Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Extra-Hepatic Cancers.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease but the second cause of death among NAFLD patients are attributed to malignancies at both gastrointestinal (liver, colon, esophagus, stomach, and pancreas) and extra-intestinal sites (kidney in men, and breast in women). Obesity and related metabolic abnormalities are associated with increased incidence or mortality for a number of cancers. NAFLD has an intertwined relationship with metabolic syndrome and significantly contributes to the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but recent evidence have fuelled concerns that NAFLD may be a new, and added, risk factor for extra-hepatic cancers, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract.

The macrophage activation marker sCD163 is associated with morphological disease stages in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background & Aims: Macrophage activation plays a key pathogenic role in experimental non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and contributes to the progression of steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis. We studied macrophage activation in human NAFLD by measuring soluble (s)CD163, a specific macrophage activation marker, hypothesizing that sCD163 would be associated with the patients' morphological disease grade. Furthermore, we investigated an association between sCD163 and the apoptosis marker cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) to explore a link between macrophage activation and apoptosis.

Reasoning by analogy requires the left frontal pole: lesion-deficit mapping and clinical implications.

SEE BURGESS DOI101093/BRAIN/AWW092 FOR A SCIENTIFIC COMMENTARY ON THIS ARTICLE  : Analogical reasoning is at the core of the generalization and abstraction processes that enable concept formation and creativity. The impact of neurological diseases on analogical reasoning is poorly known, despite its importance in everyday life and in society. Neuroimaging studies of healthy subjects and the few studies that have been performed on patients have highlighted the importance of the prefrontal cortex in analogical reasoning.

Different Serum Free Fatty Acid Profiles in NAFLD Subjects and Healthy Controls after Oral Fat Load.

Background: Free fatty acid (FFA) metabolism can impact on metabolic conditions, such as obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This work studied the increase in total FFA shown in NAFLD subjects to possibly characterize which fatty acids significantly accounted for the whole increase.

Methods: 21 patients with NAFLD were selected according to specified criteria.

Very late ischemic complications in flow-diverter stents: a retrospective analysis of a single-center series.

OBJECTIVE The authors evaluate the rate and discuss the pathomechanisms of very late (≥ 4-month) ischemic complications after flow-diverter stent (FDS) placement for intracranial aneurysms. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of the patients treated at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital between January 2010 and September 2014, who underwent FDS placement for intracranial aneurysm. The patients received dual-antiplatelet therapy (clopidogrel and aspirin) 5 days before and 3-6 months after the procedure and then aspirin alone for 6-9 months.

Axial Diffusivity of the Corona Radiata at 24 Hours Post-Stroke: A New Biomarker for Motor and Global Outcome.

Fractional anisotropy (FA) is an effective marker of motor outcome at the chronic stage of stroke yet proves to be less efficient at early time points. This study aims to determine which diffusion metric in which location is the best marker of long-term stroke outcome after thrombolysis with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at 24 hours post-stroke. Twenty-eight thrombolyzed patients underwent DTI at 24 hours post-stroke onset.

Effect of forage type with or without corn supplementation on animal performance, beef fatty acid composition, and palatability.

Thirty-two steers were used to examine forage type (legumes [ and ] vs. grasses [ and ]) with or without individual corn grain supplementation (0 vs. 0.

Cytokeratin 18-Aspartate396 apoptotic fragment for fibrosis detection in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic viral hepatitis.

Background: The combination of non-invasive markers for the detection of fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases is still a matter of debate.

Aims: To test the performance of cytokeratin18-Aspartate396 alone or in combination with transient elastography as a marker of fibrosis, compared to liver biopsy as gold standard.

Methods: In 259 prospectively enrolled patients with chronic liver diseases, clinical, biochemical, and histological features were assessed.

Impaired Fas-Fas Ligand Interactions Result in Greater Recurrent Herpetic Stromal Keratitis in Mice.

Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infection of the cornea leads to a potentially blinding condition termed herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK). Clinical studies have indicated that disease is primarily associated with recurrent HSK following reactivation of a latent viral infection of the trigeminal ganglia. One of the key factors that limit inflammation of the cornea is the expression of Fas ligand (FasL).

Peripheral insulin resistance predicts liver damage in nondiabetic subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Unlabelled: Surrogate indexes of insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity are widely used in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), although they have never been validated in this population. We aimed to validate the available indexes in NAFLD subjects and to test their ability to predict liver damage also in comparison with the NAFLD fibrosis score. Surrogate indexes were validated by the tracer technique (6,6-D2 -glucose and U-(13) C-glucose) in the basal state and during an oral glucose tolerance test.

Liver Cancer: Connections with Obesity, Fatty Liver, and Cirrhosis.

The burden of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, is steadily growing because obesity, type 2 diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are replacing viral- and alcohol-related liver disease as major pathogenic promoters. The most worrisome aspects of these new risk factors are their large spread in the general population and their link with HCC arising in noncirrhotic livers. HCC may be the presenting feature of an asymptomatic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the progressive form of NAFLD.

Therapeutic Use of Soluble Fas Ligand Ameliorates Acute and Recurrent Herpetic Stromal Keratitis in Mice.

Purpose: The present study was designed to test the therapeutic value of soluble FasL (sFasL) in an acute model of herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) and, more importantly, a recurrent model of HSK using BALB/c, BALB-lpr, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) mice.

