Risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the close contacts in a small rural area in the Veneto Region (NE-Italy): past evidence for future scenarios.

Background: During the first pandemic phase of COVID-19, an epidemiological study, named First survey, was conducted on the population of a small rural area in northern Italy. In spring 2020, the results showed how a prolonged lockdown slowed down the spread of the virus.

Methods: After contacting positive First Survey subjects and their families, those who decided to join voluntarily underwent a blood test to assess the presence of qualitative lgG about 2 months after the previous one.

Pesticides monitoring in biological fluids: Mapping the gaps in analytical strategies.

Pesticides play a key-role in the development of the agrifood sector allowing controlling pest growth and, thus, improving the production rates. Pesticides chemical stability is responsible of their persistency in environmental matrices leading to bioaccumulation in animal tissues and hazardous several effects on living organisms. The studies regarding long-term effects of pesticides exposure and their toxicity are still limited to few studies focusing on over-exposed populations, but no extensive dataset is currently available.

Epidemiological study in a small rural area of Veneto (Italian region) during Sars-Cov-2 Pandemia.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome type 2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its complications have demonstrated the devastating impact of a new infectious pathogen. The organisational change promulgated by the isolation of affected communities is of extreme importance to achieve effective containment of the contagion and good patient care. The epidemiological study of the population of a small rural community in the North East of Italy revealed how much the virus had circulated during Spring, 2020, and how contagion has evolved after a prolonged lockdown.

Microvascular autonomic dysfunction may justify false-positive stress myocardial perfusion imaging in patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing liver transplantation.

Background: Up to 15% of liver transplant candidates have asymptomatic coronary artery diseases, which increase the risk of cardiac complications during and after transplantation. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the usefulness of an integrated cardiological approach in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation.

Methods: Twenty-four consecutive patients undergoing evaluation for liver transplantation were studied by assessing risk factors for coronary artery diseases, electrocardiogram with QTc interval determination, chest X-ray, echocardiography, 24-hour Holter monitor, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (99mTc)MIBI-GSPECT at rest and after dipyridamole infusion.

Role of blood AFP mRNA and tumor grade in the preoperative prognostic evaluation of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: To explore the potential prognostic role of preoperative tumor grade and blood AFP mRNA in a cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) eligible for radical therapies according to a well-defined treatment algorithm not including nodule size and number as absolute selection criteria.

Methods: Fifty patients with a diagnosis of HCC were prospectively enrolled in the study. Inclusion criteria were: (1) histological assessment of tumor grade by means of percutaneous biopsies; (2) determination of AFP mRNA status in the blood; (3) patient's eligibility for radical therapies.

Syngeneic living-donor liver transplantation for hemangioendothelioma: a clinical model for studying liver regeneration.

A 22-year-old Caucasian patient underwent living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for hepatic hemangioendothelioma in a healthy liver. The organ donor was his monozygotic twin brother. Surgery was uneventful in both donor and recipient, who received the same postoperative treatment (i.

Neuropsychological and neurophysiological evaluation in cirrhotic patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy undergoing liver transplantation.

Background: Cirrhotic patients without overt hepatic encephalopathy may have cerebral function alterations called minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Our goal was to evaluate the role of partial pressure of ammonia (pNH3), neuropsychological, and neurophysiological assessment in detecting cognitive changes in cirrhotic patients awaiting liver transplantation.

Materials And Methods: Fourteen cirrhotic patients listed for liver transplant were studied.

Isoniazid-related fulminant hepatic failure in a child: assessment of the native liver's early regeneration after auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation.

We report the first case of auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) in a patient with isoniazid (INH)-related fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) with the aim to determine the ability of the native liver (NL) to recover after this particular toxic event. A 10-year-old boy with INH-related FHF underwent APOLT after left hepatectomy on the NL. Neurological status and liver function rapidly improved, but, on postoperative day 22, urgent re-transplantation was needed for graft-hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) and the NL's incapacity to sustain adequate liver function.

Multimodal therapy before liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: : The use of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial because of the risk of both exclusion from the waiting list due to tumor progression and post OLT HCC recurrence. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of an aggressive HCC treatment during the waiting list time on overall and recurrence-free survival of HCC transplanted patients in a single institutional study.

Methods: : Since 1991, 40 HCC patients joined the OLT-waiting list.

Does liver-disease aetiology have a role in cerebral blood-flow alterations in liver cirrhosis?

Background: Studies using brain-imaging techniques have shown changes in regional blood flow (rCBF) in patients with liver cirrhosis. It remains unknown whether the aetiology of liver disease accounts for these changes.

Aims: To evaluate whether the aetiology of liver cirrhosis is associated with different patterns of rCBF.

Clinical significance of alpha-fetoprotein mRNA in blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) messenger RNA (mRNA) in the blood reflects the presence of circulating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and is a sensitive marker of HCC extrahepatic metastases. The specificity of this molecular marker and its correlation with the main HCC clinical-pathological parameters remains controversial, however.

