liver disease
Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday 23 April: Liver disease is the most prevalent cause of alcohol-related deaths, followed by car accidents and cancer, according to new research conducted in Portugal and presented today at EASL 2009, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday 23 April: The first identification of GP130 somatic activating mutations* in human tumours was announced today at EASL 2009, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver Disease in Copenhagen, Denmark.
However, the downside is that up a quarter of people with alcohol-related cirrhosis die before they get the chance to stop drinking. Alcohol-related cirrhosis develops silently but usually presents with an episode of internal bleeding or jaundice - which is often fatal.
A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Engineering in Medicine (MGH-CEM) has found the first evidence of cell-to-cell communication by amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, rather than by known protein signaling agents such as growth factors or cytokines.
Long-term daily drinking, rather than weekly binge drinking, is by far the biggest risk factor in serious liver disease, according to a new report from the University of Southampton.
Alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales are twice as high among people born in Scotland or Ireland compared with the rest of the population, a study has shown.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are well-recognized causes of progressive liver disease leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. To date, no therapy provided evidence of significant efficacy in these conditions and no approved therapeutic options are available worldwide.
Patients who undergo liver transplantation for hepatitis B-related liver damage should receive lifelong antiviral treatment to keep the disease from coming back. A new study shows that they lack cellular immunity against the disease, making recurrence likely if antiviral treatment is withdrawn.
A new study suggests that the metabolic response to obesity and insulin resistance, particularly as it pertains to the liver, differs among ethnic groups in the U.S. African-Americans are more resistant to the buildup of fat in the abdominal adipose tissue and liver, and to high triglyceride levels associated with insulin resistance.
Liver cancer in patients whose only risk factor is metabolic syndrome has distinct forms and structures compared to other liver tumors. These findings are in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
Obesity is the number one cause of chronic liver disease in the United States. Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the mechanism that causes liver damage in many obese children and adults: excess fatty acids cause a protein reaction that kills liver cells, causing scarring and liver damage.
According to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week, drinking caffeinated beverages may benefit some people who are at high-risk for liver disease. Conversely, a study by researchers from India found that soda drinkers, who represent a huge percentage of the American population, may actually have an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer.
Researchers have developed a new and easy method of detecting cirrhosis of the liver. This major finding helps predict the evolution of chronic liver disease, allowing physicians to start proper treatment early on. Patients suffering from this serious, progressive disease in its cirrhosis stage have a high chance of developing liver cancer. The test permits frequent, non-invasive analyses to be carried out, through which the critical stages of the disease can be closely monitored.
A researcher has reported results from a study with a drug combination that showed the highest hepatitis C treatment response rates ever reported in patients infected with hepatitis C and HIV virus. The multinational study found that the drug combination of Pegasys and Copegus were much more effective than the previous generation of hepatitis C therapy standard interferon and ribavirin. Efficacy was measured as the sustained virological response (SVR) rate, which is defined by the absence of detectable HCV RNA in the serum for at least six months after treatment.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers have shown that diabetes can cause chronic liver disease and cancer of the liver. The prospective cohort study was comprised of 173,643 patients with diabetes and 650,620 patients without diabetes who were discharged from VA hospitals between 1985 and 1990. These patients were tracked through 2000. Most were men (98 percent). The majority (99.5 percent) of diabetic patients had type II diabetes mellitus. Among diabetic patients, the incidence of chronic liver disease and cancer of the liver was about twice the incidence that of patients without diabetes.
