent chemopreventive and antitumor effects on prostate cancer. However, the molecular mechanism involved in curcumin's ability to suppress prostate cancer cell invasion, tumor growth, and metastasis is not yet well understood. In this study, we have shown that curcumin can suppress epidermal growth factor (EGF)- stimulated and heregulin-stimulated PC-3 cell invasion, as well as androgen-induced LNCaP cell invasion. Curcumin treatment significantly resulted in reduced matrix metalloproteinase 9 activity and downregulation of cellular matriptase, a membrane-anchored serine protease with oncogenic roles in tumor formation and invasion. Our data further show that curcumin is able to inhibit the induction effects of androgens and EGF on matriptase activation, as well as to reduce the activated levels of matriptase after its overexpression, thus suggesting that curcumin may interrupt diverse signal pathways to block the protease. Furthermore, the reduction of activated matriptase in cells by curcumin was also partly due to curcumin's effect on promoting the shedding of matriptase into an extracellular environment, but not via altering matriptase gene expression. In addition, curcumin significantly suppressed the invasive ability of prostate cancer cells induced by matriptase overexpression. In xenograft model, curcumin not only inhibits prostate cancer tumor growth and metastasis but also downregulates matriptase activity in vivo. Overall, the data indicate that curcumin exhibits a suppressive effect on prostate cancer cell invasion, tumor growth, and metastasis, at least in part via downregulating matriptase function. Cancer Prev Res; 6(5); 495–505. ©2013 AACR.

Detection and quantification for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA has been an essential tool in the clinical setting. We aimed to assess clinical performance of the RealArt HBV TM PCR (RealArt) assay and the COBAS TaqMan HBV (COBAS) assay. Serum levels of HBV DNA in 146 treatment-naïve chronic HBV (CHB) Taiwanese patients (118 males, 47 HBeAg + ; mean age, 34.7+/-13.0 y) were determined by both assays. The detection rate by the RealArt assay was 85.6% (125/146), which was not significantly different from the COBAS assay (89.7%, 131/146). The detection rate was also not significantly different between both assays irrespective of HBeAg seropositivity. The 2 assays were also comparable regarding quantification rate (92.8%, 116/125 vs 93.1%, 122/131). There was a positive correlation in the 109 specimens measurable by both assays (r=0.94,p0.001). The mean HBV DNA level measured by the COBAS assay was significantly higher than the RealArt assay (5.24+/-1.83 vs 4.79+/-2.09 log IU/ml, p0.001). This study demonstrated that both RealArt and COBAS assays were comparable regarding clinical performance in HBV DNA measurement.

Human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) may play a role in the clinical evolution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The present study was aimed at elucidating the association between the HLA loci and responses to combination therapy with pegylated interferon-alpha 2a (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin in Taiwanese. We enrolled a total of 208 treatment-naïve Taiwanese chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with combination therapy. Patients with sustained virological response (SVR) had a significantly higher frequency of genotype non-1b infection, lower pretreatment HCV RNA levels and a higher frequency of mild hepatic fibrosis (fibrosis score: F: 0-2). The HLA A24 and B40 alleles were significantly associated with SVR after adjusted for the other three confounding factors including HCV genotype, hepatic fibrosis and pretreatment serum HCV RNA levels. Haplotypes (B40-DRB1*3, B46- DRB1*9, Cw1- DQB1*3, and Cw1- DRB1*9) were significantly associated with SVR to combination therapy. For 167 patients with genotype 1b infection and viral loador =5.6 logIU/ml or genotype non-1b infection, the B46 was significantly associated with sustained response with OR (odds ratio) [95% CI (confidence interval) of 0.047 (0.168-0.988)]. Haplotypes B40-DRB1*3, B46- DRB1*9, Cw1- DQB1*3, Cw1- DRB1*9 and DQB1*3- DRB1*9 were found to be associated with SVR to PEG-IFN/ribavirin therapy with OR (95% CI) of 0.179 (0.032-0.989), 0.313 (0.107-0.918), 0.350 (0.145-0.845), 0.282 (0.105-0.759) and 0.412 (0.174-0.978), respectively. We concluded that the virological and the host immunogenetic factors may possibly predict the response to combination therapy in CHC patients.

Background: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods play an essential role in providing data relating to diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) assay is an established and promising tool in terms of quantifying HCV RNA for clinical application. This study aimed to evaluate the performance characteristics of a real-time RT-PCR-based test in a clinical setting. Methods: Validation and reproducibility tests were performed using a standard panel. Sera from 197 chronic HCV patients were analyzed by the real-time RT-PCR assay and the results were compared with the Versant bDNA3.0 assay (bDNA3.0). Results: The real-time RT-PCR assay showed an acceptable linear response (r 2 =0.989-0.995) in the serial dilutions regarding genotypes 1b, 2a, 2b and 1b+2a. HCV viral loads were quantifiable in all 197 patients (100%) by the real-time RT-PCR assay and in 194 (98.5%) by the bDNA3.0. HCV RNA quantification values measured by the real-time RT-PCR and bDNA3.0 assays were positively correlated (Pearson's correlation coefficient r=0.734, p

