New Delhi, Aug 05 (ANI): Irrespective of whether children have sleep problems since birth or not, a new study by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has found that sleep disturbances at any age are associated with diminished well-being by the time the children are 10 or 11 years old. To assess child well-being, which included psychosocial measures like self-control and emotional/behavioral health and academic performance measures, the researchers used a combination of reports from caregivers and teachers as well as child-completed assessments. Using those with no sleep problems as a benchmark, the researchers found that children with persistent sleep problems had the greatest impairments across all outcomes except in their perceptual reasoning skills. Children with increased middle childhood sleep problems also experienced greater psychosocial problems and worse quality of life, but did not score lower on academic achievement. While the researchers found impairments related to all of the sleep problem trajectories, they note the possibility that for certain trajectories, the relationship could be bidirectional - that is, psychosocial issues like anxiety could lead to sleep issues, and vice versa, particularly in children who develop sleep problems later in childhood.

New Delhi, Aug 04 (ANI): Women in their 30s and 40s with a common condition affecting how the ovaries work are more likely to get heart disease suggests a new study It is estimated that 6-20 percent of women of reproductive age have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Features of the condition include multiple cysts (fluid-filled sacs) on the ovaries, irregular periods, excess body hair or hair loss from the head due to high levels of male hormones, and difficulty becoming pregnant. Women with PCOS are more likely to be overweight or obese, have diabetes, and have high blood pressure - all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. This study examined whether this risky profile translates into a greater likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease - and, for the first time, whether that persists across the lifespan. The study included 60,574 women receiving treatment to help them get pregnant, such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), from 1994 to 2015. Of those, 6,149 (10.2 percent had PCOS. The researchers used medical records to follow the women for nine years. During that period, 2,925 (4.8 percent) women developed cardiovascular disease. Overall, women with PCOS were at 19 percent higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than women who did not have PCOS. When divided into age groups, women with PCOS aged 50 and over did not have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular risk compared to their peers without PCOS.

New Delhi, Aug 03 (ANI): A new study highlights that fitness may be a more important clinical endpoint for improvement in patients with fatty liver diseases during exercise trials, rather than weight loss. If left untreated, MAFLD can lead to serious complications like liver fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer, as well as cardiovascular and metabolic issues. Risk factors for developing MAFLD include type 2 diabetes and obesity. The global estimated prevalence of MAFLD is 25 per cent, making it the leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, and is quickly becoming the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer in liver transplant candidates in the western world. Up to now, due to the lack of approved pharmacological interventions, treatment has been a combination of prescribed weight loss and physical activity, with a weight loss target of 7-10 per cent being the primary treatment endpoint. There is some evidence that exercise training alone without significant weight loss can reduce liver fat content (assessed using non-invasive methodologies such as transient elastography and ultrasound) in MAFLD patients. However, the independent effects of exercise alone on biopsy-measured outcomes (the gold standard for diagnosing and assessing MAFLD) have been unknown. The study further stressed that increased fitness, the result of aerobic exercise participation, maybe a more important clinical endpoint for improvement in MAFLD patients during exercise trials, rather than weight loss.

New Delhi, Aug 02 (ANI): A new study has explored a text-messaging intervention as a potential therapy to mental health issues. The study states that a text-messaging intervention, on top of normal care, can be a safe, clinically promising, feasible tool to provide support to people with serious mental illness. For the study, the research team examined the impact of text messaging as an add-on to an assertive community treatment program versus the latter alone. Through an assertive community treatment program, those with serious mental illness have a designated team that helps them with life skills, such as finding a job and housing, managing medications, as well as providing daily, in-person clinic-based services. People with serious mental illness are likely though to experience symptoms each day, for which they may need additional therapy. The results demonstrated that 95 per cent initiated the intervention and texted 69 per cent of possible days with an average of four texts per day. On average, participants sent roughly 165 or more text messages and received 158 or more messages. The intervention was found to be safe, as there were zero adverse events reported.

