The effects of poor sleep quality on cognitive function of patients with cirrhosis.

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the ill-defined relationship between sleep quality and multiple, specific domains of cognitive function in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests (divided into six neurocognitive domains) and a standardized, validated measure of sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]) were administered to patients with cirrhosis and without evidence of overt hepatic encephalopathy, recruited from liver transplant and advanced liver disease clinics (n = 34). An inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) control group (n = 23) was similarly recruited and evaluated to control for the secondary effect of a chronic illness on cognition.

The cognitive profile of depressed patients with cirrhosis.

Objective: To determine whether patients with cirrhosis and depressive symptoms have a different neuropsychological cognitive profile from patients with cirrhosis without depressive symptoms in order to show that cirrhosis may not be the only cause for cognitive decline in patients with cirrhosis.

Method: Adult outpatients with a diagnosis of cirrhosis based on histologic findings and clinical characteristics, who did not have clinically overt hepatic encephalopathy and who were being treated in the advanced liver disease and liver transplant clinics, were recruited for the study from May 2003 to May 2006. Patients underwent neuropsychological testing and evaluation for depression using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II).

Development of a three-factor neuropsychological approach for detecting minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Background: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (HE) has profoundly negative effects on daily functioning ad quality of life. However, standard psychometric procedures have not been widely incorporated into efforts to develop a neuropsychological battery for this condition.

Aims: To establish the construct and diagnostic validity of a neuropsychological approach for the recognition of minimal HE in patients with cirrhosis.

The relationship between caffeine and blood pressure in preadolescent African American girls.

Background: While high caffeine consumption has been shown to be associated with increased blood pressure in controlled experiments, the relationship between caffeine consumption and blood pressure in preadolescent (ages 6-11 years) and adolescent (ages 12-19 years) children has not been well studied. The primary objective of this study was to assess the cross-sectional relationship between caffeine intake and blood pressure in 8- to 10-year-old African American girls who eat an unrestricted diet.

Methods: Demographic, 24-hour dietary recall, and blood pressure data collected at baseline from 303 African American girls aged 8-10 years in the Girls health Enrichment Multisite Studies (GEMS) cohort were analyzed by using linear and multiple regression models.

Diagnostic ionizing radiation exposure in a population-based cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: For diagnosis, assessing disease activity, complications and extraintestinal manifestations, and monitoring response to therapy, patients with inflammatory bowel disease undergo many radiological studies employing ionizing radiation. However, the extent of radiation exposure in these patients is unknown.

Methods: A population-based inception cohort of 215 patients with inflammatory bowel disease from Olmsted County, Minnesota, diagnosed between 1990 and 2001, was identified.

MYH Y165C and G382D mutations in hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma patients.

Purpose: Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during chronic inflammation has been implicated in the progression of liver diseases and carcinogenesis. Subjects with inflammatory liver disease and one non-functional allele of the base excision repair gene, MYH, may be more susceptible to progression to cancer due to MYH haploinsufficiency in repairing oxidative damage caused by ROS. Here, we investigated the association of two common germline MYH mutations in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma.