16 research outputs found
Hepatitis B surface antigen-containing liposomes enhance humoral and cell-mediated immunity to the antigen
No full textComplex liver injury induced by combined Aloe Vera and vitamin A oral supplements, as assessed by histology and the updated RUCAM
No full textA case of combined acute and chronic liver injury related to consumption of multi-ingredient nutritional oral supplements containing Aloe Vera gel and vitamin A among other vitamins, minerals and dietary elements such as fish and calamari oil in a 59-year-old female with unexplained hypertransaminasemia is reported. A unique complex liver injury was diagnosed on liver biopsy combining histological features of protracted acute hepatitis, mild manifestation of hypervitaminosis A and lipogranulomatous reaction attributed to Aloe Vera, vitamin A and lipids, respectively. Normalization of liver tests was achieved after discontinuation of all nutritional supplements. Updated Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) score (+8, probable) further supported herb-induced liver injury. The present case highlights the increasing incidence of complex histological liver injury linked to the constantly growing consumption of multi-ingredient dietary supplements and alternative medications. © The Author(s) 2022
Serum adipokine levels in chronic liver diseases: Association of resistin levels with fibrosis severity
No full textObjective. Leptin and adiponectin have been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC), but little is known about the role of resistin in chronic liver diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate serum levels of the above three adipokines in relation to the etiology of liver disease and to determine their associations with histological severity. Material and methods. We prospectively evaluated 146 patients (HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB): 52, CHC: 70, NASH: 24) who consecutively underwent liver biopsy. Detailed epidemiological, anthropometric and laboratory data were recorded. Histological lesions were evaluated blindly according to the Ishak and the Brunt classifications for CHB/CHC and NASH, respectively. Results. Serum adipokine levels were similar between CHB and CHC patients, while CHB/CHC patients had significantly lower leptin levels compared with NASH patients (8.37.3 versus 17.616.6 ng/ml, p=0.012) and higher adiponectin (10.25.1 versus 7.54 g/ml, p=0.018) and resistin levels (7.12.5 versus 5.72.8 ng/ml, p=0.016). In CHB/CHC, there was no significant association between steatosis or necroinflammation and levels of adipokines, while the presence of moderate/severe fibrosis (stages 4-6) was associated with higher leptin and adiponectin levels in male but not in female patients and with lower resistin levels irrespective of gender or other factors (adjusted odds ratio=0.788, p=0.035). Conclusions. Serum adipokine levels depend on the etiology of liver disease differing between chronic viral hepatitis and NASH, but not between CHB and CHC. In CHB/CHC, resistin levels are independently associated with fibrosis severity, whereas in the association of leptin and adiponectin levels with fibrosis, it seems to be a gender effect
Aetiology and outcome of acute hepatic failure in Greece: experience of two academic hospital centres
No full textIntroduction: In Western countries, the most frequent aetiology of acute liver failure (ALF) is acetaminophen overdose, while in developing countries viral infections [hepatitis A virus and hepatitis B virus (HBV)] predominate. Aim: To evaluate the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, outcome and prognostic factors of survival of patients with ALF in Greece during the last 6 years. Results: A total of 40 patients, 28 females (70%), with a median age of 37.4 +/- 18.6 years (range: 15-84) with ALF were studied. HBV infection was the cause in 53% of them (compared with 74% from a previous study reported in the early 1980s), drug toxicity in 15% and undetermined in 13%. The overall survival was 57.5%, including 94% with and 15% without liver transplantation. Forty-five per cent of our patients had emergency liver transplantation in European Centers within a median time of 3.3 days (1-9) from admission. The total bilirubin level at admission and the development of infections were found to be significantly associated with poor outcome. Conclusions: Hepatitis B virus still remains the most important cause of ALF in Greece, but shows a significant decrease as compared with studies in the early 1980s. Almost half of our patients needed emergency liver transplantation and had a very good survival rate. The other 15% of the patients presented spontaneous survival only with intensive medical support
Aetiology and outcome of acute hepatic failure in Greece: experience of two academic hospital centres
No full textSubstitution treatment or active intravenous drug use should not be contraindications for antiviral treatment in drug users with chronic hepatitis C
No full textHepatic steatosis in genotype 4 chronic hepatitis C is mainly because of metabolic factors
No full textBACKGROUND/AIM: Hepatic steatosis is considered to be mostly associated with viral factors in genotype 3 and metabolic factors in genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C, while there are rather few data for genotype 4. We determined the parameters associated with steatosis in 350 chronic hepatitis C patients, focusing on genotype 4. METHODS: Histological lesions were evaluated according to Ishak’s classification and steatosis was semiquantitatively graded. Several patient characteristics on the biopsy day were also evaluated. RESULTS: Steatosis was present in 73% of patients without significant differences among genotypes. Moderate/severe steatosis was more frequent in genotype 3 than 4 (44% vs 26%, P = 0.025) and similar between genotype 4 and 1 patients. Moderate/severe steatosis was associated with body mass index (BMI) in genotype 4 (P = 0.023) and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase in genotype 3 patients (P = 0.044). In 150 nondiabetic patients with BMI <= 25 kg/m(2), moderate/severe steatosis was present in 15, 40, and 11% of genotype 1, 3, and 4 patients, respectively, (P = 0.005) and was independently associated only with genotype 3. In multivariate analysis, steatosis grade or moderate/severe steatosis was independently associated with higher BMI, genotype 3, and lower cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate or severe steatosis is significantly less frequent in genotype 4 than 3 chronic hepatitis C patients and similar between genotype 4 and 1. In nondiabetic, nonoverweight patients, moderate or severe steatosis is present in only 10-15% of genotype 4 or 1 compared with 40% of genotype 3 patients. Thus, hepatic steatosis in genotype 4 is mostly associated with metabolic factors, similar to those in genotype 1
Energy-efficient design and implementation of turbo codes for wireless sensor network
No full textThe objective of this thesis is to apply near Shannon limit Error-Correcting Codes (ECCs), particularly the turbo-like codes, to energy-constrained wireless devices, for the purpose of extending their lifetime. Conventionally, sophisticated ECCs are applied to applications, such as mobile telephone networks or satellite television networks, to facilitate long range and high throughput wireless communication. For low power applications, such as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), these ECCs were considered due to their high decoder complexities. In particular, the energy efficiency of the sensor nodes in WSNs is one of the most important factors in their design. The processing energy consumption required by high complexity ECCs decoders is a significant drawback, which impacts upon the overall energy consumption of the system. However, as Integrated Circuit (IC) processing technology is scaled down, the processing energy consumed by hardware resources reduces exponentially. As a result, near Shannon limit ECCs have recently begun to be considered for use in WSNs to reduce the transmission energy consumption [1,2]. However, to ensure that the transmission energy consumption reduction granted by the employed ECC makes a positive improvement on the overall energy efficiency of the system, the processing energy consumption must still be carefully considered.The main subject of this thesis is to optimise the design of turbo codes at both an algorithmic and a hardware implementation level for WSN scenarios. The communication requirements of the target WSN applications, such as communication distance, channel throughput, network scale, transmission frequency, network topology, etc, are investigated. Those requirements are important factors for designing a channel coding system. Especially when energy resources are limited, the trade-off between the requirements placed on different parameters must be carefully considered, in order to minimise the overall energy consumption. Moreover, based on this investigation, the advantages of employing near Shannon limit ECCs in WSNs are discussed. Low complexity and energy-efficient hardware implementations of the ECC decoders are essential for the target applications
