Pulmonary vascular disease and exercise hemodynamics in chronic liver disease.

Background & Aims: Portopulmonary hypertension (POPH) and hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) are severe pulmonary vascular complications of chronic liver disease and strongly associated with morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of these complications is relatively high in patients evaluated for liver transplantation, however it is virtually unknown in patients with stable chronic liver disease.

Methods: We assessed the pulmonary hypertension (PH) and HPS prevalence in a prospective registry study of our liver out-patient clinic in a tertiary center.

Changes in the Intestinal Microbiome during a Multispecies Probiotic Intervention in Compensated Cirrhosis.

Probiotics have been used in trials to therapeutically modulate the gut microbiome and have shown beneficial effects in cirrhosis. However, their effect on the microbiome of cirrhosis patients is not fully understood yet. Here, we tested the effects of a multispecies probiotic on microbiome composition in compensated cirrhosis.

Helpful, albeit hazardous! Esophageal stem-cell injection in systemic sclerosis.

Background: Over 90% of patients with systemic sclerosis suffer from gastroesophageal reflux. Esophageal motility disturbances are associated with a reduced life quality and may force interstitial lung disease progression. We wanted to determine whether we can improve gastroesophageal reflux in these patients by esophageal stem-cell injection.

Involvement of EP2 and EP4 Receptors in Eosinophilic Esophagitis: A Pilot Study.

Background: The prostaglandin D receptor DP2 has been implicated in eosinophil infiltration and the development of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).

Aims And Methods: In this study, we investigated an involvement of PGE (EP1-EP4) and PGD (DP1) receptors in EoE by measuring their expression in peripheral blood eosinophils and esophageal mucosal biopsies of EoE patients and by performing migration and adhesion assays with eosinophils from healthy donors.

Results: Expression of EP2 and EP4, but not EP1 and EP3, was decreased in blood eosinophils of patients with EoE vs.

Genetic loss of the muscarinic M receptor markedly alters bile formation and cholestatic liver injury in mice.

Aim: Hepatic innervation represents a potentially underestimated regulator of liver function and regeneration. The muscarinic 3 receptor (M -R) is the primary cholangiocyte receptor for the afferent parasympathetic innervation of bile ducts. We aimed to determine the specific role of the M -R in bile formation and models for cholestatic liver disease in mice.

Diet therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases: The established and the new.

Although patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have a strong interest in dietary modifications as part of their therapeutic management, dietary advice plays only a minor part in published guidelines. The scientific literature shows that dietary factors might influence the risk of developing IBD, that dysbiosis induced by nutrition contributes to the pathogenesis of IBD, and that diet may serve as a symptomatic treatment for irritable bowel syndrome-like symptoms in IBD. The role of nutrition in IBD is underscored by the effect of various dietary therapies.

The chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration equation combining creatinine and cystatin C accurately assesses renal function in patients with cirrhosis.

Background: Accurate measurement of renal function in cirrhotic patients is still challenging. To find the best test for the determination of the true glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in cirrhotic patients this study prospectively compared measured (m)GFR, the gold standard, with estimated (e)GFR using equations based on serum levels of creatinine and cystatin C.

Methods: GFR was measured by sinistrin clearance using the bolus method in 50 patients with cirrhosis (Child Turcotte Pugh score A, B and C) and 24 age-matched healthy subjects as controls.

Differential effects of norUDCA and UDCA in obstructive cholestasis in mice.

Background & Aims: The quest for effective drugs to treat cholangiopathies led to the development of norUDCA previously shown to have potent choleretic effects and to heal cholangiopathy in Abcb4 knockout (Abcb4(-/-)) mice. Its mother compound UDCA had detrimental effects in common bile duct ligated (CBDL) mice, presumably related to its choleretic effects. norUDCA choleretic effects may therefore raise safety concerns when used in cholangiopathies with biliary obstruction.