Brain glutathione and GABA+ levels in autistic children.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication challenges and repetitive behaviors. Altered neurometabolite levels, including glutathione (GSH) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), have been proposed as potential contributors to the biology underlying ASD. This study investigated whether cerebral GSH or GABA levels differ between a cohort of children aged 8-12 years with ASD (n = 52) and typically developing children (TDC, n = 49).

Brain Glutathione and GABA+ levels in autistic children.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication challenges and repetitive behaviors. Altered neurometabolite levels, including glutathione (GSH) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), have been proposed as potential contributors to the biology underlying ASD. This study investigated whether cerebral GSH or GABA levels differ between a large cohort of children aged 8-12 years with ASD (n=52) and typically developing children (TDC, n=49).

Body image dissatisfaction: A novel predictor of poor quality of life in epilepsy.

Objective: People with epilepsy have long reported reduced quality of life (QoL) compared to healthy peers. This initial study seeks to broaden our understanding of QoL in adults with epilepsy, by examining the adverse impact of body image dissatisfaction for the first time. This aim stems from the observation that both seizures and their medical treatment can cause unwanted changes to physical appearances, such as weight change, hirsutism, and acne.

Missed, mistaken, stalled: Identifying components of delay to diagnosis in epilepsy.

A substantial proportion of individuals with newly diagnosed epilepsy report prior seizures, suggesting a missed opportunity for early epilepsy care and management. Consideration of the causes and outcomes of diagnostic delay is needed to address this issue. We aimed to review the literature pertaining to delay to diagnosis of epilepsy, describing the components, characteristics, and risk factors for delay.

Direct-acting antivirals after successful treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma improve survival in HCV-cirrhotic patients.

Background & Aims: The effectiveness of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV), following successful treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), has been studied extensively. However, the benefit in terms of overall survival (OS) remains to be conclusively demonstrated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of DAAs on OS, HCC recurrence, and hepatic decompensation.

Contrast ultrasound LI-RADS LR-5 identifies hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis in a multicenter restropective study of 1,006 nodules.

Background & Aims: The use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhosis was questioned because of the risk of a false positive diagnosis in cases of cholangiocarcinoma. The American College of Radiology has recently released a scheme (CEUS Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System [LI-RADS®]) to classify lesions at risk of HCC investigated by CEUS. The aim of the present study was to validate this LI-RADS scheme for the diagnosis of HCC.

Is early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in HCV cirrhotic patients affected by treatment with direct-acting antivirals? A prospective multicentre study.

Background: Data on HCV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) early recurrence in patients whose HCC was previously cured, and subsequently treated by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), are equivocal.

Aim: To assess the risk of HCC early recurrence after DAAs exposure in a large prospective cohort of HCV-cirrhotic patients with previous successfully treated HCC, also looking for risk factors for cancer early recurrence.

Methods: We enrolled 143 consecutive patients with complete response after curative treatment of HCC, subsequently treated with DAAs and monitored by the web-based RESIST-HCV database.

Clinical Course and Genetic Susceptibility of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis: Analysis of a Prospective Cohort.

Background: Natural history of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is partially characterized in patients from the Mediterranean area whose genetic background differs from that of Northern Europeans.

Objectives: We aimed to describe genetic susceptibility and clinical course of PBC in patients from Southern Italy.

Methods: Socio-demographic, clinical, biochemical and histological data at diagnosis as well as disease progression of 81 PBC consecutive patients were collected.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity Prevention Project.

The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents' obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data.

Clinical features and outcomes of patients with drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Drugs and herbal products can induce autoimmune hepatitis. We assessed frequency and clinical outcomes of patients suffering from drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis.

Methods: All patients with drug-induced liver injury admitted between 2000 and 2011 were retrospectively studied.

Body mass index and liver stiffness affect accuracy of ultrasonography in detecting steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

Background & Aims: Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of ultrasonography in detecting steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We assessed its accuracy in detecting steatosis and factors that affect its diagnostic performance in consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

Methods: We analyzed data from 515 patients with chronic hepatitis C, confirmed by liver biopsy, assessing anthropometric, biochemical, metabolic, virologic, and ultrasonography features.

Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by percutaneous radio-frequency ablation (RFA) is affected by complete radiological response.

