Distinct immunoregulatory cytokine pattern in Egyptian patients with occult Hepatitis C infection and unexplained persistently elevated liver transaminases.

Background/aim: The immunopathogenesis of occult Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a matter of great controversy and has been suggested to involve a complex balance between cytokines with pro- and anti-inflammatory activity. This work aimed at studying the serum Th1 and Th2 cytokine production in patients with occult HCV infection.

Materials And Methods: Serum levels of cytokines of Th1 (interleukin [IL]-2, INF-γ) and Th2 (IL-4) were measured in 27 patients with occult HCV infection and 28 patients with chronic hepatitis C infection.

Portal hypertensive colopathy and haematochezia in cirrhotic patients: an endoscopic study.

Background And Study Aims: In patients with liver cirrhosis, portal hypertensive colopathy (PHC) and anorectal varices (ARVs) are thought to cause lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. In the present work, we studied the diagnostic yield of colonoscopy in cirrhotic patients and haematochezia.

Patients And Methods: The current study was conducted on 77 consecutive cirrhotic patients who underwent colonoscopy at Mansoura Emergency Hospital, Egypt, between May 2007 and May 2011.

Seroprevalence of subclinical HEV infection in asymptomatic, apparently healthy, pregnant women in Dakahlya Governorate, Egypt.

Background And Aim: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major public health problem in the developing countries. HEV infection in pregnant women is more common and fatal in the third trimester. The present study was designed to determine the seroprevalence of subclinical HEV infection in asymptomatic pregnant women.

Colorectal schistosomiasis: Is it still endemic in delta Egypt, early in the third millennium?

Background: Several governmental efforts have been exerted toward controlling schistosomiasis during the last decades in Egypt. This work was designed to study the prevalence of colorectal schistosomiasis in patients with different gastrointestinal symptoms.

Materials And Methods: Patients presented to the gastroenterology unit with different gastrointestinal symptoms were endoscopically examined, where three to six tiny biopsies were taken from those with visible, suspected schistosomal lesions for histopathological examination and two additional rectal biopsies were taken from the apparently normal colonic mucosa.

Screening for minimal hepatic encephalopathy in asymptomatic drivers with liver cirrhosis.

Background And Study Aims: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) represents a part of the spectrum of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). It can have a far-reaching impact on quality and ability to function in daily life and may progress to overt HE. This study was designed to screen for MHE in drivers with liver cirrhosis in Mansoura, a city in the Nile delta in Egypt.