New Delhi, Aug 01 (ANI): In a breakthrough study, experts have developed a risk score to predict cardiac arrest patient outcomes. The study published in European Heart Journal, by a team of researchers from King's College London and King's College Hospital, details a novel risk score for heart attack centres to predict brain damage in patients who have had an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Out of hospital cardiac arrest is a major public health challenge and can lead to considerable morbidity and mortality. Patients have an extremely high risk of long-term brain damage after cardiac arrest, but this can be difficult to predict early on after admission. The risk score, known as MIRACLE2, has been developed to help clinical decisions, improve the selection of appropriate treatments and inform family discussion early after admission. The study examined data on 400 patients who have had an out of hospital cardiac arrest.

New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): In adolescents, the use of e-cigarettes doubles the risk of starting to smoke traditional cigarettes, states a position paper that focusses on the cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes. The study paper also sums up the effects of devices that look like cigarettes and refillable vaporisers that do not look like cigarettes. The position paper of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), a branch of the ESC, calls on regulators to protect young people by limiting sales and advertising and banning sweet flavours which teens believe are less harmful. The paper was published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Research has shown that e-cigarettes raise blood pressure and heart rate, change the artery walls so that they become stiffer and less elastic, and inhibit the function of blood vessels by damaging their lining. Each of these four effects are risk factors for blood clots and fatty build-up inside artery walls which can cause heart attacks. A study last year found a link between e-cigarettes and heart attacks.

New Delhi, July 29 (ANI): Blood platelet counts at the higher end of normal suggest a high risk of cancer in men aged 60 or over, and should be investigated, according to new University of Exeter research. Platelets perform a crucial function in blood, including helping blood to clot, which helps us heal wounds. However, Exeter researchers have previously found that cancer risk is significantly raised by having an abnormally high blood platelet count (more than 400 x 109/l,) a condition known as thrombocytosis. Now, they have found that cases of cancer greatly increased in older males with a platelet count on the high end of the normal range (326 to 400 x 109/l), indicating that these patients should be investigated for cancer.

New Delhi, July 28 (ANI): While initial reports suggested a significant risk of stroke in patients hospitalised with COVID-19, a new study shows a low risk of stroke in patients hospitalised with the disease. Notably, the majority of afflicted patients had existing risk factors, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. These findings provide more clarity about the role COVID-19 plays in causing stroke in a diverse population of the US. The study paper was published in the journal Stroke from Penn Medicine. To evaluate the risk and incidence of stroke in COVID-19 hospitalised patients, researchers analysed data from 844 COVID-19 patients admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital between March and May. The team also analysed the data for cases of intracranial haemorrhage (bleeding in the brain). Researchers found that 2.4 per cent of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 had an ischemic stroke -- the most common type of stroke, typically caused by a blood clot in the brain. Importantly, the majority of these stroke patients had existing risk factors, such as high blood pressure (95 per cent) and a history of diabetes (60 per cent) and traditional stroke mechanisms, such as heart failure. Additionally, over one-third had a history of a previous stroke.

New Delhi, July 27 (ANI): Patients with Alzheimer's disease frequently suffer from spatial memory loss, such as no recognition of where they are, and forgetting where they put their belongings. They often show a wandering symptom, which is also a feature of spatial memory impairment. A team of researchers has now brought clarity on the brain network mechanism that causes spatial memory impairment. The study, done Alzheimer's disease model mice, found that this disruption of the hippocampus is most likely caused by the activity impairment of the entorhinal cortex, a brain region that supplies information to the hippocampus.

