Management of hepatitis B infected pregnant women: a cross-sectional study of obstetricians.

Background: Our study aims to describe how obstetricians manage pregnant women infected with chronic hepatitis B in a region with a large high-risk population.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study among practicing obstetricians in Santa Clara County, California. All obstetricians practicing in Santa Clara County were invited to participate in the study.

Education and counseling of pregnant patients with chronic hepatitis B: perspectives from obstetricians and perinatal nurses in Santa Clara County, California.

Background: This study aimed to better understand the barriers to perinatal hepatitis B prevention and to identify the reasons for poor hepatitis B knowledge and delivery of education to hepatitis B surface-antigen- positive pregnant women among healthcare providers in Santa Clara County, California.

Materials And Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 obstetricians and 17 perinatal nurses in Santa Clara County, California, which has one of the largest populations in the United States at high risk for perinatal hepatitis B transmission.

Results: Most providers displayed a lack of self-efficacy attributed to insufficient hepatitis B training and education.

Low levels of knowledge and preventive practices regarding vertical hepatitis B transmission among perinatal nurses.

Objective: To evaluate current levels of hepatitis-B-related knowledge and clinical practice among perinatal nurses.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Santa Clara County, California, home to one of the largest U.

A model program for hepatitis B vaccination and education of schoolchildren in rural China.

Objectives: Incomplete hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine coverage and poor HBV-related knowledge in China leave millions of children unprotected from this life-threatening infection. To address these gaps, a pilot program for HBV education and vaccination was launched in rural China.

Methods: In 2006, public and private organizations in the US and China collaborated to provide HBV education and vaccination to 55,000 school-age children in the remote, highly HBV-endemic area of Qinghai Province.

San Francisco hep B free: a grassroots community coalition to prevent hepatitis B and liver cancer.

Chronic hepatitis B is the leading cause of liver cancer and the largest health disparity between Asian/Pacific Islanders (APIs) and the general US population. The Hep B Free model was launched to eliminate hepatitis B infection by increasing hepatitis B awareness, testing, vaccination, and treatment among APIs by building a broad, community-wide coalition. The San Francisco Hep B Free campaign is a diverse public/private collaboration unifying the API community, health care system, policy makers, businesses, and the general public in San Francisco, California.

Disparities in liver cancer incidence by nativity, acculturation, and socioeconomic status in California Hispanics and Asians.

Background: Asians and Hispanics have the highest incidence rates of liver cancer in the United States, but little is known about how incidence patterns in these largely immigrant populations vary by nativity, acculturation, and socioeconomic status (SES). Such variations can identify high-priority subgroups for prevention and monitoring.

Methods: Incidence rates and rate ratios (IRR) by nativity among 5,400 Hispanics and 5,809 Asians diagnosed with liver cancer in 1988-2004 were calculated in the California Cancer Registry.

Hepatitis B and liver cancer knowledge and practices among healthcare and public health professionals in China: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading cause of liver disease and liver cancer and a major source of health-related discrimination in China. To better target HBV detection and prevention programs, it is necessary to assess existing HBV knowledge, educational resources, reporting, and preventive practices, particularly among those health professionals who would be responsible for implementing such programs.

Methods: At the China National Conference on the Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis on April 26-29, 2004, the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University partnered with the China Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control to distribute a voluntary written questionnaire to Chinese healthcare and public health professionals from regional and provincial Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health departments, and medical centers.

Attitudes toward hepatitis B and liver cancer prevention among Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Background: Chronic hepatitis B and associated liver cancer constitute important health threats with disparity among Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (APIs). However, many APIs are unaware of and unprotected against these diseases.

Methods: To inform the development of community-based programs to increase hepatitis B and liver cancer awareness and prevention among APIs, we conducted a series of qualitative focus groups in 2007 to identify motivations and deterrents related to hepatitis B education, testing, and vaccination among San Francisco Bay Area Chinese Americans.

Building partnerships with traditional chinese medicine practitioners to increase hepatitis B awareness and prevention.

Objectives: The annual Hepatitis B Prevention and Education Symposium aims to develop partnerships between non-Western and Western health care providers to prevent chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and death from liver cancer among Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs).

Design: Each year from 2004 through 2007, we partnered with professional, academic, and community-based organizations to organize an educational symposium for Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners and acupuncturists in California. Participants completed pre- and postsymposium surveys assessing knowledge about HBV and liver cancer.

The Jade Ribbon Campaign: a model program for community outreach and education to prevent liver cancer in Asian Americans.

The Jade Ribbon Campaign (JRC) is a culturally targeted, community-based outreach program to promote the prevention, early detection, and management of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and liver cancer among Asian Americans. In 2001, 476 Chinese American adults from the San Francisco Bay Area attended an HBV screening clinic and educational seminar. The prevalence of chronic HBV infection was 13%; only 8% of participants showed serologic evidence of protective antibody from prior vaccination.

The burden of liver cancer in Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, 1990 through 2004.

Background: To the authors' knowledge, no previous U.S. study has examined time trends in the incidence rate of liver cancer in the high-risk Asian/Pacific Islander population.

Gallium maltolate is a promising chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a particularly lethal cancer with few treatment options. Since gallium is known to accumulate specifically in HCC tumors but not in non-tumor liver, we investigated two gallium compounds, gallium nitrate (GaN) and gallium maltolate (GaM), as potential new agents for treating HCC.

Materials And Methods: The anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities of GaN and GaM were assessed in vitro using four HCC cell lines.

Sprouty 2, an inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, is down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The Sprouty proteins are increasingly being recognized to be deregulated in various types of cancers. This deregulation is often associated with aberrant signaling of receptor tyrosine kinases and its downstream effectors, leading to the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In human hepatocellular carcinoma, where the MAPK activity is enhanced via multiple hepatocarcinogenic factors, we observed a consistent reduced expression of the sprouty 2 (Spry2) transcript and protein in malignant hepatocytes compared with normal or cirrhotic hepatocytes.