Characteristics and Outcomes of Direct-Acting Antiviral Experienced Patients with Hepatitis C Undergoing Retreatment at an Essential Hospital in the United States.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) guidelines recommend direct-acting antiviral (DAA) rescue regimens in cases of treatment failure, and first-line regimens for reinfection. In patients with barriers to follow-up after treatment, it is difficult to determine if HCV viremia represents failure or reinfection. Patients are often retreated with rescue regimens despite higher costs.

Sports participation plays a relevant role in the relationship between birth weight and bone mineral content in adolescents.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis (DOHaD) proposes that growth during the prenatal period might play a critical role in health, affecting the development of diseases, such as osteoporosis. Bone health is particularly affected by human behaviors when sports participation constitutes the main manifestation of physical exercise. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between birth weight (BW) and bone mineral content (BMC) among adolescents, as well as to identify if sports participation and maturity can affect this relationship.

Pursuit or discontinuation of anti-PD1 after 2 years of treatment in long-term responder patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: The optimal duration of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be determined. Treatment durations in cornerstone phase 3 clinical trials vary between a fixed 2-year duration and pursuit until disease progression. Clinical practices may thus differ according to the attending physician.

Relationship of Objectively Measured Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Sleep Time with Cardiovascular and Mtabolic Outcomes in Adolescents (A Pilot Study): ABCD Growth Study.

Study Objective: Different behaviors are considered important factors that may influence a healthy lifestyle. Given this fact, we aim to analyze the relationship between moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sleep time, and sedentary time, with cardiometabolic outcomes in adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, with 152 eutrophic and healthy adolescents.

Estimating the causal effect of treatment with direct-acting antivirals on kidney function among individuals with hepatitis C virus infection.

Background: Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) are highly effective at treating Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with a cure rate >95%. However, the effect of DAAs on kidney function remains debated.

Methods: We analyzed electronic health record data for DAA-naive patients with chronic HCV infection engaged in HCV care at Boston Medical Center between 2014 and 2018.

Herb-Induced Liver Injury-A Challenging Diagnosis.

Herb-induced liver injury (HILI) can be caused by supplements containing herbs, natural products, and products used in traditional medicine. Herbal products' most common adverse reaction is hepatotoxicity. Almost every plant part can be used to make herbal products, and these products can come in many different forms, such as teas, powders, oils, creams, capsules, and injectables.

Drug Induced Liver Injury: Perspective of the Adverse Drug Reaction Reports to the Portuguese Pharmacovigilance System from 2010 to 2019.

Background: Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is an adverse drug reaction that causes liver damage in a predictable (dose-dependent) or an unpredictable (idiosyncratic) fashion. We performed an assessment of DILI in Portugal, by analyzing the reports, sent to the Portuguese Pharmacovigilance System (PPS).

Methods: A search was performed on the PPS database, in a 10-year time frame, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019.

Autoimmune Gastrointestinal Dysmotility in a Patient With HIV Treated With Methylprednisolone and Pyridostigmine.

Primary autoimmune gastrointestinal dysmotility is a limited form of autoimmune dysautonomia, driven by antiganglionic autoantibodies (AGAs) against enteric neurons. AGAs are observed in other autoimmune diseases, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, before the development onset of gastrointestinal symptoms. Here, we report a case of a 57-year-old woman with human immunodeficiency virus, who previously developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, presenting with 6 months of intestinal dysmotility.

Pharmacist-Managed Treatment Service Within a Gastroenterology Clinic: Workflow and Real-World Experiences.

Background: Treatment eradication rates of , a gastrointestinal infection, are 70% to 90% in clinical studies but lower in real-world settings. Potential barriers include multidrug regimen complexity or prescribing/administration errors. A pharmacist-managed treatment service was implemented to address these barriers and optimize treatment outcomes.

Alcohol Consumption and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA Levels in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients.

Background: The impact of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels on the evolution of chronic HCV infection-related liver damage is controversial. Heavy alcohol use is believed to have a deleterious impact on the course of HCV disease, but current knowledge about the possible effect of alcohol use on HCV RNA levels in HIV/HCV coinfected patients is limited.

Methods: We examined 107 HIV/HCV-infected individuals with current or past unhealthy alcohol use to assess the association between alcohol consumption (any drinking vs.

Colonic Epithelial Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) Expression in Blacks and Whites: Potential Implications for Pathogenesis Covid-19 Racial Disparities.

Background: Covid-19 toll is disproportionate in Blacks although the mechanisms remain incompletely understood. From a biological perspective, several host proteins have received most attention as logical susceptibility targets. Specifically, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) serves as the epithelial cell receptor and acts in concert with transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2).

Quantification of gastric mucosal microcirculation as a surrogate marker of portal hypertension by spatially resolved subdiffuse reflectance spectroscopy in diagnosis of cirrhosis: a proof-of-concept study.

Background And Aims: Portal pressure can be used to identify patients with chronic liver disease who have progressed to cirrhosis. Portal pressure can also provide accurate prognostication for patients with cirrhosis. However, there are no practical means for assessment of portal pressure.