Background: Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) has been employed in the treatment of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as curative treatments.

Aim: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of RFA in patients with early HCC and compensated cirrhosis.

Methods: A cohort of 151 consecutive patients with early stage HCC (122 Child-Pugh class A and 29 class B patients) treated with RFA were enrolled.

Assessment of treatment response in hepatocellular carcinoma: a review of the literature.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high incidence all over the world. Even if the primary end point of treatment of HCC is survival, radiological response could be a surrogate end point of survival, and could have a key role in clinical management. Since 1950 several radiological response criteria have been applied; however, it was not until 2000 that specific criteria for HCC were introduced by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), and these were then standardized in 2010 with the development of the modified Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumors (mRECIST) for HCC.

Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: present and future.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a major health problem. It is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related death. Despite the availability of several treatment opportunities, diagnosis is still made in an advanced phase, limiting application of most therapeutic choices that currently are based on the Barcelona Clinic Cancer Liver Classification and include surgical resection, orthotopic liver transplantation and ablative methods for very early and early disease, arterial chemoembolization for intermediate stages and systemic therapy with sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Successful intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for steroid-resistant eosinophilic enteritis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare condition of unknown etiology characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the bowel. Corticosteroids are the mainstay of EG therapy. Although rare, steroid-resistant EG could be a life-threatening condition with tissue destructive evolution.

Comparison of transient elastography and acoustic radiation force impulse for non-invasive staging of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Objectives: Transient elastography (TE) is adequate for a diagnosis of cirrhosis, but its accuracy for milder stages of fibrosis is much less satisfactory. The objective of this study was to compare the performance and the discordance rate of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) and TE with liver biopsy in a cohort of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.

Methods: One hundred thirty-nine consecutive patients with CHC were enrolled in two tertiary centers, and evaluated for histological (Metavir score) and biochemical features.

Hyperferritinemia is a risk factor for steatosis in chronic liver disease.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between ferritin and steatosis in patients with chronically abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) and high ferritin level.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-four consecutive patients with hyperferritinemia (male > 300 ng/mL, female > 200 ng/mL) were evaluated; clinical, biochemical and serological data, iron status parameters, HFE gene mutations and homeostasis model assessment score were obtained. Steatosis was graded by ultrasound as absent or present.

Retinol-binding protein 4: a new marker of virus-induced steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis c virus genotype 1.

Unlabelled: Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is an adipocytokine associated with insulin resistance (IR). We tested serum levels of RBP4 to assess its link with steatosis in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nondiabetic patients with CHC (n = 143) or NAFLD (n = 37) were evaluated by liver biopsy and anthropometric and metabolic measurements, including IR by the homeostasis model assessment.

Insulin resistance and diabetes increase fibrosis in the liver of patients with genotype 1 HCV infection.

Objectives: Metabolic factors may affect the course of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Insulin resistance (IR) determines steatosis, but its direct role in affecting progression of hepatic fibrosis is less clear. We aimed to assess whether increasing degrees of IR, up to overt diabetes, are linked to steatosis and higher stages of fibrosis in patients with CHC resulting from genotype 1 HCV (G1-HCV).

Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: a comparison of BCLC, CLIP and GRETCH staging systems.

Background: A major problem in assessing the likelihood of survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) arises from a lack of models capable of predicting outcome accurately.

Aim: To compare the ability of the Italian score (CLIP), the French classification (GRETCH) and the Barcelona (BCLC) staging system in predicting survival in patients with HCC.

Methods: We included 406 consecutive patients with cirrhosis and HCC.

Liver eosinophilic infiltrate is a significant finding in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Eosinophilic infiltrate of liver tissue is described in primary cholestatic diseases, hepatic allograft rejection and drug-induced liver injury, but its significance and its implications in chronic hepatitis C are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of eosinophilic liver infiltrate in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We retrospectively evaluated 147 patients with chronic hepatitis C.

New media and an ethics analysis model for child and adolescent psychiatry.

We and our patients are immersed in a mediascape that is unparalleled in history. It is a force of monumental proportion that for many youth competes with and has replaced parental, social, and cultural influences on their development. The ethical questions regarding this dynamic are frequently answered by little else than the application of vague and dated moral dictums based on "old media.