1,721,254 research outputs found
Potential therapeutic applications of cannabinoids in gastrointestinal and liver diseases: Focus on Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol pharmacology
No full textPrevention of cirrhosis complications: Looking for potential disease modifying agents
Full text linkThe current therapeutic strategies for the management of patients with cirrhosis rely on the prevention or treatment of specific complications. The removal of the causative agents (i.e., viruses or alcohol) prevents decompensation in the vast majority of patients with compensated cirrhosis. In contrast, even when etiological treatment has been effective, a significant proportion of patients with decompensated cirrhosis remains at risk of further disease progression. Therefore, therapies targeting specific key points in the complex pathophysiological cascade of decompensated cirrhosis could represent a new approach for the management of these severely ill patients. Some of the interventions currently employed for treating or preventing specific complications of cirrhosis or used in other diseases (i.e., poorly absorbable oral antibiotics, statins, albumin) have been proposed as potential disease‐modifying agents in cirrhosis (DMAC) since clinical studies have shown their capacity of improving survival. Additional multicenter, large randomized clinical trials are awaited to confirm these promising results. Finally, new drugs able to antagonize key pathophysiological mechanisms are under pre‐clinical development or at the initial stages of clinical assessment
A case of peri‐stomal ectopic variceal bleeding in a patient with decompensated cirrhosis treated with TIPS placement
No full textPeri-stomal variceal bleeding is an underestimated complication in patients with colostomy and portal hypertension. Due to the small number of reported cases, there is currently no unified consensus on the best treatment and several options may be available. We report a case in which TIPS placement was effective
Management of ascites in patients with cirrhosis: An update
Full text linkAscites represents a critical event in the natural history of liver cirrhosis. From a prognostic perspective, its occurrence marks the transition from the compensated to the decompensated stage of the disease, leading to an abrupt worsening of patients’ life expectancy. Moreover, ascites heralds a turbulent clinical course, characterized by acute events and further complications, frequent hospital-izations, and eventually death. The pathophysiology of ascites classically relies on hemodynamic mechanisms, with effective hypovolemia as the pivotal event. Recent discoveries, however, integrated this hypothesis, proposing systemic inflammation and immune system dysregulation as key mechanisms. The mainstays of ascites treatment are represented by anti-mineralocorticoids and loop diuretics, and large volume paracentesis. When ascites reaches the stage of refractoriness, however, diuretics administration should be cautious due to the high risk of adverse events, and patients should be treated with periodic execution of paracentesis or with the placement of a trans-jugular intra-hepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). TIPS reduces portal hypertension, eases ascites control, and potentially modify the clinical course of the disease. Further studies are required to expand its indica-tions and improve the management of complications. Long-term human albumin administration has been studied in two RCTs, with contradictory results, and remains a debated issue worldwide, despite a potential effectiveness both in ascites control and long-term survival. Other treatments (vaptans, vasoconstrictors, or implantable drainage systems) present some promising aspects but cannot be currently recommended outside clinical protocols or a case-by-case evaluation
Albumin: Indications in chronic liver disease
No full textAlbumin is currently employed as a plasma expander to prevent and treat specific complications of cirrhosis with ascites, such as the prevention of paracentesis-induced circulatory dysfunction and renal dysfunction induced by spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of acute kidney injury and hepatorenal syndrome. Recently, evidence has shown that long-term albumin administration in patients with decompensated cirrhosis reduces mortality and incidence of complications, eases the management of ascites, is cost effective, and has a good safety profile
Albumin administration in internal medicine: A journey between effectiveness and futility
Full text link: Albumin is the most abundant circulating protein and provides about 70% of the plasma oncotic power. The molecule also carries many other biological functions (binding, transport and detoxification of endogenous and exogenous compounds, antioxidation, and modulation of inflammatory and immune responses). Hypoalbuminemia is a frequent finding in many diseases, representing usually only a biomarker of poor prognosis rather than a primary pathophysiological event. Despite that, albumin is prescribed in many conditions based on the assumption that correction of hypoalbuminemia would lead to clinical benefits for the patients. Unfortunately, many of these indications are not supported by scientific evidence (or have been even disproved), so that a large part of albumin use is nowadays still inappropriate. Decompensated cirrhosis is the clinical area where albumin administration has been extensively studied and solid recommendations can be made. Besides prevention and treatment of acute complications, long-term albumin administration in patients with ascites has emerged in the last decade has a potential new disease-modifying treatment. In non-hepatological settings, albumin is widely used for fluid resuscitation in sepsis and critical illnesses, with no clear superiority over crystalloids. In many other conditions, scientific evidence supporting albumin prescription is weak or even absent. Thus, given its high cost and limited availability, action is needed to avoid the use of albumin for inappropriate and futile indications to ensure its availability in those conditions for which albumin has been demonstrated to have a real effectiveness and an advantage for the patient
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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