Publications by authors named "Larissa B E Costa"

Giant hepatic hemangiomas are occasional in patients with cirrhosis. It remains a challenge to decide on the need for treatment and choose the most appropriate intervention. A 62-year-old woman was recently diagnosed with cirrhosis and complained of upper abdominal fullness, reduction in oral food intake, and weight loss of 6 kg over the last three years.

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COVID-19 is commonly associated with high serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the post-infection status can disturb self-tolerance and trigger autoimmune responses. We are reporting a 45-year-old male who was admitted with fatigue, jaundice, elevated liver enzymes (with cholestatic pattern), and acute kidney injury two weeks after recovering from a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Serologies for viral hepatitis and anti-mitochondrial antibody were negative, while anti-nuclear and anti-smooth muscle antibodies were positive.

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  • Gastrointestinal amyloidosis is a disease that can be either primary (related to a type of blood cell problem) or secondary (from long-term illnesses or conditions like inflammatory bowel disease).
  • Sometimes, it can cause serious liver failure, which makes it harder to diagnose and treat.
  • Doctors look for specific signs in scans of the abdomen to help identify the disease and understand what’s going on.
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Researchers from different fields have studied the causes of obesity and associated comorbidities, proposing ways to prevent and treat this condition by using a common animal model of obesity to create a profound energy imbalance in young adult rodents. However, to confirm the harmful effects of consuming a high-fat and hypercaloric diet, it is common to include normolipidic and normocaloric control groups in the experimental protocols. This study compared the effect of three experimental diets described in the literature - namely, a high-fat diet, a high-fat and high-sucrose diet, and a high-fat and high-fructose diet - to induce obesity in C57BL/6 J mice with the standard AIN-93G diet as a control.

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Objective: To evaluate the prognosis of endocervical adenocarcinomas after reclassification according to the morphologic type based on the 2020 World Health Organization Classification.

Methods: A retrospective longitudinal study with cases admitted at the University of Campinas, Brazil, from 2013 to 2020. The sample included 140 cases morphologically reclassified: 100 cases as adenocarcinoma HPV-associated (HPVA), 17 as HPV-independent (HPVI), and 23 non-HPVA/HPVI.

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Introduction: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is the second most common type of primary liver cancer. Several factors, such as epigenetic changes in promoter genes, gene expression, and microRNAs (miR), can contribute to genomic instability in cancer. This study aimed at evaluating the expression of VEGF, miRs 145-3p, and 101-3p in patients with CCA and their potential as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of CCA.

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  • Liver transplant is the primary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, but there's a high demand for available organs, making patient selection crucial to reduce recurrence and graft loss.
  • The study evaluated the correlation between the New York/California (NYCA) score and tumor recurrence in 214 liver transplant patients, highlighting the role of alpha fetoprotein as a prognostic marker.
  • Results showed that patients with tumor recurrence had significantly higher NYCA scores, indicating its potential utility in identifying individuals at greater risk for recurrence after transplantation.
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  • Natalizumab, an anti-integrin monoclonal antibody, is used for autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, but it can rarely cause liver injury, typically presenting as non-severe acute hepatitis after the first or subsequent doses.
  • A case study of a 60-year-old woman showed she developed jaundice and severe liver enzyme increases just one day after her first natalizumab infusion, with lab tests revealing signs of drug-induced liver injury.
  • The patient was treated with oral prednisone, leading to her progressive recovery and normalization of liver function, highlighting the need for physicians to monitor for early-onset hepatitis in new natalizumab patients, particularly women with multiple sclerosis.
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  • - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading type of liver cancer, making up 90% of liver tumors, and treatment relies on factors like tumor size and liver function, with liver transplants being the best option for cure according to strict criteria.
  • - In Brazil, the Brazilian Criteria for liver transplants considers HCC tumors starting from 2 cm, contrasting with the original Milan Criteria, which allows for tumors of a different size and number.
  • - A study in a university hospital over 10 years found that out of 485 liver transplants, 243 had HCC, mainly affecting men with hepatitis C, and patients with tumors meeting the Milan Criteria had better survival rates compared to those that did
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary neoplasm of the liver, mainly secondary to cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C virus. Liver transplant (LT) is considered the best treatment because, in addition to removing the tumor, it also removes the underlying cirrhotic liver. The Milan criteria for LT have limitations because they do not consider the biological characteristics of the tumor.

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth leading cause of cancer in the world, and liver transplant (LT) is a good therapeutic option in selected cases because it treats the neoplasm and the underlying disease. Recurrence after LT is usually aggressive and has low survival; thus, an adequate selection of recipients is ideal. The new models aim to assess the individual risk of HCC recurrence in patients undergoing LT and to improve post-LT survival.

