Viral hepatitis is a significant disease afflicting hundreds of millions of people. Hepatitiscausing viruses initiate significant morbidity and mortality by establishing both acute and chronic infections, and several of these viruses are specifically associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Consequently, intense research efforts are focused on increasing our understand...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis E is caused by two viral genotype groups: human types and zoonotic types. Current understanding of the epidemiology of the zoonotic hepatitis E disease is founded largely on hospital-based studies. METHODS The epidemiology of hepatitis E was investigated in a community-based surveillance study conducted over one year in a rural city in eastern China with a registered popu...

Although a possible association between hepatitis B and cardiovascular disease has been identified, the impact of viral hepatitis B on long-term prognosis after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is uncertain. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the specific impact of viral hepatitis B on survival after a first AMI through a retrospective analysis of data from the Taiwan National ...

Hepatitis C virus infects over 15 million patients from India and 2.86 million from Brazil. Detection of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies has limited sensitivity during acute phase: the pre-seroconversion window period. Hepatitis C virus-RNA detection techniques are used to overcome this shortfall, but are costly and unavailable widely in developing countries. Estimation of hepatitis C virus c...

Viral hepatitis remains a significant worldwide threat, in spite of the availability of several successful therapeutic and vaccination strategies. Complications associated with acute and chronic infections, such as liver failure, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, are the cause of considerable morbidity and mortality. Given the significant burden on the healthcare system caused by viral he...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging pathogen associated with acute viral hepatitis, and HEV is becoming increasingly recognized. Approximately 2% of acute viral hepatitis is caused by HEV, and 18 cases of hepatitis E have been reported in Korea. Of these cases, only two have involved a history of travel from India, which suggests that they were imported cases. The remaining reported cases in...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Tumour necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) induces apoptosis in transformed cells and is considered as an agent for cancer therapy. As there is evidence that TRAIL is also essential for apoptosis in animal models of liver injury, we investigated the role of TRAIL in viral hepatitis and after alcohol consumption. METHODS Expression of TRAIL was determi...

The clinicopathologic features of liver allograft dysfunction occurring in 51 symptomatic recipients after more than 5 years' survival (mean 7.1 years) with the same hepatic allograft were compared with those of a similar group of 14 asymptomatic patients (mean survival, 9.9 years) who underwent a nonclinically indicated protocol liver biopsy evaluation. Predictably, patients who had clinically...