Do patients with esophageal motility disorders show distinct patterns based on axial force measurements?
Measurements of axial force generated by primary peristalsis provide additional information about esophageal neuromuscular function in different diseases that is not demonstrable with manometry alone.
HCV G3, but not G2, selectively interferes with the late cholesterol synthesis pathway, evidenced by lower distal sterol metabolites and preserved lanosterol levels. This distal interference resolves with SVR. Normal lanosterol levels provide a signal for the continued proteolysis of 3-hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, which may undermine other host responses to increase cholesterol synthesis. These data may provide a hypothesis to explain why hypocholesterolemia persists in chronic HCV infection, particularly in HCV G3, and is not overcome by host cholesterol compensatory mechanisms.