Publications by authors named "Castellote J"

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is characterized by telangiectasia and larger vascular malformations. Liver malformations are the most frequent visceral involvement including the presence of portosystemic malformations (PSM) that can cause hepatic encephalopathy. Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (mHE) is characterized by alterations of brain function in neuropsychological or neurophysiological tests and decreases quality of life.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study addresses the treatment of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhotic patients using the antibiotic ertapenem, highlighting the need for better understanding of its efficacy in this population.
  • Researchers developed and validated a method using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) to measure ertapenem concentrations in both plasma and ascitic fluid.
  • The validated measurement procedures showed good accuracy and reliability, indicating their potential for further pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in cirrhotic patients.
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Background: Sofosbuvir, velpatasvir and voxilaprevir (SOF/VEL/VOX) is the recommended rescue therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C infection who fail direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Data are limited on the effectiveness of this treatment after the current first-line therapies. Our aim was to analyse the effectiveness and safety of SOF/VEL/VOX among patients failing sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) or glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (GLE/PIB).

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Objective: A set of indicators has been reported to measure the quality of care for cirrhotic patients, and previously published studies report variable adherence rates to these indicators. This study aimed to assess the quality of care provided to cirrhotic outpatients before and after an educational intervention by determining its impact on adherence to quality indicators.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study including 324 cirrhotic patients seen in 2017 and 2019 at a tertiary teaching hospital in Spain.

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Background And Aim Of The Study: There are still patients with hepatitisC in Spain who have yet to be diagnosed, but their clinical profile is unclear. In 2021, 21.93% of patients diagnosed had cirrhosis and were mostly treatment-naïve.

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We report a case of fatal HBV reactivation in a patient with chronic hepatitis B infection HBeAg-, who was withdrawn from antiviral therapy.. We think that it may be a warning of risks that this clinical decision may entail.

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For whole-body sway patterns, a compound motor response following an external stimulus may comprise reflexes, postural adjustments (anticipatory or compensatory), and voluntary muscular activity. Responses to equilibrium destabilization may depend on both motor set and a subject`s expectation of the disturbing stimulus. To disentangle these influences on lower limb responses, we studied a model in which subjects (n = 14) were suspended in the air, without foot support, and performed a fast unilateral wrist extension (WE) in response to a passive knee flexion (KF) delivered by a robot.

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Background: Chronic bleeding due to gastrointestinal (GI) involvement in patients with hemorrhagic hereditary telangiectasia (HHT) can provoke severe anemia with high red blood cells (RBC) transfusion requirements. However, the evidence about how to deal with these patients is scarce. We aimed to assess the long-term efficacy and safety of somatostatin analogs (SA) for anemia management in HHT patients with GI involvement.

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Background & Aims: Alcohol-related hepatitis (AH) encompasses a high mortality. AH might be a concomitant event in patients with acute variceal bleeding (AVB). The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of AH in patients with AVB and to compare the clinical outcomes of AH patients to other alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) phenotypes and viral cirrhosis.

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Background: A pre-emptive transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (pTIPS) reduces mortality in high-risk patients with cirrhosis (Child-Pugh C/B+active bleeding) with acute variceal bleeding (AVB). Real-life studies point out that <15% of patients eligible for pTIPS ultimately undergo transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) due to concerns about hepatic encephalopathy (HE). The outcome of patients undergoing pTIPS with HE is unknown.

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The aim was to describe three patients with hemorrhagic hereditary telangiectasia (HHT) requiring liver transplantation (LT) and to perform a systematic review focusing on surgical complications and long-term follow-up. Unrestricted searches of the Medline and Embase databases were performed through February 2022. Forty-five studies were selected including 80 patients plus the three new reported patients, 68 (81.

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Background Adaptation to a constant sensory stimulus involves many sites along the path of sensory volleys towards perception. The evaluation of such phenomenon may be of clinical interest. We studied adaptation to a constant temperature stimulus in healthy subjects to set normative data and in patients with sensory polyneuropathy (SPN), as proof of concept.

