The authors conducted a prospective, open-label, pilot trial of the effects of the antidiabetic thiazolidinedione (TZD) rosiglitazone in two patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Case 1: A lean, euglycemic 43-year-old nondiabetic man with a 2-year history of plaque psoriasis presented with lesions involving 10% of his body surface (Figures 1A, 1B, 1C). He had no other chronic or ac...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To determine the biochemical data that reliably predict allograft injury from acute rejection (AR) in patients with living related liver transplantation (LRLT), liver function test and histopathological characteristics of AR were compared and analyzed retrospectively. METHODOLOGY From Aug. 1994 to Nov. 2000, 101 cases received orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), which incl...

Excessive concentrations of L-glutamate (glutamate) have been found to posses neurotoxic properties. This study investigates how stress induced by strong physical exercise effects blood glutamate, 2-ketoglutarate, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) levels. The relationship between muscle damage caused by strong physical exercise and blood glutamate levels was al...

BACKGROUND The protective role (decrease ischemia-reperfusion injury) of ischemic preconditioning (IP) before continuous vascular occlusion in liver resection is controversial. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the advantages and any potential disadvantages of IP maneuver. METHODS A systematic search in the Embase, Medline, PubMed databases, and the Cochrane Library was performed using both...

INTRODUCTION The utility of Cytokeratin-18 fragment, namely CK18Asp396 (M30), for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is currently uncertain. We aimed to provide further data in this area among multi-ethnic Asian subjects with NAFLD. MATERIALS AND METHODS The accuracy of M30 for detecting NASH was compared with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase...

Three enterotoxins from the Aeromonas hydrophila diarrheal isolate SSU have been molecularly characterized in our laboratory. One of these enterotoxins is cytotoxic in nature, whereas the other two are cytotonic enterotoxins, one of them heat labile and the other heat stable. Earlier, by developing an isogenic mutant, we demonstrated the role of a cytotoxic enterotoxin in causing systemic infec...

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) are the most well-known liver enzyme tests used to diagnose hepatocyte injury. Besides, these two enzymes are localized in the liver at high concentrations. AST is also present in the heart, skeletal muscle, kidneys, pancreas, brain, and red blood cells in considerable amounts. However, ALT is present in low concentrations in s...

BACKGROUND Hepatic manifestations are one of the unusual manifestations of dengue infection. OBJECTIVES We conducted this study in order to study the pattern of serum aminotransferases and sequential changes before and after shock in Thai children with dengue infection. PATIENTS AND METHODS Children who were clinically and serologically diagnosed as dengue infection and were admitted to Kin...

This study was aimed at finding out whether weight reduction alone can improve liver function in obese patients with fatty liver. We did a longitudinal, clinical intervention study on weight reduction by behavior modification, diet and exercise. The study subjects were 25 patients referred to an obesity clinic in whom obesity is the sole factor causing abnormal liver function and fatty liver. P...