The Scottish Hepatology Access Research Partnership (SHARP) improving access to liver services throughout Scotland.

Background And Aims: Scotland has the highest rate of deaths from chronic liver disease (CLD) in the UK. Socioeconomic and geographic isolation represent significant challenges to delivery of care. The multidisciplinary Scottish Hepatology Access Research Partnership (SHARP) aimed to identify and break down barriers to diagnosing and treating liver disease in Scotland.

An alcohol-related liver disease multi-stakeholder hub (ARMS-Hub) to enhance research activity in underserved communities in the UK.

Background: Alcohol use is the third leading risk factor of death and disability in the UK and costs the NHS £3.5 billion per year. Despite the high prevalence and healthcare burden of Alcohol-related Liver Disease (ArLD), there has been minimal research addressing prevention, morbidity and mortality.

IL-1 Signal Inhibition in Alcohol-Related Hepatitis: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Canakinumab.

Background And Aims: Short-term mortality in alcohol-related hepatitis (AH) is high, and no current therapy results in durable benefit. A role for interleukin (IL)-1β has been demonstrated in the pathogenesis of alcohol-induced steatohepatitis. This study explored the safety and efficacy of canakinumab (CAN), a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-1β, in the treatment of patients with AH.

Diet modifies the association between alcohol consumption and severe alcohol-related liver disease incidence.

It is elusive why some heavy drinkers progress to severe alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) while others do not. This study aimed to investigate if the association between alcohol consumption and severe ALD is modified by diet. This prospective study included 303,269 UK Biobank participants.

Mechanism of EHMT2-mediated genomic imprinting associated with Prader-Willi syndrome.

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is caused by loss of expression of paternally expressed genes in the human 15q11.2-q13 imprinting domain. A set of imprinted genes that are active on the paternal but silenced on the maternal chromosome are intricately regulated by a bipartite imprinting center (PWS-IC) located in the PWS imprinting domain.

Transcriptional determinism and stochasticity contribute to the complexity of autism-associated SHANK family genes.

Precision of transcription is critical because transcriptional dysregulation is disease causing. Traditional methods of transcriptional profiling are inadequate to elucidate the full spectrum of the transcriptome, particularly for longer and less abundant mRNAs. SHANK3 is one of the most common autism causative genes.

Transcriptional Determinism and Stochasticity Contribute to the Complexity of Autism Associated Family Genes.

Precision of transcription is critical because transcriptional dysregulation is disease causing. Traditional methods of transcriptional profiling are inadequate to elucidate the full spectrum of the transcriptome, particularly for longer and less abundant mRNAs. is one of the most common autism causative genes.

Phenotypic Patterning through Copy Number Adaptation to Environmental Gradients.

We recently described a paradigm for engineering bacterial adaptation using plasmids coupled to the same origin of replication. In this study, we use plasmid coupling to generate spatially separated and phenotypically distinct populations in response to heterogeneous environments. Using a custom microfluidic device, we continuously tracked engineered populations along induced gradients, enabling an in-depth analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of plasmid coupling.

Quality standards for the management of alcohol-related liver disease: consensus recommendations from the British Association for the Study of the Liver and British Society of Gastroenterology ARLD special interest group.

Objective: Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of liver-related ill health and liver-related deaths in the UK, and deaths from ALD have doubled in the last decade. The management of ALD requires treatment of both liver disease and alcohol use; this necessitates effective and constructive multidisciplinary working. To support this, we have developed quality standard recommendations for the management of ALD, based on evidence and consensus expert opinion, with the aim of improving patient care.

In severe alcohol-related hepatitis, acute kidney injury is prevalent, associated with mortality independent of liver disease severity, and can be predicted using IL-8 and micro-RNAs.

Background: The prevalence, prediction and impact of acute kidney injury (AKI) in alcohol-related hepatitis (AH) is uncertain.

