Diagnostic performance of procalcitonin for bacterial infection in severe alcoholic hepatitis compared with C-reactive protein.

Background: Severe alcoholic hepatitis is a catastrophic disease with a mortality rate of up to 35-50% at 30 days. Bacterial infection is an important prognostic factor in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis, but it is difficult to detect the presence of infection immediately. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a well-known inflammatory marker that can detect bacterial infections in various diseases early.

Visceral Obesity and Its Association with Severe Coronary Artery Calcification in Patients with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.

: The role of body composition parameters in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) with presence and severity of coronary artery calcification (CAC) is still not fully elucidated. We aimed to evaluate the impact of computed tomography (CT)-based body composition parameters in patients with MASLD with CAC severity. : In this multicenter study, 1870 individuals underwent cardiac CT for the detection of CAC as well as ultrasonography for the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis.

Comparative associations of MASLD and MAFLD with the presence and severity of coronary artery calcification.

We aimed to compare the associations of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) with coronary artery calcification (CAC). Patients who simultaneously underwent ultrasonography to diagnose hepatic steatosis and cardiac computed tomography to detect CAC were included. The presence and severity of CAC were defined with CAC-score thresholds of > 0 and > 300, respectively, and patients were divided into the following groups: no MASLD or MAFLD (reference), MASLD-only, MAFLD-only, and overlapping groups.

Effect of direct-acting antivirals on disease burden of hepatitis C virus infection in South Korea in 2007-2021: a nationwide, multicentre, retrospective cohort study.

Background: It is unclear whether direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) treatment improves the disease burden in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study aimed to investigate the effect of DAA treatment on the reduction of disease burden in patients with HCV infection using individual participant data.

Methods: This nationwide multicentre retrospective cohort study recruited patients with HCV infection from 29 tertiary institutions in South Korea.

Validation of MELD 3.0 in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis using prospective KACLiF cohort.

Background And Aim: The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is a reliable prognostic tool for short-term outcome prediction in patients with end-stage liver disease. MELD 3.0 was introduced to enhance the predictive accuracy.

Comparative associations of MASLD and MAFLD with the presence and severity of coronary artery calcification.

We aimed to compare the associations of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) with coronary artery calcification (CAC). Patients who simultaneously underwent ultrasonography to diagnose hepatic steatosis and cardiac computed tomography to detect CAC were included. The presence and severity of CAC were defined with CAC-score thresholds of >0 and > 300, respectively, and patients were divided into the following groups: no MASLD or MAFLD (reference), MASLD-only, MAFLD-only, and overlapping groups.

The Clinical Significance of Myosteatosis in Survival Outcomes in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Sorafenib.

The role of body composition parameters in sorafenib-treated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is still not fully elucidated. Here, we aimed to evaluate the impact of computed tomography (CT)-based body composition parameters on the survival of such patients. In this multicenter study, we analyzed the data of 245 sorafenib-treated HCC patients from January 2008 to December 2019.

Tissue Circular RNA_0004018 and 0003570 as Novel Prognostic Biomarkers for Hepatitis B-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The clinical significance of hsa_circ_0004018 and hsa_circ_0003570 in patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) is unclear. We aimed to explore the clinical significance and prognostic utility of these two circular RNAs (circRNAs) in patients with HBV-HCC. Based on 86 paired tissue samples of HCC and adjacent non-HCC, the relative expression profiles of hsa_circ_0004018 and hsa_circ_0003570 were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions.

New prognostic model for hospitalized patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and Maddrey's discriminant function <32.

Background & Aims: Few studies have investigated the prognosis of patients with non-severe alcoholic hepatitis (Non-SAH). The study aimed to develop a new prognostic model for patients with especially Non-SAH.

Methods: We extracted 316 hospitalized patients with alcoholic cirrhosis without severe alcoholic hepatitis, defined as Maddrey's discriminant function score lower than 32, from the retrospective Korean Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure (KACLiF) cohort to develop a new prognostic model (training set), and validated it in 419 patients from the prospective KACLiF cohort (validation set).

