Achalasia Quality Indicator Adherence.

Background: Quality indicators (QIs) are formal ways to track health care performance and outcomes, guide quality improvement, and identify gaps in care delivery. We developed twelve quality indicators for achalasia management which cover the domains of patient education, diagnosis, and treatment of achalasia.

Aim: To determine adherence to established quality indicators for achalasia management.

Thromboelastography Better Reflects Hemostatic Abnormalities in Cirrhotics Compared With the International Normalized Ratio.

Goal: The goal of this study was to describe potential key differences in thromboelastography (TEG) variables in hospitalized cirrhotics compared with a healthy population, identify patterns of hematologic disturbance with disease progression, and assess the value of traditional tests such as international normalized ratio (INR) and platelet count to determine coagulopathy in cirrhotics.

Background: TEG, a functional assay of coagulation, has emerged as a useful tool for predicting bleeding risk in cirrhosis.

Study: Hospitalized cirrhotics who received a TEG before any blood products between January 2017 and February 2018 at a liver transplant center were included.

Akt phosphorylation and regulation of transketolase is a nodal point for amino acid control of purine synthesis.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway integrates environmental clues to regulate cell growth and survival. We showed previously that depriving cells of a single essential amino acid rapidly and reversibly arrests purine synthesis. Here we demonstrate that amino acids via mammalian target of rapamycin 2 and IκB kinase regulate Akt activity and Akt association and phosphorylation of transketolase (TKT), a key enzyme of the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP).