DNA was extracted from leucocytes of 23 Japanese patients with chronic viral hepatitis who received treatment with recombinant interferon-alpha 2a (IFN-alpha 2a) and nine healthy controls, as well as eight human cell lines of Caucasian or African origin. A part of the gene encoding IFN-alpha 2 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and the sequence of nucleotides 1-231 was determined. Interferon-alpha 2a, -alpha 2b and -alpha 2c genes were tested for in five clones each from a patient or control, or a cell line, based on adenine or guanine at nucleotide positions 68 and 101. The IFN-alpha 2b gene was detected in all 160 clones from 23 Japanese patients and nine controls, but the IFN-alpha 2a or -alpha 2c gene was not found in any. Of five cell lines derived from Caucasians, four exhibited only the IFN-alpha 2b gene, while the remaining one exhibited both IFN-alpha 2a and -alpha 2b genes. Of three cell lines derived from Africans, one each showed only the IFN-alpha 2b or -alpha 2c gene, and the remaining one both IFN-alpha 2b and -alpha 2c genes. The 23 patients with the IFN-alpha 2b gene and chronic viral hepatitis included 10 who developed antibodies against IFN after treatment with recombinant IFN-alpha 2a. These results indicated a distinct geographical distribution of the three IFN-alpha 2 genes, and suggested the use of a recombinant IFN-alpha 2 preparation in agreement with the IFN-alpha 2 gene possessed by the recipient to avoid antibody responses.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A new method of measurement of most comfortable loudness.

A new computer-assisted method for the measurement of most comfortable loudness (MCL) is presented, where not only MCL but also its reliability can be graphically displayed and measured. Two unique features concerning the reliability of MCL measurement are obtained in this method: sharpness and stability. Sharpness is defined by the rate of repeat selection of the same level as MCL, and stability is used to express the consistency of a subject's response during the experiment. A method of analyzing sharpness and stability was explained by showing two contrasting cases. Based on the graph configurations, the subjects were divided into two major categories, type A and type B, defined by sharpness of judgment. Type A subjects' judgments are sharper than those of type B. Decreasing the frequency increased the occurrence of type A subjects. Retest results revealed that this method has a high degree of reproducibility of MCL judgment, which supports the reliability of this method.

Adolescent↗