The publication of To Err Is Human in the USA and An Organisation with a Memory in the UK more than a decade ago put patient safety firmly on the clinical and policy agenda. To date, however, progress in improving safety and outcomes of hospitalized patients has been slower than the authors of these reports had envisaged. Here, we first review and analyse some of the reasons for the lack of evi...

Dithiolethiones are an important class of cancer chemopreventive agents. More than 50 new dithiolethione analogs were synthesized for structure-activity studies. Using selected dithiolethiones, studies were designed to measure protection against the hepatotoxicity of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and relate it to the protection against carcinogenicity. Young male F344 rats were pretreated with 0.1 or 0.3...

Ten dogs that survived the perioperative events of liver transplantation were treated with 1 mg/kg/d oral FK. Eight of the recipients lived for at least 1 month postoperatively, and seven are still alive with normal hepatic function after 35 to 65 days. The consistency and good quality of results with this difficult transplant preparation using FK, in spite of its rumored great toxicity in dogs...

Introduction Hepatic resection is the most effective treatment for patients with primary and selected secondary malignant tumors. It is also indicated for certain benign lesions. In nearly all instances involving patients with malignant hepatic disease, resection is the only treatment with curative potential. Over the past 30 years, improvements in perioperative care and surgical technique have...

Liver failure is a devastating illness with extremely high morbidity and mortality. With the advent of life-saving orthotopic liver transplantation, the mortality and morbidity due to liver failure has been significantly reduced. Many patients awaiting transplant are critically ill. The intensive care management of patients before liver transplantation is aimed at optimizing hepatic and extrahe...

If this were not enough, these patients also have pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The coexistence of portal hypertension and PAH frequently makes patients with this rare (or ‘‘orphan’’) condition medical ‘‘untouchables’’. PPHTN patients with progressive hepatic dysfunction and other complications are often deemed to be too ‘‘high-risk’’ for placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portos...

OBJECTIVE To assess the ability of the urinary biomarkers IGFBP7 (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7) and TIMP-2 (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2) to early predict acute kidney injury (AKI) in high-risk surgical patients. INTRODUCTION Postoperative AKI is associated with an increase in short and long-term mortality. Using IGFBP7 and TIMP-2 for early detection of cellular kid...

Background: A majority of people widely use acetaminophen as a sedative. Overusing the drug for prolonged periods of time can lead to acute liver damage. Mumijo, as a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drug, could possibly reduce some of the acetaminophen-induced side effects on the liver. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Mumijo on the liver damage...