Dietary factors alter hepatic innate immune system in mice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Zhiping Li, Mark J. Soloski, Anna Mae Diehl – 20 September 2005 – Dietary factors promote obesity and obesity‐related disorders, such as fatty liver disease. Natural killer T (NKT) cells are components of the innate immune system that regulate proinflammatory (Th‐1) and anti‐inflammatory (Th‐2) immune responses.

Alendronate improves bone mineral density in primary biliary cirrhosis: A randomized placebo‐controlled trial

Claudia O. Zein, Roberta A. Jorgensen, Bart Clarke, Doris E. Wenger, Jill C. Keach, Paul Angulo, Keith D. Lindor – 20 September 2005 – Bone loss is a well‐recognized complication of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Although it has been suggested that alendronate might improve bone mineral density (BMD) in PBC, no randomized placebo‐controlled trial has been conducted. The primary aim of this study was to compare the effects of alendronate versus placebo on BMD and biochemical measurements of bone turnover in patients with PBC‐associated bone loss.

Influence of hepatic venous pressure gradient on the prediction of survival of patients with cirrhosis in the MELD Era

Cristina Ripoll, Rafael Bañares, Diego Rincón, María‐Vega Catalina, Oreste Lo Iacono, Magdalena Salcedo, Gerardo Clemente, Oscar Núñez, Ana Matilla, Luis‐Miguel Molinero – 20 September 2005 – Measurements of portal pressure, usually obtained via the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) may be a prognostic marker in cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of HVPG on survival in patients with cirrhosis in addition to the Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score.

Consensus proposals for a unified system of nomenclature of hepatitis C virus genotypes

Peter Simmonds, Jens Bukh, Christophe Combet, Gilbert Deléage, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Stephen Feinstone, Phillippe Halfon, Geneviève Inchauspé, Carla Kuiken, Geert Maertens, Masashi Mizokami, Donald G. Murphy, Hiroaki Okamoto, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky, François Penin, Erwin Sablon, Tadasu Shin‐I, Lieven J. Stuyver, Heinz‐Jürgen Thiel, Sergei Viazov, Amy J.

Quality assurance, efficiency indicators and cost‐utility of the evaluation workup for liver transplantation

Paolo De Simone, Paola Carrai, Lidiana Baldoni, Stefania Petruccelli, Laura Coletti, Luca Morelli, Franco Filipponi – 25 August 2005 – We report the results of a retrospective review of the outpatient pretransplantation workup for United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) 3 patients adopted at a liver transplantation (LT) center and illustrate the efficiency indicators used for quality evaluation and cost‐analysis. A single‐center, pre‐LT evaluation workup was performed on an outpatient basis at a cost per patient evaluation of 2,770 Euros (€).

Subscribe to