New Delhi, July 26 (ANI): Exercising regularly can lower the risk of high blood pressure, even if people live in areas where air pollution is relatively high, according to recent research. The research was published in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation. The risk-benefit relationship between air pollution and physical activity is an important public concern because more than 91 percent of people worldwide live in areas where air quality does not meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Researchers studied more than 140,000 non-hypertensive adults in Taiwan and followed them for an average of 5 years. Researchers classified the weekly physical activity levels of each adult as inactive, moderately active, or highly active. Researchers also classified level of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as low, moderate and high. PM2.5 is the most commonly used indicator of air pollution. High blood pressure was defined as 140/90 mm Hg. Overall, people who are highly active and exposed to low levels of pollution had a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. People who were inactive and exposed to highly polluted air had a higher high blood pressure risk. Each increase in PM2.5 level was associated with a 38 percent increase in risk of incident hypertension, whereas each increase in physical activity level lead to a 6 percent lower risk of hypertension. This suggests that reducing air pollution is more effective in preventing high blood pressure. The benefits of regular physical activity held up regardless of pollution level. People who exercised moderately had a 4 percent lower risk of high blood pressure than those who didn't exercise.

New Delhi, July 25 (ANI): According to new case studies, plant-based diets rich in whole carbohydrates can improve insulin sensitivity and other health markers in individuals with type 1 diabetes. The two case studies are done by researchers from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolism. Both case studies followed individuals with type 1 diabetes who adopted plant-based diets rich in whole carbohydrates--including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. The patients' health care teams tracked their blood sugar control, heart disease risk factors, and other health measurements before and after the diet change. One case study followed a female patient who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2018. At the time, her A1c was 8.7 per cent. She initially adopted a low-carbohydrate (less than 30 grams of carbohydrate per day), high-fat diet that was high in meat and dairy. Her blood sugar stabilised, but she required more insulin per gram of carbohydrate consumed. Her total cholesterol also increased from 175 to 221 mg/dL. In January 2019, she switched to a plant-based diet, eliminating dairy products, eggs, and meat. The patient was able to decrease her insulin dosage, maintain her A1c level at 5.4%, and drop her cholesterol level to 158 mg/dL.

New Delhi, July 21 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a new nano-drug candidate that kills triple-negative breast cancer cells. Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive and fatal types of breast cancer. The research will help clinicians target breast cancer cells directly while avoiding the adverse and toxic side effects of chemotherapy. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal -- Advanced Therapeutics. Researchers led by Hassan Beyzavi, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, linked a new class of nanomaterials, called metalorganic frameworks, with the ligands of an already-developed photodynamic therapy drug to create a nano-porous material that targets and kills tumor cells without creating toxicity for normal cells. Metal-organic frameworks are an emerging class of nanomaterials designed for targeted drug delivery. Furthermore, chemotherapy treatment of breast cancer has shown multi-drug resistance.

New Delhi, July 14 (ANI): Following a study on hypercholesterolemia, researchers have suggested that people with the condition should eliminate carbohydrates from their diet instead of fats. Familial hypercholesterolemia is a genetic disorder that causes people to have cholesterol levels 2-4 times higher than the average person. Organisations, including the American Heart Association, have suggested they avoid eating food from animal sources, such as meat, eggs, and cheese, and to avoid coconut oil. An international team of experts on heart disease and diet, including five cardiologists, reviewed dietary guidelines for people with familial hypercholesterolemia. They say they couldn't find any justification for health experts to recommend a low saturated fat diet. Diamond and his co-authors say following a low-carb diet is most effective for people at increased risk of heart disease, such as those who are overweight, hypertensive and diabetic. Their findings are consistent with another paper recently published in the "Journal of the American College of Cardiology," which provided strong evidence that food that raises blood sugar, such as bread, potatoes and sweets, should be minimized, rather than tropical oils and animal-based food.

New Delhi, July 13 (ANI): While walking is good for cardiovascular health, a recent study has found additional benefits of the activity. According to a new study, taking frequent, short walks near water bodies, like beaches, lakes, rivers, or even fountains may have a positive effect on people's wellbeing and mood. The study was led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation. Conducted within the BlueHealth project and published in Environmental Research, the study used data on 59 adults. Over the course of one week, participants spent 20 minutes each day walking in a blue space. In a different week, they spent 20 minutes each day walking in an urban environment. During yet another week, they spent the same amount of time resting indoors. The blue space route was along a beach in Barcelona, while the urban route was along city streets. Before, during, and after each activity, researchers measured the participants' blood pressure and heart rate and used questionnaires to assess their well-being and mood.

