G V Papatheodoridis

..In April 2003, phase II trials were initiated, the results of which were reported in February 2006. LB-80380 is the prodrug of LB-80317 (PMCDG), another compound from this series...

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..In contrast, minimal histological lesions are observed in the majority of HBeAg-negative patients with persistently normal ALT and HBV DNA >2,000 IU/mL, who may not require immediate liver biopsy and treatment but only close follow-up...

..Novel therapeutic options are needed to increase the rates of HBsAg loss and sustained off-treatment responses...

..We systematically reviewed all the available histological data on HBeAg-negative patients with persistently normal ALT (PNALT) to determine the prevalence of significant liver disease and its associating factors...

..To evaluate the risk and predictors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients of the large HEPNET.Greece cohort study who received long-term oral antivirals starting with lamivudine monotherapy...

..Combination of two agents without cross-resistance should be used in any patient with HBV resistance...

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..The efficacy of treatment against hepatitis C virus has improved, but it is still far from ideal. Thus, new antihepatitis C virus therapies are required...

..Approximately 20% of HBeAg-negative CHB patients have HBV DNA <20 000 IU/mL with fluctuations >1 log(10) occurring in many of them...

..Entecavir resistance is rare in naive individuals (year 4, <1%), but increases over time in lamivudine-resistant patients (year 4, 43%). The best strategy for long-term therapy in chronic HBV infection has yet to be established...

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..The aim was to systematically review the interactions between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and NSAID use on the risk of uncomplicated or bleeding peptic ulcer...

..We evaluated the prevalence and the main characteristics of constipation in the Greek general population...

..Because there will always be concerns for safety and family planning issues with long-term therapy, NUCs should be used judiciously and should not be prescribed in young CHB patients with mild liver disease...

..Monoprophylaxis with one of the new anti-HBV agents might be possible, particularly in patients preselected as having a low risk of HBV recurrence, but further data are needed and strategies to ensure compliance must be used...

..The effect of medium-term nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy on HCC incidence is unclear; therefore, we systematically reviewed all the data on HCC incidence from studies in chronic hepatitis B patients treated with nucleos(t)ide analogues...

..We evaluated the prevalence of thrombotic risk factors (RFs) in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and their possible association with fatty liver or NASH...

..Apoptotic caspases are substantially activated in liver and serum caspase activity has been suggested as a marker of early liver injury...

..The presence of diabetes is strongly associated with more severe liver fibrosis, but such an association may be related to the high prevalence of diabetes in patients with cirrhosis...

..We investigated the prevalence of and the parameters associated with steatosis in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B...

..The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its possible impact on the severity of liver histological lesions have not been studied prospectively in chronic liver diseases...

..However, a 12-month interferon monotherapy course may achieve similar responses...

..In relapsers and nonresponders, fibrosis benefit equals the treatment period. The strongest factor associated with fibrosis progression is the change in necroinflammatory activity...

..Intensive primary prevention efforts coupled with increased access to the currently available treatments are necessary to control the chronic consequences of HCV epidemic...

..Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) induces insulin resistance (IR) and subsequently diabetes...

..The aim of this prospective study was to examine the safety of anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) therapy in patients with rheumatic disease and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection...

..To investigate the burden and recent epidemiological changes of the main chronic liver diseases in a Greek referral tertiary centre...

..All these advances in anti-HBV therapy have made HBV liver disease an indication for liver transplantation irrespective of viral replication status, a complete turn around from 10 years ago...

..ALT activity peaks close to the onset of biochemical breakthrough, decreasing thereafter but remaining persistently abnormal with fluctuating levels...

..The effect of such treatments on the natural course of CHC has been evaluated in small clinical trials with conflicting results...

..The main objective of the study was to assess the analytical and clinical sensitivity of the multiplex and discriminatory probe assays in samples with a low viral load...

..Therefore, long-term biochemical remission appears to represent a satisfactory therapeutic target in this setting...

..The previously mentioned observations suggest a viral effect on hepatic hepcidin production, but might also support its involvement in the inflammatory process...

..In such patients with advanced fibrosis, close follow-up for lamivudine resistance and prompt onset of additional antiviral therapy is required or the ab initio use of agent(s) with low resistance rates should be considered...

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..However, response rates tend to decrease with time and breakthroughs due to YMDD mutants accumulate. ALT activity during breakthroughs often exceeds the baseline and may reach even acute hepatitis levels...

