Significant decrease in the prevalence of hepatitis C infection after the introduction of direct acting antivirals.

Background And Aim: Accurate information on the epidemiology of hepatitis C and B infection is mandatory to establish a national/regional plan. We aim to update the prevalence of hepatitis C and B infection in Catalonia using point-of-care tests to analyze the risk factors related and to implement a linkage-to-care circuit.

Methods: This is a community-based study.

[Emergency care of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in regional hospitals in Catalonia].

Objective: To evaluate the resources available in Catalan regional hospitals for the emergency care of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Methods: We analyzed a survey sent to 32 hospitals on the availability, composition and resources of a duty endoscopy service for the year 2009.

Results: Responses were obtained from 24 centers, covering 3,954,000 inhabitants.

Case-control study for colorectal cancer genetic susceptibility in EPICOLON: previously identified variants and mucins.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in developed countries. Familial aggregation in CRC is also important outside syndromic forms and, in this case, a polygenic model with several common low-penetrance alleles contributing to CRC genetic predisposition could be hypothesized. Mucins and GALNTs (N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase) are interesting candidates for CRC genetic susceptibility and have not been previously evaluated.

Paracetamol in therapeutic dosages and acute liver injury: causality assessment in a prospective case series.

Background: Acute liver injury (ALI) induced by paracetamol overdose is a well known cause of emergency hospital admission and death. However, there is debate regarding the risk of ALI after therapeutic dosages of the drug.The aim is to describe the characteristics of patients admitted to hospital with jaundice who had previous exposure to therapeutic doses of paracetamol.

Susceptibility genetic variants associated with colorectal cancer risk correlate with cancer phenotype.

Background & Aims: Ten common low-penetrant genetic variants have been consistently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk; little is known about the correlation between these variants and CRC phenotype. Characterization of such a correlation would improve CRC management and prevention programs. We assessed the association between these genetic variants and CRC phenotype in patients and modeled pairwise combinations to detect epistasis.

[Quick and early diagnostic outpatient unit: an effective and efficient assistential model. Five years experience].

Background And Objective: To analyze the applicability of an out-patient Quick and Early Diagnostic Unit (QEDU) to evaluate patients with a potential life-threatening disorder on an out-patient basis.

Patients And Method: We analyzed prospectively all patients attended in the unit for five years (1997-2001). We compared patients with lung cancer and colorectal cancer admitted to hospital for conventional study versus patients studied at the unit.