Publications by authors named "Michael Pimienta"

Article Synopsis
  • Drinking too much alcohol can cause pancreatitis, which is a problem with the pancreas that helps with digestion.
  • A study found that alcohol reduces a process called autophagy, which helps cells clean out junk, in pancreatic cells.
  • The study suggests that a protein called ATG4B makes autophagy less effective when alcohol is present, so lowering ATG4B could help improve pancreatic health in people who drink a lot.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Naltrexone is an approved drug for management of alcohol use disorder (AUD), but data in patients with liver disease (LD) are limited. We aimed to evaluate the safety of naltrexone in those with LD. This is a retrospective cohort of adults with and without LD who were prescribed naltrexone for AUD from 2015 to 2019 in a safety-net setting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have low vaccination rates for vaccine-preventable diseases. Fear of adverse reactions (AEs) appear to negatively affect vaccination efforts. We aimed to systemically review the risks for AEs following immunization for patients with IBD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pancreatitis is a common, sometimes fatal, disease of exocrine pancreas, initiated by damaged acinar cells. Recent studies implicate disordered macroautophagy/autophagy in pancreatitis pathogenesis. ATG8/LC3 protein is critical for autophagosome formation and a widely used marker of autophagic vacuoles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Heavy alcohol use is the cause of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The ALD spectrum ranges from alcoholic steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. In Western countries, approximately 50% of cirrhosis-related deaths are due to alcohol use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) enhances the growth and recurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastasis. With the rising prevalence of NAFLD, a better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying NAFLD-associated liver metastasis is crucial. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) constitute a large portion of the tumor microenvironment that promotes tumor growth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The most important argument of this study is that modulation of intestinal lipid metabolism by enhancing intestinal expression has the potential to affect hepatic and systemic lipid metabolism, regulating the development of NAFLD and systemic insulin resistance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pancreatic cancer is one the most lethal malignancies. Only a small proportion of patients with this disease benefit from surgery. Chemotherapy provides only a transient benefit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The MAP kinase kinase kinase TGFβ-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) is activated by TLRs, IL-1, TNF, and TGFβ and in turn activates IKK-NF-κB and JNK, which regulate cell survival, growth, tumorigenesis, and metabolism. TAK1 signaling also upregulates AMPK activity and autophagy. Here, we investigated TAK1-dependent regulation of autophagy, lipid metabolism, and tumorigenesis in the liver.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF