Validation of the number connection test for identifying patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Objectives: Hepatic encephalopathy is a serious neuropsychiatric complication in advanced liver disease. The affected patients exhibit alterations in psychomotor and intellectual functions. The aims of this study were to identif the set ofnormal values for the number connection tests (NCT-A and NCT-B) in a population of volunteers without liver disease, to compare the values from this reference population with those from patients with cirrhosis without hepatic encephalopathy.

Etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma in Argentina: results of a multicenter retrospective study.

Incidence and etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are variable around the world, depending mainly on theprevalence ofchronic hepatitis B carriers in each region. No study has been published analyzing epidemiological features of patients with HCC in Argentina. The aim of this retrospective study was to describe demographical and etiological results in a series of 587 consecutive patients with HCC diagnosed in 15 Hepatology and Gastroenterology Units distributed all around our country.

[The Dubin-Johnson syndrome: case report and review of literature].

The Dubin-Johnson syndrome is a hereditary deficiency in the excretion ofconjugated bilirrubin by hepatocytes characterized by chronic hyperbilirubinemia, alteration in coproporphyrin metabolism, and intracellular deposition of a dark melanin-like pigment giving the liver a typical black cast. We report a 28-year-old male patient who presented conjunctival jaundice and conjugated-hyperbilirubinemia without no other alteration in hepatic biochemistry. The diagnosis of this syndrome was perfomed by using the low-risk methods of laparoscopy-facilitated hepatic biopsy and oral cholecystography In contrast, we avoided the classical Bromsulphalein test because of potential severe side effects.

[Severe acute hepatitis associated with intake of Aloe vera tea].

We present a 26-year-old man who developed severe acute hepatitis after consumption of an Aloe vera tea. On admission, the patient showed characteristic biochemical and clinical features of acute hepatitis and liver failure. The patient reported that he had been drinking an Aloe vera tea 2-4 weeks before symptom onset.

Alanine-aminotransferase: an early marker for insulin resistance?

In a population-based sample, after excluding alcohol consumption, hepatotoxic drugs and hepatitis B and C infected, we investigated if alanine-aminotransferase (ALT) was associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, and if this association was caused by non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The sample (432 female and 119 male) was divided into two ALT thresholds corresponding to the 50th and 75th percentiles (P) (female > or = 15 and > or = 19 U/L; male > or = 17 and > or = 23 U/I, respectively). Blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (HDLc), triglyceride (TG), TG/HDLc ratio, glycemia and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were compared between those above and below each ALT threshold.