Idiopathic Colonic Varices: Case Report and Review of Literature
Conclusions: The development of colonic varices in the absence of a certain trigger represents a major issue for practitioners due to its major complication, lower gastrointestinal bleeding.,Introduction: Colonic varices represent a very rare entity, either an incidental finding at colonoscopy or discovered due to its complication, the lower gastrointestinal bleeding. The most common cause of colonic varices is portal hypertension associated with liver disease or secondary to pancreatic conditions, like chronic pancreatitis or malignancies. The incidence of colonic varices is very low, even in liver cirrhosis where the pat...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - July 1, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Anesthesia for Patients With Liver Disease
Conclusions: Despite the fact that anesthesia in chronic liver disease is a scary and pretty challenging condition for every anesthesiologist, this hazard could be diminished by meticulous attention on optimizing the patient’s condition preoperatively and choosing appropriate anesthetic regimen and drugs in this setting. Although there are paucity of statistics and investigations in this specific group of patients but these little data show that with careful monitoring and considering the above mentioned rules a safe anesthesia could be achievable in these patients.,Results: Although different anesthetic regimens are ava...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 30, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Interleukin-18 Gene Promoter Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Chronic Hepatitis B Infection: A Review Study
Conclusions: Host genetic factors play an important role in determining the outcome of HBV infection. It is suggested that IL-18 genotype -607 A/A is associated with susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B. Furthermore, the carriage of allele C at position -137 may play a protective role in the development of chronic HBV infection.,Evidence Acquisition: Published literature from PubMed, EMBASE, and other databases were retrieved. All studies investigating the association of IL-18 gene promoter SNPs, -137 C/G and -607 A/C, with susceptibility to chronic HBV infection were included.,Context: The variation in clinical outcome o...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 30, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Effects of the Chemokine Receptor 5 (CCR5)-Delta32 Mutation on Hepatitis C Virus-Specific Immune Responses and Liver Tissue Pathology in HCV Infected Patients
Conclusions: Results showed that CCR5 polymorphism was more frequent in HCV positive patients than in healthy population in Turkish population. Current results also showed that mutated CCR5 signalling pathway due to CCR5-Delta32 may potentially result in subtle reduction of HCV specifity to the drug responses due to the positive impact on liver inflammation, fibrosis levels and liver destruction in HCV infection.,Results: Target CCR5 WT/WT, WT/Δ32, and Δ32/Δ32 genotypes were observed in 91.4%, 8.6% and 0.0% for HCV positive patients and 98.3%, 1.7% and 0.0% for control group respectively. The histologic activity index (...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 30, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Efficacy and Safety of Ferric Chloride in Controlling Hepatic Bleeding; An Animal Model Study
Conclusions: Ferric chloride is an effective haemostatic agent in controlling liver parenchymal tissue hemorrhage in an animal model.,Results: The hemostasis time of ferric chloride concentration groups was significantly less than that of the control group (P value < 0.001). The pathologic examination showed the highest frequency of low grade inflammation based on the defined pathological grading.,Materials and Methods: In this animal model study 60 male Wistar rats were used. An incision, two centimeters (cm) long and half a cm deep, was made on each rat’s liver and the hemostasis time was measured once using ferric ...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 8, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
HCV NS3 Blocking Effect on IFN Induced ISGs Like Viperin and IL28 With and Without NS4A
Conclusions: ISGs expression is impeded by NS3 protease activity and its interaction with Jak-STAT pathway proteins. In addition, the NS3/4A substrates spectrum seems to be similar to those of NS3.,Results: NS3 protein disrupted the expressions of viperin gene and IL-28, an inducer for the expression of ISGs and viperin itself. By comparing the roles of NS3 and NS3/4A protease activities in suppressing the innate immune responses, we also showed that NS3 (without NS4A) has the ability to down-regulate ISGs expression, similar to that of NS3/4A.,Materials and Methods: We evaluated the impact of NS3, NS3/4A and a mutated non...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 7, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Expression Profiles of Circulating Cytokines, Chemokines, and Immune Cells in Patients With Hepatitis B Virus Infection
Conclusions: CXCR3-associated chemokines might contribute to liver inflammation in chronic hepatitis B, while MCP-3 and G-CSF were inhibited by HBV infection. Host immune response was suppressed as manifested by an increase in CD4+ CD25high Tregs and IL-10 as well as a decrease in IFN-γ. Exploiting the expression pattern of cytokine and chemokine may help to develop a better understanding of chronic HBV infection pathogenesis.,Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine patients with chronic HBV infection were enrolled. Five immune cell subsets and 46 cytokines and chemokines were analyzed by flow cytometry and Luminex 200.,Results...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 6, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Portal Hypertension as Immune Mediate Disease