Curcumin has been shown with potent chemopreventive and antitumor effects on prostate cancer. However, the molecular mechanism how curcumin suppresses prostate cancer cell migration and invasion is not well understood. In this study we showed that curcumin could significantly suppress prostate cancer PC3 cell migration and invasion. Moreover, our data also showed that curcumin was able to suppress EGF- or heregulin-stimulated PC-3 cell invasion, as well as androgen-induced LNCaP cell invasion. Curcumin treatment resulted in not only significant reductions on MMP-9 and MMP-2 activities, but also on activated level of matriptase which is a membrane-bound serine protease and has been proposed to play important roles in tumor invasion and malignancy. Matriptase is synthesized as a full length zymogen, which is rapidly stepped into the maturation process, mature form through a cleavage within the SEA domain to from a latent matriptase. Our data further showed that curcumin can inhibit the latent matriptase formation in the maturation process to affect matriptase activity. Furthermore, the reduction of activated matriptase by curcumin was also partly due to curcumin promoting the shedding of activated matriptase into extracellular environment, but not due to curcumin effect on matriptase gene expression. In addition, we established the stable pools of CWR22Rv1 cells with matriptase overexpression and found that expression of matriptase in CWR22Rv1 cells enhanced their invasive ability. With curcumin treatment, the invasive ability induced by matriptase overexpression was significantly suppressed. In summary, the data indicated that curcumin exhibits a suppressive effect on prostate cancer cell invasion, at least in part by down-regulating matriptase activity. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2000. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2000

Ferroelectric PbTiO3 and Lanthanum-modified PbTiO3 thin films have been deposited on different substrate surfaces by sol-gel processing. The ferroelectric, dielectric, and pyroelectric properties and their temperature dependences have been investigated. The sol-gel derived thin films were integrated onto a membrane structure fabricated by solid-state surface-micromachining technology. The performance of the resultant devices have been tested as an uncooled infrared detector. The high voltage responsivity and short rise time are attributed to the combination of the pyroelectric film, the underlying polycrystalline silicon layer, and the thermal design of the composite structure. The addition of Lanthanum with a molecular fraction of 3% and 5% has resulted in a lower dielectric loss and a reduced thermal noise.

We evaluated the performance of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) antigen/antibody combination test [Murex HCV Antigen/Antibody Combination Test (Murex Ag/Ab test)] by comparing it with the current third-generation HCV antibody enzyme immunoassay (anti-HCV). A total of 403 serum samples were consecutively collected from four patient groups: healthy controls ( n =100); HCV-infected patients (HCV group, n =102); Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV-infected patients (HIV/HCV group, n =100); and patients with uremia (uremia group, n =101). Performances were evaluated for the Murex Ag/Ab, anti-HCV, and HCV RNA in the HIV/HCV and uremia patient groups. In the HCV group, all 102 samples showed concordant positive and negative results for anti-HCV, Murex Ag/Ab, and HCV RNA tests. In the HIV/HCV group, all 100 samples were positive for both anti-HCV and Murex Ag/Ab tests, whereas 88 patients (88%) were HCV RNA positive. In the uremia group, 14 (69.0%) of the 23 anti-HCV-positive patients were HCV RNA positive, whereas 14 (77.8%) of the 18 Murex Ag/Ab–positive patients were HCV RNA positive. None of anti-HCV-negative or Murex Ag/Ab–negative patients were HCV RNA positive. Based on the HCV RNA assay, the sensitivities for both anti-HCV and Murex Ag/Ab assays were 100%, whereas the specificities of these two assays were 89.7% and 95.4%, respectively. With good sensitivity and specificity, the Murex Ag/Ab assay could be a useful alternative diagnostic tool, especially in immunocompromised populations, such as patients with uremia or those infected with HIV.

With an estimated 350–400 million people worldwide chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), and the subsequent serious complications caused by liver damage including cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma, HBV infection remains a global health issue, particularly in Taiwan, an HBV-hyperendemic area. Sensitive and accurate quantification of HBV DNA is necessary to monitor patients with chronic hepatitis B who are receiving antiviral therapy to determine treatment response and adapt therapy. We evaluated and compared the clinical performance of two HBV DNA assays based on different technologies: the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit (Abbott HBV DNA PCR kit, real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, detection limit: 27IU/mL) and the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay (Bayer, branched DNA signal amplification assay, detection limit: 357 IU/mL). Serum levels of HBV DNA in 173 chronic HBV carriers were determined using both the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit and the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 test. Of the 173 samples analyzed for baseline viral load detection, HBV DNA was quantifiable in 147 patients (82.1%) by the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit, which was significantly higher than the 92 (53.2%) samples quantified by the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay. A total of 86 (49.7%) samples were quantifiable by both assays, whereas 25 (14.5%) were below the detection limit of both assays. The HBV DNA quantification values measured by the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit and the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay were positively correlated (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient r = 0.932, p < 0.001). On average, the results derived from the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit were 0.67 log lower than those of the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay. HBV DNA concentrations were significantly higher in 63HBV e antigen (HBeAg) seropositive patients than in 110 HBeAg-seronegative patients (5.42 ± 2.34 logs vs. 3.21 ± 2.27 logs, p < 0.001). The RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit is more sensitive and has a wider dynamic range than the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay in the clinical setting of chronic hepatitis B patients. The sensitivity and wide dynamic range of the PCR assay allow optimal monitoring and timely adaptation of antiviral therapy. Nevertheless, the HBV DNA values measured by the RealArt™ HBV™ PCR Kit and the VERSANT bDNA 3.0 assay were significantly correlated.