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Anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA), directed against the E2 subunits of the 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complexes, are markers of Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), a chronic autoimmune liver disease. However, it has not been stablished the clinical significance of subunits-specific AMA type PDC-E2 subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex-, BCOADC-E2 subunit of the branched-chain 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex-, OGDC-E2 subunit of the 2-oxo-glutarate dehydrogenase complex- and nPDC -native pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (M2-AMA), and not all AMA specificities are associated with PBC. The aim of the present study was to show the usefulness of the number and combination of subunits-specific AMA positive for the diagnosis of PBC.

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Background: Adrenomedullin (AM) is a vasoactive peptide mostly secreted by endothelial cells with an important role in preserving endothelial integrity.  The relationship between AM and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is unknown. We aimed to compare the serum levels and tissue expression of AM between HHT patients and controls.

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Article Synopsis
  • Antibiotic prophylaxis is effective in reducing infection and mortality risks in patients with cirrhosis experiencing acute variceal bleeding (AVB), but bacterial infections still occur during hospitalization.
  • A study analyzed data from over 2,100 patients to assess the incidence of infections and found that about 19% developed infections, mainly respiratory ones, despite receiving antibiotics, with respiratory infections appearing early after admission.
  • Key risk factors linked to higher chances of respiratory infections included advanced liver disease (Child-Pugh C), severe hepatic encephalopathy, and certain medical procedures like intubation or nasogastric tube placement.
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Background & Aims: To what extent patients with alcohol-related decompensated cirrhosis can improve until recovery from decompensation remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the probability of recovery and delisting due to improvement in patients with alcohol-related decompensated cirrhosis on the waiting list (WL) for liver transplantation (LT).

Methods: We conducted a registry-based, multicenter, retrospective study including all patients admitted to the LT WL in Catalonia (Spain) with the indication of alcohol-, HCV-, cholestasis- or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-related decompensated cirrhosis between January 2007 and December 2018.

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A startling auditory stimulus (SAS) induces a reflex response involving, among other reactions, a strong contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle (OOc) and subsequent eye closure. A SAS also induces the StartReact effect, a significant shortening of reaction time in subjects ready for task execution. We examined the obvious conflict appearing when a StartReact paradigm requires participants with eyes closed to open their eyes to look for a visual target.

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There has been much debate concerning whether startling sensory stimuli can activate a fast-neural pathway for movement triggering (StartReact) which is different from that of voluntary movements. Activity in sternocleidomastoid (SCM) electromyogram is suggested to indicate activation of this pathway. We evaluated whether SCM activity can accurately identify trials which may differ in their neurophysiological triggering and assessed the use of cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of reaction time (RT) data to identify trials with the shortest RTs for analysis.

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Background & Aims: The relationship between acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and acute variceal bleeding (AVB) is poorly understood. Specifically, the prevalence and prognosis of ACLF in the context of AVB is unclear, while the role of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in the management in patients with ACLF has not been described to date.

Methods: A multicenter, international, observational study was conducted in 2,138 patients from 34 centers between 2011 and 2015.

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Background: Gender differences in organ involvement and clinical severity have been poorly described in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). The aim of this study was to describe differences in the severity of HHT manifestations according to gender.

Methods: Severity was measured according to Epistaxis Severity Score (ESS), Simple Clinical Scoring Index for hepatic involvement, a general HHT-score, needing for invasive treatment (pulmonary or brain arteriovenous malformations -AVMs- embolization, liver transplantation or Young's surgery) or the presence of adverse outcomes (severe anemia, emergency department -ED- or hospital admissions and mortality).

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Background: We aimed to describe risk factors for gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and endoscopic findings in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).

Methods: This is a prospective study from a referral HHT unit. Endoscopic tests were performed when there was suspicion of GI bleeding, and patients were divided as follows: with, without, and with unsuspected GI involvement.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers applied a new testing protocol to analyze samples from 220 patients across various Spanish hospitals, finding that 88.6% had at least one RAS, with specific patterns linked to different HCV subtypes.
  • * The findings reveal that certain patients had RAS not affected by the drugs they received, indicating the necessity for thorough RAS testing, especially since ribavirin treatment did not impact RAS diversity or type.
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