[Toxicity of the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with peginterferon alpha (2a or 2b) plus ribavirin in patients not previously treated]. / Toxicidad del tratamiento de la hepatitis C crónica con peginterferón alpha (2a o 2b) y ribavirina en pacientes no tratados anteriormente.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The adverse reactions (ADR) derived from the treatment of hepatitis C with peginterferon alpha and ribavirin causes dose reductions and discontinuations of the treatment that compromise its efectiveness. The aims of this study are to determine the ADR that the patients have presented according to the type of peginterferon alpha, and the effect of these in treatment duration and accumulated dose. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Cohort, prospective and longitudinal study (from November 2002 to April 2006), with monoinfected patients not previously treated (group A: peginterferon alpha-2a plus ribavirin; group B: peginterferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin). RESULTS: Group A: 93 patients; group B: 115. Hematologyc ADR: neutropenia, 24% vs. 26.90%; anemia: 12.50% vs. 9.60%. Not hematologyc ADR: fatigue, 73.10% vs 74.80%; fever (> 38 degrees C), 81.70% vs 86.10%. Permanency in treatment < 80%: 18.3% in group A patients vs. 9.5% in group B patients. Accumulated dose of peginterferon < 80%: 13.9% in group A patients vs. 11.3% in group B patients. CONCLUSIONS: We haven't found differences in the safety profile of both peginterferons, though the patients treated with peginterferon alpha-2b shows a higher permanency in the treatment and a percentage of total received doses > 80% of the theoretical ones.

Metformin intake associates with better cognitive function in patients with Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited, dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an abnormal expansion of CAG triplets in the huntingtin gene (htt). Despite extensive efforts to modify the progression of HD thus far only symptomatic treatment is available. Recent work suggests that treating invertebrate and mice HD models with metformin, a well-known AMPK activator which is used worldwide to treat type 2-diabetes, reduces mutant huntingtin from cells and alleviates many of the phenotypes associated to HD. Herein we report statistical analyses of a sample population of participants in the Enroll-HD database, a world-wide observational study on HD, to assess the effect of metformin intake in HD patients respect to cognitive status using linear models. This cross-sectional study shows for the first time that the use of metformin associates with better cognitive function in HD patients.

[Effectiveness of peginterferon alpha-2a or -2b plus ribavirin in naïve patients with hepatitis C infection]. / Efectividad del tratamiento de la hepatitis C con peginterferón alfa (2a o 2b) más ribavirina en pacientes naïve.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of hepatitis C is based on the combination of peginterferon alfa-2a or -2b plus ribavirin; the more effective peginterferon for this purpose has not been established. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of hepatitis C treatment according to the type of peginterferon used. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed from November 2002 to May 2004, with up to 12 months of follow-up in all patients after completion of treatment. The study included naïve monoinfected patients, divided into two groups: Group A: peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin and Group B: peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin. The main variables studied were plasma glutamate pyruvate transferase levels (biochemical response), viral load (virologic response), and treatment effectiveness (biochemical and virologic response). RESULTS: A total of 202 patients were studied (Group A: 87; Group B: 115), there were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups. Sustained biochemical response: 75.8% vs. 76.2% (P = .908); Sustained virological response: 71.3% vs. 64.3% (P = .293); Effectiveness of treatment: 64.2% vs. 60.87% (P = .628). CONCLUSION: No differences in the sustained virological or biochemical response were found between groups receiving peginterferon alfa-2a or peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin, suggesting that the two types of peginterferon alfa are similarly effective for treating hepatitis C in monoinfected patients.