Aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) is a fungal toxin that causes both acute hepatotoxicity and hepatocellular carcinoma in humans and experimental animals. Previous studies demonstrated that a small, noninjurious dose of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) augments the hepatotoxicity of AFB(1) through activation of inflammatory cells and production of soluble inflammatory mediators (Barton et al., 2000b, 2...

Background: In traditional medicine, Acalypha wilkesiana is frequently used solely or as a composite part of many herbal preparations for therapeutic purposes. This study was therefore conducted to evaluate the effects of oral administration of extracts of Acalypha wilkesiana leaves, on some serum diagnostic enzymes in normal experimental rabbits. Methods: Eighteen adult male experimental rabbi...

Female sea turtles have rarely been observed foraging during the nesting season. This suggests that prior to their migration to nesting beaches the females must store sufficient energy and nutrients at their foraging grounds and must be physiologically capable of undergoing months without feeding. Leptin (an appetite-suppressing protein) and ghrelin (a hunger-stimulating peptide) affect body we...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Liver function tests (LFTs) include alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bilirubin. The role of routine testing before and after laparoscopic cholecystectomy was evaluated in this study. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 355 patients were retrospectively analyzed by examin...

AIMS To evaluate how often laboratory markers [Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), Gamma-glutamyl transferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, Alanine aminotransferase, or Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT)] and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) are used to detect alcohol abuse in primary health care. METHODS Cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire survey to all 3193 ...

OBJECTIVE Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) seems to be a predictor for coronary artery disease (CAD). The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between GGT and total as well as cardiovascular mortality. METHODS Serum levels of GGT were determined in 2556 subjects with and 699 subjects without angiographic evidence of CAD in the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular He...

Serum liver enzyme levels are often used effectively for the evaluation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to investigate the associations between serum liver enzyme levels and risks for NAFLD in over 8000 cases in a large-scale analysis. A cross-sectional survey with multiple stages and random samplings was performed from May 2007 to May 2009 on 8102 workers at Tongji Univer...

INTRODUCTION Homeopathy is a popular form of complementary and alternative medicine and is used to treat for certain liver ailments. AIM To analyze the efficacy of homeopathic Chelidonium majus (Chel) 30C and 200C in amelioration of experimentally induced hepato-toxicity in rats. METHODS Rats were randomized into six sub-groups: negative control; negative control+EtOH; positive control; pos...

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may be associated with many dermatologic manifestations. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dermatologic manifestations related to chronic HCV infection in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS 70 patients with chronic HCV infection and 70 healthy volunteers were investigated. They were carefully questioned and skin, mucosa, h...

Introduction: Lipemic specimens are a common and frequent, but yet unresolved problem in clinical chemistry, and may produce signifi cant interferences in the analytical results of diff erent biochemical parameters. Material and methods: The aim of this study was to examine the eff ect of lipid removal using ultracentrifugation of lipemic samples, on some routine biochemistry parameters. Among ...