WGO Guidance for the Care of Patients With COVID-19 and Liver Disease.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the least deadly but most infectious coronavirus strain transmitted from wild animals. It may affect many organ systems. Aim of the current guideline is to delineate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the liver.

Gallbladder Scalloping, Mammillated Caudate Lobe, and Inferior Vena Cava Scalloping: Three Novel Ultrasound Signs of Cirrhosis.

Purpose: We aimed to present three new ultrasound signs-gallbladder scalloping, mammillated caudate lobe, and inferior vena cava scalloping-and determine their accuracy in diagnosing liver cirrhosis.

Materials And Methods: A total of 201 consecutive patients with a history of chronic liver disease who had undergone ultrasound imaging and liver biopsy were identified. A senior ultrasound radiologist blindly reviewed the ultrasound examinations.

The impact of an educational program on HCV patient outcomes using boceprevir in community practices (OPTIMAL trial).

Objectives: Although effective, direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapies for genotype 1 (GT 1) hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been associated with compliance challenges. Additionally, treatment at predominantly community-based centers has been associated with low retention of patients on treatment and higher dropout rates. The OPTIMAL Phase IV interventional trial (ClinicalTrials.

Predicting cancer mortality: Developing a new cancer care variable using mixed methods and the quasi-statistical approach.

Objective: To demonstrate the value of using a variable derived from qualitative analysis in subsequent quantitative analyses.

Data Sources/study Setting: Mixed methods data were combined with 10-year mortality outcomes. Participants with cancer were recruited from services at a large teaching hospital, and mortality data were from the Social Security Death Index.

Calcite precipitation dominates the electrical signatures of zero valent iron columns under simulated field conditions.

Calcium carbonate is a secondary mineral precipitate influencing zero valent iron (ZVI) barrier reactivity and hydraulic performance. We conducted column experiments to investigate electrical signatures resulting from concurrent CaCO(3) and iron oxides precipitation under simulated field geochemical conditions. We identified CaCO(3) as a major mineral phase throughout the columns, with magnetite present primarily close to the influent based on XRD analysis.

A comparison of the low frequency electrical signatures of iron oxide versus calcite precipitation in granular zero valent iron columns.

Geophysical methods have been proposed as technologies for non-invasively monitoring geochemical alteration in permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). We conducted column experiments to investigate the effect of mineralogy on the electrical signatures resulting from iron corrosion and mineral precipitation in Fe0 columns using (a) Na2SO4, and (b) NaHCO3 plus CaCl2 mixture, solutions. At the influent interface where the reactions were most severe, a contrasting time-lapse electrical response was observed between the two columns.

Older donor livers show early severe histological activity, fibrosis, and graft failure after liver transplantation for hepatitis C.

Background: In hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive liver transplant recipients, infection of the allograft and recurrent liver disease are important problems. Increased donor age has emerged as an important variable affecting patient and graft survival; however, specific age cutoffs and risk ratios for poor histologic outcomes and graft survival are not clear.

Methods: A longitudinal database of all HCV-positive patients transplanted at our center during an 11-year period was used to identify 111 patients who received 124 liver transplants.

Treatment of hepatitis C cryoglobulinemia: mission and challenges.

Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is a syndrome resulting from cold-insoluble immunoglobulin complexes or cryoglobulins (CGs) that precipitate in the serum of 40% to 50% of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The pathogenesis of cryoglobulinemia likely occurs due to chronic viremia and generation of rheumatoid factor following continuous presentation of antigen-immunoglobulin complexes to B cells. CGs are thought to be responsible for a variety of extrahepatic manifestations associated with HCV, including vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, arthritis, and neuropathies, which occur in approximately 10% of HCV patients with CGs.

Mental and physical symptoms associated with lower social support for patients with hepatitis C.

Aim: To systematically examine the impact of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnosis on patients' level of social support in a large-scale study.

Methods: Patients evaluated and treated for HCV in a tertiary referral center were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Demographic data, functional and emotional status as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) and the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), severity of liver disease, mode of acquisition, and physical and psychiatric comorbidities were collected from patients or abstracted from the medical record.

