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.

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.

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.

"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.

Recombinant hepatitis C virus-like particles expressed by baculovirus: utility in cell-binding and antibody detection assays.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is difficult to study due to the lack of an efficient cell culture system or small animal model. As a result, HCV-cell interactions are not well-defined. In addition, several studies have identified a subset of patients in whom HCV RNA is present, but HCV antibody is not detected.