Clinical Implications for the Comprehensive Interpretation of Radiologic and Immunodiagnostic Tests in Patients Suspected of Parasitic Hepatic Cyst, a Rare Case in Korea.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a representative neglected tropical disease (NTD) with increased morbidity and mortality but is ignored and overlooked in developed countries. Serological and radiographic findings are helpful in distinguishing these parasites; however, conflicting results of these can make it difficult to diagnose if medical knowledge of hepatic parasitic disease, including the etiology, features of imaging, and immunodiagnostic test, is not acquired. We report the case of a male patient with dyspepsia and right epigastric pain who had positive results for cysticercosis antibodies on immunodiagnostic examination.

Performance of Simple Fibrosis Score in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease with and without Type 2 Diabetes.

This cross-sectional study enrolled 267 patients with metabolic risk factors and established non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the prospective cohort. The performance of fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score (≥1.3) to diagnose advanced fibrosis using transient elastography (liver stiffness measurement [LSM] ≥8 kPa) was analyzed.

Prognostic Impact of Myosteatosis on Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19.

Body composition, including sarcopenia, adipose tissue, and myosteatosis, is associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, few studies have identified the impact of body composition, including pre-existing risk factors, on COVID-19 mortality. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of body composition, including pre-existing risk factors, on mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Circular Noncoding RNA hsa_circ_0003570 as a Prognostic Biomarker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are potential biomarkers owing to their stability, tissue specificity, and abundance. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of hsa_circ_0003570 expression and to investigate its potential as a biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated hsa_circ_0003570 expression in 121 HCC tissue samples, its association with clinicopathological characteristics, and overall and progression-free survival.

Effect of switching from nucleos(t)ide maintenance therapy to PegIFN alfa-2a in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B: A randomized trial.

Aims: Induction of a durable viral response is difficult to achieve in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), even from long-term use of a nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA). This study investigated whether switching to peginterferon (PegIFN) alfa-2a after long-term NA therapy induced a durable viral response.

Methods: Patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive CHB who received any NA for at least 72 weeks and had a low level of HBV DNA (≤100 IU/mL) were randomized (1:1) to receive PegIFN alfa-2a (180 μg/week) or NA for 48 weeks.

Platelet-to-White Blood Cell Ratio Is Associated with Adverse Outcomes in Cirrhotic Patients with Acute Deterioration.

Background: The platelet-to-white blood cell ratio (PWR) is a hematologic marker of the systemic inflammatory response. Recently, the PWR was revealed to have a role as an independent prognostic factor for mortality in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic failure (ACLF) and HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC) with acute decompensation (AD). However, the prognostic role of the PWR still needs to be investigated in LC patients with AD.

Long-term effects of the changes in hepatic steatosis status on the risk of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: A 15-year community-based prospective cohort study.

Aims: We investigated the long-term effect of changes in hepatic steatosis on the risk of developing T2DM.

Methods: We evaluated 3510 participants from the 2001-2016 Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. Those with significant alcohol consumption or T2DM during 2001-2004 were excluded.

Deep Learning-Based Four-Region Lung Segmentation in Chest Radiography for COVID-19 Diagnosis.

Imaging plays an important role in assessing the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia. Recent COVID-19 research indicates that the disease progress propagates from the bottom of the lungs to the top. However, chest radiography (CXR) cannot directly provide a quantitative metric of radiographic opacities, and existing AI-assisted CXR analysis methods do not quantify the regional severity.

Federated learning for predicting clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19.

Federated learning (FL) is a method used for training artificial intelligence models with data from multiple sources while maintaining data anonymity, thus removing many barriers to data sharing. Here we used data from 20 institutes across the globe to train a FL model, called EXAM (electronic medical record (EMR) chest X-ray AI model), that predicts the future oxygen requirements of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 using inputs of vital signs, laboratory data and chest X-rays. EXAM achieved an average area under the curve (AUC) >0.

Circular noncoding RNA hsa_circ_0005986 as a prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent potential biomarkers because of their highly stable structure and robust expression pattern in clinical samples. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of a recently identified circRNA, hsa_circ_0005986; determine its clinical significance; and evaluate its potential as a biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated hsa_circ_0005986 expression in 123 HCC tissue samples, its clinical significance, and its association with patients' clinicopathological characteristics and survival.