Hepatic venous pressure gradient predicts risk of hepatic decompensation and liver-related mortality in patients with MASLD.

Background & Aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a leading cause of advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD). Portal hypertension drives hepatic decompensation and is best diagnosed by hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement. Here, we investigate the prognostic value of HVPG in MASLD-related compensated ACLD (MASLD-cACLD).

Alcohol-related liver disease phenotype impacts survival after an acute variceal bleeding episode.

Background & Aims: Alcohol-related hepatitis (AH) encompasses a high mortality. AH might be a concomitant event in patients with acute variceal bleeding (AVB). The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of AH in patients with AVB and to compare the clinical outcomes of AH patients to other alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) phenotypes and viral cirrhosis.

Chlamydia trachomatis infection co-operatively enhances HPV E6-E7 oncogenes mediated tumorigenesis and immunosuppression.

Chlamydia trachomatis and human papilloma virus (HPV) are the two most common sexually transmitted infections among women. HPV infection can increase the risk of cervical cancer and infertility while C. trachomatis induces pelvic inflammatory disease.

Decompensation in Advanced Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease May Occur at Lower Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient Levels Than in Patients With Viral Disease.

Background & Aims: Portal hypertension is the strongest predictor of hepatic decompensation and death in patients with cirrhosis. However, its discriminatory accuracy in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been challenged because hepatic vein catheterization may not reflect the real portal vein pressure as accurately as in patients with other etiologies. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) and presence of portal hypertension-related decompensation in patients with advanced NAFLD (aNAFLD).

Impact of betablockers on general and local outcome in patients hospitalized for lower extremity peripheral artery disease: The COPART Registry.

Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is one manifestation of atherosclerosis. Patients with PAD have an increased rate of mortality due to concurrent coronary artery disease and hypertension. Betablockers (BB) may, therefore, be prescribed, especially in case of heart failure.

Use of direct-acting agents for hepatitis C virus-positive kidney transplant candidates and kidney transplant recipients.

In some parts of the world, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a huge problem for kidney transplant candidates and kidney transplant (KT) recipients. Until 2 years ago, anti-HCV treatment for the general population relied on pegylated alpha-interferon plus ribavirin, but led to a sustained viral response (SVR) in <50% of cases. This treatment was contraindicated in KT patients because of acute-rejection issues and was poorly tolerated in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Medical and pharmacological approach to adjust the salbutamol anti-doping policy in athletes.

Background: Salbutamol abuse detection by athletes is based on a urinary upper threshold defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). However, this threshold was determined in healthy, untrained individuals and after a dose of salbutamol inhaled that might not really mirror the condition of asthmatic athletes and the experts's guidelines for asthma management. We aimed to revise this threshold in accordance with recommended clinical practice (that appear to be different from the actual WADA recommendation) and in exercise conditions.

Estrogens are needed for the improvement in endothelium-mediated dilation induced by a chronic increase in blood flow in rat mesenteric arteries.

Resistance arteries play a key role in the control of local blood flow. They undergo outward remodeling in response to a chronic increase in blood flow as seen in collateral artery growth in ischemic disorders. We have previously shown that mesenteric artery outward remodeling depends on the endothelial estrogen receptor alpha.

Regulation of SREBPs by Sphingomyelin in Adipocytes via a Caveolin and Ras-ERK-MAPK-CREB Signaling Pathway.

Sterol response element binding protein (SREBP) is a key transcription factor in insulin and glucose metabolism. We previously demonstrated that elevated levels of membrane sphingomyelin (SM) were related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), which is a known target gene of SREBP-1 in adipocytes. However, the role of SM in SREBP expression in adipocytes remains unknown.

Cryofibrinogenemia: a marker of severity of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.

Background: Cryofibrinogenemia is frequently associated with cryoglobulinemia. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics associated with the presence of cryofibrinogenemia in patients with cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study that included patients with cryoglobulinemic vasculitis who were tested for cryofibrinogen at a tertiary referral center between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012.

Serum tests, liver stiffness and artificial neural networks for diagnosing cirrhosis and portal hypertension.

Background: The diagnostic performance of biochemical scores and artificial neural network models for portal hypertension and cirrhosis is not well established.

Aims: To assess diagnostic accuracy of six serum scores, artificial neural networks and liver stiffness measured by transient elastography, for diagnosing cirrhosis, clinically significant portal hypertension and oesophageal varices.