Aims: We aimed to determine AKI incidence; association with mortality; evaluate serum biomarkers and the modifying effects of prednisolone and pentoxifylline in the largest AH cohort to date.

Methods: Participants in the Steroids or Pentoxifylline for Alcoholic Hepatitis trial with day zero (D0) creatinine available were included.

Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices for Continuously Monitoring Yeast Aging.

For several decades, aging in has been studied in hopes of understanding its causes and identifying conserved pathways that also drive aging in multicellular eukaryotes. While the short lifespan and unicellular nature of budding yeast has allowed its aging process to be observed by dissecting mother cells away from daughter cells under a microscope, this technique does not allow continuous, high-resolution, and high-throughput studies to be performed. Here, we present a protocol for constructing microfluidic devices for studying yeast aging that are free from these limitations.

Investigating potential confounding by indication when considering the association between proton pump inhibitor use, infection, hepatic encephalopathy and mortality in hospitalised decompensated cirrhosis: a post-hoc analysis of the ATTIRE trial.

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly prescribed to prevent and treat upper gastrointestinal ulceration and bleeding. Studies have identified increased incidence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in cirrhosis patients taking PPIs. However, results are conflicting, and as PPIs are prescribed for variceal bleeding, a major risk factor for infection and HE, it is challenging to discern whether these associations are causal.

Parenclitic Network Mapping Identifies Response to Targeted Albumin Therapy in Patients Hospitalized With Decompensated Cirrhosis.

Introduction: The efficacy of targeted albumin therapy in the management of decompensatory events in cirrhosis is unclear, with different reports showing conflicting results. It is possible that only certain subgroups of patients may benefit from targeted albumin administration. However, extensive conventional subgroup analyses have not yet identified these subgroups.

Associations between an inflammatory diet index and severe non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a prospective study of 171,544 UK Biobank participants.

Background: Although non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is linked to inflammation, whether an inflammatory diet increases the risk of NAFLD is unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between the Energy-adjusted Diet Inflammatory Index (E-DII) score and severe NAFLD using UK Biobank.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 171,544 UK Biobank participants.

Extra-hepatic morbidity and mortality in alcohol-related liver disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Alcohol use increases the risk of many conditions in addition to liver disease; patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) are therefore at risk from both extra-hepatic and hepatic disease.

Aims: This review synthesises information about non-liver-related mortality in persons with ALD.

Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to identify studies describing non-liver outcomes in ALD.

Use of non-selective B-blockers is safe in hospitalised decompensated cirrhosis patients and exerts a potential anti-inflammatory effect: Data from the ATTIRE trial.

Background: Nonselective B-blockers (NSBBs) are believed to have pleiotropic effects beyond reducing portal pressure. However, studies also report potential harm in patients hospitalized with cirrhosis and ascites. We therefore investigated whether NSBB use at ATTIRE trial entry (Albumin to prevent infection in chronic liver failure, 2016-19) was associated with increased renal or cardiovascular dysfunction, compared the incidence of infection and plasma markers of systemic inflammation, and examined mortality at 28-days, 3 and 6-months.

The Liverpool alcohol-related liver disease algorithm identifies twice as many emergency admissions compared to standard methods when applied to Hospital Episode Statistics for England.

Background: Emergency admissions in England for alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) have increased steadily for decades. Statistics based on administrative data typically focus on the ArLD-specific code as the primary diagnosis and are therefore at risk of excluding ArLD admissions defined by other coding combinations.

Aim: To deploy the Liverpool ArLD Algorithm (LAA), which accounts for alternative coding patterns (e.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk Scores Predict Patients Under Surveillance at Low Risk of Benefit and High Risk of Harm.

Aims: Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is recommended for patients with cirrhosis. Multiple risk scores aim to stratify HCC risk, potentially allowing individualized surveillance strategies. We sought to validate four risk scores and quantify the consequences of surveillance via the calculation of numbers needed to benefit (NNB) and harm (NNH) according to classification by risk score strata.