Statin Use and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease.

Importance: Statins may lower the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by mitigating liver fibrosis progression.

Objective: To evaluate the association between statin use and the risk of HCC and hepatic decompensation, with an emphasis on liver fibrosis progression, among adult patients with chronic liver disease (CLD).

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from the Research Patient Data Registry from 2000 to 2023 on patients 40 years or older with CLD and a baseline Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score of 1.

EndoFLIP distensibility index correlates with histologic findings in children with eosinophilic esophagitis.

Background And Aims: The Eosinophilic Esophagitis Histology Scoring System (EoEHSS) is useful for diagnosing and characterizing eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). A limitation of the EoEHSS is that lamina propria fibrosis scores are infrequently determined due to challenges in sampling lamina propria. Low distensibility index (DI) measured by endoluminal functional lumen imaging probe (EndoFLIP) is associated with fibrostenotic severity in pediatric patients with EoE.

Centering Weight Management Clinical Decision Support in Primary Care on Patients With Obesity and Practitioners: A Proof-Of-Concept Study.

Background: Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are electronic health record tools that support practitioners' decision-making at the point-of-care. CDSS may aid clinical care but are not often centered on patients or practitioners.

Aims: To develop and preliminarily test a CDSS designed to support evidence-based obesity treatment, promote a patient-centered experience, and integrate with clinical workflows.

Demographics, Cutaneous Manifestations, and Comorbidities Associated with Progressive Cutaneous Sarcoidosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

: Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease with a wide variety of presentations and clinical courses. Cutaneous manifestations and comorbidities associated with sarcoid prognosis remain understudied. : An EPIC query was run for patients age 18+ at the Johns Hopkins Hospital with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis of the skin according to the ICD-10-CM code D86.

Use of medications associated with weight change among participants in the All of Us research programme.

Our objective was to describe the use of medications associated with weight change among US adults with overweight/obesity, including anti-obesity medications (AOMs), weight-loss-promoting and weight-gain-promoting medications. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from the nationwide All of Us Research Programme. We included adults with measured body mass index (BMI) ≥ 27 kg/m enrolled between 2018 and 2022 across the United States.

Esophageal dilation with EsoFLIP is faster than CRE balloon dilation combined with EndoFLIP in children.

Background: Controlled radial expansion (CRE) balloon dilators are traditionally used to dilate esophageal strictures during an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). EndoFLIP is a diagnostic tool used during an EGD to measure important parameters of the gastrointestinal lumen, capable of assessing treatment before and after dilation. EsoFLIP is a related device that combines a balloon dilator with high-resolution impedance planimetry to provide some of the luminal parameters in real time during dilation.

High Coronary Artery Calcium Score Is Associated With Increased Major Adverse Cardiac Events After Liver Transplantation.

Unlabelled: Liver transplantation (LT) candidates frequently have multiple cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after LT. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores are a noninvasive assessment of coronary artery disease using computed tomography. This study examines CAC scores and cardiac risk factors and their association with outcomes after LT.

Endoluminal Functional Lumen Imaging Probe Is Safe in Children Under Five Years Old.

Background: Endoluminal functional lumen imaging probe (EndoFLIP) is a minimally invasive, novel device that uses high-resolution impedance planimetry to measure important parameters of the gastrointestinal lumen that aid in the diagnosis of esophageal disorders. EndoFLiP is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for children 5 years and older. We sought to compare its safety and luminal characteristics between children under 5 years of age with children 5 years and older.

Inter-Hospital Escalation-of-Care Referrals for Severe Alcohol-Related Liver Disease with Recent Drinking During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Alcohol sales and consumption have increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, but their downstream effects on alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) are unclear. We analyzed inter-hospital escalation-of-care referrals to our tertiary care inpatient liver unit across 18 months through December 2020. There was a significant rise in severe ALD with recent unhealthy drinking in our regional community during the pandemic.

Lymphocytic and collagenous colitis in children and adolescents: Comprehensive clinicopathologic analysis with long-term follow-up.

Microscopic colitis (MC) is characterized by chronic watery diarrhea, endoscopically normal findings, and abnormal histology. While mostly encountered in adults, pediatric cases are rare and may show varying presentations. Our pathology data system was searched from 1984 to 2019 for patients ≤18 years of age with a lymphocytic colitis (LC) or collagenous colitis (CC) pattern of injury.

Esophageal peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for treatment of esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction: results from the first prospective trial.

Esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO) is a rare esophageal dysmotility disease that is characterized by elevated integrated relaxation pressuse (IRP) with evidence of preserved peristalsis. The role of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) in management of EGJOO is currently unknown. This is a prospective trial conducted in a single US tertiary care center from June 2015 to June 2019.

Epidemiology and Comorbidities of Excoriation Disorder: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.

Excoriation disorder is a psychocutaneous disorder characterized by repetitive skin-picking and associated with significant morbidity. Currently, epidemiological data in patients with excoriation disorder are lacking so we sought to characterize common patient demographics and comorbidities. We conducted a retrospective case-control study comparing 250 patients with excoriation disorder with 250 age-, race- and sex-matched controls identified between 2007 and 2019 at a single tertiary care center.

Submucosal Tunneling Endoscopic Resection for the Management of Heterotopic Pancreas With Cystic Degeneration.

Heterotopic pancreas is pancreatic tissue present outside of the normal location of the pancreas. In the presence of cystic degeneration, heterotopic pancreas is clinically significant because of the symptoms it causes and its physical resemblance to cancerous growth. A diagnosis of heterotopic pancreas is achieved with the aid of various endoscopic techniques for tissue removal.

Clinical impact of routine esophagram after peroral endoscopic myotomy.

Background And Aims: It is unclear whether the common practice of postoperative day (POD) 1 esophagram impacts clinical care or reliably identifies significant adverse events (AEs) related to peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). Therefore, we aimed to correlate the most clinically relevant esophagram findings with postoperative outcomes after POEM.

Methods: Patients were retrospectively reviewed and included if they underwent POEM at 1 of the 3 study institutions between 2014 and 2018.

Renal Replacement Knowledge and Preferences for African Americans With Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: Renal replacement therapies (RRT) other than in-centre haemodialyses are underutilised by African Americans with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) even though they are associated with reduced costs, morbidity and mortality as well as improved quality of life for patients.

Objectives: To understand African American patients' knowledge of RRT options and how patient, provider and system-factors contribute to knowledge and preferences. Participants' interviews were conducted at the University of Chicago Medical Center with African American patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

"I Try Not to Even Think About My Health Going Bad": a Qualitative Study of Chronic Kidney Disease Knowledge and Coping Among a Group of Urban African-American Patients with CKD.

Context: African-Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are more likely to progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, African-Americans are less likely to receive care to delay progression of their CKD and to prepare for ESRD treatment.

Objective: The objectives of the study are to understand knowledge among urban, African-American patients diagnosed with CKD and to discover ways they managed their illness and prepared for kidney disease progression.

Calcium current homeostasis and synaptic deficits in hippocampal neurons from Kelch-like 1 knockout mice.

Kelch-like 1 (KLHL1) is a neuronal actin-binding protein that modulates voltage-gated CaV2.1 (P/Q-type) and CaV3.2 (α1H T-type) calcium channels; KLHL1 knockdown experiments (KD) cause down-regulation of both channel types and altered synaptic properties in cultured rat hippocampal neurons (Perissinotti et al.