New Delhi, Jul 09 (ANI): Neurological complications of COVID-19 can include delirium (abrupt change in the brain that causes mental confusion and emotional disruption), brain inflammation, stroke, and nerve damage, a new study has revealed. The study led by the research team at University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) was published in the journal Brain. It identified one rare and sometimes fatal inflammatory condition, known as ADEM, which appears to be increasing in prevalence due to the pandemic. Some patients in the study did not experience severe respiratory symptoms, and the neurological disorder was the first and main presentation of COVID-19. The virus causing COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, was not detected in the cerebrospinal brain fluid of any of the patients tested, suggesting the virus did not directly attack the brain to cause the neurological illness. Further research is needed to identify why patients were developing these complications. In some patients, the researchers found evidence that the brain inflammation was likely caused by an immune response to the disease, suggesting that some neurological complications of COVID-19 might come from the immune response rather than the virus itself.

New Delhi, Jul 08(ANI): A common inherited genetic variant is a frequent cause of deafness in adults, meaning that many thousands of people are potentially at risk, reveals recent research. The research was published online in the Journal of Medical Genetics. Deafness in adults is known to be inherited. But, unlike childhood deafness, the genetic causes largely remain a mystery, say the researchers, who suggest that their discovery makes it an ideal candidate for gene therapy. Deafness is one of the most prevalent disabilities worldwide and has a major impact on the quality of life. So far, 118 genes have been associated with the heritable form. Variants in these genes explain a large proportion of congenital and childhood deafness, but not adult deafness. This is despite the fact that between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of hearing loss in adults is thought to be inherited.

New Delhi, Jul 07 (ANI): Overweight, obese men who are fathers are more likely to be referred for nutrition or exercise counselling as compared to the men without children, suggests a new study published by Elsevier in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour. Researchers from the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing studied 2,562 men visiting their medical provider for both routine and sick visits. This study corroborates other researchers' findings that only 20 per cent to 40 per cent of obese patients report receiving nutrition or weight loss counselling. As previous research has shown, fathers' commitment to their children has increased as evidenced by the increased time (doubled) that fathers spend on a child's care. Researchers have documented that fathers are more committed to weight programs that enable them to support their children (and families) and focus on child health and well-being rather than solely on their own health. This study furthers a general understanding of weight-related practices and management during clinic visits for men, in general, and fathers, in particular.

New Delhi, July 06 (ANI): Taking morning walks can be a solution if you are facing trouble sleeping after heart bypass surgery, according to recent research.The research was presented on ACNAP Essentials 4 You, a scientific platform of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Previous studies examining the effect of exercise on sleep after heart bypass surgery have failed to simultaneously assess the impact on functional capacity (the ability to do usual activities), which often declines after surgery. This study investigated the effect of exercise on both sleep and functional capacity. The study enrolled 80 patients aged 45 to 65 years who had sleep disorders six weeks after heart bypass surgery and also had reduced functional capacity.

New Delhi, July 05 (ANI): Retinal vein occlusion which is a major cause of blindness for millions of adults worldwide can be prevented with a new eye drops solution developed by a team of researchers. A study, in mice, suggests that the experimental therapy, which targets a common cause of neurode generation and vascular leakage in the eye, could have broader therapeutic effects than existing drugs. The study was published in Nature Communications. Retinal vein occlusion occurs when a major vein that drains blood from the retina is blocked, usually due to a blood clot. As a result, blood and other fluids leak into the retina, damaging specialized light-sensing neurons called photoreceptors. Standard treatment for the condition currently relies on drugs that reduce fluid leakage from blood vessels and abnormal blood vessel growth. But there are significant drawbacks. These therapies require repeated injections directly into the eye, and for the patients who brave this daunting prospect, the treatment ultimately fails to prevent vision loss in the majority of cases.