Conclusions: PH is a dynamic and potentially reversible process. Researchers have tried to demonstrate mechanisms underlying PH and its related-complications. This review focuses on the current knowledge regarding the pathogenesis, and immune, endocrine-metabolic factors of disease. The strong positive association between immune system and development of PH could be efficient to identify non-invasive markers of disease, to modify prognosis of PH, and to development and application of specific and individual anti-inflammatory therapy.,Results: It is believed that PH results from three “phenotype”: ischemia-reperfusion, ...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - June 6, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Risk Factors of HCV Seroconversion in Hemodialysis Patients in Tabriz, Iran
Conclusions: The current study indicates increased risk for HCV infection in patients under dialysis and its relation with the mean duration of hemodialysis, history of renal transplantation and surgical intervention. Considering the immune deficiency in these patients, intense education to both patients and medical staff will be beneficial.,Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 455 hemodialysis patients from each of the five dialysis units in Tabriz, northwest Iran. Possible risk factors for HCV infection and seroconversion were evaluated.,Results: A total of 37 patients were HCV positive (8.1% o...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 31, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Predicting the Outcomes of Combination Therapy in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Using Artificial Neural Network
Conclusions: Using baseline laboratory data and host characteristics, ANN has been shown as an accurate model to predict treatment outcome, which can lead to appropriate decision making and decrease the frequency of ineffective treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. (Source: Hepatitis Monthly)
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 31, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Seroepidemiology of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in General Population in Rural Durango, Mexico
Conclusions: The seroprevalence of HEV infection found in rural Durango is higher than those reported in other Mexican populations. Consumption of untreated water is an important factor for HEV exposure in rural areas in Durango. The correlates of HEV seropositivity found in the present study can be used for an optimal planning of preventive measures against HEV infection.,Results: One hundred (36.6%) of the 273 rural adults (mean age: 39.85 ± 17.15 years) had anti-HEV IgG antibodies. Multivariate analysis of socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics of the participants showed that HEV exposure was associated with ...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 31, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
In Silico Identification and Conservation Analysis of B-cell and T-Cell Epitopes of Hepatitis C Virus 3a Genotype Enveloped Glycoprotein 2 From Pakistan: A Step Towards Heterologous Vaccine Design
Conclusions: HCV gpE2 is an ideal target for HCV vaccine. Prediction of epitope immunogenicity and characterization on the basis of peptide sequences will be significantly helpful for development of a heterologous vaccine against HCV variants.,Results: Many B-cell and T-cell epitopes predicted in gpE2 were found conserved among HCV 3a genotypes whereas few were conserved in other genotypes anticipating these epitopes as potential candidates of producing strong B-cell and T-cell response against HCV 3a and other genotypes.,Materials and Methods: Epitope finding was done by using online available bioinformatics tools includi...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 31, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Molecular Epidemiology of Different Hepatitis C Genotypes in Serum and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Jahrom City of Iran
Conclusions: It is suggested that determination of the target genotype by plasma subtyping for choosing the proper antiviral therapy is essential but may result in therapy failure. HCV genotyping in PBMC samples, along with plasma specimens, might be more beneficial. Therefore determining the HCV genotype in PBMCs, before beginning the therapy is useful due to the possibility of occult infection detection.,Results: Subtype 3 was the most common genotype in plasma (57.7%) and PBMCs (51.1%). Subtype 1a was detected in 36.5% and 30.7% of plasma samples and PBMCs, respectively whereas subtype 4 was not detected in any of the c...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 10, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor Adjuvant Role on the Immunological Response to Hepatitis B Vaccine in Patients With Cirrhosis: A Double Blind Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial
Conclusions: The present study showed that G-CSF is not superior to placebo in production of protective antibody titers after HBV vaccination but could result in a more rapid antibody response, compared to the placebo.,Results: There was no statistically significant difference between anti-HBV antibody titers in patients receiving double dose HBV vaccination plus G-CSF and patients receiving double dose HBV vaccination plus placebo, after first, second or third vaccination rounds (P > 0.05). Although the adjuvant G-CSF injection did not cause significant increased antibody titers in our patients compared to the placebo ...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 6, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Long Noncoding RNAs in Interaction With RNA Binding Proteins in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Conclusions: This information provides an explanation for the previously valuable literature on the functions of lncRNAs and suggest for the novel therapeutic targeting.,Results: The lncRNAs HOTTIP, H19, HOTAIR, MALAT1, antisense Igf2r (AIR), HOXA13, GTL2 (also called MEG3) and uc002mb have been reported in association with HCC. Besides, this study predicted that eIF4AIII, PTB and FUS were the most involved RBPs in interaction with HCC-related lncRNAs.,Materials and Methods: The identified lncRNAs were analyzed by bioinformatics tools, starBase and lncRNA db, to anticipate the RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that tend to inter...
Source: Hepatitis Monthly - May 4, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