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  • The study focuses on the reasons for performing percutaneous liver biopsies (PLB) and the associated complications in an outpatient setting over five years.
  • It analyzed 532 biopsies from 524 patients, finding that MAFLD has become a more common reason for biopsies compared to HCV infection, while pain during the procedure was more frequently reported by females.
  • The overall complication rate was low, with only 2.1% experiencing serious complications and no deaths, highlighting the safety of PLB but emphasizing the need for better pain management strategies, especially for women.
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We report the clinicopathological findings of the first series of 3 patients from Brazil with fumarate hydratase-deficient renal cell carcinoma. The clinicopathological findings disclosed a very aggressive tumor. All 3 patients had solitary tumor at the left side, metastasis and advanced stage at the time of diagnosis; were females with a median age of 40 years; had a history of uterine leiomyomas; and, at follow-up two patients are deceased and one patient alive.

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Background: Renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is directly associated with acute renal failure and can occur in conditions such as infarction caused by embolization or thrombosis, septicemia, and kidney transplantation. The process is complex, involving innate and adaptive immune responses, presence of cellular infiltrate, and production and release of cytokines and chemokines. It also triggers cell responses and release of reactive oxygen species, in addition to causing apoptosis and, in some cases, cell necrosis.

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  • * The study involved 63 patients, measuring SOD2 expression through immunohistochemistry, and used statistical analysis to assess its impact on disease outcomes.
  • * Findings revealed that patients with high SOD2 levels had significantly shorter disease-free and overall survival rates, indicating its potential as a prognostic marker for cervical carcinoma.
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Studies have shown that Gleason grade 4 extent as well as architectural subtypes provide prognostic information. We aimed to evaluate the influence on biochemical recurrence following radical prostatectomy of patients with organ-confined tumor, Gleason score 7, and negative surgical margins. Total tumor extent, Gleason grade 4 total extent and the extent of each architectural subtype (fused glands, poorly defined glands, cribriform glands, and glomeruloid glands) were evaluated by a semiquantitative point-count method using different colors to identify each subtype.

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Background: Genetic anaemias lead us to reflect on the classic 'trolley dilemma', when there are two choices but neither one is satisfactory. Either we do not treat anaemia and the patient suffers from chronic tiredness and fatigue, or we do treat it through blood transfusions, leading to iron overload, which is a quite harmful consequence.

Case Presentation: We present the case of a 34-year-old woman with Diamond-Blackfan anaemia (DBA).

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Tubulovillous adenomas of the duodenal ampulla are rare neoplasms. The present report describes a case with radiological-endoscopic and pathological correlation in which the patient underwent duodenal pancreatectomy with good postoperative progression. With advanced imaging methods, especially magnetic resonance and endoscopic ultrasound, locoregional aspects and extraluminal, lymphovascular, and metastatic invasion have been increasingly discussed as contributors to therapeutic decision making.

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Hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis C in the absence of cirrhosis is uncommon. We demonstrate the importance of morphofunctional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a hepatospecific contrast agent by describing an asymptomatic female patient with HCV, who presented with a nodule detected on ultrasound. She underwent inconclusive computed tomography, presenting no signs of chronic liver disease.

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Ionic liquids (ILs) derived from compounds obtained from natural sources, such as fatty acids (FAs) have attracted the interest of the scientific and industrial communities because of their sustainable appeal and possible low toxic effects or nontoxicity. These aspects open new perspective of applications in other fields, which demands a better comprehension of their toxicity. This work evaluated the subacute toxicity of bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium carboxylates in Wistar rats, considering the alkyl chain length of FAs (capric and oleic acids), and the concentration (0.

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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic disease with several degrees of histological features which may progress to cirrhosis. Obesity is an important risk factor and although NAFLD has no specific pharmacological treatment, bariatric surgery has been associated with NAFLD regression in severely obese patients. However, few longitudinal histological studies support this finding.

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Article Synopsis
  • Prostatic xanthoma is a rare lesion that often appears unexpectedly during medical procedures, and this case focuses on a patient with new urinary issues after a kidney transplant.
  • A 62-year-old man, who had no urinary problems before receiving his transplant, developed symptoms and underwent surgery that revealed a pure xanthoma in his prostate without any signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
  • The findings suggest that the xanthoma could be related to the immunosuppressive treatment following his kidney transplant, rather than lipid metabolism disorders typically associated with such lesions.
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Glucagonoma is a rare and slow-growing pancreatic tumor that usually manifests as glucagonoma syndrome. It is mainly characterized by a typical Dermatosis named necrolytic migratory erythema (NME), Diabetes and glucagon oversecretion. Deep vein thrombosis and Depression complete this set.

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Objective: To investigate whether quantitative computed tomography (CT) measurements can predict microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 200 cases of surgically proven HCCs in 125 consecutive patients evaluated between March 2010 and November 2017. We quantitatively measured regions of interest in lesions and adjacent areas of the liver on unenhanced CT scans, as well as in the arterial, portal venous, and equilibrium phases on contrast-enhanced CT scans.

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