Effect of midodrine on HVPG in advanced chronic liver disease and acute-on-chronic liver failure-A pilot study.

Background And Aims: Nonselective beta-blockers (NSBB) are the mainstay for treatment of portal hypertension (PH), but require caution in decompensated cirrhosis (DC) or acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) with hypotension, hyponatremia, acute kidney injury (AKI) or type 2 hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). Midodrine is oral, rapidly acting, α1-adrenergic agonist. We evaluated acute effects of midodrine on hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) in DC and ACLF with contraindications to NSBB.

Patency Rates and Outcomes of Renal Access Arteriovenous Fistulas for Hemodialysis in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Hemodialysis remains the most popular modality of renal replacement therapy for end-stage renal disease patients with chronic kidney disease. Various factors such as a radial artery, cephalic vein diameter, age, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus can affect the fistula maturation. This study was carried out to know the patency rates and factors affecting fistula maturation in the Indian population.

Fabrication of angstrom-scale two-dimensional channels for mass transport.

Fluidic channels at atomic scales regulate cellular trafficking and molecular filtration across membranes, and thus play crucial roles in the functioning of living systems. However, constructing synthetic channels experimentally at these scales has been a significant challenge due to the limitations in nanofabrication techniques and the surface roughness of the commonly used materials. Angstrom (Å)-scale slit-like channels overcome such challenges as these are made with precise control over their dimensions and can be used to study the fluidic properties of gases, ions and water at unprecedented scales.

COVID-19 - a potential trigger for MOGAD-associated optic neuritis: a case report and literature review.

SARS-CoV-2 affects the nervous system directly by neurotoxic action, by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptors or indirectly by inducing cytokine storm leading to disruption of the blood-brain barrier, immunological mediation, increasing blood coagulation and as a trigger for autoimmune-mediated demyelinating injuries in the central nervous system. In COVID-19 neuro-ophthalmological manifestations are not so common. Optic neuritis is the result of optic nerve inflammation and has varied causes.

Tolerance of standard dose albumin infused over 6 hrs for treatment of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis-A randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aims: Twenty per cent albumin (1.5 g/kg at diagnosis and 1 g/kg on day three, infused over six-hour duration) is recommended particularly in high-risk spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). Whether reduced dose albumin infusion is as effective as the standard dose albumin infusion is not clear.

Beyond steric selectivity of ions using ångström-scale capillaries.

Ion-selective channels play a key role in physiological processes and are used in many technologies. Although biological channels can efficiently separate same-charge ions with similar hydration shells, it remains a challenge to mimic such exquisite selectivity using artificial solid-state channels. Although there are several nanoporous membranes that show high selectivity with respect to certain ions, the underlying mechanisms are based on the hydrated ion size and/or charge.

Safety and Efficacy of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography in Patients of Liver Cirrhosis: A Case-Control Study.

Background With the improvement in noninvasive diagnostic imaging modalities, Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography (ERCP) has evolved into a primarily therapeutic procedure. Besides being efficacious and one of the most commonly done procedures, ERCP is also associated with a high risk of complications. However, there is a lack of studies analyzing the safety and success of ERCP in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Erectile Dysfunction in Cirrhosis: Its Prevalence and Risk Factors.

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common in men with cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of ED and the factors associated with ED in men with cirrhosis.

Methods: 400 men with cirrhosis [Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class A, 44.

Comparison of safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma with fresh frozen plasma in severe covid-19 patients.

Background: Role of Convalescent plasma (COPLA) to treat severe COVID-19 is under investigation. We compared efficacy and safety of COPLA with fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in severe COVID-19 patients.

Methods: One group received COPLA with standard medical care (n = 14), and another group received random donor FFP, as control with standard medical care (n = 15) in severe COVID-19 disease.

Collateral Impact on Patients of Liver Diseases in the Second COVID-19 Wave: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India started in April 2021. This necessitated a change in focus from chronic ailments. This wave lasted till May 2021.

Carvedilol reduces the risk of decompensation and mortality in patients with compensated cirrhosis in a competing-risk meta-analysis.

Background & Aims: Whether non-selective β-blockers can prevent decompensation of cirrhosis warrants clarification. Carvedilol might be particularly effective since its intrinsic vasodilatory activity may ameliorate hepatic vascular resistance, a major mechanism of portal hypertension in early cirrhosis. We assessed whether carvedilol may prevent decompensation and improve survival in patients with compensated cirrhosis and clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH).