Methods: Mice were infected either acutely with the KOS strain of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) or latently with the McKrae strain of HSV-1. Acutely infected mice as well as ultraviolet-B (UV-B) reactivated mice (recurrent infection) were treated with sFasL, or soluble TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (sTRAIL), or BSA daily or 3 times/wk by using either a combination of subconjunctival injection and topical ointment, or with topical ointment alone.

Endocrine manifestations of chronic HCV infection.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with a great number of extra-hepatic manifestations (EHMs), including several endocrine disorders. Currently available epidemiological, clinical and experimental data do not show a link between HCV and all EHMs. Thyroid disorders (TD) and type 2 diabetes, for example, are the most frequent endocrine alterations in patients with chronic HCV infection, but there are only weak evidences that HCV could be involved in hypothalamic-pituitary axis perturbation, bone metabolism alteration and sexual dysfunctions induction.

Perceptions of adolescent students about drugs.

Objective: To analyze the perceptions of adolescent public school students about drugs.

Method: Qualitative approach of focus groups with 16 adolescent students. The data collected were analyzed by means of content analysis, leading to the following categories: meaning of drugs; living with drug use; opinions, beliefs and attitudes toward drug use; and preventing drug abuse in adolescence.

PNPLA3 rs738409 I748M is associated with steatohepatitis in 434 non-obese subjects with hepatitis C.

Background: The PNPLA3/Adiponutrin rs738409 C/G single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with the severity of steatosis, steatohepatitis and fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as well as the severity of steatosis and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).

Aim: To test in genotype 1(G1)-CHC patients, the putative association between the PNPLA3 variant and histological features of steatohepatitis, as well as their impact on the severity of fibrosis.

Methods: Four hundred and thirty-four consecutively biopsied Caucasian G1-CHC patients were genotyped for PNPLA3 rs738409, its effect evaluated by using an additive model.

Hyperglycaemia, insulin therapy and critical penumbral regions for prognosis in acute stroke: further insights from the INSULINFARCT trial.

Background: Recently, the concept of 'clinically relevant penumbra' was defined as an area saved by arterial recanalization and correlated with stroke outcome. This clinically relevant penumbra was located in the subcortical structures, especially the periventricular white matter. Our aims were to confirm this hypothesis, to investigate the impact of admission hyperglycemia and of insulin treatment on the severity of ischemic damages in this area and to study the respective contributions of infarct volume and ischemic damage severity of the clinically relevant penumbra on 3-month outcome.

Platelet-Rich Plasma Reduces Retear Rates After Arthroscopic Repair of Small- and Medium-Sized Rotator Cuff Tears but Is Not Cost-Effective.

Background: It has been suggested that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) improves healing after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. The current literature provides ample but inconsistent data on this topic.

Purpose: To systematically review the current in vivo evidence for the use of platelet concentrates (PRP) in the arthroscopic treatment of rotator cuff tears to assess effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness.

A cortical-subcortical syntax pathway linking Broca's area and the striatum.

Combinatorial syntax has been shown to be underpinned by cortical key regions such as Broca's area and temporal cortices, and by subcortical structures such as the striatum. The cortical regions are connected via several cortico-to-cortical tracts impacting syntactic processing (e.g.

[Contribution of arterial spin labeling to the diagnosis of sudden and transient neurological deficit].

MRI is the gold standard exploration for sudden transient neurological events. If diffusion MRI is negative, there may be a diagnostic doubt between transient ischemic attack and other causes of transient neurological deficit. We illustrate how sequence arterial spin labeling (ASL), which evaluates cerebral perfusion, contributes to the exploration of transient neurological events.

Subacromial spacer placement for protection of rotator cuff repair.

Rotator cuff repairs have a high failure rate proportional to the tear size. Various techniques have been described to improve the repair strength and failure rate. The described surgical technique uses a biodegradable subacromial balloon-shaped spacer (InSpace; OrthoSpace, Caesarea, Israel) that is implanted arthroscopically to protect our tendon repair.

Bulk effect of the deltoid muscle on the glenohumeral joint.

Background: There remains controversy on the role of the deltoid on glenohumeral translations during basic and pitching motions. We thus studied the passive effect of the deltoid on the deltoid glenohumeral joint center (GHJC).

Methods: Six shoulders were tested using an automated mechanical system.

Fecal calprotectin is an effective diagnostic tool that differentiates inflammatory from functional intestinal disorders.

Background: The clinical pictures of functional gastrointestinal disorders and inflammatory diseases can be quite similar leading to inappropriate and expensive investigations. Objective. To investigate fecal calprotectin (FC) diagnostic performance in different gastrointestinal conditions.

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection and lymphoproliferative disorders: mixed cryoglobulinemia syndrome, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Background And Aim: Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) has been associated with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) such as mixed cryoglobulinemia syndrome (MCS), monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). The aim of the present study is to assess MCS, MGUS, and B-NHL prevalence in a cohort of CHC-infected patients and to evaluate the association of demographic, clinical, and virologic factors with the presence of LPDs.

Methods: A total of 121 CHC patients with LPDs (50 M, 71 F; mean age 61.

In vivo glenohumeral translation under anterior loading in an open-MRI set-up.

The evaluation of the glenohumeral joint laxity requires the estimate of displacements of the humeral head centre (HHC) with respect to the glenoid. To the authors׳ knowledge, several studies have been conducted to estimate HHC translations in vivo but data under anterior loading conditions has not been collected yet. Aim of this study was to develop a non-invasive experimental methodology based on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for the in vivo evaluation of the HHC translations due to an anteriorly directed force.