Autologous macrophage therapy for liver cirrhosis: a phase 2 open-label randomized controlled trial.

Cirrhosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality; however, there are no approved therapies except orthotopic liver transplantation. Preclinical studies showed that bone-marrow-derived macrophage injections reduce inflammation, resolve fibrosis and stimulate liver regeneration. In a multicenter, open-label, parallel-group, phase 2 randomized controlled trial ( ISRCTN10368050 ) in n = 51 adult patients with compensated cirrhosis and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score ≥10 and ≤17, we evaluated the efficacy of autologous monocyte-derived macrophage therapy (n = 27) compared to standard medical care (n = 24).

Host hepatocyte senescence determines the success of hepatocyte transplantation in a mouse model of liver injury.

Background & Aims: Hepatocyte transplantation has shown promise for genetic diseases of the hepatocytes but to date has shown limited efficacy for non-genetic forms of severe liver injury. Limited cell engraftment and poor function of donor hepatocytes in recipient livers impacts the clinical utility of hepatocyte cell therapy. The mechanisms underpinning this are poorly understood.

Neighborhood frequency effects in simple and complex span: Do high-frequency neighbors help or hurt?

A word's orthographic neighborhood is the set of words that differ from the target word by one letter. Both Roodenrys (2009) and Robert et al. (Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 44, 119-125, 2015) posit that orthographic neighbors are activated when the target word is encountered in tasks such as simple and complex span.

Incidence of bacterial blood stream infections in patients with acute GVHD.

Bacterial bloodstream infections (BSI) can be a substantial contributor to complications of GVHD treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the risk for BSI from neutrophil engraftment through day 100 post transplant in patients with acute GVHD (AGVHD) based on organ involvement and severity. Patients (n = 4064) who underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) reported to the CIBMTR registry were analyzed.