..Several other antiviral agents are currently being evaluated in this setting with combined regimens being the most reasonable step for the near future...

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..Many other antiviral agents and immunomodulatory approaches are currently evaluated for CHB, but, besides IFN-alpha, none has yet been convincingly shown to induce sustained off-therapy responses...

..An OGTT might be necessary at the baseline work-up of CHB or CHC patients, as a normal fasting glucose value does not exclude IGT or OGTT-diabetes...

..CONCLUSIONS: APRI is significantly associated with the extent of fibrosis, but it does not classify correctly 40-65% of patients with chronic hepatitis C or HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B, and thus it cannot replace liver biopsy...

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..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...

..To date, there is no proven effective therapy for the resistant HBV mutant strains, although adefovir and entecavir seem to be interesting candidates...

..As specific therapies do not exist, patients with metabolic syndrome and CHC and NAFLD should be counseled to lose weight and ameliorate their glycemic control and lipid profile...

..Adefovir is also effective against lamivudine-resistant strains. Many other anti-viral agents, immunomodulatory approaches and combination therapies are currently being evaluated in chronic hepatitis B...

..We determined the parameters associated with steatosis in 350 chronic hepatitis C patients, focusing on genotype 4...

..We also comment on their potential use as noninvasive markers for differentiating simple fatty liver from NASH as well as on their potential future therapeutic role in patients with NASH...

..However, the degree of pseudohyperkalemia does not increase proportionally with the increase of platelet counts, which may be associated with transfer of part of potassium load from the plasma back into red and white blood cells...

..In contrast, extrahepatic malignancies have been reported to be significantly associated with PBC. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of HCC and of extrahepatic malignancies in a large cohort of patients with PBC...

..We investigated whether changes of liver and muscle enzymes activity are associated with rigor of several causes and have any prognostic significance...

..We analysed the effect of IDU and/or substitution therapy on chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treatment adherence and response...

..Hepatocellular carcinoma development becomes almost negligible among sustained responders, but a reduction in hepatocellular carcinoma incidence is also achieved even in the non-sustained responders...

..The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship, if any, of such factors on liver fibrosis in a cohort of patients with CHB and CHC...

..Combination therapy with adefovir added to LMV in LMV-resistant patients is extremely effective; cases of adefovir-resistance have not been reported to date...

..7; 95% confidence interval: 1.2 to 2.5; P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: H. pylori infection almost doubles the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding among users of NSAIDs...

..However, its exact role in this setting needs to be evaluated within well-designed, controlled clinical trials...

..To study the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in the Greek urban general population, their associations with patient characteristics, and their effect on patients' daily activities...

..In contrast, testing for H pylori or PPI therapy is not recommended for chronic NSAID/aspirin users with no ulcer complications or those at a low risk of complications...

..The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between the use of propranolol and development of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis and ascites...

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..CONCLUSIONS: UDCA was not found to have any demonstrable effect on the long-term outcome of PBC and did not improve the survival of PBC patients...

..We compared the predictive values of MELD, Child-Pugh and creatinine-modified Child-Pugh scores in decompensated cirrhosis...

..In addition to the usual resuscitation measures, the patient was treated with primary repair of the small-intestine defect and replacement of the aneurysm with a prosthetic aortic graft. He remains in excellent health thereafter...

..001). CONCLUSION: Culture-positive SBP in cirrhotic patients are caused more frequently by Gram-positive bacteria during the recent years, which are, in their vast majority, resistant to quinolones...

..All these characteristics make adefovir dipivoxil an important drug for the treatment of hepatitis B virus infection and an excellent candidate for long-term maintenance therapy in chronic viral B liver disease...

..Long-term maintenance treatment with antiviral agent(s) with good safety and tolerability profiles and low resistance rates appears to be the most realistic future therapeutic option for most chronic hepatitis B patients...

..Maintenance azathioprine gave survival advantage...

..025). In conclusion, the presence of UC post-LT, and the need for maintenance steroids post-LT, which is an independent factor, are associated with rPSC. These findings could help elucidate a possible mechanism of PSC pathogenesis...

..PEG-IFN-alpha(2a) (40 kDa) is expected to improve the efficacy and tolerability of treatment for chronic hepatitis C...

..MMF substitution is a therapeutic strategy that deserves more extensive use in liver transplantation...