Open Access DOI:10.23937/2377-3634/1410037

Follow the Yellow Brick Road: The Pathway for NAFLD and NASH Drug Development in Early Phase Clinical Trials

Sabina Paglialunga and Clayton A. Dehn

Article Type: Commentary | First Published: July 31, 2015

The current market for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) medications is saturated with a plethora of choices of therapeutic agents, many of which have very favorable safety profiles. It has been proposed that the combination of this crowded and competitive landscape along with the increased burden of thorough cardiovascular risk assessment required since 2008, have stifled innovation in the development of new anti-diabetic medications....

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2377-3634/1410036

Toxic AGEs (TAGE) Theory in the Pathogenesis of NAFLD and ALD

Masayoshi Takeuchi, Akiko Sakasai-Sakai, Jun-ichi Takino, Takanobu Takata, Tadashi Ueda and Mikihiro Tsutsumi

Article Type: Mini Review | First Published: July 31, 2015

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) have become serious health problems worldwide. These two diseases have similar pathological spectra, ranging from simple hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. NAFLD and ALD are frequently accompanied by extrahepatic complications, including cardiovascular disease and malignancy, which influence patient survival. The chronic ingestion of an excessive daily diet (sweetened beve...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2572-4045.1510007

Impact of Donor Cytomegalovirus Serology and duration of Prophylaxis on Follow-Up Strategy in Lung Transplant Recipients

Jose M. Borro, Maria Delgado, Teresa Rey and Pablo Rama

Article Type: Original Article | First Published: July 04, 2015

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most prevalent opportunistic infection after lung transplantation. It is reported in between 20% and 50% of cases after discontinuation of prophylaxis, depending on the series. CMV usually remains dormant in the lymphatic system, and its reactivation, due to immunosuppressive therapy, may have considerable adverse consequences in the immunocompromised host. Its many and varied effects include inflammation, increased morbidity, and decreased graft and patien...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3419/2/3/1019

Screening for the Polyomaviruses BKV, JCV and SV40 in Pediatric Malignancies

Karin Kosulin, Alexander Zimmerhack, Johannes A. Hainfellner, Christine Haberler, Gabriele Amann, Susanna Lang and Thomas Lion

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: July 31, 2015

Different studies suggested an oncogenic potential of the polyomaviruses JC virus, BK virus and simian virus 40, particularly in brain tumors and neuroblastoma, which belong to the most frequent malignancies in children. However, currently available data are controversial, possibly due to the different regional prevalence of the viruses and the detection techniques used. To elucidate the presence of these polyomaviruses in the indicated tumor entities and in childhood cancer in general, we have ...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3674/1510002

Use of Dexmedetomidine in the Management of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in Critically Ill Patients

Julie Kalabalik and Jesse B. Sullivan

Article Type: Review Article | First Published: July 30, 2015

Alcohol consumption plays a role in the development of over 200 diseases and conditions in individuals worldwide, including liver cirrhosis, cancers, traumatic injury, and alcohol dependence. In hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD), up to 25% will develop acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). In critically ill patients, presence of AWS is associated with increased duration of mechanical ventilation, prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), more frequent infe...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3648/1410016

Understanding the Host Epigenetics in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Vinod Yadav, Ved Prakash Dwivedi, Debapriya Bhattacharya, Ashwan

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: June 27, 2015

It was in 1942 when C.H. Waddington first coined the term epigenetics. According to him there is no direct relationship between a gene and its phenotype. He considered epigenetics as a part of development biology and in his opinion many times genotype and phenotype variations are not associated and phenotype differences do not necessarily involve change in genotype. Since 40s epigenetics became the topic of interest among the scientific community. Now everybody wants to know that what goes on be...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3631/1510006

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome: The Importance of Glutamatergic System

Jose Carlos F. Galduroz, Pedro Luis Prior and Anna Carolina Ramos

Article Type: Editorial | First Published: July 30, 2015

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is a complex phenomenon that involves several neurotransmission systems. Its signs and symptoms are related to the adrenergic autonomic hyperstimulation and to the hypofunction of the gabaergic system. Moreover, alcohol is an antagonist of the NMDA (N-Methyl-D-Aspartate) receptors, which are excitatory, in the central nervous system....

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5807/1510005

Flow Cytometric Analysis of Cell Size in B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Reliability and Potential Diagnostic Significance

Aaron Cotrell, Farzaneh Sayedian, Michelle Huang, Xia Chen, Ming Xie, Marc Smith and James Huang

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: July 13, 2015

Evaluation of lymphoma cell size is a key step in the sub classification of B-cell lymphomas. Lymphoma cells can be classified as large, small or (less commonly) medium; but recognition of large B-cells is of particular importance because of their diagnostic and prognostic significance. Lymphomas with increased large cells are often associated with more aggressive clinical course. For instance, neoplastic B-cells of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are predominately large cells....

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3674/1510001

Protocols for Uncontrolled Donation after Circulatory Death: International & Comprehensive Analysis

Ivan Ortega Deballon

Article Type: Editorial | First Published: July 18, 2015

Determination of death, the exact moment that a person's death occurs, has been a constant challenge throughout human being history. What we already know is that death usually does not occur abruptly, at a specific time and for all parts of the body simultaneously. Human resistance to degradation by lack of oxygen varies depending on the type of cell and organ. It is possible, for example, for successful cornea transplants from deceased individuals as many as seven days after death. Actually, th...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2377-3634/1410035

The Relationship between Diabetes and Retirement from Work: A Ten Year Follow-Up in National Registers

Bryan Cleal and Kjeld Poulsen

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: July 22, 2015

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between diabetes, mortality and exit from work using various Danish Pension schemes. Methods: We linked the Danish National Diabetes register with socioeconomic and population-based registers and followed prevalent and incident cases of diabetes for ten years, adjusting for gender, age and socio-occupational group. We analysed the proportion of individuals with diagnosed diabetes before and after entering a normal retirement pen-sion, voluntary early r...