Publications by authors named "A Tonkic"
The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges in the treatment of chronic diseases, particularly inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. These challenges are multifaceted, encompassing difficulties in maintaining routine care, concerns about the safety of immunosuppressive therapies, disruptions in healthcare delivery, and the complexities of managing IBD in patients who contract COVID-19. This article explores the various obstacles faced in the treatment of IBD during the pandemic and discusses potential strategies to overcome these challenges.
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- The study investigates the role of growth-differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), looking at its potential as a predictor of disease severity and patient outcomes.
- It involves 90 adults with IBD (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) compared to 67 healthy individuals, using serum samples to determine GDF-15 levels alongside clinical assessments.
- Results show that IBD patients have significantly higher GDF-15 levels than healthy controls, with these levels correlating to disease severity and other health factors, including anemia.
Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are well-defined phenotypes of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). A mechanism of inflammation in these diseases is partially controlled by the intestinal dendritic cell (DC). In this study, we observed a mature CD83 DC in colonic bioptic samples, and its correlation with disease phenotype and activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an unpredictable reaction of individuals exposed to a certain drug, and drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis (DIAIH) presents a DILI phenotype that mimics idiopathic autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) when considering the clinical, biochemical, serological and histological parameters. We present a case report of a 48-year-old male who was hospitalized due to severe hepatocellular liver injury two months after self-treatment with a muscle-building dietary supplement based on arginine-alpha-ketoglutarate, L-citrulline, L tyrosine, creatine malate and beet extract. His immunology panel was positive with increased IgG levels, and radiologic methods showed no signs of chronic liver disease.
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- Antibiotic resistance significantly affects the treatment success rates for Helicobacter pylori infections, with noted resistance levels in Europe.
- A study analyzed 2,852 naive patients and found that the 3-in-1 single capsule with bismuth, metronidazole, and tetracycline, as well as a quadruple therapy with bismuth, had the highest effectiveness against H. pylori, even with existing resistances.
- For non-naive patients, resistance was even higher, but the same 3-in-1 capsule and triple therapy with levofloxacin showed promising results, highlighting the need for effective treatment options based on resistance patterns.