New Delhi, July 04 (ANI): There has been a surge in domestic child abuse during the coronavirus pandemic, suggests the experience of one specialist UK children's hospital.The study was published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. In just one month, the number of new cases rose by 1493% compared with the same period in the previous three years, pointing to a "silent pandemic" in 2020, suggest the authors.They compared the numbers of new cases of head injury caused by physical abuse among very young children seen between 23 March and 23 April this year and the same period in 2017, 2018, and 2019. March 23 marked the start of lockdown and a period of national self-isolation in the UK in a bid to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection.Ten children (six boys and four girls) with suspected abusive head trauma presented for treatment during March-April. Their ages ranged from 17 days to 13 months old. This figure compares with an average of 0.67 cases a month for the same period in 2017, 2018, and 2019, representing an increase of 1493% in 2020, say the authors. The symptoms prompting a hospital visit included colic (persistent crying for no obvious reason) in 5 of the infants; breathing issues (apnoea) and loss of consciousness in 4; seizures in 2; extensive bruising in 5; swollen scalp in 5; and marks caused by repeated picking at the skin (excoriation) in 1 child.The infants were comprehensively assessed. This included head, spine, and skeletal scans, as well as detailed eye and whole body checks. The results revealed blood pooling in the brain (subdural haemorrhage) in 6 infants; brain swelling in 4; bruising of the brain tissue (parenchymal contusion) in 4; skull fractures in 4; a bleed on the brain (subarachnoid haemorrhage) in 3; and bone fractures elsewhere in 3 of the infants.The infants' families all lived in areas of significant social and economic deprivation. And there's a complex interplay between abuse, mental health, substance misuse and socioeconomic factors, the authors point out.Two of the parents had a history of criminal activity; 3 had mental health issues; and 4 had financial worries, factors likely to heighten the risk of abusive behaviour, say the authors.

New Delhi, July 03 (ANI): A team of researchers is revealing the secrets of a simpler way to generate the sensory cells of the inner ear. Their approach uses direct reprogramming to produce sensory cells known as "hair cells," due to their hair-like protrusions that sense sound waves. Led by scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratories of Neil Segil and Justin Ichida, the results of study were published in the journal eLife. The scientists successfully reprogrammed three different types of mouse cells to become 'induced hair cell-like cells, or iHCs. The first two types were embryonic and adult versions of connective tissue cells, known as fibroblasts. The third was a different type of inner ear cell, known as a supporting cell. To achieve reprogramming, the scientists exposed fibroblasts and supporting cells to a cocktail of four transcription factors, which are molecules that help convey the instructions encoded in DNA. The scientists identified this cocktail by testing various combinations of 16 transcription factors that were highly active in the hair cells of newborn mice. The resulting iHCs resembled naturally occurring hair cells in terms of their structure, electrophysiology, and genetic activity. The iHCs also possessed several other distinct characteristics of hair cells, including vulnerability to an antibiotic known to cause hearing loss. iHCs have the potential to accelerate hearing loss research in at least two important ways, according to Ichida, who is the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation Associate Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at USC, and the other corresponding author of the study.

New Delhi, July 02 (ANI): A team of investigators has uncovered a potentially promising strategy to target brain tumours -- isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genes, which are the most common brain tumours diagnosed in younger adults aged 18 to 45 years. Led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, the finding of their study are published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Prior work by the group, led by Mass General's Daniel Cahill, MD, PhD, Hiroaki Wakimoto, MD, PhD, and Julie Miller, MD, PhD, revealed that IDH mutant gliomas have a metabolic weakness making them especially susceptible to treatments that lower NAD+ levels, a ubiquitous and vital metabolic molecule commonly thought of as the "currency of metabolism" in cells. Also, previous work by other researchers found that chemotherapy activates an enzyme that stimulates NAD+ molecules to join together to make poly (ADP-ribose), or PAR, a key DNA damage signal. This PAR signal is a known susceptibility in IDH mutant gliomas. Researchers also discovered that activation of the enzyme by chemotherapy causes available NAD+ to be critically depleted for the production of PAR in IDH mutant glioma cells, but not normal cells. These findings indicated that maintaining high PAR levels (and low NAD+ levels), in combination with chemotherapy, may uniquely target IDH mutant glioma cells. Considering this, Hiroaki Nagashima, MD, PhD, research fellow and lead author, devised a new treatment strategy and tested it in tumour cells and animal models.

