Hepatitis B reactivation during ruxolitinib treatment

Annals of Hematology -     

Laser utility in the treatment of hemorrhoidal pathology: a review of literature

Lasers in Medical Science - Hemorrhoidal disease is a common reason for consultation in proctology. It can be treated in several ways (medical, endoscopic, and surgical). Laser treatment has been...     

Quantitative Effects of Coil Packing Density on Cerebral Aneurysm Fluid Dynamics: An <Emphasis Type="Italic">In Vitro</Emphasis> Steady Flow Study

Over the past 15 years, coil embolization has emerged as an effective treatment option for cerebral aneurysms that is far less invasive than the long-standing convention of surgical clipping. However, aneurysm recurrence after coil embolization is not uncommon: recurrence rates as high as 50% have been reported in the literature. One factor that may contribute to recurrence after coiling is residual flow into the aneurysmal sac. At present, there is limited quantitative knowledge of the relationship between coil packing density and aneurysmal inflow. We present an in vitro fluid dynamic study of basilar tip aneurysm models that elucidates this relationship. At physiologically normal flow rates, we found that a packing density of 28.4% decreased aneurysmal inflow by 31.6% in a wide-neck model, and that a packing density of 36.5% decreased aneurysmal inflow by 49.6% in a narrow-neck model. Results also indicated that coiling reduced aneurysmal inflow more significantly at lower parent vessel flow rates, and that coiling reduced neck-plane velocity magnitudes more significantly for narrow-neck aneurysms. Our study provides novel quantitative information that could ultimately contribute to improved outcomes for patients with cerebral aneurysms by enabling more effective coil embolization.     

Procalcitonin as a prognosis and diagnosis aid in post-operative cardiac surgery

Procalcitonin (PCT), has been identified as a reliable marker of bacterial infection in critically ill patients. After cardiac surgery, infectious and non infectious inflammatory processes can cause a significant increase in PCT production. At present, literature data seem to confirm that repeated measurements of PCT are a better marker than other parameters, both as prognosis and diagnosis aid. Normal PCT levels are less than 0.1 ng/ml. PCT levels < 2ng/ml can be observed after extracorporeal circulation in case of systemic inflammatory response, in the absente of any post operative complication. However, bacterial infection with organ dysfunction should be suspected when PCT levels are higher 5 ng/ml.     

Association between dementia and vascular disease-associated polymorphisms in a Tunisian population

Purpose: Dementia is a multifactorial idiopathic pathology caused by clinical, eDementia is a multifactorial idiopathic pathology caused by clinical, environmental and genetic factors. Hence, its etiology is still unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between five genetic risk factors for vascular diseases and dementia individually and when gathered in haplotypes. Materials and Method: We enrolled 200 dementia patients and 300 controls. All subjects were genotyped for vascular diseaseassociated polymorphisms in the genes coding for Apolipoprotein-E (ApoE), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and Paraoxonase-1 (PON1). Results: The association between dementia risk and all the studied polymorphisms except of PON1-Q192R was found to be significant. Carrying the ApoE e4 allele seems to increase dementia risk by 4.32 fold (p = 0.001). The risk associated with ACE I and PON1-L55M T alleles were lower (2.58 and 2.11 fold, p < 0.001 and p = 0.015, respectively). When combined in haplotypes, these polymorphisms showed a cumulative and synergetic effect. GTICC haplotype appears to be associated with 9-fold dementia risk (p < 0.001), whereas AADTT seems to reduce dementia risk by 80% (p = 0.003). Conclusion: Our results suggest that, ApoE ε4, ACE I and PON1-L55M T alleles are associated with dementia risk whether these polymorphisms were studied separately or gathered in haplotypes. Still, the contribution of each gene to the pathophysiological development of dementia must be more investigated.     

Expression and activity of the cytochrome P450 2E1 in patients with nonalcoholic steatosis and steatohepatitis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) have a different prognosis and should be dealt with differently. The pathogenesis of NASH implicates the overexpression of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1). We investigated whether the noninvasive determination of CYP2E1 activity could replace a liver biopsy in order to differentiate NASH from NAFL. METHOD: Forty patients referred for suspicion of NASH underwent liver biopsy. In these patients, CYP2E1 activity was determined noninvasively by the 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone/chlorzoxazone (CHZ) ratio (CHZ test). Expression of CYP2E1 on liver slides was assessed by immunohistochemistry, and immunostaining for smooth muscle actin was used to assess the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC). RESULTS: Thirty patients with NASH were compared with 10 subjects with NAFL. No statistically significant difference could be identified for the clinical and biochemical parameters between the two groups. In the histology, steatosis was more important in NASH than in NAFL (P<0.0001). There was no difference either in the activity (CHZ test) or in the expression of CYP2E1 (immunohistochemistry) between patients with NASH and patients with NAFL. The degree of HSC activation was also comparable between the two groups. A positive and significant correlation was found between the activity of CYP2E1 and body mass index (P<0.001) as well as with the degree of steatosis (P=0.008). CONCLUSION: For patients suspected to have NASH, noninvasive tests including the determination of the CYP2E1 activity are unable to distinguish them from patients with steatosis.