Majority of patients with hepatitis C express physical, mental, and social difficulties with antiviral treatment.

Objective: The hepatitis C virus can be successfully treated in up to 60% of infected patients. However, treatment is long and is associated with significant side-effects. We investigated difficulties with this treatment as it is an important factor in patient adherence.

GB virus type C NS5A sequence polymorphisms: association with interferon susceptibility and inhibition of PKR-mediated eIF2alpha phosphorylation.

GB virus type C (GBV-C) causes persistent infection in humans, although the mechanism by which the virus avoids clearance by the host is unknown. To determine if amino acid polymorphisms in the GB virus type C (GBV-C) NS5A and E2 proteins alter response to interferon (IFN) therapy, we studied the sequence of GBVC NS5A and E2 obtained from people receiving IFN therapy. In addition, we expressed recombinant GBVC NS5A protein to determine if it interferes with RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) function in vitro.

T-cell activation after chronic ethanol ingestion in mice.

Chronic excessive consumption of ethanol causes immunodeficiency in human beings and in mice. Immunologic changes have been described in both species, including T-cell and innate immune system cell activation, among others. The features of chronic ethanol-induced activation have similarities in the two species, including an increased effector subset in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

Down-regulation of heme oxygenase-1 by hepatitis C virus infection in vivo and by the in vitro expression of hepatitis C core protein.

Antioxidant enzymes, including heme oxygenase (HO)-1, are an important line of defense against oxidant-mediated liver injury. Because hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection appears to increase the production of oxidants, we evaluated levels of antioxidant enzymes and HO-1 in liver-biopsy samples from HCV-infected patients by immunoblot and semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. In HCV-infected liver samples, levels of immunoreactive HO-1 and HO-1 mRNA were >4-fold lower than levels in control samples, but levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase were unaffected.

A large biloma causing gastric outlet obstruction after a percutaneous liver biopsy.

Biloma formation has not been reported to occur after a routine percutaneous liver biopsy. It is an uncommon yet well known complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We report the development of a biloma within 1 week after a liver biopsy with a Jamshidi needle in a non-cirrhotic patient with hepatitis C.

Liver transplantation for disulfiram-induced fulminant hepatic failure.

Disulfiram has been used as a popular adjunct in programs for alcohol rehabilitation. However, in rare cases, disulfiram has been reported to cause fulminant hepatitis. Disulfiram use and its associated complications in adolescents have received minimal attention in the literature.

Hepatitis C virus-infected patients report communication problems with physicians.

We examined the prevalence and nature of perceived problems in the interaction between physicians and patients diagnosed with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This cross-sectional study included 322 outpatients diagnosed with chronic HCV infection and treated at a tertiary referral hospital's hepatology clinic. Patients were asked to provide demographic information and to complete a semistructured interview, the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) scale.

Small-scale electrical resistivity tomography of wet fractured rocks.

This paper describes a series of experiments that tested the ability of the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) method to locate correctly wet and dry fractures in a meso-scale model. The goal was to develop a method of monitoring the flow of water through a fractured rock matrix. The model was a four by six array of limestone blocks equipped with 28 stainless steel electrodes.

"They treated me like a leper". Stigmatization and the quality of life of patients with hepatitis C.

Objective: Hepatitis C virus is the most prevalent chronic blood-borne infection in the United States, typically acquired through contaminated blood products or needle sharing. We hypothesized that patients with chronic hepatitis C infection experience stigmatization independent of mode of acquisition and that it negatively affects quality of life.

Design: Cross-sectional observation study.

Liver regeneration investigated in a non-human primate model (Macaca mulatta).

Background/aims: An adequate model to study liver regeneration in humans is presently unavailable. We explored the feasibility of studying liver regeneration in a genetically similar species to man, the non-human primate Rhesus macaque.

Methods: Five animals were studied; two underwent 60% hepatectomy, one underwent 30% hepatectomy, and cholecystectomy alone was performed on two animals.