Background: Neopterin is a proinflammatorymarker which participates in cell-mediated immunity, and its elevated concentrations declare the presence of interferon-γ in body fluids. In thisstudy, neopterin concentrations were determined in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)to assess whether its plasma level can be used to predict the response to antiviral therapy by pegIFNγ combined with ribavirin before starting the treatment. Materials and Mehtods: A total of 54 subjects (all males with an average age of 46.12± 9.89) were included in this study. Neopterin levels were evaluatedby Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) in HCV patients treated with peylated interferon combined with ribavirin. Liver function tests (Aspartate aminotransferase, Alanine aminotransferase), albumin and creatinine concentrations were also estimatied. Results: Mean and median pretreatment neopterin levelsshowed no statistically difference between patients with sustained virological response (cured)and non-responders (relapsed) where the concentrations in both groups were≥16 nmol/L.On the other hand, a positive correlation was observed between neopterin level and creatinine at (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Our study suggests that the pretreatment level of neopterin might not be used in routine clinical practice as a marker to predict the response to antiviral therapy in HCVpatients.

No abstract

A wastewater of paper industry was treated using two different hydrocyclones (48 mm, and 73 mm) followed by Electro-coagulation (EC) process as a second stage to enhance the treatment process. The effect of design and operating parameters on the separation efficiency was investigated. Separation efficiency of 77 % can be obtained for both hydrocyclones. The treatment process has a great potential to reduce the COD, BOD, TS, TSS, color and turbidity.