Methods: 202 consecutive compensated patients requiring liver biopsy and hepatic venous pressure gradient measurement were included.

[Cryofibrinogenemia: a single-center study at the University Hospital of Toulouse, France].

Purpose: Cryofibrinogenemia is an unknown disorder and studies dedicated to it are limited. The aim of our study was to report on the incidence, clinical manifestations and associated diseases in patients with isolated cryofibrinogenemia.

Methods: This is a retrospective single-center study.

Comparative Study of Prions in Iatrogenic and Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Differentiating iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (iCJD) from sporadic CJD (sCJD) would be useful for the identification and prevention of human-to-human prion transmission. Currently, the diagnosis of iCJD depends on identification of a recognized source of contamination to which patients have been exposed, in addition to fulfilling basic requirements for the establishment of diagnosis of CJD. Attempts to identify differences in clinical manifestations, neuropathological changes and pathological prion protein (PrP) between iCJD and sCJD have been unsuccessful.

Anemia, an independent predictive factor for amputation and mortality in patients hospitalized for peripheral artery disease.

Objectives: Anemia is associated with poorer outcome in coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart failure (HF), but data on patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) are scarce, especially regarding the local (limb) prognosis. It was hypothesized that anemia is associated with poorer prognosis in patients hospitalized for PAD, and this relationship would be proportional to the severity of the anemia.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Discovery and validation of urinary biomarkers for detection of renal cell carcinoma.

Introduction: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is often accompanied by non-specific symptoms. The increase of incidentally discovered small renal masses also presents a diagnostic dilemma. This study investigates whether RCC-specific peptides with diagnostic potential can be detected in urine and whether a combination of such peptides could form a urinary screening tool.

Incretins: what is known, new and controversial in 2013?

Glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 action involves both endocrine and neural pathways to control peripheral tissues. In diabetes the impairment of either pathway may define different subsets of patients: some may be better treated with GLP-1 receptor agonists that are more likely to directly stimulate beta-cells and extrapancreatic receptors, while others may benefit from dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitor treatments that are more likely to increase the neural gut-brain-pancreas axis. Elevated plasma concentrations of GLP-1 associated with agonist treatment or bariatric surgery also appear to exert neuroprotective effects, ameliorate postprandial and fasting lipids, improve heart physiology and protect against heart failure, thereby expanding the possible positioning of GLP-1-based therapies.

Lipoprotein (a) and carotid atherosclerosis in young patients with stroke.

Background And Purpose: Elevated lipoprotein (a) concentration is associated with carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged and older patients with ischemic stroke. This association has not been explored in young patients with stroke.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of data from patients aged 16 to 54 years consecutively treated for acute ischemic stroke in a tertiary stroke unit during 4.

p53 Isoforms: An Intracellular Microprocessor?

Normal function of the p53 pathway is ubiquitously lost in cancers either through mutation or inactivating interaction with viral or cellular proteins. However, it is difficult in clinical studies to link p53 mutation status to cancer treatment and clinical outcome, suggesting that the p53 pathway is not fully understood. We have recently reported that the human p53 gene expresses not only 1 but 12 different p53 proteins (isoforms) due to alternative splicing, alternative initiation of translation, and alternative promoter usage.

[Basaloid squamous carcinoma with a spindle cell component and osseous metaplasia presenting as a polyp of the hypopharynx].

We report a case of basaloid squamous carcinoma with a spindle cell component of the hypopharynx, in a 61-years-old-man. An excisional biopsy of a pedonculated and polypoid tumour was performed by endoscopy. The histologic examination revealed a biphasic tumour with both a basaloid carcinomatous and a spindle cell component.

Estradiol administration controls eosinophilia through estrogen receptor-alpha activation during acute peritoneal inflammation.

Estrogens influence the incidence and the course of numerous immune or inflammatory diseases in humans and in experimental models. For instance, estrogens prevent the accumulation of granulocytes in acute inflammatory murine models, but the respective actions on neutrophil and eosinophil trafficking remain to be clarified. We demonstrate here that in a model of TGC-induced sterile peritonitis in ovx mice, chronic E2 administration electively and strongly inhibited peritoneal eosinophil accumulation.

SSAO substrates exhibiting insulin-like effects in adipocytes as a promising treatment option for metabolic disorders.

Background: Benzylamine exerts insulin-like effects in adipocytes (e.g., glucose uptake and antilipolysis) and improves glucose handling in rodents.