1,354,951 research outputs found
Interpreting serological tests in diagnosing autoimmune liver diseases
No full textAutoimmune liver diseases (ALD) are characterized by immune-mediated injury of
bile ducts or hepatocytes, thus including cholangiopathies such as primary
biliary cirrhosis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis, and autoimmune
hepatitis. Further, ALD variants manifesting with both hepatocellular and
cholangiocellular damage are becoming more common. Serum autoantibodies, together
with imaging and histology, are critical to the diagnostic process when ALD is
suspected. Because an early diagnosis can influence prognosis, the development of
sensitive and specific tests for serum autoantibodies should be a priority for
researchers to ensure a more efficient noninvasive workup. Little prognostic
value has been observed for any of the ALD serum hallmarks, and a vigorous effort
to investigate new and old markers should therefore be undertaken in longitudinal
studies as in the recent paradigm of PBC-specific antinuclear antibodies. We
review herein the numerous ALD screening tests available in routine and
specialized laboratories and comment on their significance in clinical practic
Risk Sensitive Investment Management with Affine Processes: a Viscosity Approach
No full textIn this paper, we extend the jump-diffusion model proposed by Davis and Lleo to include jumps in asset prices as well as valuation factors. The criterion, following earlier work by Bielecki, Pliska, Nagai and others, is risk-sensitive optimization (equivalent to maximizing the expected growth rate subject to a constraint on variance.) In this setting, the Hamilton- Jacobi-Bellman equation is a partial integro-differential PDE. The main result of the paper is to show that the value function of the control problem is the unique viscosity solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation.
All That Glitters is Not Gold in Vedolizumab Therapy for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
No full textThe Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 at a very low flux state: mapping the Soft X-ray photoionised gas
No full textThe limitations and hidden gems of the epidemiology of primary biliary cirrhosis
No full textEpidemiology is expected to provide important clues to our understanding of the enigmatic etiopathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). First, a systematic review of population based studies indicated a wide range in the yearly incidence (0.33-5.8/100.000) and point prevalence (1.91-40.2/100.000) rates. Though different ethnic representations may also contribute it is likely that methodological issues, based on the retrospective survey of diagnosed cases, and time trend play a major role, also in view of the prolonged asymptomatic period of the disease. Of note, the highest prevalence rates (35-40/100.000) were found in areas characterized by high medical awareness and easier access to healthcare. Second, the search for serum AMA in unselected population sera may identify the largest possible number of patients who have or will develop the disease. Indeed, a surprisingly high AMA prevalence rate, ranging between 0.43 and 1%, appears likely in the general population despite the lack of adequate work-up in most studies. Third, the median female to male ratio for PBC is classically accepted as 9-10:1 but is significantly lower for AMA prevalence (2.5:1), death certificates for PBC (4.3:1) and liver transplantation (6:1), thus suggesting that PBC in men may be underdiagnosed in early stages or manifest a more severe progression. Lastly, studies of both PBC and serum AMA prevalence among family members and monozygotic twins strongly support the role played by genetic factors in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. In conclusion, PBC epidemiology is far from being a closed case and the numerous open issues will be solved through a collaborative effort and powerful data mining tools
Application of space technologies to the surveillance and modelling of waterborne diseases.
No full textEarth observing satellites, global positioning and geographic information systems are new tools that currently enable the scientific community to integrate ecological, environmental and medical data to develop predictive models for disease surveillance and modelling. A number of investigators have explored remotely sensed environmental factors that might be associated with waterborne disease ecology and human transmission risk. However, health specialists have not been fully familiarized with the capabilities of space technology, and in some cases it has not proved to be the wonder tool that scientists expected. New satellite capabilities and new sensors now allow exploration of risk factors previously beyond the capabilities of remote sensing and put researchers in a position to analyze the effects of environment on disease outbreaks
Safety of vedolizumab in liver transplant recipients : a systematic review
No full textBackground: The management of inflammatory bowel disease in patients who have previously undergone liver transplantation can be a clinical challenge. There are serious concerns among physicians regarding the use of biologics for treating such immuno-compromised patients. Objective: We performed a systematic review on vedolizumab therapy in transplant recipients to assess its safety. Methods: PubMed/Embase/Scopus were searched up to November 2018 to identify papers regarding liver transplant recipients and therapy with vedolizumab. Primary outcomes were adverse events. Secondary outcomes were liver transplant and inflammatory bowel disease outcomes. Results: Eight studies (31 patients) were included. Nine out of 31 patients experienced an infection within a mean follow-up time ranging from 5–20 months. No malignancies were reported. Inflammatory bowel disease clinical response was experienced by 20/26 patients. Abnormalities in liver tests were recorded in 2/22 patients. Conclusion: Vedolizumab may be considered safe for treating inflammatory bowel disease in liver transplant recipients. Caution is recommended for patients with an unstable liver graft function
Is autoimmunity a matter of sex?
No full textAutoimmune diseases include several conditions that cumulatively are estimated to affect over 5% of the US population with a striking female predominance reported for most of them. The cause and mechanisms of this sex bias remains unknown despite multiple proposed hypotheses. Indeed, it is well established in several experimental settings that the human immune system exhibits sexual dimorphism with basic immune responses differing between females and males. Among candidate factors to explain these differences we note that particular attention has been primarily devoted to sex hormones, yet data have been inconclusive or have not been confirmed. The same seems to apply to the hypothesis of fetal microchimerism. Most recently, sex chromosome abnormalities and skewed X chromosome inactivation have been suggested as novel players, particularly in later-onset diseases. We review herein the most recent data on the mechanisms proposed for the female predominance. We also attempt to determine whether observed sex ratios are in fact the result of sex-biased awareness in case-finding studies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
- …
