COVID-19 severity is associated with the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Objective: The association between the severity of COVID-19 and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether the severity of COVID-19 is a risk factor for GI bleeding.

Design: A multicentre, retrospective cohort study was conducted on hospitalised patients with COVID-19 between January 2020 and December 2021.

[A Case of Severe Hyperammonemic Encephalopathy in a Dialysis Patient Following mFOLFOX6 Therapy].

A 69-year-old man on hemodialysis for chronic renal failure was diagnosed with ascending colon cancer, and received surgical resection. Multiple liver metastases were detected after surgery. He was administered modified FOLFOX6 therapy (reducing the dose to 50%), and showed severe disturbance of consciousness due to hyperammonemia on treatment day 6.

[Biliary tract carcinoma in elderly patients in whom gemcitabine chemotherapy induced complete remission - a report of two cases].

The authors experienced two patients with biliary tract carcinoma who could not be considered candidates for surgery. One was a 78-year-old female with cholangiocellular carcinoma who presented with acute cholangitis. Tumors had spread to both lobes of the liver, and chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) alone was selected.

Extracorporeal elimination of TNF-alpha-producing CD14(dull)CD16(+) monocytes in leukocytapheresis therapy for ulcerative colitis.

Background: In recent years leukocytapheresis using a leukocyte removal filter (known as lymphocytapheresis, LCAP) has been applied to the treatment of various autoimmune diseases including ulcerative colitis (UC). In the present study we aimed to clarify how LCAP therapy modifies inflammatory responses by modulating circulating TNF-alpha-producing monocytes.

Methods: Mononuclear cells were obtained from blood before and after the first treatment, and the expression profiles of various immune cells (naive versus.

Enhancement of mitochondrial gene expression in the liver of primary biliary cirrhosis.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is one of the most important autoimmune liver diseases but the etiology and pathogenesis remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed differential mRNA expression in the liver of a patient with PBC using suppression subtractive hybridization to identify overexpressed genes. Overexpression of mRNA transcripts from mitochondrial DNA was observed in the PBC liver, compared to normal liver.

Quantitation of the level of hepatitis delta virus RNA in serum, by real-time polymerase chain reaction--and its possible correlation with the clinical stage of liver disease.

Some hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers with chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) superinfection show progressive chronic hepatitis, whereas others show no apparent signs of liver disease. In the present study, we established a sensitive method for the quantitation of the level of HDV RNA in serum on the basis of real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), to clarify the role that the level of HDV RNA in serum plays in the diverse natural course of clinical manifestation. In 48 subjects who were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and for anti-hepatitis delta antibody, the levels of HDV RNA in serum were quantitated by RT-PCR.

Chronic hepatitis delta virus infection with genotype IIb variant is correlated with progressive liver disease.

We determined the sequence of the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) genome in 40 Japanese patients, most of whom were from the Miyako Islands, Okinawa, Japan. Consensus sequences from 33 HDV full genomes out of a total of 40 patients were determined by directly sequencing four partially overlapping PCR products. Phylogenetic tree analysis classified these 33 complete HDV genomes as HDV genotype I (two patients), genotype IIa (one patient) and genotype IIb (30 patients).

Amino acid substitutions in PKR-eIF2 phosphorylation homology domain (PePHD) of hepatitis C virus E2 protein in genotype 2a/2b and 1b in Japan and interferon efficacy.

Recently, the envelope protein 2 (E2) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was reported to interact with double stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) through an element homologous to the phosphorylation site of PKR and its target, eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF) 2alpha (PKR-eIF2alpha phosphorylation homology domain: PePHD). Inhibition of the kinase activity of PKR by this interaction was postulated as a mechanism for the resistance to interferon (IFN) therapy. The aim of this study was to clarify whether the variation of PePHD amino acid sequences affects IFN efficacy in Japanese population.

Sequence elements correlating with circulating viral load in genotype 1b hepatitis C virus infection.

The correlation between hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomic sequences and circulating HCV RNA levels was assessed to investigate the genetic elements affecting viral load. The interferon sensitivity-determining region (ISDR) sequence and the serum viral load were strongly correlated in 226 patients examined. Analysis of the entire HCV genome from six patients (three with a high and the others with a low viral load) with similar ISDR sequences identified several candidate residues associated with viral load.