Methods: AFPmRNA was determined in 50 HCC patients and in 50 patients with diagnosis of cirrhosis (6), or colon (24) or, pancreatic (20) carcinoma.

Growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 axis recovery after liver transplantation: a preliminary prospective study.

Many studies on cirrhotic patients have shown that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) plasma levels are related to the severity of liver dysfunction. This result suggests that IGF-1 is probably useful for monitoring liver function in the perioperative course of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Growth hormone (GH), IGF-1 plasma levels, and routine liver function tests were measured in 15 adult cirrhotic patients undergoing OLT.

Thermal homeostasis and liver transplantation.

Thermal homeostasis represents the major issue during liver transplantation (OLT) since severe hypothermia may have a deleterious effect on both liver recipient organism and postoperative graft functioning. Because of the known negative influence of hypothermia on intraoperative cardiovascular activity and coagulation system, numerous methods have been suggested to reduce intraoperative heat loss and promote active warming (continuous temperature monitoring, external heat sources, improvement in surgical technique and technologies). A good intraoperative OLT course has an obvious influence on post OLT graft function recovery, but thermal homeostasis has also an essential direct effect on the graft as a constitutive component of conventional cold preservation methods.

Liver transplantation for the treatment of moderately or well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To determine the long-term results of liver transplantation for well- or moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Summary Background Data: HCC patient selection for liver transplantation remains controversial, and deciding exclusively on the strength of criteria such as number and size of nodules appears prognostically inaccurate.

Methods: Since 1991, preoperative tumor grading has been used at our center to establish whether a patient with HCC is fit for transplantation.

Adjuvant chemotherapy for transplanted hepatocellular carcinoma patients: impact on survival or HCV recurrence timing.

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common tumors worldwide. In the Western world the current epidemic of cirrhosis due to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is increasing the number of new cases. Liver transplantation (OLTx) represents a radical treatment for HCC and the underlying cirrhosis.

Liver transplantation for the management of hepatoblastoma.

Introduction: Hepatoblastoma (HEP) is the most frequent liver malignancy occurring in childhood. Surgical resection currently represents the gold standard for treatment. In patients with initially unresectable tumors, chemotherapy may induce remarkable reductions in size.

The critical issue of hepatocellular carcinoma prognostic classification: which is the best tool available?

Background/aims: Prognosis assessment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. The most widely used HCC prognostic tool is the Okuda classification, but new staging systems (Cancer of the Liver Italian Program score, Chinese University Prognostic Index, French classification and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, BCLC, staging) have been recently described. We investigated the value of known prognostic systems in the particular setting of a surgically oriented Liver Unit where 187 HCC Italian patients were mainly treated with radical therapies (resection and percutaneous ablation).

Multimodal approach and its impact on survival for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: There are few studies evaluating the prognostic impact on survival of treatment strategy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to analyse whether a multimodal approach, that represents a synergic association of different therapeutic procedures, may improve survival of patients with HCC.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and fourteen patients with HCC were enrolled in the study.

Extreme marginal donor: severe hypothermia as a rare preservation condition for explantable organs--a case report.

Unlabelled: The progressive increase in patients with end stage liver disease has lengthend the waiting- list for liver transplantation. Unfortunately this has not been followed by a suitable increase in the number of donors. The expanding "donor pool" has required use of "marginal" donors (ICU stay > 10 days, sepsi; steatosis > 30-40%, hypernatremia > 155 mmol/L, inotropic drugs).

Physiological and clinical implications of proANP(1-98) circulating levels in the perioperative phase of liver transplantation.

Background: ProANP(1-126), the prohormone synthesized and secreted by atrial myocites, generates an ANP peptide family, the main forms of which are proANP(1-30), proANP(31-67), proANP(1-98) and proANP(99-126). These molecular circulating forms are involved in hemodynamic and electrolyte homeostasis. In cirrhotic patients, volume homeostasis is almost impaired due to abnormal sodium retention, which results in ascites formation and hemodynamic changes, including high cardiac output and low systemic vascular resistance.

GH/IGF system, cirrhosis and liver transplantation.

The GH-related effects are primarily mediated by insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), a peptide hormone almost completely produced by the liver. Liver cirrhosis is usually accompanied by a fall in protein turnover. Furthermore, an important consequence of chronic liver disease (CLD) is growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor (GH/IGF) axis modification and growth failure.

Functional and morphological graft monitoring after liver transplantation.

The development of effective immunosuppressive drugs and the refinement of surgical procedures have led to remarkable improvements in the long-term success of liver transplantation. This procedure is now widely recognised as an effective, preferable therapeutic option for the treatment of end-stage liver disease. The early diagnosis of dysfunction is an indispensable tool for the successful management of the hepatic allograft recipient.