Improved Antibody Response to Three Additional Hepatitis B Vaccine Doses Following Primary Vaccination Failure in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: Studies have shown the efficacy of hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is impaired, but few data exist regarding the effectiveness of revaccination strategies following primary vaccination failure. Our aim was to analyze the association between administration of additional vaccine doses and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) seroconversion.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study.

Sustained Improvement in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is Common After Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus With Direct-acting Antiviral Therapy.

Goals: To determine whether diabetic patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) treated with direct-acting antiviral agents have improved diabetes, accounting for change in both hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and diabetes medications, and whether any improvement was sustained.

Background: HCV infection is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, with improvement in glycemic control after eradication. There remains uncertainty about the durability and magnitude of this effect.

Intensive Pharmacy Care Improves Outcomes of Hepatitis C Treatment in a Vulnerable Patient Population at a Safety-Net Hospital.

Background: Treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens has resulted in high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR). Treatment of vulnerable populations may be improved by incorporating an on-site intensive specialty pharmacy (ON-ISP).

Aims: To describe outcomes of HCV treatment at a safety-net hospital and proportion of subjects achieving SVR for those using the ON-ISP compared to an off-site pharmacy (OFF-SP).

Correction: Biophotonic detection of high order chromatin alterations in field carcinogenesis predicts risk of future hepatocellular carcinoma: A pilot study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Biophotonic detection of high order chromatin alterations in field carcinogenesis predicts risk of future hepatocellular carcinoma: A pilot study.

Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) results from chronic inflammation/cirrhosis. Unfortunately, despite use of radiological/serological screening techniques, HCC ranks as a leading cause of cancer deaths. Our group has used alterations in high order chromatin as a marker for field carcinogenesis and hence risk for a variety of cancers (including colon, lung, prostate, ovarian, esophageal).

Hepatitis C virus infection in kidney transplantation-changing paradigms with novel agents.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a common cause of increased morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant patients. It is associated with posttransplant glomerulonephritis, chronic allograft nephropathy, and New Onset Diabetes after Transplant (NODAT). In the past, HCV was difficult to treat due to the presence of interferon alpha-based therapies that were difficult to tolerate and were associated with adverse side-effects, such as the risk of rejection.

Antibody Response to Hepatitis B Virus Vaccine is Impaired in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Infliximab Therapy.

Background: Studies have demonstrated an association between anti-TNF/immunomodulator agents used in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and impaired hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine immunogenicity, but little data exist on whether specific medication types affect protective HBsAb titers. Our aim was to analyze this association.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study.

HTLV-1 is predominantly sexually transmitted in Salvador, the city with the highest HTLV-1 prevalence in Brazil.

Background: Salvador is the city with the highest number of HTLV-1 infected individuals in Brazil, yet the main route of HTLV-1 transmission is unknown.

Objective: To investigate the association of syphilis infection as a proxy for sexual transmission of HTLV-1 infection in the general population of this city.

Methods: A cross sectional population-based study was conducted with 3,451 serum samples obtained by a representative simple random sampling.

Clinical Liver Disease Progression Among Hepatitis C-Infected Drug Users With CD4 Cell Count Less Than 200 Cells/mm(3) Is More Pronounced Among Women Than Men.

Background.  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality in the United States, and injection drug users are at particularly high risk. Methods.

CD4 recovery on antiretroviral therapy is associated with decreased progression to liver disease among hepatitis C virus-infected injecting drug users.

Background.  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection accelerates liver disease progression in individuals with chronic hepatitis C. We evaluated the associations of CD4, HIV RNA, and antiretroviral therapy (ART)-induced CD4 recovery with liver diagnoses in a prospective cohort of injecting drug users (IDUs).

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is associated with all-cause and liver-related mortality in a cohort of HIV-infected patients with alcohol problems.

Aims: To assess the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and overall and liver-related death in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with alcohol problems.

Design: We analyzed data from a cohort of HIV-infected adults with current or past alcohol problems enrolled between 2001 and 2003, searching for causes of death until 2010 using the National Death Index.

Setting And Participants: Participants were HIV-infected adults with current or past alcohol problems, recruited in Boston, MA from HIV clinics at two hospitals, homeless shelters, drug treatment programs, subject referrals, flyers and another cohort study with comparable recruitment sites.

Impact of lifetime alcohol use on liver fibrosis in a population of HIV-infected patients with and without hepatitis C coinfection.

Background: The effect of alcohol on liver disease in HIV infection has not been well characterized.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional multivariable analysis of the association between lifetime alcohol use and liver fibrosis in a longitudinal cohort of HIV-infected patients with alcohol problems. Liver fibrosis was estimated with 2 noninvasive indices, "FIB-4," which includes platelets, liver enzymes, and age; and aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index ("APRI"), which includes platelets and liver enzymes.

Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in inflammatory bowel disease: when should prophylaxis be considered?

Background: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has increased over the past several decades with a corresponding increase in the number of patients on combination immunosuppressive therapy including corticosteroids, anti-metabolites and biologic agents. The exact incidence of pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) in IBD patients is unknown but there has been an increase in the number of reports of PJP in IBD patients on combination immunosuppressive therapy.

Methods: We evaluated the published literature describing PJP infections in IBD patients, as well as other non-HIV cohorts and identified risk factors for PJP infection in this group of patients.