New Delhi, July 01 (ANI): Neurons that regularly remodel are more prone to the dysfunctions linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. Using a machine learning framework that integrated neuron type-specific mouse experiments with human studies, the researchers compared two types of neurons susceptible to Alzheimer's with five resistant types. The most significant difference was that the vulnerable neurons were enriched with processes related to remodelling connections with adjacent neurons. The findings suggest that ageing and the accumulation of a protein fragment called amyloid-beta can cause the remodelling process to go haywire, creating tangles of tau proteins that lead to Alzheimer's disease. The work is the first to link amyloid-beta and tau proteins -- two previously proposed prime suspects in Alzheimer's progression -- at the genetic and molecular levels.

New Delhi, June 27 (ANI): A team of international researchers has found that dose escalation of hydroxyurea treatment for children in Uganda with sickle cell anemia is more effective and has similar side effects than a lower fixed dose of the same drug. The study, known as NOHARM MTD (Novel use Of Hydroxyurea in an African Region with Malaria - Maximum Tolerated Dose), focused on children in Uganda, but the results could impact use of hydroxyurea worldwide, including the United States and Europe. The findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This clinical research milestone removes a major barrier to broadly expand the use of hydroxyurea in low-resource regions like sub-Saharan Africa, according to the physicians who led the study at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and the Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine. For this study, 187 children with sickle cell anemia living in Uganda received hydroxyurea. About half received a fixed-dose of 20 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. The other half received an escalating dose, which started at 25 mg per kilogram of body weight per day and increased up to 35 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, if tolerated. Doctors evaluated the children every 2-3 months for laboratory and clinical benefits, as well as potential side effects.

New Delhi, June 26 (ANI): A new study has suggested that people with inoperable anal cancer treated with carboplatin-paclitaxel had fewer complications and lived longer than those who received another chemotherapy that has been more often administered. The results from an international trial, published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology, suggest that carboplatin-paclitaxel become the standard of care for anal cancer, a rare disease that accounts for less than 3 per cent of all gastrointestinal malignancies. The InterAAct trial compared carboplatin-paclitaxel with cisplatin plus 5-flourouracil (5FU). The overall survival of patients enrolled on the carboplatin-paclitaxel arm of the clinical trial was 20 months compared to 12.3 months for those on the cisplatin-5FU arm. Carboplatin-paclitaxel was associated with significantly less adverse effects (36 per cent) compared to cisplatin-5FU (62 per cent). Patients with inoperable anal cancer have a five-year survival rate of approximately 30 per cent.

New Delhi, June 24 (ANI): Patients who received a transplanted liver infected with hepatitis C and were later treated for the infection performed as well in recovery as transplant patients who received an organ free of infection, says a new study. The study was conducted by researchers of University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and UC Health and was published in the journal Liver Transplantation. Two sets of 32 patients were enrolled in groups: one group receiving livers for transplant from donors testing positive for hepatitis C (HCV) and a second receiving livers for transplant from donors testing negative for the infection. One patient in the experimental group died as a result of factors not related to hepatitis C during transplantation. As part of the clinical trial, 32 patients received HCV-positive livers while a control group of 32 patients, all at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, received non infected livers for transplantation between June 2018 and October 2019. No HCV treatment failures were reported and there were no differences in 30-day and one-year graft (or organ) and patient survival, length of hospital stay, complications or blood infections between the two groups.