Impact of liver disease severity on outcomes of patients undergoing endourological procedures for urolithiasis.

Objectives: This study is aimed to determine the impact of liver disease severity on the outcome of patients undergoing endourological procedures for urolithiasis, and to understand the factors that are helpful in improving the outcome.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of patients with chronic liver disease who underwent endourological procedures between January 2014 and February 2020. Inpatient records and charts were assessed for age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, Child-Turcotte-Pugh score, type of procedure and anesthesia, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, duration of hospitalization, number, size, and position of stones, and postoperative complications such as hematuria, sepsis, and secondary procedures.

Efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in the patient with COVID-19: a randomised control trial (COPLA-II trial).

Importance: No proven treatment is available for severely ill COVID-19. Therapeutic use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (COPLA) is under investigation.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of COPLA with standard medical therapy (SMT) alone in severe COVID-19 patients.

High Precision Mammography Lesion Identification From Imprecise Medical Annotations.

Breast cancer screening using Mammography serves as the earliest defense against breast cancer, revealing anomalous tissue years before it can be detected through physical screening. Despite the use of high resolution radiography, the presence of densely overlapping patterns challenges the consistency of human-driven diagnosis and drives interest in leveraging state-of-art localization ability of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN). The growing availability of digitized clinical archives enables the training of deep segmentation models, but training using the most widely available form of coarse hand-drawn annotations works against learning the precise boundary of cancerous tissue in evaluation, while producing results that are more aligned with the annotations rather than the underlying lesions.

Tadalafil improves erectile dysfunction and quality of life in men with cirrhosis: a randomized double blind placebo controlled trial.

Background And Aims: Patients with cirrhosis have high prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study was to study the efficacy and safety of tadalafil for ED in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: 140 cirrhotic males with ED were randomized into tadalafil 10 mg daily (n = 70) or placebo (n = 70) for 12 weeks.

Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Sleep-Wake Abnormalities in Patients with Cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Sleep-wake abnormalities [poor nighttime sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)] are common in patients with cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sleep-wake abnormalities and clinical factors associated with these abnormalities in a group of patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: 1098 patients with cirrhosis [Child Turcotte Pugh (CTP) class A, 22.

Development of a machine learning model to predict bleed in esophageal varices in compensated advanced chronic liver disease: A proof of concept.

Background And Aim: Risk stratification beyond the endoscopic classification of esophageal varices (EVs) to predict first episode of variceal bleeding (VB) is currently limited in patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD). We aimed to assess if machine learning (ML) could be used for predicting future VB more accurately.

Methods: In this retrospective analysis, data from patients of cACLD with EVs, laboratory parameters and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) were used to generate an extreme-gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm to predict the risk of VB.

Comparison of 5% human albumin and normal saline for fluid resuscitation in sepsis induced hypotension among patients with cirrhosis (FRISC study): a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: Sepsis and septic shock are common causes of hospitalization and mortality in patients with cirrhosis. There is no data on the choice of fluid and resuscitation protocols in sepsis-induced hypotension in cirrhosis.

Methods: In this open-label trial conducted at a single center, we enrolled 308 cirrhotics with sepsis-induced hypotension and randomized them to receive either 5% albumin or normal saline.

Hydrocarbon contamination in angström-scale channels.

Nonspecific molecular adsorption such as airborne contamination occurs on most surfaces including those of 2D materials and alters their properties. While surface contamination is studied using a plethora of techniques, the effect of contamination on confined systems such as nanochannels/pores leading to their clogging is still lacking. We report a systematic investigation of hydrocarbon adsorption in angstrom (Å) slit channels of varying heights.

Incidence and Causes of Late Hospital Readmissions After Living Donor Renal Transplant: A Retrospective Study.

Objectives: Our primary aim was to find the incidence, causes, and factors responsible for late hospital readmissions.

Materials And Methods: There were 185 patients included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those with late readmission after discharge and those with no late readmission.

Efficacy of combining pentoxiphylline and vitamin E versus vitamin E alone in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis- A randomized pilot study.

Background And Aim: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the most prevalent cause of chronic liver disease. Vitamin E (VE), an anti-oxidant, has shown improvement in NAFLD activity score (NAS) but not fibrosis. Pentoxiphylline (PTX), an anti-TNF-alpha agent, has been reported to reduce hepatic inflammation and fibrosis.